Presented live on Tuesday, April 20, 2021

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Your “last day” launch emails need to 1) create urgency and 2) inspire your prospects to take action.

Because just simply recapping your offer will not be enough to fight off inertia.

In part 3 of our behind-the-scenes Copy School launch, Jo shares one of our “last day” launch emails…

And she even walks you through a super flexible template that you can customize and use in your next campaign.

Let’s get moving, shall we?

Transcript

Behind-the-scenes Copy School Launch series:

Part 1: How to simplify your prelaunch campaign

Part 2: How to plan your launch funnel

Introduction [00:00]

Joanna Wiebe: I know people love templates. I do try to break people of their habits, however. Very often, when you’re doing emails in particular, a template can come in handy. Very handy because there’s so many different things that we have to say.

So today, we’re going to go through a template for the last day of a launch. Now the last day of launch can feel like oh easy everyone buys on the last day. Everybody knows that that’s the day that everybody buys.

That doesn’t mean one, that that’s true. And two, it doesn’t mean that all we have to do is say, here’s a recap of the offer. Come and get it. Or here’s a big old button, come by now. You can in your very last email, get away with something like that.

What to Expect in This Tutorial [00:52]

Joanna Wiebe: And the idea there is, that it’s strategic. That you’re doing it and you’re getting out of the way. But your whole last day of a launch. And that doesn’t just mean like, launching a membership program or something like that. It also means the last day of any campaign that you’re running.

You want to get out of the way of those people who are ready to buy. They got this final email or one of the final emails from you and we’re not going to share the last email of the last day. But this one that I’m sharing with you today, I think it was our first email today for one segment.

And you want to get out of the way early on in that email, but then there are the other people.

who still need to have certain things overcome for them right. So as you learn if you’re in Copy School, we talk about the switch quite a bit.

Older programs that we had in classic Copy School, we didn’t talk about the switch that much. We really focused on, do the research, do the writing and then edit in the awesome. But now we’re really fleshing that out.

Like all of the things that conversion copywriters and anybody in growth marketing all need to know. So one of the things that we’re worried about, jobs to be done, is the switch. And part of the switch is overcoming that force of inertia.

This habit, just sticking with the way things are. Change is a scary thing for a lot of people.

And it’s those people that we want to talk to. They’re still good prospects. They’re still great prospects, so we want to make sure that we’re doing what it takes.

How to Write a Last Day Launch Email [02:27]

Joanna Wiebe: I’m going to share my screen. Side note, this is the Copy School Sidekick up here this little button, you see you’re in Copy School. Install the sidekick in your Chrome or Firefox store. And then whenever you’re going through and writing something like an email, you can hop into the right lesson inside of Copy School. No big deal.

Template For “Last Day” Launch Email [02:48]

Joanna Wiebe: Okay, so here is the template you’ll see. It’s called “Last day of a Launch – Email Template – Interrupt inertia and overcome inaction.” This is the template itself, what you’re seeing here on the screen. And then below is the actual email that we sent to our students.

Once I put it into ActiveCampaign, I modify things as I go. I tinker, I like to change things a little bit as I go. So it’s not going to be a perfect match if you’re somebody who got this. Again, this is one email for one segment; we had three core segments plus conditional messages for others.

Different variations on those segments so there’s a lot going on. But this is one of those emails, and this was on the final day. This just came out this morning. You can see everything about the actual email that was sent here, and that will help you fill in this template.

I will walk you through the template and then I’ll walk you through how that looks in real life. What I also want to point out here is the formatting that we like to use in-house at Copyhackers. And we use it with our clients too. It’s very clean and easy to follow.

When to Send Your “Last Day” Email [04:00]

Joanna Wiebe: So I’ll walk you through that too, but I like to start with the date. We know, this is the April 20th

email, or these are the April 20 emails. The time, you might send it at different times of day or, in some cases, this might be a trigger.

That trigger could be just opened X, or whatever that might be. Then the segment, if you have a segment, what segment is that? And in this case, we don’t actually have the name of the segment because the entire document that this email was in was dedicated to that segment.

So we didn’t have to say that because it was already in the title that we had for that. We know this for us was for freelancers, we’re calling it the inertia ender. We worked with Prerna Malik on this. I’ve never actually said her last name out loud, it just occurred to me. Oh, I hope I just said it right.

So this is based on what her direction was for this email. That’s where this template is based on. We of course have, because I’m a tinkerer, I’ve made my own modifications to it. But you could probably follow up with Prerna to ask for more about how she wrote a whole bunch of emails for the Copy School launch will probably bring her in to do a Tutorial Tuesdays if she’s done that.

Okay, so the inertia ender, you want to put the same dates. This will help you if you’re a freelancer, and this will definitely also help you in-house, because the people who are going to implement this are sometimes not you.

Who to Send Your “Last Day” Email To [05:35]

Joanna Wiebe: We need to know, we need to make sure everybody knows what data is going, what time or trigger, who it’s going to. So if you can early on, from your clients or your team, get the actual tags or list names, so you can quote them directly in here.

Leaving no confusion whatsoever. Perfect. And then the tags are listed to suppress. Usually you’re only going to have to suppress a tag on a list. But have that conversation with your clients and make sure you know who to suppress typically this will be existing purchasers of this product.

And then anybody else within that segment you shouldn’t get it. Like those who have said I don’t want to hear about this offer anymore. If there’s going to be an A/B test put it in here to say like, subject line test, body copy test, CTA test.

Whatever that thing might be, and then make sure you reflect that in the actual copy below so that people know what the test is.

The Why [06:30]

Joanna Wiebe: The why. When you scroll down and look at this actual “last day” email you’ll see the why. And the why is a really important thing that a lot of people just fail to document. And if you’re not documenting, it can be really tricky to keep things on track as you’re going through the editing process, in particular.

So it’s easy if people don’t know why you’re doing something if your client doesn’t know why you’re doing something. Then they can read through a copy and go, no, let’s not say that. Let’s say it this way, or why are we even saying this?

But if they know why, because you set up the why right in here. Like, here’s why we have to do this, here’s the force that we’re coming up against. This is part of the switch, this is what these certain groups of people are thinking on the final day.

We have to overcome it, once your client can read that, now they know. Now they know you’re not giving anything special away. You’re just coaching them on how to review your copy and coaching you as well, so you don’t edit that great stuff out, we want to edit in the awesome.

Style of “Last Day” Email [07:15]

Joanna Wiebe: Any style. So you know it’s going to be a one to one style email. Or if it’s going to be like a blast heavily designed email or something like that, this is going to be a standard template and everybody on your team knows what standard template means. Perfect.

Primary cta this is usually the actual URL that it’s going to drive to. If there’s a secondary one, make sure you add a row for that and then anything else that might come up that isn’t covered here already.

Then we have the from. Make sure you’re always thinking of the from name. If you’re in Copy School we do teach you this it’s absolutely easy to overlook it, though. The from name. People don’t open emails from people they don’t know, so you have to make sure that they recognize that from name. Or every single other thing that you do here will not matter. The from name is way too often overlooked.

The reply email. I have it here. The support email, that’s typically where you’ll want it to go. The subject lines, I have only one subject line for you. And it is not in brackets. If it’s in brackets, you need to change it. If it’s not in brackets, that’s proposed copy for you.

The subject line here is kind of weight that is Prerna’s subject line. Loved it. “Can it wait?” And then the pre header. This is important so I’m not sure if, in your copy you’ll see this comment so fantastic for showing up to see this if you’re watching the replay just make sure that you come back and pause at this point when you’re actually writing.

Come back to this, no matter what and see this I’m not sure if you’ll see this in the comments, but this is what we’re talking about here. This pre header, and this will come up again later in the email. But what we’re really doing with this, can it wait?

Create Urgency [09:15]

Joanna Wiebe: But what we’re really doing with this, can it wait? And the whole point of this “last day” email entirely, is we know people are thinking yeah maybe this can wait. And that’s the thing that we have to overcome.

So a question, can it wait? Is then answered in the pre header by whomever or whatever, will benefit most, obviously from not waiting. So you’ll see that in the example, but can it wait? And then the answer here, it’s going to freelancers, is ask your clients. Now that could be any number of things. Can it wait if you’re selling something for weight loss?

Can it wait? The jeans collecting dust in your closet. Or if you’re selling something for people who I, this is something that came up in a Copy Talk recently. Or, I think it was 10xFC. It was like people who are anti-inflammatories if you’re like gluten intolerance, or something.

Can it wait? You’re bloated, ask your bloated belly at nine o’clock tonight, or something like that, whatever that thing might be. But the whole point here is to directly address the benefit of not waiting by really talking about who or what will benefit most.

Okay, then we get into the template itself, we want to open with that cta This is where its last day of launch. it’s an early in the launch day, last day email. And so you want to make sure that you’re allowing people who are ready to go.

They liked the subject line. They’ve been waiting. They forgot about it. Make sure that they can get quickly over to the sales page and then there’s the other people who don’t go. And what we want to do there is call them to answer key questions specific to delays and that’s what this question here is.

So we’ve got delays, procrastination, whatever you want to call it. This is the line leading up to, can it wait? This is actual copy. We italicize ours, I recommend italicizing it, this is the big question.

Then express that the offer cannot wait, but then you want to get into these moments of what they really want. These are the things that cannot wait. So the offer surely cannot wait. Now the question for them is, can these other great moments that they want in their life, that they can get with your solution, can those moments wait?

We go through specific dream states out of the gate. Go detailed, make sure you’re hitting on them and then go short, so we get the sense of momentum. And then we have these two final moments of are you or aren’t you?

And if you’re not sure, then you’ll want to refer back to this person. So if you’re not sure, ask your clients. If you are sure, and then you actively invite them to purchase. Then we have a P.S. with an offer recap, and then we have a conditional message.

Now, this will make more sense when you actually see how it works. But this is what’s going on here, under the surface. And this is how we actually apply it.

So, can it wait? Pre header = Ask your clients. Here is that opening, that cta to drive people who are ready to go over there. This is the final day, so we want to zoom in on urgency. It’s a useful thing.

Super savings on the all new Copy School, plus The Practice and when this timer ticks its way down to a bunch of unforgiving zeros. Pop that countdown timer in there. Which means, now is the time to answer this, can it wait?

Build Momentum [12:47]

Joanna Wiebe: Giving up savings of $200 a month is one thing, and no, blocking those savings cannot wait. We don’t do rain checks. Those savings go away today. They can’t wait. But can this stuff wait? And this is where we now get into those dream state, actual moments. Be specific about them.

Can you keep waiting for that moment when a client leaves just one comment on your whole copy document, at the very top, and it goes, “Read it. Loved it. No changes. Can’t wait to see this go live.”

Can you keep waiting for the moment you stop selling words and start selling clients on bigger bolder packages. And then we give an example of what those packages might be so that they’re starting to sort of future pace themselves with Copy School.

Can talking analytics with confidence, versus the crappy way that you’re doing it now. Because you learn it inside Copy School, keep waiting? Can funnel mappings, this is where we get into the really short ones, because now they’ve read, they’re nodding along now. Let’s get that momentum going.

Can funnel mapping keep waiting? Can referrals from happy clients keep waiting? Can knowing when to use a long email versus short email keep waiting? Can tackling jobs you’ve never done before, as if you have done them before, can that keep waiting?

Should Grammar Rules Apply? [13:56]

Joanna Wiebe: This is one of the few question marks that we actually put on the page. And I just want to point that out because it’s very easy oftentimes, to think you have to go through and add a question mark at the end of every single question. You have to follow every single grammar rule.

It’s okay, sometimes to break those if keeping that question mark on the page, or that final punctuation mark, if it will interrupt the flow. I didn’t want to add question marks along each of these, even though English major Jo is like, where are your question marks?

Push that person aside. We’re trying to get people to keep reading so just like be cool with your grammar. If you don’t want to put a question mark down, you don’t have to. It’s your copy, do what feels right for you.

Then we finally go to, if you’re not sure ask your clients. If you are sure, leap in activate and energize with 3000 plus others who are so done with the passive waiting game. And then we have a P.S. here, which is an offer recap. And that’s really it.

It’s a lengthy but short email, so appropriate for that last day. Again, we want to get out of the way, so we have this very early on. And then, all we’re doing here is doing our absolute best to overcome inaction. You want to wait. You think you’re waiting on a program,but this is what you’re really waiting on.

Oh I’ll just wait till next year. Really? Can this stuff keep waiting? And so that’s the whole point.

When you go forward and use this template, make sure you reference this below but also make sure you use it as a flexible template.

Don’t think you have to absolutely commit yourself to every single thing here. If you’re like, I’ve got three dream states, not seven of them. Okay, do three. Just make them really crisp so that segment, that person who’s reading it, can actually see themselves. And go like, yeah I can’t keep waiting for that.

And that is it. That is the walkthrough for today’s template. Angela has chatted it over. Use it. Love it. We’ll be adding more of these to Copy School, so there’s a whole bunch that we’re adding about launch emails for programs, as well as for other things that you might sell. So keep tuned in for that stuff over in Copy School.

Everybody go dance!

Angela Stojanov: This looks more frightened than celebrating, but…

Joanna Wiebe: Good. It’s a crazy like muppet kind of thing. Which is fun! Alright, have a good one y’all! Thanks, everyone. Bye.