Email’s job is to sell the click

When you’re selling or promoting something like an event or a new product, most companies forget what their emails are supposed to sell. Hint: it’s not the event or new product.

As MECLABS founder Dr. Flint McGlaughlin says, the purpose of an email isn’t to make the sale. “It’s to sell the click.”

In other words, your email’s purpose is to have them click so:

They view a video on your blog

They go to an event page for more details

They go to your info-packed product page

They read a special landing page selling your offer

And so on

As you can see, the landing page/web page is where you make the sale because that’s where you have room. And that’s where people are willing to give you more time.

So that’s where the heavy lifting should occur. Not in the email.

The email’s job is to sell the click. That’s it. The challenge is, you only get an average of 60-seconds to sell that click.

That’s ONLY after your subject line intrigued them enough to open the email. And after your copy was engaging enough for them to read it.

You only get 60 seconds or less to sell the click because most people are busy and slammed with emails. Plus 8 out of 10 people read emails on their phones.

When reading from tiny screens, people tend to have less patience.

To help you make a convincing point quickly, your email should contain 5 basic building blocks. Miss one, and your email could end up in the trash.

5 building blocks of a successful email

No matter what you’re selling, or what your email’s purpose, you’ll likely increase your success by following this basic email structure:

Subject line

Headline

Lede (also spelled lead)

Body

Call to action

These 5 building blocks act as your email’s basic skeleton. Like a human skeleton, taking one of these blocks out is like taking a thigh or other major bone out of your body. Sure, you can get by without it, but it’s a lot more challenging.

For a quick review, check out the tips at: www.blcopywriting.com.

Brenda Do is a direct-response copywriter and president of BL Copywriting.