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Date:
August 13, 2021

Author:
Ashlyn Carter

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Hey! Ashlyn here, OG copywriter for creatives—reporting for duty. 

Let's get you a message so tight you can bounce a quarter off of it. Around here, we serve up science-based storytelling strategies the creative set.  Even while raking in more than 1.26M in agency work since I've been at it, I firmly believe working from a place of rest (not hustle) IS possible—and I want the same for you. Words matter. Best be sure they work (and oui, with math) ... and know how to party while they're at it. 

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Reading time: 10 min.

Let’s talk about how to write emails for your next big launch. If you’ve ever cracked your knuckles and prepped to write a launch email sequence for your business’ next offer, be that a group coaching program, a new collection, a brand new course you just dreamed up, a workshop, a flash sale, whatever it is, and you’ve thought, okay, exactly how does this email copywriting thing go for my launch???

Well then, you’re in the right place, get your Lisa Frank school supplies ready, that’s exactly what I’m covering today.

By the end of this post you’ll learn:

  1. How to quickly and easily get started writing your launch email sequence.
  2. Exactly WHAT content ideas to cover in that launch email sequence.
  3. The Anatomy of a Launch

With that, let’s dive into your launch email copywriting strategy.

⬇️ Don’t forget to click here or down below to grab my FREE 42 Email Subject Lines Swipe File download! ⬇️

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No. 1| How to Quickly & Easily Start Writing Your Launch Email Sequence.

Ok, I want to show you what landed in our email inbox recently—girlfriend had a 70K+ launch of her first launch of a product using our templates.We are going to walk through some of the things that we talked through on our coaching calls because this is what I want for you as well!

First up, how to get started writing your launch email sequence.

Okay, so this is something that I didn’t realize I do as a conversion copywriter until I had done multiple day rates and realized I was starting here every single time. I realized to expedite the whole process of a launch copywriting strategy, I would actually start the entire launch messaging process on the sales page, and on the sales page, I would start about a half to one third down on the page where I’m introducing the offer.

(By the way, I did a recent video where I talk through day rates, how I structure them, how I conduct a VIP day rate. Whether you’re a copywriter or whatever you do in your business, you may find that helpful. )

If you are familiar with my Sweet 16 method which, again, I’ve discussed in multiple videos, boom, there you go, I want you to start at that point in the page.

I tell anybody who’s writing their own messaging for a launch campaign or a promo period to start with actually writing ABOUT the offer because it forces you to do a few things—>

  • You have to get ultra-specific on what the product is, how it’s packaged, what those features and benefits are, etc
  • Then when you zoom back to write all the persuasive copy, think all of the copy that’s at the top of that services page or that sales page or maybe even on the home page of your website. I promise you that those desires, the pain points, the thing that you’re reminding them that they really want is so much easier to write when you have an ultra firm grasp of the thing itself, you’ve been living and breathing what the product is. 

So how do you kick off writing your launch emails? You start by writing the offer page first. 

Also, listen, grifters gonna grift. This helps you get back to basics and rework through why—especially if you’re the one that created this—why you created it, what it is, the results it’s gotten people.

I promise you, once you steep in the testimonials and the proof points of people that have been through this experience, or they have very kind words to say about whatever it is you’re offering, it’s a lot easier to turn around and sell that when you know that the product and the proof behind it is honest.

how to write launch emails—ashlyn writes

Here’s another pro copywriting tip: I spend about an hour to an hour and a half on every launch email that I’m writing, when I’m writing from scratch for a new launch campaign. That customer from earlier said that that was really helpful for her to hear that’s about how long I spend on emails, so I’m telling that to you as well. She actually used some templates from our shop and then she set a timer, told herself she could only spend an hour to an hour and a half zhuzhing each launch email and kind of writing it with her style and her brand voice.

Now, this is not an infomercial, but I do always wanna make things easier for you. I feel very firmly and strongly in the fact that you should not hire out all of the messaging components of a launch your first time out of the gate because you’re still trying to test proof of product. So if that’s you, be sure to check out the shop, I’ve got a sales page template in there, I’ve got some launch email templates for you to grab and go with because it is very paramount that you spend some time digging in and making sure that you understand this product like the back of your hand. You’re trying to get some lift off here, and then from there, once you’ve got the funds to invest back in the funnel because you’ve seen the proof of the product, you can do that. You can hire out copywriting if that makes it easier for you—that’s just my hot take.;)

<< Related: How to Build Your Email List BEFORE You Launch >>

Here’s your takeaway tip—make sure BEFORE you write any emails for this promo period in your business that you’re spending time really making sure you understand what I call the onlyness factor, the UVP, the USP of this offer. Again, maybe it’s a new collection. Maybe it’s a new course, a mastermind, or a workshop. I want you to drill down and make sure that you’re able to tell me WHY you’re offering this and WHY it’s different from anything else out there.

Okay, now I’ve covered how to quickly and easily get started writing the entire launch email sequence. Let’s talk about what you actually say in those launch emails—the content ideas!


No. 2| How long should it be? Let’s talk through the Anatomy of a Launch Campaign.

I get asked a lot—”how many emails do you have after the webinar or the challenge or whatever it is??”—that’s what we’re gonna cover here in this point. I’m introducing to you the Anatomy of a Launch Email Sequence. 

Okay, if you’ve been around here for a second you’ve heard me say this before, but “launch” is just a sexy word for a marketing promo period, a campaign, a vehicle that you’re using to make some noise, make a big stink about something that you have in your business.

The way I see it, you should have about four big ones of these every year—past that, it gets exhausting.

These big ones, you’re going to choose a hype piece to be the vehicle to get that message out into the world.

Maybe it’s a webinar, a challenge, a flash sale, an in-person launch party. It’s some sort of communications thing that you can use to call people to that, and at the actual hype piece, you get to explain your offer, explain who it’s a fit for and who it’s not, and then let people decide.

<< Related: My Pre-Launch Strategy: What You Need to Have a Successful Launch  >>

After that precipice comes the falling action.  Here in the architecture or the choreography of a launch is that falling action, and this is gonna be the sales sequence. The way that I think about it, if you have to rewrite your sales sequence for every single time you launch this same thing, you’re doing it wrong because this needs to be a sustainable piece of messaging that you can reuse over time. (I’m getting into that more later.)

I wanna show you the basic anatomy of a launch campaign because I know I just threw a word salad at you. If you’re visual like me, hopefully, looking at it like this will help. We draft an email map for every launch client that we have, it’s just helpful for me to see the visuals of it.

You can take the girl out of ballet, you can’t take the ballet out of the girl, and the choreography of an entire launch is just so cool to me. So I wanna share this with you, so hopefully, you can see it.

how to write launch emails—ashlyn writes anatomy of a launch

Here’s how this breaks down:

  • Pre-launch emails that are generating and building buzz.
  • You’ve got your hype piece invitation sequence.
  • Hype piece fulfillment, delivery emails. Again, it kind of depends on what you’re using as that noisemaker for this launch.
  • Then you have the sales sequence and then you have the cart close sequence. Maybe you’re getting fancy and adding on a downsell, but that is the basic choreography of a launch funnel.

Here’s a little mockup that you could use if you’re using this for, say, an evergreen, or I think the easier word to say these days is like an on-demand webinar, I don’t have to wait for it, I can just watch it right away. Here is how I would structure that.

how to write launch emails—ashlyn writes anatomy of a launch

Okay, and again, my hot take here— I will believe this until convinced otherwise— I’ve written a whole dang lot of launches in my day, but that pre-launch sequence and then the sales sequence after that, those messages don’t need to change all that much.

The hype piece may change because, again, you may be doing something live, you may be changing that up each time, but that falling action, the sales sequence doesn’t change all that much from launch to launch. That is why I talk about it soooooo much—I *really* believe in sustainable marketing. The funnel should be able to expand and contract depending on the energy that you have to put into this offer, into this promo campaign. Maybe you’re in a period of business or life where you can’t throw everything into it, and so you’re backing off a little bit, but that bottom part of the sequence doesn’t need to be able to change all that much.

<< Related: 96 Copywriting Power Words To Increase Conversions on Your Sales Page >>

Let me throw you some examples of these so you can see it. Dustin and Nicole Hill are some fantastic clients of ours. I have love that they were able to take the email launch sequence that we wrote for their brand new course that they launched, they got it out the door once, used the same copy, reworked it very ever so slightly, used it again for a second launch. And finally, this third launch, we’re going in and updating that and writing some of the things from scratch because they’re tired, we’ve used them over and over, but they got two good launches out of that one fantastic sequence. That’s what I’m talking about.👏👏

launch email example

We have another client, her name is Emily, and she’s getting one big launch out. She knows the proof of product is there, she’s beta tested it, she gets great results from it. So now she’s taking the launch copy that we write for her and she’s turing it into an evergreen funnel after that. Again, sustainable marketing is what I wanted to pinpoint there.

Finally, we have a client named Suzy, her business is How to Handletter. What she’s doing is taking an email sequence that we’ve plugged in for her and she’s going to live launch it sometimes and she’s also gonna pull it off and evergreen it, but she’s gonna take the same bones of that email map and that structure, the anatomy of a launch I showed you.

I hope that makes sense, I just want you to kind of wrap your head around every single time you launch something and put it out there, you shouldn’t have to write brand new emails from scratch every single time. Screenshot this, I want you to see that anatomy one more time and about how many emails would go into each portion of the whole email map.


No. 3 | Launch Email Copywriting Strategy

Okay, we covered how to quickly and easily get started and where you even need to start to write your launch emails. Next up, we talked about what content should go into the launch emails—you saw some examples of those. Now it’s time to talk about your *actual* launch email copywriting strategy.

Okay, like anything in our small businesses, you wanna think about how realistic it is for you, the CEO, to actually outsource this. Or if this is something you need to marinate in and understand so you’re good enough to be dangerous before you hand it off to someone else. As a copywriter, I am definitely 150 million %% of the bent that you need to be able to make back your investment in me before you invest in me—I don’t feel comfortable taking your money otherwise.

So maybe for your first few launches, you’re using some of the tips I’m giving you, some templates, like the ones we have in our shop, whatever. You’re trying to piece together and get this off the ground so you have enough to invest back into the launch AFTER you have that proof of product and you understand that things are firing as it should be.

Think back to that testimonial I showed you of Abby at the beginning of this post, that’s what I want for you as well.

One last pro tip for you here: Don’t forget an abandoned cart sequence! We actually just added this to the shop because I think that it’s not your mama’s cart abandoned sequence anymore out there. Anybody else used to add something to their cart because you knew in like an hour, two hours, you would get a 10% or 15% off email coupon code—just me?? That’s still a thing, but I also want you to think about a cart abandoned sequence in your launch campaign—it’s something to add in, it can add a little something special.

<< Related: Planning to Launch Soon? Here&#8217;s What You NEED to Know >>


Okay, now you know exactly how to get started crafting your email launch campaign sequence. But what about the long-form work with me or services page that that promo period may be driving to? I’ve got a how-to video all about writing copy for that page teed up for you next so you can watch that. The Copy Bar is there for you if you need some of these templates plug and play to get your next launch off the ground. I’m so excited to see what you put out there.

Here’s to working from a place of more rest, less hustle, and I’ll see you in the next one!

⬇️ Don’t forget to click here or down below to grab my FREE 42 Email Subject Lines Swipe File download! ⬇️


Email Subject Line Freebie Download

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how to write launch emails—ashlyn writes anatomy of a launch

Reading Time: 10 Minutes Reading time: 10 min. Let’s talk about how to write emails for your next big launch. If you’ve ever cracked your knuckles and prepped to write a launch email sequence for your business’ next offer, be that a group coaching program, a new collection, a brand new course you just dreamed up, a workshop, a […]

8/13/21

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