🔒This extremely templated email is GARBAGE

"OH NO! Rob's doing that thing again where he breaches an extremely controversial copywriting topic in his emails, ruffles his sensitive readers' feathers (BYE, BYE!) and blesses us with his hot take!" Yes! It's about time we get a fresh perspective in your inbox. As always, if you prefer to keep your head in the sand, you can skip this one. Just don't say I didn't warn you at the outset! *** Today, we're discussing FAQ Emails and how I think know they're garbage. What's an FAQ email? An extremely templated email, containing a long list of questions about your product or service and your answers to them. If you've ever seen or written a launch, I'm sure you know the emails I'm talking about. Well, some Copywriting Goblins (yes, I've decided to switch the word guru to Goblin because I think it's more fun. Send your hate mail to idon'tcare@kingsofoconversion.com ) swear you should write and send these emails to your list. Especially during a launch. But I believe they're trash! In fact, the only reason you should send an FAQ email is if you truly want to phone it in and be lame. How do I know? Because I actually used to write and send a LOT of FAQ emails at the beginning of my copywriting career and got humiliated for doing it. Back then, I was just doing it because I saw other Goblins doing during their launches. I figured, "Everyone else is sending FAQ emails, so I should too!" So I did. Like clockwork. Every funnel I worked on had FAQ emails in it. The problem was nobody was telling me how specific emails I wrote did. I was two layers removed from the data. And as long as the entire launch worked out and the opens looked good, nobody questioned it. But then, I wrote my first ever promo for the direct response juggernaut, Agora, and my copy chief taught me a lesson I'll never forget. After a month of working on the copy, I finally got my VSL approved! (This is really difficult to do, btw) Which meant it was time to start on the emails for the launch. I wanted this to be HUGE so I spent a week tweaking and perfecting the emails until I felt they were JUST RIGHT. Then, I sent them to my copy chief for approval. I watched him entire the Google Doc opened to start reading. He left notes on the first two emails and then highlighted the entire 3rd email (my FAQ email) and left this comment: "DUDE, ARE YOU KIDDING ME. THIS IS THE LAZIEST, WORST EMAIL I'VE READ! NOBODY WANTS TO READ FAQs. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? I'M DONE" Yes, it was written just like that in all caps. It's seared in my brain. He emailed back, "To put it bluntly, this was not good." And I FREAKED out. To have someone say this on my very first promotion? I figured this was basically the first step to being fired. So I walked over to his office and asked if we could talk about it (to try to salvage what I could). He said sure and we went through the notes one by one until we got to the FAQ email. His face tightened and he looked at my screen for 3 whole seconds. Then his face softened and he said, "Tell me. What was your thought behind this email?" I explained how answering people's questions about the offer should help the sale, how it might clear up any confusion people had and reiterate what you get when you buy. He let me finish and then spoke. "If people have this many questions about your offer, you already screwed up the sale. You should never have to reiterate this many things or you really f-ed up your VSL. Emails need to be fun, curiosity driven, deadline based. If you want to do FAQs, fine. Put them at the end of your VSL. But I never want to see FAQs in an email again okay?" Young Dumb Rob barked back, "But I've done them before and they worked fine!" "Really?! You've tested this? Okay, let's send yours to half the list and I'll send mine to the other half and we'll see what happens." Oh boy, did I ever walk into a trap. You don't make a copywriter who's single-handedly grown companies to over $100 million in sales angry. Because his email not only smoked mine by a factor of 100 to 1. But my FAQ email was one of the worst revenue emails they'd ever sent to that many people. It was a tough pill to swallow but I'll never forget the lesson. FAQ emails are one of the worst sales emails you can send to your list. They're all logic. They imply people should have questions (and not be buying). Their entire existence means you weren't clear elsewhere. They're boring. They're thankless. I could keep going but I think you get the point. Use that space on your promotional calendar to write something engaging. Something that sells the click not the question. Also, if you're going to write FAQs, please make it things people really ask. Typical FAQs: Q: "How can I buy?" A: "Well, sir, just use this link right here!" SURE! You're getting so many questions about that. Hopefully you enjoyed this take. And maybe you have a legit FAQ: What type of email should you send in its place? A: Well, you could start by learning to create flows and campaigns [like this](. Rob "Q: what's my real middle name? A: Oh sorry, I'm not supposed to do FAQs. Will have to reveal that elsewhere." Allen Speaking of things I believe EVERY copywriter should do... Check your inbox for the next bonus email you've unlocked. In it, I share a new habit I've been implementing called Dopamine Detoxing. This is a powerful technique for removing distractions and unlocking extra brain power... that you can use toward creative work. That email will arrive in 5 hours and 59 minutes. Enjoy! No longer want to receive these emails? [Unsubscribe](. Kings of Conversion PO Box 1175 Boise, ID 83701 ‌