My wife and I celebrated our anniversary this week.
This was our fourth.
Man, time is flying…
Fourth anniversary means that traditionally gifts are: flowers and fruit… and appliances.
Applicances is kind of fucking stupid – because honestly, by year four of marriage… what appliances DON’T you already have?
Right?
Now, flowers and fruit is kind of a tricky one.
The obvious one gift idea is wine.
But wtf else is there?
My wife is awesome and super creative. She heard me mention Haus a while back and she ordered us two bottles for one of our gifts to ourselves.
We tried their Rose Rosé and Citrus Flower aperitifs… and they definitely live up to the hype. Well worth it. Highly recommend.
And…
Now we’re considering their membership.
I’m very excited for this week’s email breakdown.
Mainly because I’ve wanted to try Haus for a very long time. And now that I finally got the chance… and now that I’m on their email list… I got a chance to look at what they’re doing email-wise.
I gotta tell ya…
Although their emails aren’t exactly Chris Orzechowski-style (not that they NEED to be, of course)… they are really great.
We’re gonna break down one of their recent emails that perfectly demonstrates a concept I teach inside my Pay Yourself First course.
I’m talking about making your emails focused on OUTCOMES instead of PRODUCTS.
If you focus on outcomes, you can email as often as you like without your readers ever getting tired of hearing from you.
I wanna show you the brilliant way they demonstrated this principle.
And if you nail this concept in your own emails, I think you’re going to enjoy a lot of success.
So…
Without further ado…
Let’s take a look at the Email of the Week!
This is the 42nd installment of my Email of the Week series. (Catch up on previous episodes here.)
And in case you’re new around here, here’s how this all works…
The Rules For Email Of The Week
Each week, I go out into the wild to find a super-effective e-commerce marketing email… and I break down what made it work. My goal is for you to tune in each week, so I can teach you strategies and best practices YOU can use to make your own emails better.
I find these emails in my inbox, but I also accept suggestions from readers who have a remarkable email they’d like to share.
If you recently received an email that was so awesome it made your jaw drop, I wanna see it.
Forward it to me (chris at theemailcopywriter dot com) with a brief message about what you liked about it. If I choose to do a breakdown of the email you sent, I’ll give you a shout out and link to your site.
The only rule is… you can’t pick yourself.
Now then, without further ado, let’s check out the Email of the Week!
The Rise of the American Aperitif
In case you’re unfamiliar with Haus, they’re an alcoholic beverage company who offer a line of truly amazing aperitifs.
On top of that, they probably have some of the coolest, most fun branding and story-based marketing I’ve seen from ANY brand.
When your order arrives, they include this little booklet that teaches you all about aperitif culture. They paint this amazing picture of what that culture looks like in Europe. Where people use their evening drink NOT to drown out the day… but to open up the evening.
You close your eyes and see yourself with friends and family, sitting at a cafe sipping on a drink, snacking on paté and a cheese plate.
The conversation is light and fun.
There’s a buzz in the air.
People are laughing.
You can feel the air loosening up.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a Tuesday, the workday is over and the evening has just begun.
This is what I saw in mind as I read through the content that came with our bottles.
It’s a lifestyle, really.
But in America, we don’t have that kind of culture.
And…
Well…
It kind of sucks!
So right off the bat, you kind of understand their mission. Then when you throw in the fact that they make their beverages on their third-generation family farm out in Cali… you just feel a strong connection with this brand.
Their drinks are low alcohol and don’t have any shitty ingredients. So you’ll actually feel good during and after you drink them.
Just a really cool product line.
I so fucking dig it.
Anyway…
I could keep gushing about how incredible their branding, packaging, marketing, and overall storytelling is…
But you’re here to take a peek into what makes their emails so often.
So, let’s do that.
Now, remember how a moment ago I told you how your emails should always be focused on OUTCOMES instead of products?
Well, what exactly does that mean?
Haus could have very well taken the angle of: “Hey, we got these awesome aperitifs and they taste good, and they have low sugar, and blah blah blah.”
And you know what?
That angle might have done OK in an email.
No doubt about that.
But, take a look at how they pushed the conversation to the next level…
Subject line: Long weekend, Haus style
This subject line is actually pretty good. I think the capitalization is fine here. And it’s kind of hooky.
Who doesn’t want an enjoyable, boozy long weekend… right?
I’m into it.
Let’s check out that body…
Remember how I talked about outcomes vs products? (You should, I’ve only mentioned it like three fucking times already.)
This email is NOT about Haus’s individual products.
This email IS about how to have an awesome weekend.
After all, why do you REALLY buy any alcohol product in the first place?
Usually, it’s because you wanna have fun on the weekend.
See how this works?
This email is a recipe, of sorts.
One of the “ingredients” of the recipe of a good, long weekend… is obviously to drink Haus.
Are you getting this yet?
This is the next level, right here.
Take a look…
So the first part of any good long weekend is obviously to drink Haus. You kind of expected that.
They keep the main thing the main thing, which is smart.
After all – the objective here is to sell Haus.
They don’t just say “buy our stuff” tho.
They demonstrate how to use it, by providing a recipe.
Very, very smart.
Thing is tho… this is just the first part of their recommended weekend plans…
Now, I haven’t read this book myself. (Got about 14 other books I gotta get through before I buy anymore).
But I’ve met a few chefs in my day… and they ALWAYS have the best stories.
I mean, have you watched Chef’s Table? Probably my favorite documentary series ever.
Such amazing stories from every chef in that show.
Now, do you see how the weekend is starting to come together?
Good drinks…
Good books…
If they just stopped right there, that’d already be an awesome time.
But, they keep going…
Now…
It could be that I’m a sucker for smoked meats.
But god damn, this was the clincher.
LOOK AT THAT FUCKING SPREAD!!!
How do you not wanna make that – or at least part of it.
It’s summer, it’s hot, you can’t go out to eat anyway… might as well make some dank-ass BBQ.
Good drinks…
A good book…
THE DANKEST BBQ SPREAD EVER…
They’re not done yet tho…
Before I wrote this email breakdown, I had to take a listen to this album.
In fact, I actually have it on right now, even as I’m typing this article.
I gotta tell ya…
This shit fucking SLAPS.
Well, maybe “slaps” isn’t the right word.
It’s a vibe tho.
This is such awesome background music to have on while you’re sipping your Haus, reading your book, or entertaining guests while the ribs are in the smoker.
Seriously, take a listen.
I’d never heard of this group before, but now I wanna make a playlist that I can throw on when we’re chilling.
Now, here’s the interesting thing…
Every time I ever think of this band, I’ll remember that I first learned about them from this Haus email.
That is some next level inception shit right there.
Really brilliant – this entire email.
Ok one last section…
Alright so big ass hero image at the bottom. Does this add anything to the email? Idk, probably not.
The one thing I’d love to see from Haus is mixing it up with some plain text. I think this could have worked just as well (if not better) by making this a personal email from Helena or Woody.
Maybe they do that every now and again – I’m not sure.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Because I think the real power behind this brand is that connection they seem to make through their marketing.
Really awesome stuff.
Love this company.
Go buy some Haus, you’ll love it.
Big Takeaways from Haus
- Make your emails about outcomes, not products.
- Demonstrate products if you’re going to plug them.
- Introduce readers to new things, and they’ll remember you forever.
- Use powerful images to support your copy.
- If you have a “cool factor” lean into it.
- Appeal to multiple senses in your copy: taste, visuals, smells, sounds, etc…
- Ribs are great. (*jots down ‘smoker’ on list of presents to buy myself*)
- Plain text might build an even stronger bond with your readers.
- Turn the use of your products into a lifestyle.
- Take people on an adventure in your emails.
What You Should Do Next
- Subscribe to my email list so you can get ALL of the Emails of the Week delivered straight to your inbox, automatically.
- Leave a comment for me below and let me know what you liked about this email.
- Order some Haus. Seriously, it’s fucking fantastic. I can’t wait to buy more. At the very least, get on their email list.
I’m not listening to Mordechai! Love this — Make your emails about outcomes, not products.
Will definitely use this on my current email creatives. Thank you, Chris!
OMG! Typo error. NOW listening! *facepalms*