Remember that morning your dad forgot to snort his spirulina powder and got fired later that day?
Yeah, me neither.
I bet he woke up, read the newspaper, drank coffee, and cracked on with his day.
He didn’t need to optimize every second of his life to perform.
And the same goes for you and me.
In fact, I’m 100% onboard the de-optimization train these days.
We’ve gone way too far with the sleep scores, green powders, and health hacks.
It’s time to stop the madness.
The moment I dropped my sleep tracker, my happiness (and ironically, my sleep) went up dramatically.
Am I saying that I’m completely closed off to anything that could improve my health?
No, not at all.
I just think a lot of it comes down to the basics.
When we feel sluggish, how often do we find ourselves buying magnesium supplements or drinking another magic caffeine potion, instead of asking ourselves if we’re getting enough sleep?
Point being… trying new products is fun and exciting.
Following a consistent sleep schedule isn’t so fun and exciting.
If you consistently got enough sleep, spent some time in the sun, ate mostly healthy, and exercised a couple of hours a week, you would be in the top 1% health.
At least that’s my two cents.
Anyway, today we’re looking at an email campaign from Hostage Tape.
This brand makes over $40M/yr selling mouth tapes for better sleep.
Their email marketing is really good.
The product itself?
Not sure, haven’t tried it, and probably won’t for now (although sounds exciting, right?)
Let’s jump right in!
What is Emails That Sell?
Each week, I break down an email from a DTC e-commerce brand. Some of these brands are absolutely killing it when it comes to email marketing.
My goal with this series is to challenge conventional email marketing. Expect to learn different copywriting techniques, sales psychology, and consumer behavior — everything that moves you away from hard-selling discount campaigns and other mass-market tactics.
If you have an email you want me to break down, send it over to me on LinkedIn or at marketing@siimpettai.com.
Let’s get into it now:
What do you notice first about this email?
Probably the headline, then the image, and then the body text.
Similarly to advertising, when writing an email, a good rule of thumb is to keep in mind that your audience will see your hook (the headline) first.
The hook determines whether they’ll continue to read or get on with their day.
Side note: A book that will undoubtedly make you a better hook writer is Great Leads.
Anyway, I like what Hostage Tape did here.
The hook: “This is what peak performance looks like” draws you in and gets you to look at the image.
They then tap into empathy in the body copy.
“You may think it looks strange.”
“Even slightly creepy.”
This is 100% accurate.
I don’t know who would look at the image thinking this is how normal people sleep, unless you’re already pimped out with all this sleep gear.
So I think this angle works well when targeting non-buyers, particularly.
I also like that they’ve squeezed in a CTA in the middle of the email.
I started practicing this with my own newsletter, and my click rates went up significantly.
No matter how confident I am in my copy, I’ve learned to never assume the reader has enough time to read my entire email.
So presenting a TL;DR is often a good idea.
Let’s crack on…
This part is all about selling the dream.
There’s a high chance that people reading this email are either struggling to sleep or just want better sleep in general.
So what’s the so-called bridge between someone getting okay sleep and someone getting amazing sleep?
It’s the mask and mouth tape.
And I’m not disputing that, or saying this can’t be true, I’m just analyzing what the copy is trying to achieve here.
They’ve also educated the reader on the HOW here, which is probably a good idea.
Onwards…
This is objection handling at its finest.
Some people reading this email will go: “But wearing a sleep mask and a tape over my mouth sounds like way too much work.”
So they’ve tackled it with an analogy of warming up in the gym.
I really like that.
When writing copy, it’s important to remember that us humans are visual thinkers.
If one can imagine themselves warming up before a workout, they can also imagine themselves preparing for a good night’s sleep.
Let’s look at how they wrap things up:
“Why not spend 1 minute preparing for 8 hours of sleep?”
The way this question is framed makes it sound like a no-brainer.
And that’s really what you want your prospects to think — that it would be crazy not to take your offer.
The money-back guarantee reverses the risk and adds another layer of trust.
Overall, this is a great direct response email by Hostage Tape.
To recap:
TL;DR
Key takeaway #1: Practice writing great leads and hooks.
Key takeaway #2: Consider adding links in the middle of the email.
Key takeaway #3: Sell the dream outcome and show how your product helps them get there
Key takeaway #4: Use analogies to make your idea stick. We’re all visual thinkers.
Key takeaway #5: Make saying “Yes” to your offer a no-brainer. Reverse the risk.
What’s next
Send a direct response-style email from your brand. It takes fewer resources to create, and it works really well (assuming you know how to write good copy).
Also, sign up to Hostage Tape’s list. It’s pretty wild out there.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to my email list and get notified of every Emails That Sell analysis + my weekly newsletter.