“Oh, you thought design was more important than copy? And let me guess…you must also stink at cold emailing.”
Don Draper is dark, moody, and mysterious in all the right ways. He’s a creative genius who lounges on his office couch, sipping scotch while crafting the perfect slogan to capture the minds of America.
All day he sits around, writing the perfect copy and then convinces his clients to spend wads of cash on it.
And next thing you know, BOOM – millions of people are rushing to the store to buy their products.
Neville Medhora is the brown Don Draper
I don’t know if Neville likes scotch, but I do know that he’s a creative genius who has successfully used his copywriting skills to sell millions of dollars worth of products and services and is the cold email king.
Neville is the guy startups hire when they need help building a brand and writing copy that sells…aka he uses the written word to make more money!
At Hustle Con 2014 Neville explained why most startups suck at writing copy and how you can excel at it so you’ll make more money, increase conversions, think clearer, and build a brand people LOVE.
Here’s how Neville’s framework works.
How to write a successful cold email email?
I’ll give you the framework that’ll make your emails 99% more effective.
You spend 90% of your time focusing on yourself, so it’s fair to assume that’s how other folks think too.
So why on earth do most salespeople write cold emails that are SOOOO boring and all about themselves?
And even if you’re not a salesperson, everyone has to sell something once in a while, so this applies to you too.
I use to be just like this (sometimes I still am).
When writing an email to convince someone to buy or do something I’d write the WORST email. It’d be so boring and all about me.
But then I learned a little trick from Neville.
I also read about this trick in a handful of sales books and slowly learned that the best salespeople on earth use it.
This trick not only made a HUGE difference in my writing, but also my thinking process.
The AIDA formula
I’ll break it down:
A – Attention
I – Interest
D – Desire
A – Action
Now, I could write for days about the AIDA formula but right now I want to give you the cheat sheet so you get the basics and can use it TODAY.
1. Attention: Use a great opening line to grab the person’s attention.
Example- “I know you have a TON of emails in your inbox (Monday’s are crazy for me too)…so I’m gonna cut straight to the chase.”
Boring alternative- “Hey there. My name’s Sam and I work at Rental Inc., an apartment finding website located here in San Francisco.”
Don’t be too wacky, but start your email with something that sticks out. Write like you speak.
2. Interest: Once you’ve got their attention, grab their interest.
Example- “The average apartment on your site is going for $1,000 per month in rent, which means $33 per day. We’ve found that folks who use Craigslist have to wait 10 days on average to find a qualified tenant, which means you’re losing $330 per month for every apartment.
Boring alternative- “I’m interested in talking with your head of marketing so I can tell her why she should use my service.”
Tell them a story and make them interested! How can you help them?
3. Desire: Tell them all the benefits you have to offer
Example: “With Rental Inc., we guarantee to fill your apartment in just 5 days. Because we have over 3 million users a month on our site we can send you hundreds of quality tenants per month. The more people who are interested in your apartment, the more money you save!
Boring alternative: “We sell ad space on our site so we can help landlords fill apartments.”
List all the benefits you offer and why they are important.
4. Action: Tell them how to take action after reading the email
Example: “If you’re interested, simply respond to this email and we can schedule a chat. I’m free to chat on the phone today at 1 PM and 3 PM, so we can do a quick 15 minute phone call to discuss next step.
Boring alternative: “Please let me know how I can help.”
Be overly specific.
And that’s it. That’s the AIDA formula.
Before you write an email today, remember the AIDA formula. And to learn more about copywriting be sure to come to Hustle Con!