Did you know that the majority of my subscribers are male?
It may even be as high as 80%.
Sadly, my Maverick ways don’t always sit well with my readers of the female persuasion.
Can you believe that?
I mean, I’m ultra careful not to offend, and I intentionally go out of my way to avoid using any “sexist language” because I know you chicks hate that type of thing. I know this to be true because I was talking to my old lady the other day as she was ironing my clothes, and she mentioned how much women hate sexist language.
Look, I may not attract many female subscribers, but the ones I do attract…boy oh boy, they are top quality people.
They have a sense of humor (putting up with my shenanigans, they’d have to), they don’t take life too seriously, and they are business savvy as the day is long.
Frankly, they put most of my male subscribers to shame.
Now, before I get to today’s “moolah making lesson,” let me make 3 statements about women:
(1) Women are God’s most beautiful creation. Hands down. Period. Case closed.
(2) All women should learn some form of self-defense.
(3) I’m glad I’m not one.
Would you let me quickly elaborate on statement #2?
Thank you.
Listen: I think women should know how to protect themselves from male predators, because, well, you just never know, do you? And I’m not just talking about your garden variety street mugger or predator who lurks in parking lots or public parks after dark, either. No. I’m talking about those predators who wear white collars or coats and who have diplomas and degrees hanging on their office wall.
A case in point:
I just read an article about a 30-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by a massage therapist.
This woman was given a full body massage even after she specifically stated she only wanted a neck massage.
“He started groping my breasts. I wanted him to stop, but I remained silent. I mean, I was the patient and he was the professional. I think I was too shocked to say anything”, said the woman (victim).
You know, this woman should have got up and kicked this guy in the nuts and then reported this scumbag to the authorities. Then, once he’s locked up, this pervert could feel what it’s like to have his chest groped – by other bigger and stronger perverts… at shower time!
There was another case discussed in that article where an eastern medical practitioner was treating a lady who had asthma.
This male practitioner told the woman that if he massaged her breasts, it would help strengthen her lungs.
Can you believe that?
This deviant should have his disreputable fingers broken…one at a time…with a sledgehammer!
Well anyway, this lady let him massage her breasts thinking it would help alleviate her asthma.
“Who was I to argue with eastern medical practices?” said the victim.
Now, forgive me if this seems a little tasteless, but I’m now going to segue into a copywriting lesson.
Here beginneth the lesson:
Listen, the stories above highlight a deeply entrenched quirk in human nature.
And that quirk is this:
We are more trusting of specialists or experts than we are of anyone else (often to a fault).
Okay, so if this is true (and it is), as email marketers, what do we do with this insight into human nature?
Here’s what we do:
We Exploit it For All It’s Worth!
Yep, we take this knowledge (or insight into human nature), and we work it into our sales copy.
In other words, we know that people more readily believe and trust experts and specialists, so we design all our sales copy to play into this quirk of human nature – in an ethical way, of course. (Do I always have to keep saying that?)
Here’s what you should do:
You should look at your product or service and think of every expert or specialist who is involved with your service, or every expert or specialist who took part in the creation of your product. Then what you do is…..
….You Tell Your Subscribers About Them!
That’s right, you should always be talking about these experts and specialists in your emails.
I mean, if you say your silver jewelry is finely crafted, your prospect thinks, “Well whoop de freakin doo!, Every jeweler says that!”
But…if you say – this is just an example – that your silver jewelry is handcrafted by a British man named William Classman who is a master jeweler and silversmith and the son of world-renowned master jeweler William Classman senior, and, you mention that good ol’ William also learned his craft by sitting at the feet of very best silver jewellery craftsman in England, and, William is nicknamed “The artist” because his skill and unique ability are so breathtakingly rare. And…Willian was given this nickname by his teachers at the Victoria St. School of Jewellers and Silversmiths which he now oversees and sometimes holds classes……and…..and….etc, etc, etc.
See all that credibility?
Now your subscribers have something to hang their hat on.
Let’s keep rolling with the examples, eh?
Let’s say you give financial advice. Where did you study? Who are the finance gurus you have studied and the feet of? Well, for crying out loud, let your subscribers know about these experts.
Listen, you can gain a little trust by YOU being the expert and, you can garner even MORE trust by borrowing the credibility of someone who is even more of an expert than your-righteous-self.
For example, you, being the expert can tell your subscribers that XY stock is a great investment, and your subscribers will think, “Hmn, sounds interesting.” But, if you tell them about a stock that Warren Buffet just declared to be a real winner, then your subscribers will think, “Hot diggity! I’m checkin’ that our fo’ sho!”
Yes indeed, the level of trust your subscribers give is in direct correlation with the level of expert you present them.
You follow?
OK, here’s another example of borrowing credibility:
Let’s say you’re a health expert – a real one, not one of those Instagram health experts whose qualifications are…hmm….what are the words I’m looking for?…. oh, yeah – NON EXISTENT!
These Instagram exp-hurts are basically bikini models who attract a large audience by, well, looking gorgeous. However, they wouldn’t know how to give sound health advice any more than Boris Becker could give sound financial advice.
Whatever.
Anyway, let’s say you are writing an email to your subscribers wherein you attempt to debunk the myth that eggs cause high cholesterol.
Now, little old you could say: “Eggs are not the poison that the mass media make them out to be. In fact, eating 10 eggs a day would actually make your arteries cleaner and sharpen your memory, too.” And that would carry some weight, but not nearly as much weight as someone saying it who is…
..The World’s Foremost Authority on Food and Nutrition.
Like, for example, a registered dietitian at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.
Now suddenly those words carry more weight than Aretha Franklin the day after Thanksgiving!
Sorry.
There I go again, offending my female subscribers.
See, this is why I can’t keep a list of women subscribers.
Well anyway, I think I should probably wind up the lesson here.
If you don’t get the importance of infusing credibility and proof into your sales copy after all that, you are truly beyond all help.
P.S.
If you are sick of your subscribers ignoring your email “call to actions”, and you feel that your emails are not pulling in the profits you know they could, then you should get your hands on the Maverick’s Email Playbook. You can check it out here: The Maverick’s Email Playbook
Hope you enjoyed today’s lesson.
Chat soon.
Kelvin
Email Marketing Maverick
