On last Thursday’s Copy Riddles Q&A call, Matt Cascarino, Chief Creative Office at marketing agency FARM, asked about the unusual calls-to-action in my emails.
“You don’t just not close hard,” Matt said. “You go the exact opposite way.”
It’s true. Most of the calls-to-action in my emails are “soft,” as in not dramatic, not black and white, without any of the “You are either in NOW or you will be left behind!” that is common in direct response circles.
That’s something I do consciously. I suppose it emerged because I’ve historically sold a lot of evergreen offers.
When there’s no baked-in urgency — and even when there is — I figured I’d treat my readers’ intelligence with due respect. That’s why I don’t make up stuff or use overly dramatic wording that simply cannot be backed up with anything resembling reality.
That said, I’m not above “manipulating” readers into acting now.
But rather than yelling at my readers or threatening them or lying, I’ve learned to use what I know about human psychology. A few words of inspiration can work. So can an appeal to our universal need for sovereignty and control.
Sometimes, such a “soft” CTA has driven in sales that wouldn’t have happened otherwise (I know because people have written in to tell me so).
Other times, the effect was cumulative — a few such emails built up and people ended up buying.
And in all cases, or at least I hope so, it kept my readers reading, without feeling that I lied to them, or pressured them, or treated them as if they were idiots.
Also on Thursday’s Copy Riddles Q&A call was Shawn Cartwright, who runs the online martial arts school TCCII.
Shawn asked if I have or ever will create some kind of product about such soft and psychological CTAs.
The idea sounds cool, but the fact is, even the most subtle and effective CTA matters less than a good headline, and the best headline matters less than a real deadline.
That’s part of the reason why I have been moving away from clever copywriting to sell my existing evergreen products… and why I have instead been promoting lots of new and solid offers, often not my own, which have legit inbuilt timed deadlines.
And on that note, let me remind you of a legit deadline. It’s for the the free live training, which is happening tomorrow, Monday, September 22, 2025, at 9pm CET/3pm EST/12 noon PST.
Mentalist-turned-marketer Kennedy will share email copywriting and marketing secrets that took him from selling $27k of his flagship info product… to selling $544k of the same, to the same audience.
If this interests you, it might make sense to sign up now. You know how Mondays are.
If you don’t sign up now, there’s a good chance this training will slip your mind in the crush of things tomorrow, and the next thing you know… you’ve missed the opportunity.
On the other hand, if you sign up now, you still have time tomorrow to decide whether you really want to attend.
If you find that persuasive, here’s the link: