I thought it would be an excellent case study and decided to share it with you.

The goal of the email is to invite prospects to register for a Forex coaching program organized by a reputable trading firm. The problem? NOT A SINGLE SOUL signed up, even though the email was successfully delivered and opened by a total of 16,800 people in the mailing list.

Here’s what the email said:

Hello Marc,

Have you ever considered a career as a private trader?

Did you know many private Foreign Exchange traders take home £100k to £2m per annum, with some traders starting with less than £10k in their trading accounts?

ACME is one of the world’s Largest Foreign Exchange Company and is running some completely free workshops to show you how you can get started, regardless as to whether you choose to trade full time or part-time as a positive addition to your income.

Click here for more info.

What do think is wrong with the email? Why do you think it’s converting poorly?

While the copy can dramatically be improved (more of which is discussed in the eBook, QuickStart Copywriter, in Section 8: Examples of Sales Writing that Work and Section 13: How to Craft Persuasive Body Copy), the biggest problem here is that there is no real urgency or call to action. In my professional opinion, “Click here for more info” is not compelling enough for me to click the link.

I would tell my readers a little more about the benefits they will discover when they click the link or say something like “Confirm your seat now and get a 50-page report revealing insider secrets from the world’s highest paid Forex traders!” or some other offer that will entice people to click on the link.

Remember, the better your call to action, the higher your chances of getting your links opened by your readers – And making a sale!

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I am therefore proud to present to you my YouTube video channel: www.YouTube.com/quickstartcopywriter.

I’ve deliberately kept my videos short, yet to the point so that even if you’re in a hurry to write an urgent document or email, you’ll still be able to learn a quick tip or two to improve the quality of your work.

I hope you’ll enjoy my videos and please subscribe to my channel if you like it

I don’t know about you, but many of the people I’ve worked with including Sales Managers, Marketing Directors, and even CEOs, aren’t aware of a small BUT fatal email marketing mistake that’s killing their chances of closing an important business deal.

That fatal mistake is sending emails with contents that have been written in Microsoft Word.

You might be wondering, “What’s wrong with that?”

Well, see what happens when you do that (You may have to click to enlarge the image for a better view):

Notice the wierd looking symbols? (�)

That happens because email software such as Outlook, and sometimes Gmail, aren’t able to properly read certain characters from Microsoft Word. Those characters include punctuation marks such as hyphens (-), single apostrophes (‘) and double apostrophes (“).

Imagine receiving an email riddled with funny symbols. What would your first impression be? Believe me, unless you personally know the recipient, most people wouldn’t even bother to highlight you to the mistake and would simply delete your email – and that could cost you not just a sale, but the image and credibility of your company.

So never send emails with contents that have been written in Microsoft Word. Make sure your contents are always set to plain text and always send a test email so you can correct any embarrassing errors before your clients discover them. 

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It delights me to be writing this blog post as thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy of my Quickstart Copywriter ebook along withInstant Emails

I never expected to receive such an overwhelmingly positive response within my first week of sale and I’d like to dedicate my joy to you!

Some of you have been very kind to leave me with encouraging words by email and I cannot express how much I appreciate your feedback and loving support. Your positive response affirms that I’m on the right track and has served as an inspiration for me to continue delivering even more useful content that will help you in your work, business and personal correspondences with your loved ones.

If you haven’t downloaded my ebooks but are planning to get one, here’s something to take note. You should be receiving a ‘Thank You’ page with links to download your ebooks right after you’ve made payment through Paypal. But if for some reason you missed the page or it didn’t show up, please check your inbox for the download links. You should be receiving a personal email from me shortly after you make payment.

Again, thank you so much for your support and be sure to check back here for more updates and copywriting tips!

I’d like to celebrate my 50th blog post with the official launch of my copywriting ebook - QuickStart Copywriter: Get all the nuts and bolts you need to start writing like an expert Copywriter in 7 days!

This ebook includes all the help you need to get the confidence to write captivating, results-generating sales letters, business emails, direct mails, ads, websites and more – in as quickly as 7 days.

That’s right, it has all the professional secrets I’ve used to promote hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of coaching programs from the world’s most high profile speakers and authors. Now you’ll be learning those exact winning copywriting strategies to get real results from your writing at a value you can afford.

To learn more – click here!

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I want to personally thank you for your encouraging emails for me to make a copywriting ebook available soon.

In addition to the copywriting tips you can learn my blog, I’d love to help you improve your writing even further with an easy-to-follow copywriting guide that you can download, print and use in your work, business or personal correspondences with your friends.

In the day, I clock up to 11+ hours in the office and even longer hours when I am involved in special projects. Needless to say, it can be very tiring at the end of the day! But with your unyielding support, I’ve discovered the strength, inspiration and motivation to invest my time at night, at home, to make your special request come true.

I hope you’ll love my final product and look forward to delivering it to you soon

To your copywriting success,
Marc
Editor
QuickStart Copywriting

If your readers belong to a specific group of people who understand only basic English, then keep the style of your writing as simple as possible. It wouldn’t make sense to use writing devices like metaphors or similes or clever wordplay, which would confuse your readers even more.

The best way to increase the number of responses to your ads is to understand what a certain market segment want to hear and say it to them.

What is the ideal tone of voice you should use to motivate health buffs? What sort of language would appeal to teenage rock music fans? What would move die-hard romantics to tears?

You can apply this writing technique, among a string of other response-pulling strategies as taught in the QuickStart Copywriter eBook, to any form of sales copy. It can be anything, from a Facebook Fan Page wall post or even a script for face-to-face selling.

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In copywriting, we call it the “hot spot” – the word that makes the biggest impact on readers. So keep it for powerful words.

Instead of:

You will feel refreshed when you use XYZ brand of body foam.

Say:

XYZ brand of body foam leaves your skin feeling clean and refreshed!

Instead of:

You’ll learn how to dress to impress when you read this article

Say:

This article will teach you how to dress to impress!

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To successfully sell a product, you must know exactly what consumers want.

There’s no shortcut to sales and advertising. You cannot simply slap a clever headline or fancy design on to your ad just to make your readers or client feel good and hope to get away with it.

You have to know exactly what it is that you’re selling. To do that, you have to research as much as you can about the product and become an expert in that category – someone who can offer solutions that save consumers’ time, effort and money.

Here’s a checklist to help you do your product research:

Learn more about the product and how it works

Use the product. If you’re writing about health supplements, sample them. If you’re promoting a clothing brand, wear the clothes. Selling party tickets? Go attend an event and get a first-hand feel of the party atmosphere. Nothing beats personal experience.

Interview your client or the maker of the product

Get as much as information as you can from your client about the product. Interview marketing staff, talk to the boss. Get and study product brochures or any form of marketing material from both your client and the competition.

Ask local retailers what they think about the product and the competition

Retailers are always keen to give you constructive feedback about the competitive advantages and disadvantages about your client’s brand and product.

Find out what actual consumers think. Ask questions.

One of the best ways to learn more about a product is by word of mouth. Ask consumers what they do or don’t like about the product. Why do they choose or avoid it? What does it do for them? What would make them buy it?

Check the Internet and other sources of online information

Type key words related to your product or its category into search engines and go where the results lead. Join social media networks such as Facebook fan pages and discussion groups to see what gets people talking about the product.

Learn about the product category

If you’re writing an ad to sell music CDs of a particular genre, say, Rock for example, it’ll be advantageous to find out more about that genre. Walk into a music shop and refer to Rock music magazines or surf the Internet. Study the language that Rock music fans use – what are some of the popular expressions and terms that you can adapt into your writing?

Visit the library

Refer to encyclopedias (How is Vodka made? How do you brew beer?), dictionaries (What’s RAM? What’s ROM?), audio and video material, or other valuable sources of information otherwise unavailable to you.

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But on email, you don’t have either of these advantages, so it’s important to learn writing techniques that can help you create rapport with your readers, customers and colleagues.

Here are some email writing techniques you can use.

Engage your reader by using positive affirmations

In general, everyone loves reading messages that bring a smile to their faces. With this rule in mind, always be warm and friendly in your opening. Use positive affirmations where appropriate.

Here are some examples:

• Thank you for taking the time to meet up with us earlier this afternoon. It gave us a good opportunity to learn more about the new project.
• Thanks for calling me today. It was nice of you to clarify this issue with me personally.
• I’m so happy to hear this good news from you! You’ve worked really hard the past few months and I think you deserved to win the “Best Staff of the Month” award. Congratulations!

Be personal, write with emotion and empathy

Emotive and sensory words add texture and dimension to every message that you write. But most people (office managers especially) are so keen to get straight to the point that they often sound rude, authoritative and even offensive.

Remember that people typically respond better to positive language and messages that sound personal. For example:

• Let me know what are some of the questions you have. I’ll help you sort out this problem.
• I appreciate your understanding in trying to resolve this issue.
• I hope I can help you solve this problem very soon.
• I understand your concern. I’m always here to help. Please call me.
• What are some of your concerns? I’ll be most happy to help you out.

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