Why I commit this email copywriting sin

For those of you following along, I commit an email copywriting sin in almost every email I send.

But I do this for a very strategic reason — which is why blindly believing a HubSpot “How to email in 2022” article or an email guru is the height of fluffy nonsense.

Plus, Ben Settle (who I consider my mentor from afar) has drilled this point in my head:

Defile your industry’s norms at every chance you get.

So, what’s this email copywriting sin I make?

The vast majority of my emails don’t have a link. You can’t click anything, so my click-through rate (a vanity metric which some email gurus beat their chests about) is a whopping $0.

But I have a strategic reason for this (another lesson in there).

In fact, a subscriber recently wrote in and asked me why I don’t include links. And I gave him a detailed response.

Here’s what I said:

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There are a few strategic reasons I don't add links to my emails, though I do add links to 99% of emails I write for my clients.

Here's why I don't:

1. I don't care much about click rates, so adding links would just distract me. Yes, click rates can be useful, but when you're promoting the same offer in each email (like I do), they become less important. Just because someone reads an email doesn't mean they'll click, especially if they've clicked in the past. Asking for a reply is actually a better way to gauge who reads and who doesn't in this particular context.

2. Asking for replies helps my deliverability. ESPs (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) like when people reply to your emails. I do this in the occasional client email to help boost their deliverability too.

3. But the last reason is the most important:

The main reason I don't add links in my emails is because I don't want everyone booking a Discovery Call with me. My list is split up into two main segments: copywriters who want to improve and businesses who want to send more profitable emails.

I don't really want copywriters wasting my time on a call, but I'm happy to have them here learning from my emails each day. But I also don't want every business in the world to book a call with me either. I hate meetings, so I want as few as possible. So asking folks to reply gives me another chance to pre-qualify them and make sure we're a good fit before booking a call.

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Now, this ain’t the only email copywriting sin I commit. I also have the ugliest emails on the planet. I email (almost) every day — which the aforementioned HubSpot article would crucify you for because they write and dissect the most boring emails on the planet. You can’t send a daily email if it’s boring (unless you want your entire list to unsubscribe). Sometimes I even only talk about myself and my problems — which is another copywriting sin.

That’s what fun about knowing the “rules:”

You can break them at your will after you know ‘em.

Anywho:

If you need help defiling your industry’s norms, breaking email rules for profit whenever you want, and growing your business by as much as 264% each month with email…

Book a call here.

If it sounds like we’re a good fit to partner together, I’ll invite you on a Discovery Call. And we’ll take it from there.

John