This supplement brand insulted me!?

For a very long time, a giant % of southern US citizens…

(Think Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas etc.)

…were infected by a parasite called the “Hookworm”.

Hookworm is a parasite that you usually get in your feet from walking around barefoot a lot…

It affects your cognitive function in a massive way – essentially making you stupid and “slow”.

Now there was – and still is – this myth/stereotype of US southerners being all slow, and lazy and stupid…

But it’s actually because the Hookworm was making them so.

I got this email from a supplement brand today which might have its author infected by a Hookworm – here was the Subject Line:
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RE: Your Supplement Order💪

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“But why Frankie, what’s wrong with that email?”

What’s wrong?

The fact I DIDN’T buy anything from them!

Now…

This isn’t the first time I have received and/or seen this email tactic deployed – both in this and other industries…

And I guess the logic behind it is to make me think that I bought something from this brand before…

And therefore trust them more (since people hardly buy from anyone they don’t trust)…

And therefore make another purchase…

But that logic is stupid.

Precisely because you’re treating your CUSTOMER as stupid.

Yes, people forget a thousand things every day…

But the ONE thing we have a pretty good memory for is where we do/don’t spend our hard-earned money on.

So this email?

It just insults your reader’s intelligence.

Isn’t it business 101 NOT to insult your customer/potential customer?

The legendary late great British ad-man David Ogilvy once said:
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The customer isn’t stupid, she’s your wife.

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What the “savvy” email marketer behind this email doesn’t understand – or he’s too stupid or blind or too TikTok brain’d – is that this signals to me you treat customers as nothing but a mere wallet.

Like a herd just waiting to be billed…

You’re not interested in building a relationship with me, you’re not interested in treating me well – which all has potential to result in repeat business for years…

No, you’d rather opt for a quick one-time transaction/sale.

The irony?

This very same email marketer will then open up his dashboard and see his email metrics poorer than the average crypto bro parroting “HODL!!” on Twitter.

(And also cry how all his emails are landing in the spam/promo/junk tab.)

This is exactly why I chose to take the OPPOSITE approach with my “Email Storyselling” methodology:

As a user/consumer/customer of supplements being nearly a decade into this bodybuilding game…

…and after being on literally hundreds of marketing newsletters….

I didn’t want to just do the same things that repulsed me AS a customer.

Hence the goal of each and every single one of “Email Storyselling” emails is to build/add to the relationship FIRST…

…and get the sale SECOND.

The latter will increase as a result of the former – I’ve seen it too many times from both first & second-hand experience.