Email funnels from the heart

When you say the words “email funnel”, I bet it causes a robotic, analytical image to come to mind. How can I set something up to run on autopilot to make me sales? How can I convince people to buy my products? These might be the kind of questions you’re asking yourself when you get started. And while those aren’t the wrong questions to be asking, they’re the wrong FIRST questions to be asking. 

Let’s, instead, start by asking: How can I speak to the right people in a way that really resonates? How can I create a community and a relationship with this person, even if the conversation is relatively one-sided? 

The answer to that is simple. You have to sound human. 

So how do we do that? 

There are a few key fundamental tactics you need in order to ensure you’re accurately expressing your personality and humanness across the vast sea of internet 1s and 0s. 

Those key concepts are:

Why would they choose you? → 

1. Because they know your story and they trust you
2. You are a real person, with character flaws and all! 
3. You’ve grown and learned a few things that you can teach them, even if you still don’t have all the answers 
4. You actually care and are willing to promise total transformation or guarantee a refund (because you’re just that confident!)

In his book, Dotcom Secrets, Russell Brunson, outlined the importance of having an “attractive character” that your readers could relate to. Now, I’m not saying to create someone who is different than yourself. It would be very hard to keep up that charade. Instead, what I’m saying is to become very intentional with how you tell your story and express your personality traits in order for it to accurately reflect who you are and where you are on your journey. 

One of the key elements of any character is finding out how they got to where they are. We need to place you in the space-time continuum of life. 

So, what is your backstory? 

Your backstory should show your future customers that you are just like them. You suffered from their exact same ailment or you had to overcome the same hurdles they are currently facing. For example, if you’re selling a weight loss program, it’s essential to show your weightloss journey, including all the stumbling you did in the beginning before you found that program that made things “click”. 

We shouldn’t just choose any backstory either. It should relate back to your product or how you are planning on helping them. People always want to know what’s in it for them. So tell them straight up!

What if you have a weight loss program that YOU KNOW works but you’ve never truly needed it yourself? You’ve always been in shape, and let’s face it, your story about maintaining weight is much less inspiring for people who have a long way to go. 

In this case, you can use the backstory of a successful client, someone who has gone through the exact trials and tribulations of your audience so they can relate in a direct way. 

Don’t forget to tell it like a story

When’s the last time you sat down to read a textbook in your free time? All those yummy stats and succulent facts… they’re just so enticing, right? Obviously not. No one likes a bland story selling a product, drowning in features and lacking in soul. 

The whole point of your funnel is to connect with your audience. Humans connect with experiences and emotions. If I told you a story about puking from nerves after being on stage, you would relate to me more than if I just told you that I “used to struggle with nerves and now, after using program X, I’m confident”. Boring!

Choose a story that is memorable and funny and one that illustrates a very important lesson that you learned in your life. It should be a pivotal nugget of wisdom that really changed your perspective. These are the kinds of stories that will resonate with others. 

Share your flaws

Part of being human is being a mess. We’ve all been there, making mistakes left and right. So when you come off as the perfect teacher, people relate to you less and less. We don’t want someone perfect leading us. We want someone who’s made mistakes but has LEARNED from them. Be honest about your past and current mistakes, but always bring it back to the lesson learned. When they see your struggles and imperfections, they will feel like they are seeing the real, 3D version of you. With this kind of connection, anything is possible.

Let go of being liked by everybody 

I have trouble with this. I want everyone to love me and I’m sure you do too. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where everyone just wants to dote on you? Ironically, striving for this is the quickest way to meet your demise. The more polarizing you are, the clearer it will be for your audience who you’re here to serve and who you’re not. If you’re always wishy-washy in the middle, trying to appease everyone, you will find that you’re not really attracting anyone. Make a stand for what you believe in and own it. The hate might come, but so will the fans, and that’s what really counts. 

Now let’s refocus on the idea of your attractive character. 

There are a lot of different types of attractive characters that Russell outlines in his book that I will briefly cover below. Choose the one that suits your personality best and tweak it to emphasize the traits that you enjoy most about yourself. It’s better to come off larger than life in your emails (if that’s how you are), rather than tone it down to play it safe.

Attractive Character Tropes:

The Leader: Someone who has all the answers and is ready to lead you through the problem to the solution! They’re already waiting for you on the other side, patiently and wisely. 

Examples of leaders: Michael Hyatt, Louise Hay

The Crusader: Someone who is on the journey with you, but is just a few steps ahead with a few more answers than you have. They’re even more relatable because they’re not at the finale either, but they’re taking a lot of time and energy to find the answer to the next set of questions.

Examples of Crusaders: Me, Natalie from Soulshine Astrology, Most Youtubers!

The Reporter: The person who interviews others who are experts in the field. They are the gatherer and organizer of information but don’t necessarily have the information in their brain themselves. 

Examples of Reporters: Oprah Winfrey, Tom Bilyeu

The Reluctant Hero: A person who tends to avoid the spotlight but has somehow also found a goldmine of information that they know will help others, so they set aside their shyness in order to share it with the world. 

Examples of Reluctant Heroes: Russell Brunson (the author of Dotcom Secrets), Greta Thunberg

Russell goes on to explain how we can tell the story of the attractive character in a way that magnetizes and energizes our audience. That will have to wait for another article, but if you’d like to know now, then I suggest picking up a copy of his book.

Comment below- What’s your attractive character like? I’d love to know!