Email Marketing Cheat Sheet

Second Edition

A Playbook of
Email Archetypes
(So You Never Run Out of GREAT
Emails to Send to Your List)

By Pat Flynn
Creator of SmartPassiveIncome.com
© 2015 Flynndustries, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Dedication

To all of the SPI Fans, thank you

for inspiring me, keeping me
focused, and making sure I never
stray off track. This ebook is the
start of a new era of serving you.
Table of Contents
Introduction. ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4

The Money ISN’T in the List. ������������������������������������������������������� 6

How to Use This Playbook . �������������������������������������������������������� 9

Two Key Terms.����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10

5 Universal Rules for 99.99999% of All Emails You Send.�� 11

Value-Driven Emails. ������������������������������������������������������������������ 15

Survey-Centric Emails.��������������������������������������������������������������� 27

Thank You.������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40

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Introduction
Hi! I’m Pat!

I’ve made a lot of mistakes while building my online business.

It took me a while, but I eventually learned that mistakes and
failures are a part of the entrepreneurial journey, and learning
from those experiences and overcoming related challenges is
what becoming a successful entrepreneur is all about.

If there was one mistake I could take back, however, it would be the one I
made related to my email list:

I didn’t start one right away.

If there was a second mistake I could take back, it would be the other one
related to my email list:

Not fully understanding how to use it.

There are a lot of things we can do to improve and grow our businesses,
but building and properly using your email list is at the very top. As Amy
Porterfield says:

” “The energy of your business is directly tied to your email

list.”

Most people, including you, probably realized the importance of having an

email list sooner than I did . . .

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On GreenExamAcademy.com, a business I created in 2008 that helps
professionals in the architecture industry pass a particular exam, I didn’t
have an email list to sell to when I launched my first two products. “Launch
day” was essentially adding a banner to my website and links to my posts.

I finally started to build a list six months after my products become

available. I had it backwards.

On SmartPassiveIncome.com, I made the same mistake again! It wasn’t until

2010, a year and a half after I started my blog, that I finally published my first
opt-in form and began to build my list.

Like I said, I’ve made some mistakes, but a lot of those came simply because
I lacked the knowledge. No one ever told me exactly what to do, and I had
to figure out a lot of this on my own. Eventually, I learned what to do and I
started to build my email lists.

After I started building my list, I learned from the best how to convert
even more visitors into email subscribers. I experimented with a number
of different tools and campaigns to increase conversions even more, and
after a couple of years I started to see anywhere between 100–300 people
joining my lists every single day.

This was pretty cool, except building an email list is only half the battle. The
other half is what to do with your subscribers once they’re on it.

Note:
if you haven’t started building your email list, I’ve written an entire article
that walks you through the process of getting it set up quickly and easily. I
recommend you get started now, and here’s a quick link you can use to get
there: StartanEmailList.com.

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The Money ISN’T in the List
A common phrase a lot of marketers will tell you is this:

“The money is in the list.”

That’s actually a terrible way to put it because it implies that simply having a
list is what matters, and it also implies that the size of your list is what’s most
important.

You could have a list with 100,000 people on it, but if you don’t send the
right emails, you might as well not have a list at all. Plus, you could also
flush your hard-earned money down the toilet because you’re paying an
email service provider for those subscribers you’re not even using.

Here’s how I would like to rephrase this common idiom:

” The money isn’t the list itself. It’s what you do with it.”

I’ve come across businesses with just a few hundred people on their email
list, yet they can earn upwards of $50,000 with a single broadcast email.

The size of your email list doesn’t matter, and here’s why:

Your subscribers are people. Actual, real-life people.

We forget this sometimes. It’s a lesson I want to teach you now before you
go crazy worrying too much about the size of your list, which is easy to get
carried away with. Even if you had one person on your list, that’s a person
whose life you could change, who could become a customer, or give you
the honest feedback you need to help your business grow.

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No matter how many email subscribers you have right now, I want you
to do this thought experiment with me. I typically do this exercise with
everyone I speak to who sighs when they tell me the size of their list:

I want you to imagine a location that’s big enough to physically fit all of
your subscribers. For example:

• If you have 10 subscribers, maybe it’s your living room

• 100+, maybe it’s a movie theater

• 500+, a banquet hall or ballroom

• 1,000+, a concert hall

• 10,000+, a basketball arena

• 100,000+, a large football stadium

You get the idea . . .

Now, I want you to imagine seeing all of those people there. Really visualize
them, and do this knowing that they came to this one location because of
you. They’re all looking forward to what you have to say.

Whether it’s ten or ten million, that’s incredibly powerful.

This visualization will help you as you craft your email copy down the road,
because it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the real people on the other
end. When you learn how to serve them best, your numbers will reflect a
much more successful email marketing campaign.

The worst thing you can do is gather these people into this space, leave
them hanging, and never communicate with them; or, call for their
attention only when it’s about you or whatever you’re trying to sell.
Selling through your email list is totally okay. But there are several other
types of email you can send to round out your campaigns, strengthen
the relationship you have with your audience, and make them feel more
comfortable when you eventually pitch something.

And that’s exactly what this playbook will help you figure out.

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How to Use this Playbook
Here are some questions I remember asking myself (and
several of you have asked) when I first started building my
email list:

• What kinds of email should I send to my subscribers?

• How often should I send an email?

• What is a broadcast email?

• What is an autoresponder email?

• What do I send as a broadcast versus what do I include in my

autoresponder series?

• What calls to action should I include?

• Should I send the same email to everyone?

After years of building my own email list and learning by subscribing to

hundreds of others, I’ve come up with a list of email archetypes that you
can use to add to your campaigns so you don’t have to waste time asking
yourself these questions.

Whether you’re adding emails to your autoresponder series or trying to

come up with an idea for your next broadcast, this playbook will become
your guide. A playbook (like ones that teams use in sports) is made up of
different plays, each which their own unique purpose and structure, each
used for different scenarios.

In pure “choose your own adventure” style, you can select a play or email
type that works best for you, and then use the information I’ve included
along with that play to help you structure your next email.

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Each play in this playbook comes with the following:

• The What: A description of the email so you can quickly see what it’s
about.

• The Why: The purpose of the email so you know why it’s important.

• The When: An idea of when you could send this email to your
subscribers.

• The How: A breakdown of exactly what should be included in the

email so you don’t forget anything.

• The Call to Action: Exactly what you want your audience to do.

• Special Notes: This could include examples, special variations,

warnings, and other important notes related to the email archetype.

My goal here is to make email marketing a lot easier for you than it was for
me. Before we get into the specific email plays, let’s first cover five universal
email rules that should be followed no matter what type of email you’re
sending.

Two Key Terms

Before we jump in, there are two types of emails that you can send your list
and it’s important that you understand the difference. They are:

• Autoresponder Series (or Email): An Autoresponder Series is another

way to refer to a number of automated pre-written emails that get
sent to your subscribers in sequential order. For the various types of
Autoresponder Series emails, check out this post.

• Broadcast Email: A Broadcast Email is a one-time message that is sent

to all of your subscribers (or a particular segment of your subscribers
as determined by you) at the same time.

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5 Universal Rules for
99.99999% of All Emails
You Send
RULE #1: KEEP YOUR EMAIL FORMATTING SIMPLE
You want people to actually read your emails, not get distracted by the
design and formatting of your emails. A little branding (like a logo) is okay,
but even then not all email clients include images, and adding designs to
your email just adds another opportunity for something to break or look
funky.

I suggest sending emails like you’re sending them to a friend, which is what
we want to do because we’re looking to build a real relationship with our
subscribers. Would you send a super fancy, heavily designed email to a
friend?

Not usually.

Typically you just write something up and hit send. Just text on a white
background. That is what has always worked best for me.

There are exceptions, however. Especially if you have something like an

ecommerce store and people expect more structure and design with tons
of links and things to look at. But in most cases, eliminating or cutting down
the design formatting for email is the best thing to do.

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RULE #2: EACH EMAIL SHOULD INCLUDE ONE SPECIFIC CALL TO
ACTION (CTA)
When you craft any email, you should always ask yourself: “What’s the
purpose of sending this?”

Each email you send should have one specific goal, and each email should
include one specific call to action. You can have multiple instances of the
same call to action within an email, but it’s a good rule of thumb to pair one
email with one CTA.

This is important because if you include too many CTAs, you’re less likely
to get people to take that action. This happens because of the “paradox of
choice,” where more choices actually can hinder a person’s ability to make
a decision. Also, when you include more than one CTA, you’re usually not
focused and honed in on your messaging within your email, and it just
becomes far less effective.

One email = one CTA.

As far as what CTAs to include, we’ll go over that in our playbook in the next
section. For now, let’s finish up with these rules. Here’s an essential rule
related to the CTA:

RULE #3: KEEP CTA LINKS ON THEIR OWN LINE

This is a small rule, but it matters big-time. Whenever you include a CTA link
in an email, keep the link on its own line of text.

Why does this matter?

It matters because a lot of subscribers will open your emails on a mobile

device, and most people suffer from “fat finger syndrome.” In other words,
it’s not always easy to click on a link when it’s surrounded by other text.

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When you place a link on its own line, you won’t have to worry about that
anymore, and as a byproduct your CTA will also become more obvious.

RULE #4: ALWAYS PREVIEW YOUR EMAILS BEFORE YOU HIT SEND
Please preview your emails before you hit send! Actually send yourself a
copy of the email (which most email services providers enable you to do)
before you pull the trigger.

Read your email copy out loud and click on all of the links to make sure they
go to the right places. I know you’re anxious to hit send after writing your
copy, but it’s not worth the potential disaster of sending an email where the
links don’t work. Plus, you’ll likely notice small spelling and grammar issues
that you can take care of first before the “grammar police” lets you know
about it later.

Get in this habit, and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble down the road. You
may also want to check your emails on your mobile device so you can see
what that experience is like, too.

RULE #5: SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR OWN LIST

And finally, subscribe to your own email list. This will help you understand
the exact experience that a potential subscriber will have after they sign up.

Become your first subscriber so that you can catch any required frequency
or rhythm changes in your autoresponder series before those emails get
sent out.

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All right, it’s time to get down to business. Like I said earlier, on the
following pages you’ll see a number of different email archetypes you can
choose from to include in your own autoresponder and broadcast emails.

These aren’t the only email types available to you, but they are the most
common I’ve found success with, and you’re more than welcome to tweak
them to your liking and put your own spin on them. These email plays are
here simply to help give you ideas and direction.

Thanks again, and enjoy!

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Value-Driven Emails
” “YOUR EARNINGS ARE A BYPRODUCT OF HOW WELL
YOU SERVE YOUR AUDIENCE.” — Pat Flynn

Click to Tweet

Value-driven emails include content that is of real value to

your audience.

By sending value-driven email, you will be strengthening the relationship

you have with your subscribers, and positioning yourself as an expert in
your niche. And, because your audience won’t want to miss out on the
valuable content they’ve come to expect, you will also train them to form
the habit of opening all of the emails you send.

Five Plays for the Value-Driven Email

1. The Quick Win

2. The Free Resource

3. The Hard Lesson Learned

4. The Student Teacher

5. The Tip of the Iceberg

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PLAY #1: THE QUICK WIN
What is this email all about?

The Quick Win is an email that enables your subscriber to experience a

quick result or small win from something you teach or show them how to
do. Generally speaking, it should take no more than ten minutes for your
subscriber to achieve that quick result or small win.

Why is this email type important?

Small, quick wins are extremely valuable because your subscribers will begin
to associate rewarding experiences with you and your brand, which can
lead to habits such as opening more of your emails, sharing more of your
content, and a higher chance of responding to your calls to action that you
include inside (and outside, such as in your social feeds) of your emails.

For your new subscribers, this is especially powerful because it builds trust
rather quickly. It doesn’t really matter how small the task is, as long as there
is some sort of win on the other end of it.

When should you send this email?

Try to include a quick win email near the beginning of your autoresponder
series.

Also, if you feel your list hasn’t been very responsive lately, a quick win
broadcast email can be an easy way to re-awaken them. Send one or two of
these a month before you begin a launch sequence so that your subscribers
are awake and primed for opening and responding to your launch-related
emails.

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Call to Action:

The primary call to action is to simply take action and complete the task.
For a more advanced experience, you could direct people to reply and
share their results with you or visit a specific page on your website where
comments are enabled. The second option is ideal because it will bring an
element of social proof to the experience which can increase brand loyalty
even more.

How

Step 1: Think of a small win that you could teach your audience to do. It
shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to complete or 500 words to explain.

Step 2: Break down the process into easy to follow steps. Share examples as
you go if possible.

Step 3: Include a clear call to action.

Step 4: Share this process with a few people to validate your steps. Tweak as
necessary.

Step 5: Solidify your email, include your call to action, and hit send.

Special Note:
For over four years, one of the very first emails I sent my new subscribers
on Smart Passive Income was a strategy for discovering what kind of blog
content to write. It involved searching for a book on Amazon.com, looking
inside one of the covers, and visiting the table of contents.

Using a specific example about fly fishing, I was able to illustrate how I
could pull inspiration from a book’s table of contents to create hundreds of

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variations of blog posts specifically for fly fishing related topics.

Without even asking for a reply, thousands of people replied directly to this
email to thank me for sharing the tactic. A few people even mentioned that
they were going to unsubscribe initially (because they subscribed just to get
my free giveaway), but they decided to stay on because of the small quick
win I shared.

PLAY #2: THE FREE RESOURCE

What is this email all about?

The Free Resource email is one that includes a link to a helpful resource or
tool that your audience can benefit from, which is also 100 percent free to
use. This tool can be something quick that you create on your own, or one
that already exists elsewhere.

Why is this email important?

A powerful formula for succeeding online is to give, give, give some more,
and then ask. The free resource email is one of your best gives, because it’s
quick, easy, but also massively valuable. It proves to your audience that you
have knowledge about things that are useful for them, and it also illustrates
that you care and aren’t always going to ask them to pull out their wallets.

To several of your subscribers, it’ll be a nice surprise, and small surprises are
always going to help strengthen the relationship you have together. As I like
to say, “An anniversary gift is great, but it’s also expected. A gift on a random
day for no apparent reason means a whole lot more.”

When should you send this email?

Free resources are okay to share throughout your autoresponder series. But
I wouldn’t recommend sharing more than one every ninety days. When you

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share too many, they aren’t a sweet surprise anymore. Plus, you run the risk
of training your audience to only expect free material from you, which can
backfire when you promote your products or paid products you’re affiliated
with.

Call to Action:

You want people to click on the link in your email to the free resource. If it’s
a resource of your own product, you could simply attach it. But, since some
email clients aren’t so keen on emails with attachments, I recommending
including a link to get access to the resource. In most cases, it’ll simply be a
link to another website with a special tool or giveaway included.

How

Step 1: Decide on a free resource to share with your subscribers, and make
sure it’s 100 percent free to use.

Step 2: Include information about why this is helpful and how it can
be used, and include any of your own experiences with the resource, if
applicable.

Step 3: Include a clear call to action.

Step 4: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
If you have advanced email marketing features that allow you to segment
and tag your subscribers, depending on the free resource, you could tag
people who click on this link as being interested in whatever that free
resource is about.

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For example, if it’s a free resource about podcasting equipment, I know that
people who click on this link are interested in podcasting and can tag those
subscribers as such, which may help me further personalize and target
emails I send in the future.

As you may already know, I use ConvertKit as my email service provider,

which includes these more advanced email marketing tools.

PLAY #3: THE HARD LESSON LEARNED

What is this email all about?

The Hard Lesson Learned email is a personal story that involves a struggle
that you’ve had in the past and the lesson you learned from it.

Why is this email important?

This kind of email is deeply effective for several different reasons.

First, it involves a story, and stories are some of the most powerful
marketing tools you can ever use. As soon as we are born, stories are being
read to us, and stories are a great way to hook people into what you’re
saying, even before they know exactly what it’s about.

Second, it’s about you, and not you in a “look at me and how awesome I
am” kind of way, but in a more vulnerable, human kind of way. It shows that
you’re a real person, and as a result, you become more relatable.

Third, you’re delivering value by teaching others a lesson you’ve learned

through a past personal experience, and instead of just telling people to do
something, you’re putting it into context, which means it’ll become much
easier to remember.

The story creates the visual, which creates the memory.

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When should you send this email?

This is a versatile email archetype that can be used both in autoresponder

emails and in more timely broadcast emails, especially in and around a
specific launch sequence or promotion.

Call to Action:

If in an autoresponder series: In this email, you’re opening up a bit and

talking about a particular struggle you’ve had in the past. As a result, you
become even more relatable. Because of this, I’d recommend including a
CTA that asks people to follow you on one social channel that you’re active
on so they can get to know you even more as a real world human.

When you include this email in an autoresponder series, you’ll begin to

gather a steady stream of new followers to this channel each and every day.

If in a broadcast email: If you’re going to be including this email in a

broadcast series, then the CTA should be relatively clear, since broadcast
emails are typically sent in and around a particular event, like a launch.

How

Step 1: Decide on the story and lesson you’d like to share.

Step 2: Write the email as if you were writing it to a friend.

Step 3: Include a clear call to action.

Step 4: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
Get creative with this email. I’m sure there are a lot of hard lessons learned in
the past that you could apply and share with your audience. Just make sure
to always tie the lesson into something your audience is trying to achieve, as
if you went through this tough time so your audience didn’t have to.
Do you remember the mistakes I made with my email lists when I was

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starting out? As a reminder, they were: 1) I didn’t have a list, and 2) once I did
have a list, I didn’t even know what to do with it. Those were hard lessons
learned, but have become a great way to setup everything I’m teaching here
in this playbook.

PLAY #4: THE STUDENT TEACHER

What is this email all about?

The Student Teacher email focuses on a success story from someone in

your audience and specifically highlights one of their strategies for success.

Why is this email important?

This email takes the focus off of you, and instead puts it on someone you’ve
already helped. Because this person is in your audience, their story becomes
that much more relatable and real to your subscribers. Additionally, it makes
you more trustworthy because you helped this person during their journey
too, and it shows that you care about the results of your audience.

When should you send this email?

This email works really well during the promotion of a product, whether it’s
a product of your own or one that you’re affiliated with. Either way, this type
of email works because it helps break down those security walls people
have when they are asked to potentially purchase a product.

Even without a promotion directly tied to it, this email will help you build
trust and authority with your subscribers, which is always a good thing.

Call to Action:

If you’re not linking directly to a particular product (we’ll talk more about

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sales-driven emails later), the best case scenario is to include a CTA to a link
that continues the conversation that your successful student’s example has
already started.

If your student shares a specific strategy that you shared, link to the page
on your site where that strategy is referenced. If it worked for your student,
your subscribers will be curious to learn more about what you taught them.

How

Step 1: Find a success story from someone in your audience that you can
share. You may already have a number of success stories to pull from in
your email, but you could also ask your audience on social media. If you’re
just starting out and do not have any success stories to share, you can still
use the same principles in this email by highlighting an example success
story from someone else who used a strategy similar to one that you teach.
The only difference being that you were not the one to teach it.

Step 2: In your own words, write a quick story highlighting this person’s
journey, making sure to start by painting a picture of what the pain or
problem was before discovering your strategy, how the strategy was
implemented, and what happened as a result.

Step 3 (Optional, But Recommended): Include a direct quote from your

student and link to their website, if they have one. A quote and a link will
support that this story is actually true.

Although Universal Email Rule #3 says to place CTA links on their own line,
you do not have to do that with your student’s website. The reason is that
it’s not the call to action in the email, but rather a way for people to verify
that this person is real. If they don’t have a website, you could link to their
Twitter (or other social media) profile.

Step 4: Make sure to share the email with your student so it’s to their liking.

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Step 5: Include a clear call to action.

Step 6: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
At the end of this email, you may also want to include a p.s. after your name
that asks your subscribers to reply if they have a success story they’d like
to share. We’ll get into specific survey-centric emails in the next section,
but because you’ve already highlighted someone in this email, your other
subscribers may jump on the chance to share more success stories with you
at this point.

You can then use those stories for other emails and testimonials down the
road. Plus, it’s always nice to hear from your audience when you’ve helped
them out!

PLAY #5: THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

What is this email all about?

The Tip of the Iceberg email includes one part of a much larger whole that’s
on your website. For example, it could be one of the five tips that you’ve put
together in a list post that lives on your blog.

Why is this email important?

People don’t always come back to your website after subscribing to your
email list, but it’s important to make that happen because it’s on your
website where other important actions (and transactions) occur. The more
you train your audience to click on links in your emails with CTAs like this,
the more likely they are to click on links in other emails with different CTAs.

This email takes advantage of the “information gap” that you create by
sharing just a part of the larger whole, which means you’re encouraging

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your audience to curiously click through to get the rest of that information.
It’s a great way to drive traffic to new posts, and a fantastic strategy for
resurfacing older posts in your archive that your new subscribers should
see.

When should you send this email?

This email works in a broadcast to send traffic to a brand new or recently

published post, and it also works well within an autoresponder series to
consistently drive traffic back to pillar articles you already have deep in your
site.

Call to Action:

Your CTA should clearly encourage your subscribers to click on the link in
your email, which brings them to the post where the rest of the information
lives.

A sample link within your email may be:

Click here to read the other four tips to help you grow your business via
social media.

How

Step 1: Publish or find a popular list-style post in your archive. I recommend

checking your analytics software to discover the top three to five most
visited list-style posts that you’ve published, which is a sign that those are
hot topics that your subscribers will be interested in.

Step 2: Select the best tip out of the entire list, and write up a unique version
of only that part of the article just for your email subscribers.

Step 3: Include a clear call to action to get the rest of the article by clicking

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the link you insert within your email.

Step 4: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
This particular email doesn’t have to be very long. Even just 200–300 words
will suffice to give people enough information about a topic so they want to
click through to get the rest.

Also, you can use this email archetype to drive traffic to any type of article
that has a list—not just “top tips” posts. You could also work in a top
resource or products list, or a roundup post that consists of top pieces of
advice from others in the same niche that you’re in.

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Survey-Centric Emails
” “IF YOU WANT YOUR SUBSCRIBERS TO TRUST YOU LIKE
A FRIEND, THEN YOU CAN’T MANAGE YOUR EMAIL LIST
LIKE IT’S A ONE-WAY CONVERSATION.” — Pat Flynn
Click to Tweet

Not only is your email list a highly valuable tool for selling
and content marketing, but also for learning more about your
audience and what else you could do to serve them.

Each of these email archetypes is meant to have people respond and reveal
useful information, which can help you determine what content, products,
and other solutions you could create for them later.

When you begin to automate these emails so that every subscriber

eventually sees them, you get a never ending supply of responses.”

6. What are You Struggling With?

7. Which One Are You?

8. Do You Know the Right Answer?

9. Why Do You Hate Me?

10. Where Have You Been?

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PLAY #6: WHAT ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH?
What is this email all about?

This is an email that asks your subscribers the simple but powerful question:
What are you struggling with?

Why is this email important?

The answers you get back from subscribers are absolute gold to you and
your brand. Not only are you hearing about what the primary concerns,
issues, pains, and problems of your target audience are (which could
become blog posts, podcast episodes, and even inspire you to create
products and services), but also you get to hear their struggles in their own
words.

You can then use this language on your site, within your emails, in sales
copy, and even on social media to make a true connection with your
audience. When they understand that you empathize, you earn their trust
much faster.

When should you send this email?

I know a lot of marketers who make this the very first email people receive
(via an autoresponder) after they subscribe. The reason this works so well is
because you’re catching them in the middle of a “yes ladder.”

In other words, in order to subscribe to your list they will have had to say
“yes” to a few things along the way, from clicking on a link, entering their
email address, hitting subscribe, and opening your email. Asking them to
open up at this point will likely give you some amazing answers.

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As Jay Abraham says:

” “If you can describe the problem better than your target
customer, they will automatically assume you have the
solution.”

Call to Action:

The CTA in this email is to ask your subscribers to hit reply and respond.

How

Here is a complete sample email you could send to your subscribers. I’d
recommend changing the text to fit your voice, but this is really all you
need. Quick and to the point. Obviously change your name, and if you can
personalize the email with the subscriber’s name via your email service
provider, do that!

Thank you so much for subscribing [first name]! I’m excited to send you
more information to help you [primary goal(s) of your subscriber]. So
that I can better help you, I’d love to hear from you.

Yes, I’m actually asking you to respond to this email! Hit reply and share
with me some of your biggest struggles with [goal(s) of your subscriber].
This way, I can make sure that I’m delivering emails that matter to you in
the future.

Thanks so much, and I look forward to reading your reply.

-Pat Flynn

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Special Note:
If possible, reply to your subscribers’ replies. This can really surprise them,
and it also helps to ensure that your emails with these particular subscribers
don’t get put in the Promotions tab in Gmail, but rather always land in the
Primary inbox.

Once you begin getting a lot of subscribers per day, this can be very difficult
to manage, but when you’re just starting out, replying to responses from
this email can be a huge advantage for you, and a big differentiator between
you and other brands serving the same audience.

PLAY #7: WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

What is this email all about?

This email asks your audience to select an answer to a multiple-choice

question about who they are or what their interests are.

Why is this email important?

Unlike the open-ended What are You Struggling With? email, this particular
email includes two or more specific multiple-choice answers that your
subscribers can easily click on. When a specific answer is clicked, your
subscribers are tagged as such in the backend of your email service
provider.

This is a fantastic method for understanding more about your audience and
grouping similar types of subscribers together.

Note: Only certain email service providers enable you to tag your
subscribers based on various actions, such as clicking a link in an email. I
use ConvertKit because it’s extremely easy to use and can apply “if this then
that” rules in just a matter of seconds. For example, if they click on link X
they get tagged with tag X, if they click on link Y they get tagged with tag Y.

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When you can understand the interests of your audience, you can better
serve them with more targeted emails in the future, and you can leave out
things that don’t matter to them. I give a niche-specific example in the
“how” section below, so you can see exactly how powerful tagging can be.

When should you send this email?

This email can live in your autoresponder series so that you can
automatically have your subscribers tag themselves with specific interests
over time. You can include as many of these types of emails in your series
as you’d like, but I recommended that you space them out and have other
types of value-driven emails in between.

Call to Action:

The CTA is to click on the best answer to the question that you include in
your email.

How

Step 1: Decide on a particular interest you’d like to tag your audience with.
It’s best to ask questions about things where there is a very clear “this or
that” situation. For example, if you have a photography site that helps
photographers improve their photos, you can ask your audience whether or
not they are a Canon camera user or a Nikon camera user.

Why would something like this be important? Let’s say you get a special
deal for a Nikon camera. If you send that out to everyone on your list, your
Canon users may feel left out, and potentially unsubscribe. Send the deal
only to the Nikon users, and you’ll be delivering emails only to those who
would care to receive that email.

Step 2: Create a landing page for each answer that you create. When people
click an answer, they’ll be redirected to a particular page that you create. A
link has to lead to somewhere.

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You could set up one landing page for all of your answers, which could just
thank people for responding to your question, but you’re losing out on an
opportunity to deliver targeted content or product recommendations based
on what you know about those types of people. Using the photography
example, the Canon people could have links to Canon products on their
landing page, and Nikon people could have Nikon products on theirs.

Step 3: Include your call to action along with your question and choices,
making sure your choices are each on their own line to make sure people
click on the answer they want to click on.

Step 4: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
Make sure to keep the survey simple, and keep it to one question per
email. After people click on a link to tag themselves, they’ll be redirected
to another page and you can’t rely on them to come back and continue a
multiple-question test. Stick to one question per email.

PLAY #8: DO YOU KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER?

What is this email all about?

In this email, you’re asking your audience to engage and respond to a

question that has a correct answer.

Why is this email important?

Instead of an interest-based multiple-choice selection like in the Which One

Are You? email, which is meant to learn more about your subscribers, this
email’s sole purpose is to have your subscribers click to leave an answer on
your website (or on a social media platform) and engage with the rest of
your community.

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We as human beings LOVE to know that we know the right answers to
things. This is why we love game shows, and it’s why we yell out the
answers to questions we know the answer to, even when we are by
ourselves.

When given the opportunity to supply a correct answer, we take it, which is
why we should give our subscribers this opportunity too.

This, combined with a platform to share these answers on and discuss,

becomes a powerful tool to encourage your audience to engage with your
brand and connect with one another. Plus, the increase in comments and
conversation provide social proof to support the value of the community
within your brand.

When should you send this email?

Use this kind of email in a broadcast only.

Because this is all about engagement, you don’t want your autoresponder
email to send new subscribers to an older post that may potentially have
little or no new communication.

I like sending this email after I ask a specific question (one that has a correct
answer) on a platform like Facebook, which makes it easy to view the replies
and scroll through the various answers. Plus, Facebook does a great job
of showing the top comments, how many people responded in total, and
it also encourages people to reply to one another, which is a huge plus. A
byproduct of this is more Facebook fans and shares.

Other times, I’ll send this email after I write an important blog post that
includes a question, and I ask this same question in the email and invite
people to click through to leave an answer. Comments are left on the blog
post instead, and a byproduct of this is more traffic to your site, and the
likelihood that people who land there will find more reasons to interact.

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This is a great way to re-engage your subscribers if, for example, you
haven’t sent them an email in a while, or you’ve been noticing that not very
many people are taking action on your CTAs.

Call to Action:

The CTA is to click on a link to share their answer to the question that you
pose.

How

Step 1: Ask a question on a social media platform (or blog post) that has a
specific answer. For example, if you’re in the health industry, you could ask:
Which is healthier, spinach or kale? And why?

That alone will earn you an above-average number of comments.

Remember, you want your audience to provide the answers, so tell ‘em
you’ll share your answer later and they can see if it matches up with theirs.

Step 2: Create a broadcast email and ask your subscribers the same
question.

Step 3: Grab the link that brings people directly to where they can leave
their response. On social media, the link to the exact post or update is
typically found where the timestamp is for that particular post. Right-click
on that link to copy to your clipboard, and test it out before you insert it into
your email.

Step 4: Provide a clear call to action to click on the link to leave “their
version of the answer.” It’s important to let them know that it’s “their version
of the answer,” because those words suggest that they have a say and you’re
essentially opening up the floor for them. This increases the likelihood that
they will click and respond.

Step 5: Solidify your email, and send.

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Special Note:
Just to warn you, sometimes people get VERY passionate about their
answers. It’s fun to watch the conversations evolve as several people in your
community may disagree with one another, or rally to defend a person’s
answer. People will really pull out all of the stops to prove themselves right
(or others wrong).

This is exactly what you want to happen. When you can spark this kind of
conversation under your brand, it’s a great sign, and can help others who
aren’t yet part of your brand get involved and discover you. You may need
to moderate a bit if people begin to get disrespectful, but that doesn’t
happen very often.

Have fun with this one!

PLAY #9: WHY DO YOU HATE ME?

What is this email all about?

This is an email that asks your subscribers why they haven’t taken action on
something you’ve previously asked them to do.

Why is this email important?

The subject line and this email type is from Ryan Levesque’s book, Ask, a
book that I highly recommend for everyone who has an email list. Seriously,
it’s an amazing book that has changed how I think about and utilize my
email list.

The question “Why do you hate me?” is meant to increase the open rate of
this particular email, but it’s the purpose of this email and the copy within
that matter most. Ryan explains that this email is meant to get a direct reply
so that you can understand, in the exact language of your subscriber, why

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your subscriber has not taken action. This is typically at the end of a sales
sequence when it’s clear that your subscriber has yet to buy.

You see, ideally, when people subscribe to your email list they’ll be sent a
series of emails that eventually lead them into a specific transaction that
you’d like them to take. It could be to purchase a product, download a piece
of software, leave a particular kind of feedback, vote, or another type of
action.

When people take this desired action, they are taken off of that particular
email series and potentially put into another so that they aren’t pitched to
do something they’ve already done.

If subscribers wind up getting to the end of a funnel and have yet to take the
desired action, there’s some sort of disconnect between being interested
in your email list, and the action you want them to take. Since they haven’t
taken action anyway, a question like “Why haven’t you purchased this
product yet?” can provide a ton of insight to help you tweak things to get
better results.

When you think about it, what else have you got to lose? They’ve gone
through your entire series, and you might as well ask them what’s up before
they become an inactive subscriber. Not everyone will reply, but some will,
and those answers could be exactly what you need to hear.

When should you send this email?

This email should be placed at the very end of an autoresponder series

connected to a sales funnel or other transaction/goal-based sequence.

Call to Action:

The CTA is: Please click reply to this email and let me know why you haven’t
[goal] yet.

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How

Step 1: Within an existing funnel, add an additional email at the end of the
sequence with a subject line that is the same or similar to “Why do you hate
me?”

Step 2: Write your email in an authentic tone about why you’re asking for
this honest feedback.

Step 3: Provide a clear CTA that asks them to reply to the email directly with
their honest thoughts.

Step 4: Solidify your email, and send.

Special Note:
The “Why do you hate me?” subject line is sensitive for some people, so
if you feel like it’s too harsh, then don’t use it. You want people to open
this email though, because the answers you get back are going to tell you
exactly why they got all the way to the end without taking action.

Whether they reply or not, if a subscriber gets to the end of an email series,
you could automatically move them into another from that point forward.
Again, you might as well, and you never know—perhaps another series
is better suited for that person and they will be more likely to take action
there.

PLAY #10: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

What is this email all about?

This email is meant to be sent to subscribers who haven’t opened a notable

amount of recent emails from you. It’s a way to re-engage your subscribers,
while at the same time help to weed out the ones who are no longer active
or responding.

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Why is this email important?

Over time, you’re going to begin to collect subscribers on your list who
shouldn’t be subscribers anymore. Namely, I’m talking about people who
are no longer opening your emails after a certain period of time. If they
aren’t opening your emails anymore, then they are inactive subscribers.

Before you delete those subscribers though, it’s always best to do what you
can to try to re-engage them, and a simple email with a “Where Have You
Been?” subject line can be a casual and quick way for people to reply.

You have to be careful though, because sometimes different email service

providers define “opening” an email differently, but even before you delete
subscribers (which is smart to do after a long period of inactivity), this
particular email can help re-awaken some people who want to make sure
they stay on your list.

When should you send this email?

This is one of those “spring cleaning” type of emails that’s good to send
once a year. It’s definitely meant for a broadcast, and I’d put this in your
calendar a month before you know a huge month is going to happen. This
way, if you do re-awaken some sleepers, they’ll be ready for your important
action-based emails to come.

Call to Action:

You could include a small reply CTA here in this email, but unlike other
emails in this section, it’s not as important here. The main goal is to get
sleepers to open your emails and let them know that you have some good
stuff coming soon that they will not want to miss out on.

How

Step 1: Create a segment within your list of subscribers who have not

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opened the last five email broadcasts you’ve sent. Many (but not all) email
service providers give you this capability. You can customize this number
to your liking, but I like five. If someone hasn’t opened your last five emails,
that’s definitely saying something about their interest.

Step 2: Create an email and make sure to only send it to this particular
segment of your list.

Step 3: Solidify your email, and send.

Step 4: Pay attention to the open rates for these emails. It will likely be
extremely low (since these are the inactives and sleepers on your list), but
you will get a few opens, which is a good sign that some subscribers in that
segment are still alive.

Step 5 (Optional): A month later, you can re-send this email to those
who did not open your previous one, and after that you could make the
assumption that those who did not open that one are worth deleting off of
your list.

Special Note:
In order to run a successful email campaign, you’re going to have to
understand that the number of people on your list isn’t as important as the
percentage of people who are opening your emails and ultimately clicking
on your links. Although I recommend not deleting subscribers right away,
deleting them is totally okay and encouraged, as long as you know for sure
a subscriber on your list is no longer active. A couple of re-engagement
campaigns to no-opens can help you decide whether or not they are worth
having on your list anymore.

Also, in regards to the subject line, I know a few people who get more
aggressive with this email, just to make sure people open them. Their
subject line may be something like: “Open This Now, Or You’re Off the List.”

Now, that’s a little too aggressive for me, but I just wanted to share this with

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you to again let you know that you know your audience better than I do,
and you have the ability to do spring-cleaning within your list in any way
that you see fit.

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Thank You!
I’d like to thank you again for
taking the time to check out Email
the Smart Way! I hope you’ve
found some value in it and can
use it as a guide to help you craft
your autoresponder and broadcast
emails in the future.

If for whatever reason you got this

playbook without ever subscribing
to my email list (which is totally
okay because I realize people love to share things like this), then please
head on over to SmartPassiveIncome.com and subscribe to my email list
there.

Might I also suggest you check out EbookstheSmartWay.com, which is

another free resource you can use to help you create, publish, market, and
automate a killer ebook—just like this one!

And lastly, if you enjoyed this book, please give me a shoutout on Twitter
and share EmailtheSmartWay.com! My Twitter username is @PatFlynn, or
you can simply click on the link below to generate an automatic tweet to
make it even easier for you:

Click here to thank me on Twitter and share this free playbook with others!
Cheers, best of luck, and I look forward to serving you again soon!

Pat Flynn

http://www.smartpassiveincome.com

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Disclaimer

The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only.

I am not a lawyer or an accountant. Any legal or financial advice that I give
is my opinion based on my own experience. You should always seek the
advice of a professional before acting on something that I have published
or recommended. Any amount of earnings disclosed in this guide should
not be considered average. Please understand that there are some links
contained in this guide that I may benefit from financially. The material in
this guide may include information, products, or services by third parties.
Third Party Materials are composed of the products and opinions expressed
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Materials does not constitute my guarantee of any information, instruction,
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use of recommended Third Party Material does not guarantee any success
and or earnings related to you or your business.

Publication of such Third Party Material is simply a recommendation

and an expression of my own opinion of that material. No part of this
publication shall be reproduced, transmitted, or sold in whole or in part in
any form, without the prior written consent of the author. All trademarks
and registered trademarks appearing in this guide are the property of their
respective owners. Users of this guide are advised to do their own due
diligence when it comes to making business decisions and all information,
products, services that have been provided should be independently verified
by your own qualified professionals. By reading this guide, you agree that
myself and my company are not responsible for the success or failure of
your business decisions relating to any information presented in this guide.

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