James Warnet
E-Commerce Email Copywriter
Truth: Traditional email marketing is just broken and most people hate it.
Especially me.
“Well that’s a weird way to tell me about yourself…”
Maybe.
Then again, if you wanted to know who I was and how I was going to help you, wouldn’t you want to know who I really was and what motivates me to do what I do?
I know I would.
What really drives me, and how I view my place in the world, forms the foundation of everything I do. It can be seen in every email I write, every promotion I create, and every connection I make. It’s also something that a majority of marketers abuse like a rented sports car…
Authenticity.
“Traditional” email marketing has evolved into a twisted version of the digital side show. A constant game of one-upmanship with the end goal being the opportunity to manipulate some poor sap into parting with their money.
Need more revenue? Use pictures of whatever the reader wishes they could be.
Open rates dropping off? Just use more exclamation points!!!!!
At any given time, most of our inboxes look something like this…
It’s no wonder most businesses just can’t seem to get email marketing working well for them without being forced to play this game until they get too exhausted to continue.
That breaks my heart because nowhere in there is the desire to truly help the customer solve problems in their life. All those emails care about is making the sale and moving on.
Any business that is looking for ways to “trip” people into buying their products or services by yelling louder, using “trigger words”, or otherwise just blasting away until the customer relents…
Is a business I refuse to work with.
I am in business to help those who deeply and truly care about their customers and their problems. Who don’t see their customers as walking ATM machines that just need a good shakin’.
Authenticity is at the core of my business. It guides my marketing, my story-telling, and it is the not-so-secret sauce to how I create campaigns that people love. And it’s obvious why it works so well.
Merriam-Webster’s defines authentic as: true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.
The same way you are with your closest family and friends. The people who love you the most and would do anything for you. The people who know your faults but will still move mountains for you at the drop of a hat.
Among your loved ones, you are true to your own personality, spirit or character.
Let that sink in.
If we (as businesses) truly and deeply care about our customers and their problems… Just like we would care about our parent’s/sibling’s/children’s problems… Why would we be anything but authentic.