Prompting your email subscribers to (finally) buy from you in a conversational, non-sleazy way isn’t the easiest thing in the world. 

But what if I told you that there’s a way to revive your ‘dead’ leads without breaking a sweat writing the entire re-engagement campaign? Or trying hard to come up with the catchiest subject lines? 

Today I’ll tell you about a ‘non-tactic’ tactic called the 9-word email. 

With so many emails bombarding our inboxes, it’s easy to burn the ground while trying hard to be noticed.  

We stand on our heads to make our emails ‘pink elephants’ but the reality is that it’s more like the ‘Where’s Waldo’ game. 

In most cases, people on your list have to put in some effort to even notice your email.

The formula I am about to share comes from one of the best marketers out there, Dean Jackson. 

But before I tell you about it let’s have a real quick look at some of the most common email f-ups.  After studying hundreds of emails from different niches I started to notice common patterns. 

Here are the most prevalent ones. 

• Salesy headlines when your audience is not prepared to buy. Trying to sell to those prospects right out of the gate in the first lines of your nurturing campaign won’t likely fly. Hint: you need to re-engage them. 

• Pitching your product when your audience is not  fully aware that they even have a problem. Very similar to the point above.  If your prospects don’t fully realize they have an ‘x’ problem – you need to make them realize it first. This is related to the scale of  stages of awareness. 

• Beating around the bush with things that don’t offer value to your reader like telling stories that don’t translate to any business lesson (life-stories that convey a business-related message are great!)

• Weak or non-existent Calls-To-Action. It’s like interrupting someone’s day without any valid reason. People know that your goal at the end of the day is to sell them something. If you do this the right way, no one will mind. But once you get a ‘pushy seller’ label,  it will be hard to regain trust. 

The list goes on and on…

Now back to Dean Jackson.

What he came up with is so strikingly simple that it’s not surprising that it worked like a charm for so many people.

Here’s a fragment from a speech he gave at Copy Chief  Live 2018 where he shared the stage with other world-class copywriters and marketers.

“But listen, that nine-word email collectively, I don’t know how many millions and millions and hundreds of millions of dollars that nine-word email has made different people across all kinds of things that they’ve done it. But it’s been a phenomenal thing. And I recommend that you do it”

Let’s now put it in a kind-of-real-life scenario now.  Imagine for a moment your mom sent you an email responding to something you wrote to her before. You were having just a normal exchange.

Now, do you think she would have to come up with some try-hard attention-grabbing, subject line screaming to be opened?

Or that her email would be a writing masterpiece with the introduction-body-conclusion structure? 

I don’t know your mother, but I bet it’s a  NO.

Plus, her open rate would likely be 100%. 

That’s exactly why this technique is so powerful.

It’s 100% in line with the context.   

It’s a conversation starter.

It requires little to no effort to respond. 

It’s not try-hard. 

It’s pithy.

As far as the subject line is concerned, Dean suggests keeping it as simple as sticking to one word…their name. 

Let’s see look at a few examples of such an email:

• “Jennifer, are you still looking for a house in Georgetown?” 
• “Are you still looking at growing your blog traffic?”
• “Are you still looking for a new job opportunity in banking?”
• “Are you still interested in improving home security?”
• “Are you still looking to have your home painted?”
• “Are you still considering buying a new car?”
• “Have you made any progress with your kitchen renovation?”

That’s it. 

Dead simple and non-pushy. 

Just remember that you follow up on what brought them to your list.

The two key elements in these emails are the word ‘still’ and calling up the original context of the interaction. 

No mention of whatever you’re selling. You just causally ask  if they’re still in need of this or that.

Make sense? 

So next time you find yourself at a loss, not knowing what to send your ‘dormant list’ try a 9-word email and see what happens. 

Good luck.