Another benefit in a long list of benefits of working with freelancers and agencies instead of hiring them in-house, besides the most obvious one which is that freelancers and agencies (usually) have specialized skill set and it ain’t their first rodeo, is as follows:
Not only do you not have to pay for a company-branded email address for them, but this company-less-branded is poised to go on super secret incognito spy missions on your behalf.
I’m currently knee-deep in emails for a few of my client’s competitors.
And even I have to say—and I deal in this world more than the average person—boy are the emails bad.
I won’t go into full detail here in order not to expose myself, but let me give you a glimpse of how bad some of our competitors’ emails are:
* I couldn’t even find an email sign-up form on one site. When I finally found it (which was tucked away deep on the /blog page—and the /blog page alone), I was shocked how bad the first “welcome” email was. Why? Well, it was no “welcome” email at all. Despite the form promising to keep me up to date on the latest news (or whatever lame copy they had around their form), I’m not sure I’m even on the email list. Instead of a welcome or a double opt-in confirmation, I got a ticket from their support team saying my “ticket has been received.” Uhhhh - that’s NOT what I was doing. I wanted to learn more about your company. I wanted to see how you persuade leads to become customers. But all I got was a whole lotta nada!
* Another competitor refused to write emails longer than, checks email, 73 words. I’m not worthy of even 100 words? There was no persuasive power in the emails this competitor sent me. None whatsoever. They just reiterated that they have an offer and if I click the button I can take advantage of it. Nothing about benefits, features, or anything besides how much I could save. Worst part? While this competitor employs a welcome series, which makes them better than the first example, they also said hold my beer. Because their welcome series consists of maybe 3 different emails. There’s the first. Then the second. Then the third. Then they send the exact same second email again. And once again with the third email. I bet they’ll email in another 14 days and send the second email again. Pure laziness.
* Another competitor employed a more newsletter style approach. It’s obvious they’re more on the corporate side of my client’s niche. And while these emails are light years better than the first two, the bar couldn’t be set much lower with no email engine or a lazy one set up.
Besides these three, I’m certain I signed up for at least one more email list. And the real number is probably closer to two or three. Alas, they’ve neglected to send any emails and have been completely lost in the ether.
Now, I didn’t expect our competitors' emails to be in such a bad state. It kinda ruined my whole mission, which was to spy on them to see what I can bring over into our email strategy.
But it’s also given me a surge of confidence that my client has the tightest email game in the market. At least out of what I’ve seen thus far.
Anyway, there are several lessons packed into the bullets above and into the DNA of this email. Can you spot them all?
Whether you can or not - if you’re making similar mistakes, or see as big of an opportunity in tightening up your email game as I do in my client’s competitors, then, well, mayhap you should hit that reply button and hop on a call with Uncle John before Santa comes.
So, hit reply, and let’s set up a quick call to discuss how to make your emails the best in your niche.
John
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