Welcome to another edition of the Hidden Tempo newsletter!

Today’s content is a little different from what we’ve discussed in the past, but before we get to it, we have had a significant number of new subscribers join recently.

Side note: We’re well on the road to 10,000 subscribers since launching in January, and at the current rate of growth, we should hit that goal by the beginning of May. Overall, my goal is to get to 50,000 subscribers by the end of the year and make this the best ecom newsletter with the most actionable advice on the market.

Here’s a little recap if you’re new:

We’ve spent quite some time analyzing the Meta ads funnels for several brands in recent editions of the newsletter, including supplements (gummies and pets) and fire safety products.

The common theme among these brands, which use a toned down version of direct response marketing, is that they effectively utilize:

1. Advertorials like this one and this one

2. Longer form ads (what I call mini-VSLs) like this one and this one.

We’ll dive deeper into longer form VSLs and more ad creatives that utilize a blend of branding and direct response in future newsletters, but today, I want to focus a little bit more on the backend.

My Email Marketing Hot Takes

1. Copywriting for emails doesn’t matter (unless you understand direct response copy)

Most brands and the marketers running email marketing for them don’t have a complete grasp on how to write effective direct response copy.

So if you’re going to write bland, straightforward copy announcing a sale or a product drop, it really doesn’t matter what the email copy really is.

All that matters is that an email goes out and serves as another point of contact with your subscribers.

That’s fine.

You can continue operating in that fashion because what you write won’t really move the needle as long as you clearly state the details of the offer.

The truth is most email marketing agencies won’t write high converting copy anyway.

However, if you do end up working with an email marketer or copywriter who understands direct response marketing, you will see your open rates and conversion rates skyrocket.

An effective email marketer uses direct response copy and split tests the elements below:

1. Angle

2. Offer

3. Subject line

With strong direct response copy (it doesn’t have to be super aggressive), you can identify winning emails (similar to winning ads) that when sent out to your list, consistently drive the highest revenue out of any of your campaigns.

Here’s a good example of a winning email campaign:

Clearly, Biotrust, a 9 figure direct response brand, found one email campaign (among others) that consistently drives the maximum amount of revenue per send.

Winning email campaigns are created with relentless split tests and optimizations, and once you have one, you can re-use it multiples times a year (sometimes even per month).

You can even change the subject line while keeping the body the same and see an improvement in performance.

Bottom line?

Email copy only matters if you can write great copy.

Otherwise, it’s best to treat your emails as another impression in the customer journey.

2. Most brands would be better off sending a higher volume of emails

This is straightforward, but many marketers and brand owners are resistant to this idea.

More emails = more revenue.

You don’t have to worry about your unsubscribe rate too much because your most engaged subscribers will likely not unsubscribe even if you email them daily.

In fact, for many of my own clients, I’m able to send daily emails without a significant increase in the unsubscribe rate and without a negative impact on deliverability. This nearly always leads to an increase in incremental revenue from email.

Those who unsubscribe without purchasing in the first seven to 10 days after joining your list were highly unlikely to make a purchase anyway.

As alluded to above, emails should be treated as ad impressions.

As the frequency of those impressions increases, so do the sales. Plus, it helps when you have good copy to go along with it.

3. Most of your email revenue comes from subscribers who recently joined and loyal customers. Focus on them.

Check out your customer segments and the email revenue generated from them.

The majority of your email revenue comes from repeat purchasers who have bought at least two or three times.

The other core customer segment that makes up a substantial percentage of your email revenue are new subscribers who purchase for the first time.

New subscribers, including those who are on the fence about their purchase, need to be contacted more frequently to encourage them to make a purchase.

The goal is to capture value from new subscribers as quickly as possible because the likelihood that they’ll hang around to purchase more than two weeks after joining is extremely low.

The second and equally important goal is to retain your most loyal customers. You can email them frequently without annoying them, which provides more opportunities for highly profitable campaigns.

Make sure you’re treating customers and non-customers differently by tailoring your messaging to each group.

This means each customer segment receives different emails, offers, and messaging. In my experience, this can drive up to two or three times more revenue from email.

4. Email/SMS marketing doesn’t add incremental revenue to your business. It only allows you to reach your maximum retention potential.

Generally, the percentage of customers you retain and turn into repeat buyers is limited based on your product category, your line of SKUs, and brand positioning.

This has nothing to do with optimizing flows, campaign strategy, and split testing subject lines.

Optimizing your email and SMS marketing is essential, but it only allows you to realize the maximum potential of your retention capabilities.

A solid email and SMS marketing strategy is only table stakes.

Improving retention goes much beyond communicating with your customers consistently.

5. Your flows aren’t long enough

Many marketers underestimate the potential of email flows and their impact on the customer journey. While shorter flows may seem efficient, they often fail to fully nurture leads or guide customers through complex decision-making processes.

Extending the length of email flows allows for more comprehensive storytelling, deeper engagement, and better conversion rates by addressing various stages of the customer lifecycle in greater detail.

In particular, I’ve seen great success with welcome sequences consisting of 10 daily emails or more.

I also have implemented longer abandoned checkout sequences that address customer objections and provide social proof. These go beyond the basic three to five email sequence many brands currently use.

Increase the length of your flows, and watch your email revenue increase.

That’s all I have for now.

I probably have several more “controversial” email marketing takes that I’ll share in future newsletters, but to be honest, if you’re a serious performance marketer, many of these takes aren’t so contrarian after all.

However, I’ve seen many email marketing agencies make critical mistakes when it comes to implementing an effective strategy that maximizes revenue.

By following the advice above, I guarantee that you’ll be able to drive more revenue from email and SMS than your current strategy is producing.

And if you need an expert who can implement branded direct response marketing into your email strategy, book a call with me here.

Talk soon,

Sharad

@pmktg00

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P.P.S. If you own or operate an e-commerce brand generating at least $1,000,000 in annual revenue, feel free to book a call with me to discuss how we can improve your ad creatives, landing pages, or email/SMS marketing strategy.

To further enhance your e-commerce and marketing skills, you may be interested in signing up for one of the options below:

1. Learn branded direct response copywriting and how to create high converting cold traffic funnels here.

2. Learn how to write advertorials here.