This email won’t be easy or pleasant to get through.
In fact it will take work and it might make you feel queasy along the way. But if you can manage it to the end, the rewards will be great.
Let me start by telling you I’m re-reading Claude Hopkins’s My Life in Advertising. And one story I missed before is this bit from Hopkins’s childhood:
One of the products which father advertised was Vinegar Bitters. I afterward learned its history.
A vinegar-maker spoiled a batch through some queer fermentation. Thus he produced a product weird in its offensiveness.
The people of those days believed that medicine must be horrible to be effective.
We had oils and ointments “for man or beast” which would make either wild. We used “snake oil” and “skunk oil,” presumably because of their names.
Unless the cure was worse than the disease, no one would respect it.
Today we assume that every offer must be fast, easy, and cheap.
But human nature changes like glass flows — so slowly that we will never see it happen.
And a part of the human brain still believes, like it did in Hopkins’s day, that the cure must be worse than the disease. At least along some dimension.
So if your offer is fast and easy, make sure it’s not cheap.
Or if your offer really is all of fast, easy, and cheap… then at least throw a skunk or a snake into it somewhere.
In other words, turn your prospect into a hero. Tell him a story:
He’s somebody who’s willing to do what’s offensive to others… somebody who can swallow what would turn most men or beasts wild. No, it won’t be easy or pleasant. But if he can manage it to the end, the rewards will be great.
Last thing:
Maybe you’d like to know I have an email newsletter. It’s cheap and easy, but it’s very slow. You can sign up for it here.