The last email I wrote got responses like these...
- "One of the best emails I have ever received"
- a 300+ word response
- And many subscribers sharing their struggles
I will retrace my steps & show how I connected random ideas to write an email that spoke deeply to my audience. So you can do the same.
Context:
My client's audience is graphic designers and I wrote about creativity. (You should write on a topic that is relevant to your audience).
The Email
Subject Line: [F_name], do you panic at the start of a project?
Body:
"Well I did. Even though I had a decade plus design experience.
But for years, every time I began a new project…
I started sweating, breathing heavily, and hit the panic button.
“Am I out of creative ideas?” I would ask myself.
We designers have to tap into our creativity on a daily basis so the fear of running out of creativity was “logical”.
Anyways, after the panic phase, I would think back to how I overcame my creative block previously.
And I noticed that these 2 techniques have helped me the most…
Technique 1
Think of creativity as a backed-up pipe of water. The first few liters are packed with wastewater. It must be emptied before clear water arrives.
So at the beginning of a new project, jot down ALL your ideas WITHOUT judgment.
Once bad ideas are emptied, strong ideas begin to arrive.
Remember, you are not a SUPERHUMAN. Neither is the artist you admire, they simply have the discipline to play out their bad ideas.
Great ideas will come to you, it always does.
Technique 2 At the start of every project, we want to create a BIG concept - but we can’t.
It’s like trying to create a design that can fill the entire galaxy.
But if you create something the size of a glass of water, and if you do it right. A few days later, you’ll notice that it has the universe in it.
Rather than have a glass of water fit the universe… try to fit a universe inside a glass of water.
In short, constraints lead to creativity.
Now there was a whole genre of movies that started because of budget constraints - film noir - known for its low-key lighting.
The dim lighting saved on electricity and helped hide cheap sets with mists & smoke.
Now you might not have seen the classic film noirs of the 1940s & 50s.
But you might have heard of the updated version of film noir known as neo-noir.
The most famous low-budget neo-noir is Fargo by the Coen brothers.
And this brings me to the most important point about setting constraints.
While constraints help avoid overwhelm, it doesn’t ensure you’ll generate great ideas...
So we pair constraint with another trick - which the Coen brothers are famous for - juxtaposition.
It means combining unrelated elements from different genres to see if they fit together.
Remember jotting all your bad ideas from technique #1?
Now mix & match those ideas together to create something spectacular.
To recap…
1- jot down all your ideas 2- set constraints 3- mix & match ideas
And this is how you’ll never be afraid of running out of creativity!
(first name) “Staying Creative” (last name) P.S. what are some of the ways you stay creative? Drop your process, strategies & tips. "
Stage 1 - Collecting Ideas
Here's how I collect ideas:
- Bookmark written & videos content
- Highlight texts from books on Kindle
- Share links to my WhatsApp
- Write down ideas in notebook & on note-cards
Stage 2 - Sorting Ideas
I start sorting relevant ideas and write notes atop of my draft in Google Doc.
Ideas used in the email:
'Creativity as a faucet', I first read this analogy by Andrew Huberman in a Billy Oppenheimer tweet
'Constraints leads to creativity', I read in Austin Kleon's book & then in a clip of John Mayer speaking on writer's block
'Film-noir & budget constraints', I don't remember where I read about it but I had it mind (maybe because I was reading Buster Keaton's autobiography)
'Neo-noir films of Coen Brothers', I was worried my audience wouldn't know about film-noir, so I searched for a more recent reference.
Stage 3 - Writing the First Draft
I forget all the references, notes and just write.
Stage 4 - Refinement
Leave the draft for a while.
Come back to it.
Edit it.
Stage 5 - Email Essentials
After I have the content, it's time to add the essential elements of an email
The most important one is the Subject Line. I used this:
"(f_name), do you panic at the start of a project?" - it's personalized + asking a question + talking about a common pain point of my audience
Lastly, I add in a Call-to-action:
"P.S. what are some of the ways you stay creative? Drop your process, strategies & tips" - it encourages replies, which leads to more connection between my client & his list & from a tech POV, it increases domain health of the sender.
To recap...
Keep your audience in mind
Always be collecting Ideas
Don't start with a blank page
Empathize, be human
Write a quick draft
Refine and then edit it
Add essential email elements
I hope you found this useful and can write emails that'll get you similar replies from your subscribers.
Or if you don't have the capacity to write your emails, you can reach out to me here...
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