This week on our Ecom Email Breakdown, I’m going over a campaign sent out by none other than Beardbrand.
This is a brand I use on my own beard. I also enjoy their emails in my inbox. Their SMS game is strong, too, and it’s no surprise they’re doing great in the men’s grooming space.
Mike Lawson and the team over there do a wonderful job with Beardbrand’s emails and SMS.
But before we dive into the meat n’ potatoes of this article…
Here’s how this series works…
If you’ve been reading this series for a while, then you know how we do things ‘round these parts, but…
If you’re new to the Ecom Email Breakdown, WELCOME!
In each article, I spend a few minutes going over an email from an ecommerce brand.
I’ll discuss the:
- Context
- Hook
- Subject line
- Opener
- Body copy
- CTA
and then…
I’ll share what I like or dislike about the email as a whole.
None of what I put in this series is the gospel truth; it’s simply my opinion about what I see, how I see it, and what I like/dislike about it. That’s it.
Kapeesh? Great!
Oh, and before I forget, please, please, please…
If you have emails in your inbox you like from brands you love, forward them over to me. I’d be HAPPY to do a breakdown. Put “Request: Email Breakdown” in the subject line. I’ll give it a gander and see about adding it to the schedule.
Don’t have my email address? Ah, well… incoming shameless plug… join my email list, here, to get direct email access to me.
OK, table’s cleared… let’s dive in, shall we?
Email Context
Brand: Beardbrand
Sent: 12/22/21 at 11 AM MST
Context: This email landed in my inbox 3.5 days before Christmas day
Pain Points:
- What am I going to get my bearded friend for Christmas?
- How am I going to get that gift under the tree in time for Christmas morning?
With this email, Beardbrand addresses both pain points inside of a great hook..
The Hook & Subject Line
From Name: Beardbrand
Subject Line: Bullseye
Preview Text: Hit the Target on last-minute Beardbrand gifts
Hook: How to find the right beard gift even if you haven’t started shopping yet.
Beardbrand delivers on this hook in three layers:
The first layer is finding the right gift this close to Christmas.
The second layer is getting your spouse, family member, or friend a gift for their beard.
The third layer is what’s called an open loop. Not only is it an open loop, but it’s a “Hidden open loop.” These are a fun way to surprise readers later, as they “connect the dots” backwards through what they just read. Great fiction writers and comics use this technique all the time.
Bearbrand does this with “Hit the Target” metaphor. Sure, they mean to “get the right gift before Christmas in three days,” but they also open the loop for what they talk about in their email opener (which I’ll reveal below).
Side Quest #1 – “Open-Close Loops”
Here’s how open loops work:
You tease at a piece of information or “what’s to come” without giving it all away, so the reader gets “hooked” to read and get what you’ve promised them. What you tease them with, however, must be attractive to them, or they won’t bite.
More:
The space between opening a loop and closing a loop is called a “curiosity gap,” which you can read all about, here, if you’re so inclined.
Beardbrand takes the open loop to the next level with what’s called a “hidden open loop” or a “reverse open loop.” This type of loop is opened without the reader knowing it, but the moment “new context” is added to the conversation, they’re brain reverses back to find any open loops it missed. If the brain finds an open loop and closes it with the new context, then the brain fires off dopamine to reward itself (or the reader) for closing the loop…
I know, it may be a bit much, but…
Great comics, authors, and communicators use open loops all the damn time. It keeps the audience engaged and biologically rewards the reader/listener for paying attention.
If you want to see this in action in the next 24 hours, go watch stand up comics like Dave Chapelle, Sarah Silverman, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, etc.
At the beginning of their sets, they tell a handful of stories. Somewhere around the middle and/or end of their set, they’ll tell a joke that refers back to one of those stories at the beginning.
If you “get the reference,” then you laugh and feel like the “in crowd.” Most people get the reference OR they lean over and ask someone who’s with them, which brings them “into the know.”
This builds a familiar bond between the audience and the comic, which means the audience trusts the comic to take them on a journey through seemingly disconnected stories and jokes.
Beardbrand does this with a simple open-close loop technique with “Hit the Target.”
Completed: Side Quest #1
Email Opener
Let’s get into the email opener and close that open loop:
Bullseye
Missed the mark on getting all of your orders placed in time for the holidays?
Rest easy because you can still hit the target – your local Target, that is.
That’s right, you can find Beardbrand products in our Lumber Yard fragrance in the men’s grooming section at Target.
Below are some last-minute gift ideas to help you get started:
Do you see how Beardbrand uses “Hit the Target” in the subject line and preview text to open a loop?
It hides the “Target” loop inside the metaphor and closes the loop when the copy mentions, “your local Target – that is.”
The reader realizes the subject line and preview text is more than a play on words, but an open loop! The reader gets a little gift of dopamine and thinks/says, “Aha! I see what you did there.”
Also, I have to say… the use of “the Target” makes me laugh. It’s what a certain demographic says about “the Facebook” and “the Google” every day, which… I’m looking at you grandma and grandpa! 🙂
Again, great writers, comics, and storytellers use this open-close loop technique all the time. It’s one of the many mechanisms to keep readers consuming because their brains want to “close the loop” on the information you teased them with earlier in the asset. Or, you can surprise readers by closing a loop they never knew you opened.
Brilliant work here, but…
How does the body copy follow with such a great hook and opener?
Email Body Copy
Frankly, pain point #1, as mentioned above, is addressed in the body copy pretty dang well:
“I’ve no idea what to buy my bearded buddy when it comes to his facial hair”
Beardbrand transitions from their email opener to this:
“Below are some last-minute gift ideas to help you get started”
Which leads into the body copy that reads like this:
Here are a few things to note about this body copy:
The subheadings are titles of Beardbrand’s customer avatars:
- The First Timer
- The Long Beard
- The Outdoorsman
- The Beach Bum
Beardbrand’s gift-shoppers have someone in their family or friends group that fits under one of these avatar titles. In fact, read those again and imagine one person in your life who fits under each one.
I’d fall under The Long Beard for my own friends. How do I know? Because they tell me nearly every time we hang out…
“Chris, hey. Looks like your beard is getting longer. What do you put in that thing?”
^^^ this happens way more than you’d imagine for those of us with beards. We’ve got this chin carpet that everyone else wants to talk about… and Beardbrand is leaning into the conversation going on in the customer’s or shopper’s head and giving those people a “title” for the beards in their lives.
Subtle, but powerful stuff right there…
Talk about turning your gift-givers into brand advocates…
Email Body Copy
Within each of these sections, Beardbrand pitches the product they’d recommend for each of the beard types (aka customer avatars).
What’s great about this method is that the shopper is being given a primary (and secondary) feature-benefit stack so they feel how they’re helping out their bearded buddy with this purchase.
For example, The Long Beard copy reads:
The Long Beard
Grab them some Beard Wash and Beard Softener because if their beard is longer than a few inches, their chin isn’t the only thing hiding in it. Beardbrand Beard Wash and Beard Softener are formulated for beards without stripping away too much oil from the face.
A few things are happening “under the hood” here:
#1. The avatar title pulls in the reader who’s shopping for “The Long Beard.”
#2. The copy addresses the main pain point and fear of having a long beard: they’re dirty, house bacteria, and can smell gnarly if not taken care of.
#3. The copy also addresses the BIG objection to beard wash and softeners: these products are believed to dry out, ruin, and, in some cases, cause hair loss due to removing oils from the face.
Way to stack the deck in favor of getting Beardbrand for your the beard in your life, amirite?
One more thing…
Sure, this may look like a “wall of text” to most, but it’s got some juicy bits hidden inside that’ll channel the reader’s desire to nod their head ‘yes’ and take action on the links included.
More:
How the body copy is organized, the reader skims and chooses the beard type they’re shopping for and dives specifically into that section, so they’re primed to read… because it’s what they’re looking for, not what you’ve forced them to read…
Let’s read that lat bit again…
The reader chooses to consume the copy because it’s what they’re looking for, not what you force them to read…
Now…
What if the reader skims all this and ends up at the bottom of the email?
Email CTA and Product
Scroll on down to the bottom of the email, and you’ve got your final CTA to the “Lumber Yard Beard Oil,” the oil mentioned in the email opener.
Also, you’ve got the brand logo, tagline, and social icons.
Below that (not shown here), the footer info.
Two things I like about this “close.”
It “bookends” the email. Beardbrand opens with “Lumber Yard” and closes with it.
Next, It’s a clear, concise CTA. No clutter, extra graphics, or “design that pops.” It’s to the point with a clear “next action” customers can achieve, even for the super skimmers and attention challenged.
With all that being said, here’s what I like and dislike about this email…
What I Like/Dislike About This Email
The three big things I like about this email are:
- The 3-layered hook
- The “beard type” body copy plus section copy
- The clear, concise close.
The one thing I dislike about this email:
The only thing I’d consider testing for this “type” of email is removing the header menu to see if click-through gets better on the products in the body copy and the close.
In most cases, removing options to click away from the conversion (aka buying your product) can help increase conversion a bit, but…
I’m positive Mike and the team at Beardbrand are testing and measuring this stuff with every single email.
The Final Takeaway
I like this email. I like what it does, how it does it, and why it exists. Mike and the team did a fantastic job with this email.
And, if you ever need beard products or grooming supplies for the beards in your life, Beardbrand is the brand I’d recommend.
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