Today I want to share a really simple tactic for getting more response…
You can actually use this for EVERY email you send. For marketing emails, including both broadcasts and autoresponders. As well as for emails you send individually.
It’s really easy. You set it up once, and forget it. You may need to spend a few minutes updating it from time to time. But beyond that, it requires very little extra effort — maybe an hour per year.
And yet, it can get you more of exactly the kind of response you want.
Want more sales? This can help. Want to book more calls with prospects and clients, for more potential work? You can use this for that, too. Want more referrals? Bingo bango, dance this tango and it can get you more referrals, too.
It’s very tactical. Meaning: simple, straightforward, and actionable. But its applications are broad and can be used to generate whatever specific response and results you wish.
Okay, so what the heck am I talking about?
You need a SUPER-SIGNATURE…
This is a strategy and term I got from Dean Jackson, to give credit where due.
The reason I’m writing about it today is that I’ve just updated mine — as you can see below.
The idea is that you create an email signature and pack it full of links that are relevant to the people you email. I’ll give you some ideas in a minute. But first the technical implementation.
— In your personal emails, this goes under your main signature, using the signature functionality available in just about every email program.
— In your marketing emails, it works best if you add it into your email template, so it’s automatically there and loaded for every email you send.
Either way, the strategy is largely the same. The only thing I’d recommend is to make sure you cater the contents and presentation for personal versus marketing emails. Just think about what you want every personal email to contain, versus what you want every marketing email to contain. It may be different.
(There is one type of email I wouldn’t use them in. While I use them in my content marketing emails, other marketing emails are short “dedicated” emails built to just get a click to a sales page. I often write these for clients, alongside my promos. I occasionally write them for Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. They’re often as short as 100-200 words, with a bunch of links to the same sales page. Since these are pretty much short text ads in themselves, adding these additional CTAs is more likely to distract and detract than to help.)
What goes in your SUPER-SIGNATURE?
In short, you’re looking to create a bunch of little ads, with Calls-to-Action (CTAs).
I’ve just updated the super-signature in my Breakthrough Marketing Secrets email template, so it makes a perfect current and relevant example…
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I also added icons to find and follow me on all the major social networks where I have some kind of presence. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
The idea here is that each of these is at least somewhat relevant to a big enough portion of my email readers that they’re worth leaving in there as evergreen ads, beneath the content. Every reader won’t read these every time. But most readers will eventually at least scan them for relevant content. And it will be there when they’re ready to take action on it.
How to write your SUPER-SIGNATURE mini-ads…
First things first, I recommend creating an offer stack, to represent different levels of engagement.
That is, you want the offers to range from entry-level to back-end.
If you have something free that your email recipients haven’t gotten yet, it would be smart to include it here. Especially if it’s at the front of a bigger funnel. (e.g., I would include Breakthrough Marketing Secrets if you weren’t reading it already — and I do in personal emails.)
The books are a very low-cost way to engage with me for the first time. The training is a step up from that. And the new coaching/consulting and copy review offers I’ve added are much higher-dollar offers that are still relevant to a large number of my readers.
Together, they offer a wide array of options and opportunities for my readers.
Next, follow the simple text-ad structure.
You’ll note that I have a clear headline, followed by a block of text, followed by (or including) one or more CTA links.
Remember that these will be in every email. So they should be easy to scan and make a readership decision. That is, you want someone who is seeing them for the first time to instantly know why they should read them. But you also want people who’ve seen them in 100 emails to recognize them quickly and not be annoyed by their presence. This is why I default to clear, action-oriented headlines (“Get…”) that telegraph the offer.
Then write a block of copy that fulfills its one job — to get the click. These don’t really need to sell anything. They don’t even need to pre-sell, beyond what it takes to get the click. They simply need to convince the ideal prospect to click through to a page where they can learn all they need to know about whatever it is you’re offering. You’ll notice that the lower-end, more self-explanatory offers get less text that the higher-end service offerings. That is intentional and reflective of the complexity of the sale.
Finally, here’s how to make sure your ads are as powerful as can be…
When you write, make sure you use this equation to make your super-signature as powerful as it can be: ABC + CTA.
You already know what CTA is. It’s your Call-to-Action. It’s the next step you’re asking your prospect to take, if what they read is relevant to them. The language around your CTA needs to be action-oriented. It needs to be direct. It needs to tell them what to do. If what they read in the ad is interesting, they’re going to want to know how to learn more. So tell them! And when it makes sense, turn the link into a CTA. Not just “click here” — I understand recent testing has found that to decrease click-through rate. Book your first call with Roy here, from above, is a better model.
ABC comes from my ABC Headline Formula, described in this YouTube video. It represents what every good headline must do to get engagement. But here I’ll expand the headline to encompass the entire text ad, since it’s so tight.
— A is for Audience: you must call out your perfect audience for the message, making sure they understand this is for them.
— B is for Benefit: your reader must understand why this is a benefit to them, why they should engage with it and click.
— C is for Curiosity: you can increase clicks by not answering all questions in the ad, requiring them to click for details.
In some situations — such as on a long-form sales page — your headline might fulfill these in very “gimmicky” ways. It’s not my style to do that here, though. However they are still a consideration. And the better you do them, the more likely you will be to get the click.
The ultimate secret to making the most from your SUPER-SIGNATURE is…
To just do it!
Block out some time on your calendar, or put it on your next actions list. Make it happen.
Do it once, knowing it has the potential to pay off for years.
Identify the most relevant offers worth including in your super-signature. Write quick text ads for each. Add them to your email template or signature.
You won’t suddenly see a massive flood of response. But this is the kind of incremental improvement that is a breakthrough in disguise, getting you more results from everything you do, for very little incremental additional effort.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
