THE PERFECT EMAIL FORMULA

Morning!

I’m sitting on the couch in my apartment feeling very sorry for myself today. The rain is bouncing off the window and I’m sitting here coughing and snivelling because I have caught a bloody cold.

My Mrs had it last week. I told her to man up. Now I’m embarrassingly sitting here wrapped up in a fluffy tracksuit moaning about my throat. Sad times.

Anyway, today I’m going to share something with you that I don’t like to tell many people - mainly because it’s still a method I use every week. But I think it’s finally time to let the secret loose.

I’m going to show you how we’re bringing in 20 leads per month with 1 singular email formula.

It may seem like a hack, a trick, or nonsense. But it’s none of those things. It’s a mixture of 2 copywriting tricks I learned from Daniel Priestley and a guy named Ben Bader.

Keep this one to yourself ;)

THE ESSAY

I never understood emails.

When I first got into marketing, I saw so many people talking about how important email marketing was. They'd throw out stats about how you could get a 42x return on every dollar you put into email marketing.

I didn't get it. I never wanted to give companies my email and when I did I'd always be frustrated when they emailed me.

Then I learned about Gary Halbert.

Gary Halbert was famously known as the highest-paid copywriter of all time. He made hundreds of millions through writing letters and sending them out to people.

I talk about him all of the time in this newsletter because he was my first marketing obsession. This guy could write words on a piece of paper, mail it to random houses across America, and people would mail back a cheque. It’s like magic.

That's when I realised emails were today's version of Gary Halbert's letters.

I figured that if I could learn Gary's methods and apply them to email, I'd crack the code. I’d make money and earn millions overnight like Gary.

So I went and studied Halbert’s work for months. I read all of his most famous letters and analysed them. I even read his infamous Boron letters where he taught his son copywriting lessons from prison.

Turns out, I didn't become an overnight millionaire. But I did learn that great emails could get people to take action.

So much so that when I quit my job at a fast-growing personal branding start-up in London, email marketing became our first service offering.

But we weren't instantly successful. Far from it. In the beginning our emails were so hit and miss because we were experimenting with different copywriting tactics without any consistent framework. Sometimes emails would get a ton of replies, other times it’d be crickets.

Fast forward 3+ years of trial and error, and now we have one email formula that consistently gets people to do exactly what we want them to do. The ironic thing? It follows the exact same structure every single time.

In this essay, I'm going to do my best to break down exactly what that formula looks like. Then just pray that not too many people copy it (because it works ridiculously well).

I’ve broken it down into 5 key aspects:

1/ People Read Stories

Early on in my copywriting journey, I became that person who signs up for every newsletter they hear about. Someone mentions a newsletter in passing? I'm subscribed. Random Twitter thread recommends an email list? Take my email.

I even created a separate email address called "Niall's newsletters" so I wouldn't completely destroy my inbox.

Then every Sunday night, I'd lie in bed and work my way through this growing pile of newsletters, trying to figure out what made some emails engaging while others were absolute rubbish.

But the results were depressing:

• 90% were dry and boring

• Another 9% just tried to sell me something from line one

But then there was this one guy whose emails I actually looked forward to reading.

Ben Bader.

Yes ignore the fact he looks like a typical internet crony.

When I first found him, he had maybe 5,000 followers - nothing impressive. He was just a random guy who sold courses on Twitter and I honestly expected to receive some terrible salesy stuff. Instead, I got something completely different.

Every week, without fail, I'd read his entire email… and it bothered me. Why was I deleting 99% of emails but eagerly opening his?

But after taking a second to see what he did differently to everyone else it was so obvious…

1) The first 95% of his email never tried to sell me anything. No "limited time offers" or "click here now" nonsense cluttering up the content.

2) Every email started with a genuine, human story that pulled me in immediately.

Just look at the opening of one of his recent emails:

It’s casual. It’s relatable. But most of all, it starts with a story.

That's when it clicked: people don't want to be marketed to, they want to be told stories they can connect with. The more relatable the story, the more they'll stick around to see where you're going with it.

With everyone marketing email, we want people to take some sort of action. But to do that you have to drag them in with a story first.

That’s easier said than done though, so let’s get more specific.

2/ Start With a Problem (Then Unpack It Together)

Now, here's the crucial bit. The story can't just be any random story. It needs to be a problem that you've already solved but they're currently wrestling with.

I like to write these in first person and go into extreme detail with where I was and what was happening when I had this problem.

The goal is to describe your past situation in a way that perfectly mirrors their current reality. Even take this essay for example. It’s an essay about writing the perfect email. Now, look at the first few lines I wrote…

From there, I’m slowly diving deep into how I got better at emails and revealing (in detail) how I write my best-performing emails today.

And that detail part is important. Because you have to give an extreme amount of value (and detail) if you want people to keep reading.

My aim: After reading the email, if they wanted to, they could implement the entire system themselves without ever speaking to me.

Then, when people realise you're not gatekeeping information to force a sale, they trust you completely.

And whilst they could technically implement everything themselves, many will think "this person clearly knows their stuff - maybe it's easier to just work with them."

But then it gets to the tough part… getting them to take action.

3/ Never Put Your CTA in the Email, Put It in the P.S.

Even after I'd mastered the storytelling and problem-solving approach, some emails still fell flat. I'd craft this perfect narrative, give massive value, then end with a call-to-action and… crickets.

No replies. No action. No nothing.

It was as if I’d never even sent the email.

That changed when I heard Daniel Priestley mention something on a webinar that completely shifted how I think about email CTAs. He said his best-performing emails focus purely on adding value, then tuck the CTA away in the “P.S.” section.

I couldn’t believe no one had told me this sooner. There I was ending my emails with a physical button CTA and he wasn’t asking for anything until the “P.S.” section.

Let me show you what this looks like in practice with an email I sent just last week that brought in 20 leads.

CONTEXT: The body of the email broke down our complete outbound system in detail.

Then we had this as the P.S.

Yes, there is a call-to-action there - but it doesn't feel like one. It feels like I'm doing them a favour by offering something extra and it’s also after the email.

I am not a psychologist so I can’t tell you why it works better than being in the email, but what I can tell you is that it works.

4/ Focus on Low Friction CTAs

But just sticking your CTA in the P.S. isn't going to make you a millionaire. What you actually put there matters massively.

2 key things I focus on with this:

See how conversational that feels? It's got scarcity and urgency built in naturally, but it doesn't feel like I'm trying to flog them something. It feels like I'm doing them a favour.

Oh and lastly, I always make it "reply with _____" rather than clicking links or buttons. The friction is so much lower when someone can just type one word and hit send.

Don’t ask questions, just try it. It works.

5/ Make It Look Professional (But Keep It Human)

One last thing about the actual format of these emails.

I always used to like sending emails as plain text (with no design elements) because they feel like they're coming from a real person rather than some corporate marketing department.

But the issue with that is that they look a bit too basic. At the end of the day I run a creative marketing agency and plain text can look a bit amateur, especially if you're trying to work with bigger clients who expect a certain level of polish.

My solution is dead simple: I stick a professional header image or graphic at the top. That's it.

This tiny addition gives me the best of both worlds - the personal, conversational feel of a plain text email, but with just enough visual credibility to show you're not some bloke operating out of his bedroom (even if you are).

If I could summarise all of this waffle into one clear formula, it would be this:

1. Start with a relatable problem

2. Tell it in first-person as a story

3. Talk through the problem as if you're unpacking it with the reader

4. Focus on pure value for the entire email - showcase how you solved that problem (but never mention that they have it)

5. In the P.S., have a really conversational CTA that's positioned as a simple way to get more value

6. Spruce it up with an image at the top to make it look professional

7. Always make it a "reply with X" rather than "click this link"

That is the perfect email formula.

It's taken me 3+ years of trial and error to figure this out, but now every email we send follows this exact structure. And it works - consistently.

The beauty of it is that it doesn't feel like marketing. It feels like you're getting a message from a mate who happens to have solved a problem you're dealing with.

And the best part? People actually enjoy reading them.

Right, that’s all I’ve got for you today.

Until next Sunday,

— Niall

P.S. Yes, this is my CTA. Could you quickly rate the email below? You just need to click one of the buttons and it massively helps me to know what you enjoy or hate reading.

Cheers :)

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