Does email copy need to be persuasive?

That sounds like a dumb question doesn’t it?

The answer seems obvious: Of course email copy needs to persuasive!

Or does it?

In his book What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, Malcolm Gladwell says, “Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade…It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head.”

He’s not talking specifically about email copy here but as I read that it occurred to me that it applies to email copy too.

An email is not a mini sales letter.

An email isn’t supposed to sell you on the product, per se.

The copywriter’s job is to simply get the reader to click on the link in the email.

And the best way to get the click is to, like Gladwell said:

*Engage the reader.

*Make them think.

*Give them a glimpse inside your head (telling a story works well for this).

This is more difficult than persuasion, I think, because there’s not a formula for it.  Which is why you see so many emails that are mini sales letters.

Filed under: Email Copywriting

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!