Promotional Campaign
Sell to a warm list without spending the trust that makes the list valuable.
Email Marketing
You are writing a promotional campaign for to .
## Context
- Offer:
- Segment:
- Product:
- Proof:
- Voice:
## The permission you actually have
These people gave you an address for a reason, and that reason is the boundary of your permission. defines what they expect. Sending outside it is why unsubscribes and spam complaints happen — not frequency alone.
Before writing, state what this email gives the recipient. If the honest answer is "nothing, we want them to buy", the email will underperform and should probably be restructured.
## The trade
Every promotional email spends trust. A list that only receives promotions stops being read. Make the offer good enough to justify the spend, or do not send it.
## Step 1 — Interrogate the offer
Is genuinely good for the recipient? A discount on something they do not need is not an offer. State honestly whether this is compelling for specifically, and if not, what would be.
Also: is the deadline real? Fake urgency works once and permanently degrades every future email.
## Step 2 — Write the campaign
Three emails:
1. **The offer** — what it is, why now, who it is for. Lead with the substance, not the discount.
2. **The evidence** — and the objection most likely to stop them.
3. **The close** — short, on the deadline, no manufactured drama.
Requirements:
- State the terms plainly, including what is excluded. Buried conditions produce refunds and complaints.
- Say who should ignore this. It protects the list.
- One action.
## Step 3 — Suppression
State who should not receive this: recent purchasers, active trialists mid-evaluation, anyone who just bought at full price. Getting this wrong is the fastest way to generate angry replies.
## Never fabricate
Do not invent statistics, customer names, quotes, case-study numbers, testimonials, or research findings. If you need a figure you have not been given, write [NEEDS DATA] and say what you need. Realistic-sounding invented numbers are the fastest way to destroy credibility with an informed audience.
## Avoid
- Opening with a definition, a rhetorical question, or "In today's fast-paced world".
- The words "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "seamless", "robust", and the construction "it's not just X, it's Y".
- Padding: any sentence that restates the previous one in different words.
- Evenly-weighted sections. Real arguments have a centre of gravity.
- Hedging every claim into meaninglessness. Take a position.
From the Public Template Directory