When it comes to e-commerce email marketing, there are only a handful of companies that do it well.

One of those companies is Truvani.

I only recently signed up for their email list and I gotta say… I was blown away with their email marketing game. In my opinion, they’re in the top 1% of e-commerce brands that do email effectively.

Here’s why:

They actually use COPY to sell their products.

They don’t just take the same route that most ecom companies take… they don’t ram discounts and sales down your throat each week. People tune that stuff out quickly.

What they do instead that makes them so effective is…

They use their WORDS (not fancy pictures of graphics or HTML designs) to sell.

I’m not going to keep nattering on with some super long preamble… because I’m ready to sink my teeth into this thang.

So let’s get ready to take a look at another really fucking great email.

This is the 10th 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!

How to Stand Out In A Sea of 1,000 Other Products

Let’s talk about Truvani.

Truvani is a health company.

They sell supplements and protein powders and cool, consumable health products that provide a host of benefits.

This company was co-founded by Derek Halpern.

I don’t know Derek personally, but I’ve read some of his stuff and the dude definitely knows his shit. What I really respect about Derek is, unlike most people who teach marketing and sales… he actually fucking DOES it.

He’s actually in the trenches, PROVING he knows his shit and putting his money and time and reputation where his mouth is.

He’s my kind of marketer.

So before I go any further, mad props Derek.

Anyway…

Derek’s strategy and influence are definitely present throughout Truvani’s marketing. I know he has a lot of other super-smart marketers and copywriters on his team… and together, they create incredible emails like the one we’re about to look at.

The email I selected this week does something you don’t see very often in email.

This email DEMONSTRATES why Truvani’s product is superior to all other options.

Notice how I didn’t say: they tell people why they’re better.

That’s what most marketers do.

Telling people might get your message across.

But SHOWING people with some kind of demonstration is always going to have a better chance of getting the sale.

Here’s a great example of how to do that:

 

So let’s start off with the subject line.

First of all…. you should know my opinion on title casing subject lines by now: I don’t like it.

But you know what… the big idea is powerful and it pulls people in so it’s fine.

It invokes a TON of curiosity. You know Truvani is a supplement and health company. So if they’re pointing out something on a label… they’re probably exposing something important.

The emoji at the end was a really nice touch.

Now… are emojis going to double, triple, quadruple your open rates and make you so much fucking money you can retire and buy a villa on the Amalfi Coast?

Prolly not.

But in certain situations, they can really help you get your point across and draw people in with curiosity. Emojis are symbols that stand for emotions. They’re understood in a fraction of a second, as humans are inherently attracted to symbols.

One last thing before we move on.

Did you catch the name in that “from line”?

Vani @ Truvani

They could have just said from Truvani.

But the more ‘personal’ touches you can add to your email… the more you can make it look like it’s coming from a PERSON, not just a faceless corporation, the stronger the bond you’ll build with your customers.

Let’s move on…

For context: this email was part of a promotional campaign where they were giving away a free frother with any purchase.

Whenever you write an email, your main goal is always to ‘write to achieve your objective.’

I’d imagine that the objective of this email is to make sales… so they led with the priority. I endorse this strategy.

What’s cool about this intro is how they “bait the hook” with an open loop in the very first sentence.

The subject line was a pure curiosity play… the opening sentence builds on that curiosity. They seed the idea of buying a product – just so it’s top of mind – and then they launch into the meat of the email.

This is solid strategy you’re seeing right here.

I probably wouldn’t follow this same opening rhythm for every email I ever write… but this is really great here.

Take a look at that picture, too:

They have a pic of the frother alongside products. That’s a powerful visual because your brain starts to make an association between getting the frother and a lot of other cool stuff.

It kind of invokes the “thud factor” a little bit. (Holy crap, look at ALL this cool stuff I get!)

After that image, they get into the meat of the hook:

Did you notice the tone of this email?

It’s personal.

It’s truly written in a one-to-one, NOT one-to-many tone.

If all you ever did with your email was make them more one-on-one sounding… you’d see massive improvements in conversion and engagement.

Now…

What follows is a great, pithy origin story.

It doesn’t take you all the way back to day one and run you through the gamut of emotions and struggle that came from starting the company.

No.

It provides you with just a tiny bit of context to set up the main sales argument.

Their product took an entire year to develop. You can imagine the painstaking work that must have been… just to make sure you have something great.

Your brain fills in the blanks of that story… they don’t need to give you every detail.

This is solid technique.

The second half of that copy block is where this email starts to really shine.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on some protein powders?

It’s disgusting.

BOOM MOTHER FUCKER.

That’s a powerful, simple idea.

It’s ???? dis ????  gus ???? ting. ????

The best ideas are expressed in simple terms and few words.

This is a great example of that.

Short, powerful, visceral.

Also, notice the word choice in that second to last sentence in that copy block.

Laced.

Whenever I think of something being laced… I think of ecstasy. It’s laced with a bunch of bad shit.

They didn’t say they use bad ingredients.

That wouldn’t have been powerful enough.

“Laced” implies malicious intent.

It’s a subtle piece of persuasion and if you read that part really fast, you almost missed it. But your brain picked up on it and man, it is powerful persuasion.

The last line talks about how Truvani’s protein powder has only SIX ingredients. So less ingredients means it must be purer.

Now…

If all they did was say that one fact about their protein, you’d probably infer that it’s better than most other competing products. But they didn’t just stop there. They took it one step further and really just obliterated any chance of you ever being from a competitor again:

THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how you demonstrate in an email.

This right here.

I want you to stop and marvel at this for a second. Because this is a dramatic, powerful demonstration of why Truvani’s products are better, safer, healthier, and purer than anything else you’ve tried.

What the actual fuck is a Dextrin?

The fuck is erythritol? That sounds like a fluid that you put in your car.

How do you ever buy protein powder from anyone besides Truvani ever again, after seeing this comparison?

This such a strong positioning play. They are proving, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their stuff is superior. And they are SHOWING you, not just telling you that.

 

What’s cool here is they’re not ramming their superiority down your throat.

They’re not begging for the sale.

Instead, they used that bit of information to EMPOWER you. How many companies do that?

They aren’t scared of shining light into their process. They’re not scared of showing you how the sausage is made. In fact, they’re the most open and honest company in their space and they’re not afraid for you to do your own research. Because after you do your research, you’re going to see that they are the best option out there for you.

This non-neediness is super powerful.

They continue in this copy block and unpack more of the creation story. They really harp on their development process and this builds trust… because you know they refused to settle for anything but the best.

They continue to unpack the story…

 

My mentor, Kevin Rogers, has this saying:

“Does the copy make it to the dinner table?”

The way I interpret this advice is… did you give your readers a piece of information that sticks with them, something that is easily remembered and important enough for them to share with the people they care about?

Half of the battle of generating word of mouth with your products is providing your readers with the language and story they need to pass along your message.

If it’s long and twisted and complicated, it’s not going to get spread.

On top of that… the story has to make the sharer look smart.

This story does that in spades.

This little piece of story unpacks the unique mechanism.

It also plants a seed of doubt in your mind: “Whoa… ALL the other pea proteins failed for heavy metals, but this one didn’t?”

The sale is made at that point, how could you knowingly buy any other pea protein, knowing it probably contains heavy metals.

I’m just blown away with this copy.

Let’s take a look at how they ended it…

 

At the end of this email, they rehash why they are superior. They also perform what Scott Adams calls a “high ground maneuver.”

This is when you appeal to a sense of mission.

They are not only selling supplements and making you healthier… they are also fighting the evil Big Food giants who don’t give a shit about you.

All in all, a pretty flawless email.

One last thing…

You’ll notice how they didn’t even bother to drop a link at the end of this email.

This is so fucking cocky… I love it.

They know that they did such a good job with this email that there’s no way you can scroll up or click back… if you’re in the market for these kinds of products, you’re going to click thru and buy.

You will take that extra step and scroll back up and find the link because they did a great job of compelling you to take action.

It’s ballsy, but I love it.

This Is How An Ecommerce Email SHOULD Look

So if you’re currently spending hours making fancy image and coding crazy HTML designs and shit like that into your emails… it’s time to take a step back and instead, focus on your messaging.

Emails are effective because of the copy… NOT because you injected a giant picture of your logo at the top that covers half your reader’s screen.

Remember that.

Big Takeaways from Truvani’s Frother Giveaway Promo Email

  1. Write to achieve your objective.
  2. Sometimes emojis speaker louder than words.
  3. Bait the hook, open a loop.
  4. Draw people in with curiosity.
  5. “Seed” the action you want people to take.
  6. Use visuals that ratchet up desire.
  7. People love creation stories.
  8. Use short, sharp, simple language.
  9. Take a stand.
  10. SHOW, don’t tell.
  11. Use pictures to take your demonstration to the next level.
  12. Plant seeds of doubt about using other products in your customers’ minds (Truvani’s protein was the only one out of 52 that didn’t have heavy metals).
  13. Unpack the creation story and show people the struggle.
  14. Use high ground maneuvers to appeal to your reader’s sense of purpose.

Sneak Peek for Next Week

Next week’s Email of the Week is really special.

Because the company we’re going to look at actually sells nothing, only have a handful of employees, and runs their entire business on a simple, daily email.

And they’re making millions of dollars without any products.

It’s going to be a pretty incredible case study.

And it’s going to rock your world and change the way you think about email markteting forever.

Stay tuned…

What To Do Now

  1. Subscribe to my email list so you can get ALL of the Emails of the Week delivered straight to your inbox, automatically.
  2. Leave a comment for me below and let me know what you liked about this email.
  3. Send this breakdown to someone you know who has a physical product business. You might give them some inspiration to write an email changes the course of their business, forever.
  4. Buy something from Truvani. Do I really need to convince you? Say no to heavy metals and toxins and YES to products that are good for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 thought on “[Email of the Week #10]: Truvani”

  1. A thorough and instructive analysis. Favorited.

    And the best part is the analysis of why this protein powder is better than competitors. It demonstrates that by saying “See their weakness for YOURSELF and make up your own mind” and pointing it the proof with the ingredients. He’s not brow beating them with “they suck” but rather, “do you see this? You tell me, with all this extra stuff in it…does it suck or not?”

    Excellent analysis all around.

    The last thing I can really say is that… it is a very dangerous thing to directly attack rivals in an ad because you risk losing lots of trust and credibility. Let your readers come up with their own conclusions…and you’re bound to get a more effective ad! Or as Ogilvy said,

    “The customer is not a moron. She’s your wife”

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