Imperfect Marketing
Imperfect Marketing
292: My Most Successful Email in 2025 is About A Gas Station
Ever wonder what kind of email actually gets replies—and closes deals?
In this refreshingly personal episode, host Kendra Corman takes you behind the scenes of one of her most successful emails ever. Spoiler alert: it wasn't a sales pitch. It was a story about a 3 a.m. road trip, a surprise stop at Buc-ee's, and how one moment of gas station magic sparked real business results.
If you're struggling to make email marketing work for you, or if storytelling feels like a buzzword you can't quite harness, this one's a must-listen.
📨 What We Cover:
🎯 The Power of Storytelling in Email Marketing
📈 Real Results from One Relatable Email
🧠 Lessons for Marketers and Business Owners
🔥 Kendra’s Key Takeaways:
- Keep it real—your audience connects with you, not just your offer.
- Share stories that sound like you (and let someone else read them before you hit send).
- You don’t need wild stories every week—but you do need to be observant and intentional.
“Your business doesn’t equal a bathroom break—but are you showing up consistently enough that people remember you like they do Buc-ee’s?” – Kendra Corman
If you've been thinking, “I need to send more emails,” this is your permission slip—and your playbook—to do it in a way that connects, converts, and feels good to send.
🔗 Connect with Kendra:
Website: https://kendracorman.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendracorman
🎧 Listen & Subscribe to Imperfect Marketing for weekly inspiration on connecting with your audience—authentically.
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Hi, I'm Kendra Korman. If you're a coach, consultant or marketer, you know marketing is far from a perfect science and that's why this show is called Imperfect Marketing. Join me and my guests as we explore how to grow your business, with marketing tips and, of course, lessons learned along the way. Hello and welcome back to Imperfect Marketing. I'm your host, kendra Korman, and today we're going to do something a little bit different, because I want to talk about a successful email that I had. Now, again, people talk to me all the time about email marketing. I am email marketing crazy because I still believe it is one of the top, most effective and efficient ways to market yourself and your business and stay top of mind with your prospects and customers and clients so that they remember to refer you or remember that they want to work with you when the time comes. So let's go ahead and start off. I don't usually read a lot on this, but you'll be able to hear my personality a little bit. I'm going to read you the email that I wrote that got all this engagement and then talk to you a little bit about why it got so much engagement and what kind of engagement it got. And, spoiler alert, it did get closed business. The subject line was gas station date night with a question mark. So of course it had their first name, which is like standard personalization at this point. But it said so.
Speaker 1:It's 3am, I'm somewhere in the South, running on fumes both my car and my body, and I find myself in what can only be described as a gas station theme park that is inexplicably packed with people. Welcome to my first Buc-ee's experience. Let me back up a little bit. Life threw me a curveball when my mom took a fall earlier this month, resulting in a brain bleed and a fractured vertebrae. Cue the emergency road trip to Florida, 25 hours of tag team driving, with my husband taking two hour sleep shifts. So I would drive for two hours, he would drive for two hours and we would sleep in between. Now, mom was in rehab at the time. So it said mom's in rehab now working her way back to full strength. And that's how I ended up at Buc-ee's, at an hour when most convenient stores have exactly two customers a tired trucker and someone making questionable life choices the Buc-ee's marketing magic.
Speaker 1:So here's what struck me beside the sheer number of gas pumps Seriously, are they preparing for the apocalypse? Those billboards? They started 131 plus miles before you reach the place. 131 miles, people. By mile 15, I'm thinking what's this Buc-ee's? I've heard of it, is it really that good? By mile 85, I'm thinking what's this bookies? I've heard of it. Is it really that good? By mile 85, I'm thinking I should probably check it out. By mile 130, I'm ready to fight someone for a parking spot, just so you know.
Speaker 1:Side note, we didn't need to. Without those constant reminders, we could have pulled over at any old fast food joint. Instead, we held out for that brisket sandwich that lived up to the height and some truly excellent pecans. So what's your business? What's your billboard strategy? So this got me thinking. What are you doing to stay top of mind with your audience? Are you reminding? How are you reminding people you exist? You're awesome? They should think of you first when they need what you offer. Because that's exactly what Buc-ee's did Between word of mouth raves and strategic reminders they assured.
Speaker 1:Even in my sleep deprived state, I remembered they were an option. Now, your business does not equal a bathroom break. So let's be real. Most of us don't have billboard budgets, but we do have email newsletters. Hey, like this one. Social media, networking events, follow up systems and content that provides value. The question isn't whether you can afford billboards. It's whether you're consistently showing up where your people are.
Speaker 1:Now the ultimate compliment was final thought. I genuinely considered Bucky's a date night alternative to Costco. If that's not high praise for a gas station, I don't know what is. What about you? What business has earned your loyalty through sheer persistence and quality? And, more importantly, what are you doing to be that business for someone else Until next week? Kendra PS. If anyone from Buc-ee's is reading this, michigan would love to see you Just saying so. Let's talk about metrics. I had more than 2% of my list reply. They took a step to actually reply to me. I set up four calls with prospects. From this I have one piece of closed business and, at the time of recording, the other three calls are still being scheduled Four potential pieces of business from one email about my experience with Buc-ee's.
Speaker 1:Was it really Buc-ee's that did it? Was it the email? Was it the storytelling? I'm going to say yes, yes and yes. So it was a relatable story that was authentically me, that was shared with a little side of vulnerability, right, because I did share about my mom and her fall and why I was headed down to Florida, but really the power was in keeping me top of mind. People had thought about working with me and they're like you know what I want to get. This reaction that I'm having from my prospects and clients and that's what sold them on wanting to reach out One email that was not a sales email could result in potentially four pieces of closed business.
Speaker 1:That's huge, right? So I want you thinking about how you're able to stay top of mind. How can you be authentic? How can you find those stories? Because everyone's like, oh, storytelling it's so easy. Right, it's not easy. I agree, you're not going to have a Bucky's story at 3am every single week, right? I mean, let's be realistic. I think we'd be exhausted if we had those types of stories every week.
Speaker 1:But sharing those experiences, sharing those, those angles, being perceptive and observant in your business and in your life as to how different things relate, really can help you move forward. And if you can't think about what those things are, then ask somebody to help you, right? A lot of times we're just too close to our own business to always see it. I did have my husband read the email because I was like is this too much. What do you think? And he's like no, no, no, it's good. So I'm glad I had him read it, but I'm also glad that I hit send on that email Again.
Speaker 1:Couple things to think about. It was a unique story, a different angle. It was something that could connect with my audience. It felt like I was talking to them, because they replied as if they would and I had sent them a regular email. That is so important, right? So I want you thinking about how can you bring storytelling, how can you bring your authenticity, how can you bring your observations from your life into your business and your communications? And then, of course, I'm always going to tell you to do email marketing, because email marketing is amazing and it does really help you keep yourself top of mind, and so sending those emails out consistently, sending them out on a regular basis in a way that authentically connects you to your audience, is hugely important. So thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Imperfect Marketing. I hope that you learned something from this episode and, if you did, it would really help me out if you would rate and subscribe Until next time. Have a great rest of your day.
