Should your emails be about you or your reader?
There’s lots of bad advice on this topic.
“In my emails, do I talk about me or do I make it all about my reader?”
It’s a fair question, though. You’re a personal brand, after all. This whole ship is running because you’re you.
So when you’re writing emails to your list (consistently, right? RIGHT?!), who do you make them about?
As it usually is, my advice is different from what you’ll find in a Google search (which is exactly why you should listen to me).
And I’m gonna put it in all caps, as an underscore of my authority on this topic.
MAKE YOUR EMAILS ABOUT YOU.
Consider all of the marketing channels you have for a second:
Website
Social Media
Email
Your Mom’s Facebook page because, god bless her, she still shares everything like you’re 9 years old
Let’s break down how you write each.
Website — ABOUT THEM.
Anyone can go to your website. They’re looking for services (and free stuff) to help them with a problem. They don’t care about your bad date last week. They just want their life to be easier.
Social Media — (unless you’re Kylie Jenner) ABOUT THEM.
They’re looking for dopamine hits. They want recipes with a lot of cheese, cute outfits they’ll never fit into, and 30-second “clean my house with me” videos. They don’t care about the tantrum your kid threw last week. They just want to forget about the one their kid is throwing right now.
Now, email … EEEEMMMMAAAIIILLL.
What’s the difference between your website and social media presence … and email?
THEY SUBSCRIBED.
They consented. They welcomed you into their home. They’re pouring you a glass of wine and asking if you’d like to take this conversation to the bedroom.
They WANT to know about YOU.
So make your emails about YOU.
Your new subscriber traded their heart, soul, and information to be in the special group that gets to know about your bad date last week, and how shitty your kid is, and how much metamucil you had to take after you got high and ate two frozen pizzas.
Your emails are the place to get extra personal, and talk to your reader like you’re having coffee with them (in my case, we’re having wine).
Here are some of MY stories that got the most opens and engagement:
My desperate attempt to get a date to the 2004 Sadie Hawkins
An intense argument with my partner about which Oreo is best
My feelings on Halloween (and an adorable photo of me, circa 1999)
When you share your experience, your stories, your fuck-ups, your reader connects with you. You get responses like this:
“Oh my gosh, this is so me.”
“You are hilarious. That’s literally what I do.”
“I open your emails the instant they hit my inbox because I know I’m gonna crack up.”
Trust me — they’re not writing these responses to the stuffy “Newsletter #36” emails.
Ok, so then how do I sell?
One word: segues.
Link what you just talked about to what you sell.
You can do this one sentence. The least creative (and honestly — often easiest) way to do it is to use one of these:
that leads me to the (obvious, right?) segue …
this whole thing reminds me of [your industry]
now that I’ve told you that, you’re (clearly) thinking about [your thing]
The most talented among us can link a bad high school dooney & bourke purse to an upcoming copywriting course. (And sell it out.)
Because great emails just have to do two things:
Tell a story about YOU
Segue into your offer
If you want to see how I do this every week in my own emails, subscribe here.
If you want to learn how to do it yourself, The Writer’s Room is for you.
Your email list is the place to leeeean into all of that untapped narcissism.
If you need help finding it, book me here.