Email copy from great companies(goodemailcopy.com)

253 pointsby ghoshvor 10 Jahren28 comments

http://www.goodemailcopy.com/

31 comments

meowfacevor 10 Jahren

I don't think this is good copy at all... (And definitely not just due to the bad jokes.)

    Yo, you signed up for Rabbut
    Ashley,

    Do you know who’s awesome? You are.

    Do you know why? Because your blogs are about to get more action than you got
    on your honeymoon. Thats right, more email collections and more personalized
    updates than ever before (what did you think I meant?)

    Before you pull your head out of the gutter,
    answer me one thing. Why did you sign up for Rabbut?

    I ask because:
    1.) I want to build the best tool that you can possibly get
    2.) I can’t read your mind
    3.) Who doesn’t want more action? (Still talking about your blog!)

    And lets be honest, no one wants to spend all night long figuring out
    how to setup your emails, so take this, it’s a quick start guide:
    https://rabbut.com/a-hand-held-guide-to-start-on-rabbut/

    If that doesn’t work, hurry up and email me so I can help you
    solve your problems. That way you’ll have more time for your
    personal life. (This time I don't mean your blog.)

Mandatumvor 10 Jahren

I understand what they're trying to do, but it's still kind of awkward. I tend to avoid references to intercourse in my business emails, and it seems a little bit crass to do so in blogs-as-emails-as-a-service software, as well as in-parentheses jokes (they just seem forced unless it's satire).

Having a look at their website it's a pretty small shop, so can't expect them to have a dedicated marketing team to write copy.

meowfacevor 10 Jahren

There are also at least 5 grammar mistakes in it.

thinkingkongvor 10 Jahren

These are great examples but other than the authors personal preferences its not clear what makes these examples effective.

It would be good to understand the underlying philosophy and style of communication for each example, so you can piece together what would work best for your project and brand. Not all of them are the same.

mterwillvor 10 Jahren

MailChimp's voice & tone guide at voiceandtone.com does a nice job of explaining the 'why'.

defenestrationvor 10 Jahren

Thanks for the tip. I can recommend this guide after reading it. It does a nice job of defining the right tone of voice in success messages, account creation, press releases, legal content and failure messages. It starts with the user feelings and shows an appropriate response.

Edit, added direct link: http://voiceandtone.com/

AznHisokavor 10 Jahren

There needs to be a way to filter out the most successful ones. Such as filtering or sorting by open rate or click through rate. Otherwise you're assuming they're successful just because it's a popular brand which is not always true.

lucasmullensvor 10 Jahren

How would that be possible? You can't compare across brands, because as you said, some are successful because they're a popular brand, which would affect CTR and open rate too.

exolymphvor 10 Jahren

I'm somewhat hesitant to post this link since it's a bit self-promotional, but I wrote up my thinking about what makes good product copy: http://sonyaellenmann.com/2016/03/how-to-describe-your-produ...

r00fusvor 10 Jahren

Well there is this I found with a quick search: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/good-copywriting-practices...

Essentially, use a hook, get to the point, don't be too wordy, be impactful, and make a connection.

TTProgramsvor 10 Jahren

I'm not even sure if these examples are that effective. What makes them effective? If the measure of success is whether or not one actually reads the copy, then for me the best approach is to right it like a personal message. In that case the success of email copy is predicated on deceiving the recipient...?

prawnvor 10 Jahren

IMO, more startups would be struggling to write any copy at all before it's about effective copy. So I can see this being very helpful as a starting point.

onion2kvor 10 Jahren

No doubt these are good copy, but why are they good? What can I learn from, say, an email from Trello announcing they're at 10m users that applies to my startup with 100 users besides "write good copy"?

petercoopervor 10 Jahren

It's often hard to put that sort of thing into words.

Mimicking things that provoke a good gut reaction or are proven to have been successful is a huge part of the startup game. I think samples like this provide some good 'compost' for developing taste, provoking some gut reactions, and inspiring your own takes on the ideas (a bit like Dribbbbbble et al do for designers) - more than direct advice like 'avoid adjectives' or 'always try to use the active voice' might.

AliAdamsvor 10 Jahren

Anyone else a little fed up with the "Hey, I'm the CEO of the company emailing you! This message is TOTALLY not automated." style of onboarding emails?

wingerlangvor 10 Jahren

Maybe because we all know it? I recently had a co-worker talk to me about some email she got from a service. To me it was an obviously automated email but she (I guess) did not share the same thoughts.

I also /know/ it was automated because I got the exact same one.

nodesocketvor 10 Jahren

Great resource. Writing onboarding/transaction e-mail copy is tedious yet important.

Also checkout Mailgun's blog post for fully responsive css/html e-mail templates:

http://blog.mailgun.com/transactional-html-email-templates/

rememberlennyvor 10 Jahren

Very cool.

Relevant is a project I have to index all email newsletters:

http://emailnewsletterstand.com

[deleted]vor 10 Jahren

datakervor 10 Jahren

That's so cool. Are there any ideas for sales/pitch emails?

That's probably harder to find, but it'd be really helpful.

Implicatedvor 10 Jahren

When I saw this title the first thing I thought was "Buffer has to be all over this"...

But they're not included at all, am I the only one who was pleasantly impressed with Buffer's communications?

fudged71vor 10 Jahren

Good MVP, just scrape your inbox and curate the best.

I'd love to see more examples.

iamleppertvor 10 Jahren

Before they got too annoying, I thought whoever that was writing the AppSumo deal emails was really good.

giancarlostorovor 10 Jahren

One thing I would do is add in sharable links to some of the content? I wanted to refer to some of it to someone else but I don't see a way of doing it? All I see is the main domain's URL consistently, no share button AFAIA (As Far As I'm Aware).

dilemmavor 10 Jahren

The best copy I've ever seen is from a second hand bookseller: http://instagram.com/idea.ltd

atrustvor 10 Jahren

I'd love to see an option to see the original design of all the mails.

phmagicvor 10 Jahren

I would have never heard of frontapp.com if not for this page. Front looks great!

[deleted]vor 10 Jahren

nanoojaboovor 10 Jahren

amga_vor 10 Jahren

- "Send the emails you want added to this directory to [email protected]"

I don't like this... it would better if I could send a PR to some git repo.

samsolomonvor 10 Jahren

While this would be a great option for engineers, I'm certain forwarding an email is much easier for the vast majority of people.