[00:00:00] One of the things that helped me get good at writing sales emails was to research the competition, to see what others were doing, to steal, if you want, tactics from one industry and see how or if they apply to another market. So this episode is a result of a study on competitors I have performed recently for one of my clients in the language industry.
The sample I'm basing this on is made up of a few hundred emails I have received in the last year or so from course creators teaching languages. Specifically, we're talking about English, French, and Spanish. These make up about 80% of the sample, whereas there are some other languages or schools that are teaching multiple ones.
Welcome to Master the Inbox. I'm Monica [00:01:00] Badiu, your host, conversion strategist, and copywriter. Over the last seven years, I've written emails that have generated more than $20 million in revenue for course creators all over the world. And in this podcast, I share what's actually working and what isn't when it comes to using email to grow your online course sales
now, I'm teaching you this because it's important to understand that you can't really build your email marketing in a vacuum. I know it's really easy to think that you know what you should be doing, but until you actually learn from what others are doing, until you actually study emails that make you engaged, that make you buy, it can be really hard to figure out what good looks like.
It's also expensive because you kind of have to reinvent the wheel for yourself every single time, and when you close that gap, it becomes a lot easier to kind of know what you're [00:02:00] actually doing when it comes to your sales emails, when it comes to your automations, when it comes to even testing subject lines, when it comes to, uh, running call to ac- when it comes to developing good call to action copy that gets people to engage, or
even finding the angles to write, and even finding the angles to write really good sales emails Now, I've been focusing on langu- on the language learning space simply because I had this project for one of my clients. But interestingly enough, it's one of the most competitive online education niches, and there are so many creators, it's insane.
So let's start by going into the findings. So finding number one is interesting. So the creators generating the most consistent revenue are emailing far more than you think. The highest volume creator I studied was sending around seventy emails per month, and that's two to three per day. [00:03:00] And before you say, "Oh, that's too much," this creator has built their entire business model around that frequency.
They are sending daily educational content that keeps the list warm and engaged between promotional cycles, which run every three to six weeks. On the other hand, when it comes to solo creators, the persons... When it comes to solo creators, which might be closer to your situation, they were sending between four to eleven emails per month at baseline.
The keyword there is baseline, because during a launch, that number jumped to daily. So what this should tell you is that the creators who convert consistently aren't the ones who email when they feel like it. They have a rhythm. There's a steady, predictable rhythm of showing up, and that makes the promotional emails feel like a continuation of a conversation rather than an interrupt- [00:04:00] interruption, rather than an interruption.
So here's my question for you right now: How often are you emailing your list right now? Are you emailing when you don't have anything to sell? On the other hand, how often are you selling to your email list? Those are important numbers to keep in mind. Let's move on to the finding... Let's move on to the second finding.
Every cr- single creator uses free value as the bridge between paid campaigns. Now, without exception, every creator I studied was sending content between launches that had nothing to do with selling, selling. We're talking things like daily vocabulary tips, free PDF downloads, short lessons, practical workplace scenarios, parenting activities.
The format varied completely, but the function was identical, and that was keeping the list warm, building up the relationship, and then giving people a reason to stay subscribed even when there's [00:05:00] no offer on the table. And this is a good example of what it means to build an infrastructure that makes sure your list remains warm between the launches.
I know it can... I know it sounds a little bit counterintuitive, but I have worked with plenty of course creators who were only emailing when they had a launch. If you do that, that's actually a cold list, and cold lists convert very, very... And cold lists are very difficult to convert. And it's not because you don't have, like, a really good offer or, I know, your copy is bad.
Sometimes you're not... Oftentimes, the conversion isn't happening because the relationship wasn't built properly before you come up with the ask. So tell me, what does your list receive from you in the weeks between launches?
Let's move on to the... And now for the third [00:06:00] finding. Language creators have mastered the art of the angle, and it's the single biggest differentiator between creators with similar offers. So let me explain. Multiple creators I studied are selling essentially the same thing, English language courses, using the same launch mechanics: announce, build urgency, deadline, close.
It's the same structure. Now, the difference can't necessarily be the offer because at the surface level, it can sound like it's the same thing. It wasn't... It can't really be the copy because most emails are, to be honest, similar. But it was the angle, and I love this because this is one of the pillars of the customer-centric framework I've been using to generate more than $20 million in revenue for course creators all over the world.
So from ... In my sample, I found one creator who was framing everything through professional advancement, and every [00:07:00] email is about what becomes possible at work, the meeting you'll be able to lead, the promotion you'll be able to go for, the confidence you'll have in a room with native speakers. Another creator frames everything through parenting, the guilt of not giving your child the best start, the hope of creating something that lasts.
Another one builds everything around accent and confidence and pulls on the fear of being misunderstood and brings up the relief of finally feeling heard. All of these had ... All of these were using similar urgency mechanics with the same kind of deadline, but they were speaking to completely different emotional needs.
So the angle is the answer to one question: Why does this matter to this person in their life right now? And the creators who can answer that question clearly are the ones whose launches convert. [00:08:00] And it's not because they have bigger lists, better offers, but because their subscribers feel heard. And I've been speaking about this very, very often on my blog, in this podcast, on my YouTube channel, and it's important because it works.
So tell me about you. What's the angle you're using in your promotional emails? Are you leading with the offer or are you leading with the outcome? Next finding is all about welcome sequences. And very interesting, I love that most of them have been deeply personal. One creator I studied sent nine emails in the first three weeks after someone joined their list, and it was daily One creator I studied sent nine emails in the first three weeks after I joined their list, and each one was personal, story-driven, and building on the last.
And by the end of those three weeks, someone like [00:09:00] me, a brand new subscriber, had a complete picture of who this creator was, what they stood for, and what problem they solved before a single pitch had been made. Another creator's welcome sequence opened with, "Ay-up," which is the regional British greeting in the very f...
Another creator's welcome sequence opened with, "Ay-up," in the very first line, and it wasn't, "Hi, first name." It wasn't, "Welcome to my list." It was a regional British greeting that immediately signaled, "Hey, I have a distinct personality. I know exactly who I'm talking to, and I'm using this because this is what you're actually interested in."
Now, the pattern is consistent across every course creator I studied in this sample. The first three weeks after s- The first few weeks after someone subscribes are treated as the most important window in the entire relationship, and that's because they are. Attention is highest, [00:10:00] interest is fresh, and the decision about whether to stick around or disengage gets made in those first few emails, whether you're intentional about it or not.
So tell me, how many emails are in your welcome sequence, and does Finding five: every launch ends the same way, and the deadline email is non-negotiable. Across every creator I studied in this sample, the launch structure was remarkably consistent. Introduce the offer, build the case over several emails, then a deadline email, an hours left email, and a hard close.
But here's what separated the deadline emails that felt compelling from the ones that felt like noise. The best ones didn't just say, "Hey, clock was ticking." They name what you lose when it runs out, and it wasn't about the discount. It was about the outcome, the result that gets harder to reach. And I love this, and I applaud these creators because this [00:11:00] is what I've been teaching and preaching over the last few years
Next finding, this is finding six. The creators
Next finding is very interesting because I've seen a lot of them run re-engagement sequences. So
Finding number six isn't as common as I had hoped for, but it's still quite important The last finding I'm sharing here is very interesting as well. Most of the creators I've studied were not re-engaging their audience on a regular rhythm, and this is important. Re-engagement, re-engagement is essential for emails that don't get Re-engagement is a really important tactic to keep an email list healthy and happy, I would add, especially if you have many [00:12:00] leads coming in over-- especially if you have a high volume of leads coming in constantly.
Even more so if you're running ads, you can't really afford the cost of keeping subscribers that are not engaging with your emails on your email marketing platform. They might not open your emails, but you are still paying for them
But out of all the creators I have studied in this sample, only one was actually sending was running a re-engagement campaign. And essentially, what he was asking was, "Do you still wanna hear from me?" Ending with a final email that said, "Clearly, if I don't hear from you, I'm going to assume you've moved on, and I'll remov-remove you from my list."
This is not the sign... This is an example of the, of advanced list hygiene, the kind that keeps deliverability [00:13:00] high.
Remember, a list full of people who never open is a liability, not an asset. It costs you in platform fees, in deliverability, and so much on. So tell me, when did you last look at your inactive subscribers? Do you have a plan or an automation for the people who haven't opened or clicked in ninety days? If you need help with this, I do have a course.
It's really easy. It explains the exact strategy I use to strategize, to write, and then to deploy re-engagement campaigns. There are email templates, and you also learn about the next step. After someone gets re-engaged, you need a little bit of nurture to bring them back, and that's included in the course as well.
You'll find the link in the show notes. So here we are, six things that language course creators are doing with email right now
And I'm curious, what [00:14:00] are you doing and what aren't you doing? Come find me on LinkedIn or Instagram and tell me all about it
