It’s All in the Relationship:

0:00: Interestingly, we also like change because while I don’t think familiarity breeds contempt in the email world, it does breed disengagement. 

 0:09: Welcome to email swipes, where we peek behind the scenes at the emails that catch your attention and earn their place in your swipe file. 

 0:16: Every other week, we’ll talk to an email expert about an experiment they ran, and in the following episode, we’ll dive into the strategies and methods used in the email so You can inform and inspire your own email work. 

 0:26: I’m Miki Elvas, the copywriter behind winning emails for 8 and 9 figure sassin e-commerce brands like Shopify, For Sigmatic, and Sprout Social. 

 0:34: And I know that hearing the background stories to these emails will help you turn pie in the sky insights into plug and play actions. 

 0:40: Ready to make inspiration tactical? 

 0:42: Let’s go. 

 0:43: First, a quick recap of the email we discussed last week that we’ll be digging into today. 

 0:49: Hello friends. 

 0:51: This may be the most important newsletter I have ever sent. 

 0:54: Today, I’m excited to announce my first book is ready for you to pre-order. 

 0:59: Tiny Experiments is a book about living a more experimental life, navigating challenges with curiosity and defining your own unique version of personal growth. 

 1:07: It’s the book I wish I had when I was stuck chasing the traditional idea of success, unable to see there was another way. 

 1:13: It distills years of work at Nest Labs into one simple toolkit for you to adapt to your ambitions. 

 1:19: And if you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book or tackling a big creative project, this special edition offers a behind the scenes look at the process of bringing such a multi-year project to life. 

 1:29: Enjoy the read and thank you for your support and more. 

 1:32: PS I’m hosting an exclusive behind the book session for early supporters on October 18th, where I’ll go much deeper into these lessons. 

 1:39: I’d love to see you there. 

 1:41: The story behind Tiny experiments. 

 1:43: It was a lovely summer day in 2020 and I was about to close my laptop to enjoy the sunshine when an email from a well-known publisher appeared in my inbox. 

 1:50: It read, I would love to have a chat with you about the possibility of writing a book. 

 1:54: I sat frozen in my chair, afraid that if I moved, the email might vanish. 

 1:58: For many, writing a book is a lifelong dream, and I was no exception. 

 2:02: As a kid, I helped run the largest community of young French writers and even submitted a novel to a few publishers, but at the time, I didn’t manage to remain focused on one project long enough to see it through. 

 2:12: So when I asked if I wanted to write a book, my answer was a resounding yes, promptly followed by a, but how? 

 2:19: I’ve written hundreds of blog posts, research papers, and newsletter. 

 2:21: Over the years, but a book is a whole different beast. 

 2:24: I started asking myself, how do you overcome imposter syndrome? 

 2:27: Despite interest from several publishers, others reached out after that first email. 

 2:31: I didn’t exactly feel like an expert. 

 2:33: How do you manage such a big project on your own? 

 2:36: Without short term deliverables and regular checkpoints, staying motivated and on track is much harder. 

 2:41: How do you maintain creativity on the same project for months? 

 2:44: Continuing to see the topic with fresh eyes can become a challenge as you go deeper. 

 2:49: I spent the past 2 years experimenting with various approaches to answer these questions, and today I want to share 12 lessons I learned while writing a nonfiction book. 

 2:58: 12 short lessons for long creative projects. 

 3:01: Number 1, trust the intelligence of others who want to work with you. 

 3:04: Impostor syndrome can make you doubt your abilities, but remember that those who express interest in your work do so for a reason. 

 3:09: They see something valuable in what you offer. 

 3:11: Trust their judgment. 

 3:13: Number 2, create your own accountability system. 

 3:15: Partner with a buddy, hire a coach, or join an accountability group to keep you on track. 

 3:19: I personally had weekly book check-ins. 

 3:21: These external checks can not only help maintain momentum, but get you unstuck through creative conversations. 

 3:27: Number 3, except uncertainty is part of the creative process. 

 3:30: Throughout the book’s development, I faced numerous changes, 3 different editors, 4 title revisions, and we explored 21 different cover designs. 

 3:37: It felt scary at times, but embracing these liminal moments allowed me to ultimately produce a much better book. 

 3:44: Number 4, prioritize quality over quantity of time. 

 3:47: More hours spent working doesn’t equate to better results. 

 3:50: Sometimes the best ideas come when you’re making lunch or taking a walk. 

 3:53: Design a creative routine and shield time for strategic focus rather than forcing productivity during every waking hour. 

 4:00: Number 5. 

 4:01: Reflect on your past progress to fuel future work. 

 4:04: By looking back at what you’ve accomplished so far, you can gain insights into what works for you and what doesn’t, revealing patterns and ideas that can inform your next steps. 

 4:12: Number 6, learn in public and seek early feedback. 

 4:15: Throughout the creative process, I hosted feedback sessions, recruited beta readers, and invited newsletter readers to share feedback on the cover designs. 

 4:21: This Ensured my work was constantly evolving based on real world input, making the final book much stronger than it would have been in isolation. 

 4:29: Number 7, protect your mental health to protect your creativity. 

 4:32: Your mental health is your most valuable asset when it comes to long creative projects. 

 4:36: You can’t produce great work when you’re stressed, anxious, or depressed. 

 4:39: Take breaks and practice self-care to avoid creative burnout. 

 4:42: Number 8, be ready to think nonlinearly. 

 4:46: Even with a solid outline, some of the best creative decisions came from completely departing from the original plan. 

 4:51: I completely restructured the book and even deleted an entire chapter that was core to the original book proposal, but no longer fit the book. 

 4:59: Creativity requires being ready to explore unexpected directions. 

 5:03: Number 9, know when to let go. 

 5:05: There’s a point when further rewrites won’t add value. 

 5:07: Avoid over editing. 

 5:08: At some point, it’s good to move on and share it with the world. 

 5:12: Number 10, balanced creative input and output. 

 5:14: The quality of what you consume directly impacts the quality of what you produce. 

 5:18: Be mindful of what you’re feeding your mind and make sure it aligns with your creative ambitions. 

 5:22: Number 11, celebrate small wins along the way. 

 5:25: In long creative projects, it’s easy to get fixated on the end goal. 

 5:28: Don’t wait until the finish line to celebrate. 

 5:31: Reward yourself for both small and big milestones like treating yourself to a nice dinner for submitting the manuscript or taking a walk after solving a tricky chapter. 

 5:38: Both things I did. 

 5:40: Number 12, surround yourself with fellow curious minds. 

 5:43: This book wouldn’t exist without the support of the Nes Labs community, my editors, beta readers, and everyone who offered feedback. 

 5:50: While creative work can be a solitary activity, remember you don’t have to do it all alone. 

 5:54: If you’d like to know everything about the wild journey of creating this book from finding an agent to the auction with over 10 publishers, choosing the title and changing editors, I’m hosting a behind the book session on October 18th. 

 6:05: You’ll also get an exclusive look at the book proposal, which I won’t share anywhere else. 

 6:10: The 21 covers we consider how we tested them, and how I managed the entire project without sacrificing my mental health. 

 6:16: Pre-order today to get access. 

 6:18: If you can’t join live, you can send your questions and access the recording with all the answers. 

 6:22: Pre-order now. 

 6:23: FAQ. 

 6:24: How can I support the book launch? 

 6:26: The best way is to pre-order the book and share the news with your friends and colleagues. 

 6:29: You can forward them this newsletter or share the Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube announcements. 

 6:33: And if you run a book club or would like to order for your team, just let me know by replying to this email. 

 6:38: When will I receive my bonuses? 

 6:40: You will receive an email upon submitting your receipt on the Tiny Experiments website, which will explain how to access your bonuses. 

 6:45: Please email tinyexperiments@nslabs.com if you didn’t receive a confirmation. 

 6:50: How do I join the behind the book session? 

 6:52: You can join the session on October 18th by pre-ordering at least one copy of Tiny Experiments by October 17th. 

 6:57: There will also be an opportunity to submit your questions in advance if you can’t join live. 

 7:01: Find out more about the session here. 

 7:03: Take care, and Laura. 

 7:05: PS, please do hit reply if you have any questions about the book. 

 7:07: I’ll do my best to answer everyone. 

 7:12: How fun was this episode and Laura is so humble. 

 7:17: Let me backtrack a second. 

 7:19: Close to the end of season two, I asked all our past guests if they had recommendations for future guests, and Rand Fishkin recommended and Laura. 

 7:27: So obviously, I took a look at her site, but I trusted Rand’s recommendation and I didn’t do extensive research. 

 7:33: I didn’t even look at her social profiles or anything, so I had no idea how huge her audience is. 

 7:39: And even when she set her numbers on the episode, it still didn’t register. 

 7:43: Only now, when I started working on the show notes and the takeaways, did I see her book reviews, and they are all from the who’s who of the marketing and neuroscience worlds. 

 7:51: So I am humbled by her humility and just the tiniest Embarrassed that I had no clue who I was talking to. 

 7:58: But it does remind me again how human even the quote unquote big guys are. 

 8:03: Sometimes we put our mentors on pedestals and granted, there are some who do put up fences, but most people we admire are really just approachable and friendly and helpful. 

 8:12: OK, let’s get into our actual takeaways. 

 8:15: And Laura’s newsletter is so fun. 

 8:16: I love how she gives us the really fascinating neuroscience information that really improves our lives, but in an approachable personal way. 

 8:24: That personal touch makes all the difference for two reasons. 

 8:27: Number 1, it turns dry information into a story, and we humans love us a good story. 

 8:32: And#2, it also makes it that much more tactical and applicable. 

 8:36: Instead of it just being theoretical information, it becomes something we can use in our lives, which just reminds me again how nothing is boring. 

 8:44: It’s just the way we package it, which is obviously our jobs as marketers. 

 8:49: I see this all the time with clients or on consultations with people in quote unquote boring industries. 

 8:56: Once you start talking to the people behind the product, it’s suddenly so interesting. 

 9:00: It becomes a solution to their struggles or a peek into their daily lives, it becomes a story. 

 9:06: So take away number one, use storytelling to make boring, interesting and to move information from theoretical to applicable. 

 9:13: And Laura mentioned a really, really important point when she was talking about sitting down to write this email. 

 9:18: She said she went back to first principles to figure out what she wanted her readers to feel. 

 9:23: Because takeaway#2 is that email is all about relationships and relationships are emotional. 

 9:30: We’re not just trying to convey information. 

 9:32: We’re trying to build that emotional connection. 

 9:34: I still hear the conundrum that Anne La faced when writing this email. 

 9:38: For 5 years, she’s been delivering a certain structure every Thursday, and then suddenly she’s going to send a self-serving piece of non-content that feels so scary and yes, like a breach of trust. 

 9:49: But email is all about taking risks. 

 9:51: We can’t learn if we can’t test. 

 9:53: The trick is to make the risk educated or safe. 

 9:57: So how did she make her risk feel safer? 

 9:59: The cool thing is that the answer was in her problem. 

 10:02: She had built this relationship for years, so she didn’t want to break their trust. 

 10:06: So she used that depth of relationship to trust that this could be, as she said, a conversation with her readers. 

 10:13: She could try it and see if they were OK with her breaking the structure, which, by the way, points back to her admiration for James Clare for being flexible and allowing his newsletter to evolve. 

 10:22: This is natural. 

 10:23: As creators, our work is going to change as we do. 

 10:27: But that’s a side point. 

 10:28: Our main takeaway, and this is takeaway number 3, is to take risks, especially if they feel more authentic. 

 10:34: Then, massage your strategy so you find angles that make your risk feel safer or even better, actually safer. 

 10:41: Another way she lowered the risk of this email is that she kept her structure the same even as the content changed. 

 10:47: She also, by the way, filled it with amazing content. 

 10:50: Keeping the structure the same gave some familiarity, and that familiarity lowered the discomfort of the change. 

 10:57: Interestingly, we also like change because while I don’t think familiarity breeds contempt in the email world, it does breed disengagement. 

 11:06: And this is where pattern interrupts come in. 

 11:08: Pattern interrupts are why those risks are so important. 

 11:11: Which is takeaway number 4. 

 11:13: Introduce pattern interrupts to balance familiarity with freshness. 

 11:17: Changing things up gives that surge of new, while maintaining certain elements gives us that allowance to change without making things feel too uncomfortable. 

 11:25: And Laur mentioned how she’ll be plugging the book in every email, but rewriting the blurb to keep it fresh. 

 11:30: All in all, I think she has a really good handle on what to keep consistent, so things feel familiar and comfortable and want to change up to keep things fresh. 

 11:38: But anyway, she said she’s especially leaning on testimonials for this blurb. 

 11:42: I love this strategy, and it’s one that I love to use in giant staff sequences, especially in free trial or upgrade flows. 

 11:48: Usually, we have so many testimonials, way more than we could use. 

 11:52: Testimonial pages get ignored or just feel really overwhelming to the reader. 

 11:56: Putting one in each email means each one gets its time in the sun. 

 12:00: Readers can really focus on it, but we get to use a lot because we send a lot of emails. 

 12:05: So take away number 5. 

 12:07: The email signature is a great place to sneak in some extra content or persuasion, especially effective our testimonials. 

 12:13: They’re interesting, cover a variety of angles and don’t get stale because we have so many. 

 12:19: OK, so here’s a question you might have been wondering. 

 12:21: Why didn’t Anne Lauren just send her regular newsletter on Thursday in a separate book reveal launch email a different day of the week? 

 12:27: First, well, I do think most people freak out a little too much about sending too many emails. 

 12:32: There is something to frequency anxiety. 

 12:35: When we respect our readers’ inboxes, we do try to write only as much as we need to and send only as much as we need to. 

 12:42: But more importantly, when you’ve worked so hard to build your audience and create really good consistent content that they always look forward to reading, why would you not tap into that engagement? 

 12:51: If your audience always expects your newsletter on Thursday and is trained to read your content, then why would you send something this important outside that relationship? 

 13:01: And I think this goes back to that whole contract idea that Annor mentioned, which I think is such a good analogy. 

 13:07: We need to trust that if we’ve upheld our side, that if we’ve provided that amazing content they’re looking for, they won’t leave us if we cash in on the value within their email address. 

 13:17: See, the only value we get from creating this consistent content is if they promote our newsletter or buy our products. 

 13:24: I mean, there’s also ego stroking, but that doesn’t pay the bills. 

 13:28: Instinctively, we know this. 

 13:29: Remember, and Laura used the word trust. 

 13:32: We’re building a relationship and healthy relationships aren’t one sided. 

 13:36: We can’t just give, give, give. 

 13:37: We also need to receive. 

 13:39: There is, by the way, a subset of people who never promote, but I don’t know many who succeed in this. 

 13:45: As humans, we need to be reminded that people offer products or services, even people you love and would hire as soon as the problem they solve comes up. 

 13:53: You just don’t think of them as strongly in that category if you’ve never heard them talk about their services or products. 

 13:59: So take away number 6, don’t be scared to sell. 

 14:02: If you’ve given high quality value, it’s your contractual right to promote yourself to readers, because at the end of the day, this email is a sales email. 

 14:11: It’s just a really good one. 

 14:12: There’s so much value within it that you don’t mind the selling. 

 14:16: And honestly, 90% of your sales emails should be like this. 

 14:20: They should give value. 

 14:22: There is room for those close urgency emails and even for those sale extension emails, but most of your sales emails should be a mix of content and sale. 

 14:32: How do you do this with e-commerce? 

 14:34: There are tons of ideas in my welcome playbook. 

 14:36: You can find the link in the show notes, but I will also add that when you sign up for e-commerce companies, the value sometimes is just having something to open and read, some inbox inspiration, a place to check out different styles, kind of like window shopping, but in your inbox. 

 14:51: So take away number 7. 

 14:53: Sure, don’t be scared of selling, but also make sure that you’re selling is not just sale sale, sale, and also provides value within itself. 

 15:01: Back to that thought about training your audience to read your emails every Thursday. 

 15:05: Consistency is amazing as a creator. 

 15:07: I’ve been told it really builds your writing muscles, and there is something super disciplined about having those consistent deadlines. 

 15:14: And obviously, as an audience, it really builds that relationship. 

 15:18: But the flip side is that it’s also really hard to keep consistent content engaging. 

 15:24: I know a lot of newsletters rely on subject lines like number or whatever, and I know I find them so easy to ignore, even the ones that I know mentally that I like. 

 15:35: There’s just something about knowing that they come every week. 

 15:38: There’s no FOMO. 

 15:39: So if the subject line doesn’t pull me in, I’ll just read the next one. 

 15:43: Here’s an interesting fact. 

 15:44: I surveyed my list a few years ago asking if I should be consistent, if they wanted a weekly newsletter, and they said no. 

 15:51: They like the randomness, but perhaps more importantly, because the content stays fresher when I only send emails when I have a specific thought to share. 

 16:00: And by the way, that’s just another reason not to work on things behind the garage door, as Anne Laura mentioned. 

 16:05: Sometimes your ideas are not what your readers want, and if they are, well, they’ll feel that much more excited about it if they contributed or got sneak peeks. 

 16:14: But back to our takeaway,#8 at this point. 

 16:17: If you’re going to send a consistent newsletter, how will you keep things engaging week after week after week? 

 16:23: 5 years in, how will you ensure your loyal readers will keep reading? 

 16:27: Maybe this is why we see newsletters evolve. 

 16:30: One thing I noticed about this email is that Enler’s voice came through really strongly in her email. 

 16:36: When I read the email before meeting her, I thought it was a good email with a good strong voice. 

 16:40: When I read it after meeting her to record it for the podcast, it totally read to me in her voice. 

 16:46: I didn’t pick it up before, but once I met her, I totally heard her reading it in my mind. 

 16:51: It’s so amazing that she has aligned her red voice with her writing voice. 

 16:55: But even cooler, now that she included a video, her entire audience can hear her quote unquote, read the emails to them. 

 17:02: So take away number 9. 

 17:03: Obviously, I think email is the king, but sometimes the written word. 

 17:07: Isn’t enough, and mixing media can deepen the relationship or provide more depth. 

 17:11: Fun fact, I used to do consults with the founder of T Travel, which is like a mini audiobook for emails. 

 17:16: It was really interesting to test it out on my own readers. 

 17:19: Hm, maybe I should try it again now that I have a podcast. 

 17:23: One thing that I found really admirable is that Anloor didn’t just trust her content to sell itself. 

 17:28: She knew it was amazing stuff and yet made sure to provide additional personal value in the slack groups before promoting her newsletter, which is chock full of value. 

 17:38: Here she was only giving value in the newsletter, but she’s sold it by giving even more value. 

 17:43: That’s definitely a surefire way to build trust. 

 17:45: So take away number 10, nothing sells itself, not even great free content that your audience will love. 

 17:52: Next. 

 17:53: Here’s just a reminder that if you want to tap the Creator network and Laura mentioned by kit to grow your list, use my affiliate link to earn yourself a free 30 minute consult. 

 18:04: OK, one more tiny takeaway. 

 18:06: Did you hear her say how she puts love into her newsletter? 

 18:08: I love that. 

 18:10: It’s such an important component and it makes all the difference in that reader relationship. 

 18:14: Thanks for geeking out with me about that email story. 

 18:17: If you enjoyed either of these episodes, you’ll probably enjoy getting my emails. 

 18:20: Plus you’ll never miss another episode. 

 18:22: Sign up at Nikkialbus.com/subscribe, and yes, that link is in the show notes.