Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
In this sports analogy laden episode, Graham and Derek talk about effective copywriting tactics when writing out an email to the loyal customers of float centers across the globe.
They line out the importance of focusing on a short, sweet, and simple message, while outlining some strategies at Float On that are used with that in mind.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Alright, hello everybody.
Derek: Hey, hey, hey.
Graham: Once again, we are joined by Derek Wyatt, and I am Graham Talley. We will be talking a little bit about marketing, because that’s Derek’s realm of expertise.
Derek: That’s right, Bob.
Graham: I can’t believe I couldn’t think of the word “expertise” there for a second. Today’s question is “how long should an email marketing blast be when that marketing blast is big?” Sounds like a tongue twister.
Derek: Long enough to keep their attention, but short enough to get the point across. I don’t know.
Graham: I think they’re just saying when they’re emailing a bunch of customers, I assume not like a newsletter is what I’m seeing.
Derek: Right.
Graham: When they’re doing a deal or, probably a deal is usually what a big email blast would be about. I guess a special event maybe, like you’re hosting an anniversary party at your shop or something, you might send out an email blast for them.
Derek: Historically, I’ve sent very short emails. I can’t think of too many cases in all of my marketing where I side on the long form side of email copywriting.
Graham: Yeah, I guess that’s why I was trying to just draw the distinction between an email newsletter versus a blast. Email newsletters, I feel like, yeah, give some news, keep it long, conversational. You want to give some people information.
Derek: Nobody wants to read that. No, but I mean, so think about the person you’re emailing. How frequently do you email them? If you email them more frequently, you probably want to keep them short. If you email them once a month, like a newsletter, then it’s probably okay to go a little bit longer, especially if it’s things in there that are going to provide them value. As long as you’re saying something that your general audience on your list is going to be interested in getting, say it, and then be done with the email. If that has to be a two page email, then it has to be that. That was the right length for email.
Graham: Even your terminology there, like “has to be two pages”. I can tell that your psychology is just keep it as short as you humanly can.
Derek: 100%.
Graham: Yeah, so that’s where I was going with the email blast too. Again, maybe newsletters get a pass, because they are newsletters. You’re sharing news. An email blast, usually you just want to get one thing across to the audience. You should be able to get that thing across pretty succinctly.
Derek: Right.
Graham: I’d almost say for every paragraph that you add, you’re going to lose 10% of people.
Derek: That’s sounds like an excellent made up number. I would agree.
Graham: Yeah, yeah, it’s based on nothing, but it gives you kind of a at least a mental idea of what’s going on, which is if you can keep it short and to the point, I would say two to three paragraphs max, for a usual newsletter blast, then you can actually get people’s attention, and if you tell them very succinctly what you want them to do and what the benefits are, like, “We have a sale on floats, and I want you to buy them, and this is going away soon.” That is a successful blast.
Derek: I want to steal a page out of this marketer I know. His name’s Graham Talley. He likes to give the TL;DR, the two long; didn’t read gist of an email up top, and then he wants to be long winded. He does it in the P.S. section below his signature.
Graham: The old Graham Talley Special, I call it.
Derek: That’s right. The Graham Slam.
Graham: Here’s a little bit more about the Graham Talley Special.
Derek: It’s the Graham Slam Special. It’s 3.99. Graham, tell us your thoughts behind why you do that.
Graham: And this is great, I was actually going to give them this later in the episode, so happy you gave me a little alley-oop pass there.
Derek: Fast forward. That’s right, Bob.
Graham: The idea being get your most important stuff up front, right? If you do want to share some news, like you installed a new float tank, which is awesome, and now people have a greater choice to choose from, and you want to say that you’re doing a deal on floats, and you want people to buy them, up front, the first paragraph, be like, “Hey, we’re doing a deal on floats, and you should buy them, and we have some exciting upgrades they made to the space that you can read about below, but mainly, we like you. You’re on our mailing list. Here’s your deal. See you later. PS, just let me tell you about my awesome new tank, and all the cool things it does, and it has a starlight ceiling, and the transducer speakers are better mounted.” That way, the main thing, if they’re not going to read that far, there’s an obvious to click buy the discounted floats button. If they are curious about what upgrades happened, then it just naturally divides people into groups, and neither one is disappointed.
Derek: Right.
Graham: Whereas if you lead with the upgrades to the float tanks, some people are going to be like, “Oh, this is just an update post,” and then leave, not realizing they could save money. Then that way, only the people who really were interested in floating are going to get all the way down the bottom essentially. So you’re unnecessarily screening out people who would have taken advantage of the deal otherwise.
Derek: I mean, you know, we’re trying to get people to unplug, so why would we want to take two, three minutes of their time reading an email that’s indulgent about us, right? We want to convey the information they need to know, and let them be on their way, let them be able to finish their work day, click out of their emails, and go home.
Graham: Yeah. I definitely, that also changed my opinion on length of emails in general, when I read a nice essay on the amount of other people’s time you waste by being long winded. If you’re blasting out even to 10,000 people, and it takes them 15 seconds longer to scan or read your email that you sent out, that’s a collective one billion man hours or something. I don’t know, I didn’t sit down to to do the math, but it’s a lot of actual man hours that you’re spending, even though it’s 15 second increments, just on reading an email. So a little more philosophical for why not to have a long email, but also very, very true.
Derek: Right. As I think Tim Ferriss quoting somebody else says, “Your inbox is other people’s agenda.” Don’t burden somebody with more stuff to do.
Graham: Plus we’re not Proust. People aren’t going to take the time to read our humongous sentences, nor should they. We’re essentially, we’re marketing to them. This isn’t fine literature, so yeah. Don’t get too attached to the length and beauty of your own prose.
Derek: If you want to have length and beauty in your prose, write a blog. Write a blog, and then maybe email a link should they want to read and click through. Now you sent them an email with a headline that’s, “Click here to read this long piece.” Then if they want to read it, they can do that.
Graham: Yeah, that’s even like an extended form of the P.S. kind of thing that I do on newsletters.
Derek: Right.
Graham: We’ve done that before too, where it’s like P.S., here’s more about what I wanted to say, but you’ll have to click it to go to a blog post. That way, the letter stays short. There is more content for people who want it.
Derek: As an online marketer, with that blog piece that they read, they now visited your website, so your Facebook pixel will now track them, so you can re-target them with ads later. You’re welcome.
Graham: Put all those mattress ads up on their screen.
Derek: Absolutely.
Graham: Or whatever it is we sell. What is it? Floats? That’s right. Not mattresses.
Derek: Water mattresses.
Graham: Yeah, water mattresses. So short. Keep them short. That’s the short answer to your question.
Derek: I think we should keep this podcast short, because I feel good with it.
Graham: It’s too late. It’s too late for that.
Derek: Damn.
Graham: Gone over the deep end.
Derek: Well, let’s talk about long emails.
Graham: If you have any questions at all that you want us to answer, head on over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast. And we’ll do it. We’ll answer them.
Derek: Alright. Take care everybody.
Graham: Bye.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Benefits of a Free Float Giveaway – DSP 315
Float On has been known throughout the years for pulling off outlandish marketing stunts with mixed success. For example, we ran a giveaway on social media back in 2014 for a full year of free floats to our lucky winner.
Derek and Ashkahn provide a follow up on the success of that campaign and talk about the primary, secondary, and tertiary benefits that came from doing such a major giveaway.
The Importance of Social Media – DSP 314
Social media seems to be the only marketing platform that anyone talks about anymore. How to do facebook ads, when to post on Instagram, how to improve Google SEO… it’s a broad topic that seems to dominate the conversation in marketing.
Ashkahn and Derek explain not only why it seems this way, but the misconception of relying too heavily on social media in marketing strategies, as well as a defense of social media as a platform.
How to not be salesy selling memberships – DSP 313
Derek and Ashkahn give the low down on pitching memberships to customers. A lot of float center owners don’t want to come off as pushy sales people after people get out of their floats.
Ashkahn sympathizes with this a lot, since that’s exactly how he felt when he first started selling memberships for Float On. He and Derek suggest a perspective shift on the idea of memberships, as lots of customers end up being appreciative of the opportunity, and don’t feel like they’re being overly pitched to.
Why is Water Treatment Important? – DSP 312
If float tank water is safe, in part because of all the salt, then why is there such a huge emphasis in the industry for water treatment? After all, there haven’t been any reports of anyone getting sick because of floating.
Ashkahn and Graham tackle this question and challenge the idea on its face, because, well, just because something hasn’t been reported doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, and given how little is known about water treatment in float tanks, it’s a good idea, as an industry, to minimize the risk of infections and illness as much as possible. Really, there’s a lot of reasons, from peace of mind, complying with health regulation standards, and even marketing, to maintain your float tank solution to as high a standard that you can.
Soundproofing Windows of Your Float Center – DSP 311
Graham and Ashkahn discuss soundproofing windows of a float center, but first they talk about which situations may even warrant soundproofing in the first place. It may be that soundproofing is better prioritized elsewhere.
If you do decide to soundproof your window, the guys give you some tips on how best to do it and what to look for when picking out which type of glaze you may want along with a few other options.
Latest Blog Posts
What? Another Product Announcement? The New and Improved About Float Tanks Guide!
We’ve learned a lot since then, so has the industry and the rest of the world. Floating is no longer considered some obscure practice. The industry has become very well established the world over and is continuing to grow. As such, the About Float Tanks Guide in particular desperately needed updating.
There has been new research, new standards in manufacturing, and as an industry, we have a much better understanding of all things float tank.
Download the latest version today!
Announcing: The 2017 Float Tank Industry Report
In 2014 we started gathering answers to a survey that would eventually become the very first State of the Float Industry Report. We've released one every year since, and this year we (once again) have the most contributions that we've ever had. In total, 193 existing...
Working with a Landlord
If you’re planning on opening up a float center, it’s likely that you’ll end up renting and, therefore, working closely with a landlord. Like any business relationship, it takes communication, discernment, and openness to make a renter-landlord relationship feel truly comfortable.
Everyone involved is taking a risk and the reality is that, when it comes to floating, it’s probably more risk than your average small business – craft shop, bar, hair salon, law office, what-have-you.
This piece also includes a free download – a compilation of support letters from float center landlords!
Employees vs. Independent Contractors. Which is better when offering additional services?
Part of what makes all of this so confusing is there isn’t a one-size-fits-all set of actions that differentiates a standard employee from an independent contractor. Your State regulators, the federal Department of Labor, and the IRS all have their own criteria for what constitutes an “independent contractor”. Here, we’ll just be using the IRS definitions as a sort of jumping off point to the issue. If the status of employees is ever challenged, the IRS determines the status on a case-by-case basis over several criteria by a panel of judges, very similar to American Idol.
Basically it comes down to who is in control of the work. How much control does the company have over the type of job being done vs. how much control does the person providing the service. This manifests in different ways, but to fit the definition of an independent contractor, a service provider really does have to be independent. Beyond just using this guide, you should always consult an HR lawyer if you feel like there’s any confusion or ambiguity.
Basically, the rules fall into three main categories…
