If you want to learn how to write better email marketing campaigns, below are 12 storytelling rules to help your ecommerce brand stand out this BFCM and beyond.
These rules come from analyzing hundreds of ecommerce emails and insights from Matthew Dicks’ bestselling book, Storyworthy.
Let’s jump into it:
12 storytelling rules for ecommerce emails (Inspired by Matthew Dicks’ best-selling book, Storyworthy):
Rule #1: There are 4 types of stories you can write about
Most of the storytelling emails I’ve written for clients fall into four buckets. If you’re struggling to come up with stories, here are some ideas to look at:
- Testimonials
Pick one detailed customer review and tell the story of how they moved from point A to point B, ideally showing how your product helped them get there.
These emails are especially powerful for products that take time to show results (like skin care or supplements), since those audiences tend to be more skeptical. It doubles as social proof, too.
- Origin stories
Whenever there’s a new product launch, I like to write an email campaign about the idea/inspiration behind it. It’s a super simple and effective way to create buzz around the launch.
Another campaign that falls into this category is your founding story. Brands usually include it in the welcome sequence, but I also like to use these stories as reminders in launches.
- Moments
Stories are really just 5-second transformational moments.
When you zoom in on your target persona’s life, what moment does your product help transform?
Often, the answer comes from market research, as Peter Wilson, copywriter at Hostage Tape, explains:
“I find most of my stories in customer reviews, Facebook comments, news articles, and even Wikipedia articles about random people or events in history.”
As you can see, you don’t even need reviews or testimonials. You can dig up stories from history, as long as they connect to your customer’s pain point.
“I learned that Winston Churchill was a big snorer just from Googling ‘famous snorers in history’ and reading a few articles about it. I wrote a campaign about it with an abysmally long headline that somehow did crazy numbers.”
Click here to see the campaign Peter’s talking about.
- Behind-the-scenes stories
These are your day-to-day moments that happen within your e-commerce business. For example, you could talk about how you argued with your warehouse manager the other day. Or how you just received a shipment of a 100 new wallets, and create urgency around limited stock.
I’m starting to see more brands use these emails, but they’re still kind of new in the space.
Rule #2: A compelling story is about change
Most of the stories you’re going to write should have change, or some sort of key takeaway or transformation inside. That’s the part that justifies subscribing to your brand’s emails — you’re giving value in the form of mindset shifts.
For example, the main takeaway from this testimonial story email by Heart & Soil is that you should never blindly trust your doctor’s advice.
Rule #3: At the same time, not all stories require change
I’ve analyzed hundreds of e-commerce emails, and some of the most engaging story emails don’t have any lessons or takeaways.
Matthew Dicks calls these stories anecdotes. These stories use story elements, e.g., characters, setting, dialogue, and conflict, but they don’t necessarily represent transformation.
Anecdotes, like this one by Carnivore Snax, work just as well as transformational stories in e-commerce because they’re entertaining and showcase brand personality.
Rule #4: Set the scene with visual copywriting
The best way to immediately hook the reader in your story is to use facts, actions, and conflict.
Here’s how Calming Co. did it in one of their campaigns.
“Picture this: it’s the end of a long day.” — fact.
“You kick off your shoes, exhale, and almost automatically reach for a glass of wine.” — action.
“It’s familiar. It’s easy. And for a moment, it feels like relief.” — fact
“But the one no one really talks about? The cost.” — conflict
You see where I’m going with this?
By combining facts, actions, and conflict, you create a mental movie in the reader’s head.
This is a writing technique called realism. Eddie Shleyner talks about it in his VeryGoodCopy book.
Realism is about giving just enough detail, so you, the reader, can picture the scene and feel like you’re there.
Rule #5: Don’t set expectations
I don’t recommend starting your storytelling emails with “You’re going to love this” or “You won’t believe what just happened.”
It just sets you up to disappoint your reader, which is a strategy that usually works against you more than it works for you.
Rule #6: Start as close to the end as possible
What do Fight Club, Forrest Gump, and Pulp Fiction all have in common?
Not only are these all iconic movies, but they all start at the end and work backwards from there.
There’s a clear reason why movie directors do that:
Momentum.
Starting with the closing scene, or the transformation, builds curiosity. It makes the reader want to know the story behind what led the character to this place.
The same applies to writing story-based emails. Start close to your one big idea (your transformational moment), and work your way backwards.
Rule #7: Conflict is mandatory
A story requires change, and change requires conflict.
Matthew Dicks calls conflict the Elephant of the story. It’s the thing everyone in the room can see. It’s what raises the stakes of the story and creates intrigue.
Your story emails should reveal conflict as early as possible, ideally in the first few sentences, but no later than the first paragraph.
Rule #8: Be more entertaining than social media
As you’re reading your campaign draft out loud, stop in the middle and ask yourself:
“Is this better than scrolling Instagram?”
If doom-scrolling on social media is more entertaining than reading your email, then chances are your story isn’t entertaining, or it doesn’t have enough conflict.
In other words, your Elephant isn’t big enough for people to care.
Rule #9: Making up stuff is okay if it benefits the reader
I’m not telling you to manipulate information so you can make more money. That’s just wrong.
What I’m talking about is making up elements e.g., characters, conflict, if you think it makes your story more relatable and entertaining.
For example, this anecdote-style email by Carnivore Snax tells the story of being attacked by seagulls whilst enjoying a day at the beach.
While it’s probably not a true story, it’s relatable and entertaining because we’ve all been in that situation.
Rule #10: Throw salt in the wound.
This rule applies if you’re selling to an audience with a clear problem, and your goal is to frame your product as the solution.
For example, if I sell skin care products to people with eczema, and I want to write a story-based email about a customer who finally fixed their skin issues, I’d throw salt in the wound by listing all the solutions they tried (and failed with) before switching to my product.
This makes the transformation much more meaningful because it shows the struggle the customer had to go through.
Rule #11: Your main objective is to sell
People love to buy but hate being sold to.
The reason we tell stories is to shift the focus away from selling with the end goal of eventually guiding readers to our product(s).
Storytelling is all about finding new angles and ways to sell your product. It lowers the guard because you’re already giving value through entertainment, insight, or emotion, before asking for the sale.
Rule #12: Add CTAs in the middle AND at the end
There’s no clear rule on how many words a storytelling email should be, but just remember, the longer your email is, the more engaging it has to be.
That’s why I recommend adding CTA links in the middle of your email.
For example, when I’m throwing salt in the wound (Rule #10), I could already link to my product inside the email:
“She had tried everything — expensive creams, prescription ointments, trendy supplements. All she wanted was to have clear skin.”
Do this, and watch your click rates go up.
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