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Who else is in therapy because of their mom?

Oct 11, 2024

Chances are you’ve heard how important it is to write copy that has a voice or a personality behind it.

This is crucial for many reasons: 1) It helps differentiate your brand from the competition; 2) It helps build a relationship with your prospect or customer; and 3) It can help you handle a wide range of issues — from customer service screw-ups to overcoming common objections to creative, attention-getting ways to putting offers in front of your audience.

And when you’re able to masterfully weave in humor, it makes you or your brand appear more relatable and authentic. Plus let’s face it — we all love being entertained. If we have to read one more dry, boring email, we’ll bang our head against our computers!

I’ve got two great examples of personality-infused copy to share with you today. The first is an email that Copy Insider Liz Korte (who also lives in my neighborhood) sent my way.

It’s from a company that makes dog toys and it’s in response to an email that was mistakenly sent to their customer list. Whether it’s a brilliant marketing ploy that the initial email was sent with this planned response — or if it’s a sincere attempt to weave some humor and humility into an actual apology email — it’s a great example of being human, relatable, and hilarious!

(note: the image is supposed to be a GIF and it moves about into various silly poses; unfortunately I couldn’t get it to work for this email). Here goes…

[Subject line:] I’d like to apologize for Derek

Hi there,

I’d like to apologize for the very personal email you may have received yesterday. It was accidentally sent from Derek Trippe, our Director of Toy Design. To rectify this, we’d like to offer a free upgrade on your first box of toys and treats*.

Derek intended to send the email to his mother, Barbara. Unfortunately, when he typed the letters “bar” into the recipient field, it autofilled to “BARK”, which sends to our list-serve. Derek did not realize the mistake and the email was subsequently sent to many of you. The email highlighted actual customer reviews from one of our more controversial creations, Derek’s Andrea Alpaca toy.

I called Derek after the email was sent. I believe he intended no ill will, in his toy design or in his accidental blast. To be honest, I can personally empathize with Derek’s need for acknowledgement from his mom, particularly the desire to be mentioned in the family Christmas card. But of course that sort of personal information is not for us to share with prospective customers! I would never send an external email detailing the strained relationship I have with my own mother. That’s for me and Dr. Stein to discuss every Monday at 5pm. And we do. Every single Monday for the last 12 years.

As for the toy in question — like any work of art, we invite people to bring their own interpretation to BARK toy creations. It would be wrong of me to tell a customer what they “should” see. If a customer looks at Andrea Alpaca and sees a phallus, who am I to tell them otherwise? And if they see an alpaca, that is also not wrong. As the saying goes, “The customer is always right.” Even if the customer sees a, well, you know.

Given the number of controversial emails BARK has recently sent — I think about our $69 scandal every day — we are reviewing our email process. While we’re confident we can improve, we apologize for any inconvenience this latest one may have caused. In that spirit, we’d like to offer you a free upgrade on your first month*.

I hope we can one day welcome you and your dog to BARK. But as Dr. Stein always reminds me, “We cannot control others, we can only control ourselves, Sharon.”

All the best,
Sharon Milberg-Jones
Head of HR, BARK

*I cannot guarantee that Derek did not design some of the toys in your first box, but I can guarantee that not all of them are phallic.

Sharon Milberg-Jones | Head of HR 
120 Broadway, 12th Floor NY, NY 10271
“We cannot control others, we can only control ourselves, Sharon.” – Dr. Stein

***

Here’s a great example of taking any weaknesses your product or marketing may have and turning them into strengths — from the “controversial” design of their product to the past “$69 email scandal” that’s mentioned.

Plus there’s a surprising and relatable admission — I mean, who hasn’t gone to therapy at some point because of their mom? 😆 And it feels personal and authentic (down to the email footer text)… but more importantly, it makes the reader laugh out loud at least every other sentence. At least it did for me!

This is a great example of making your emails “sticky” and much more likely to get opened and read… because we love being reminded that we are buying from actual, real humans (more important than ever in this AI-infused world). And we love a good chuckle to break up the monotony of our otherwise boring inboxes.

Now let me shift to a something I got in the mail a week ago — on the 1st of October, mind you! It’s a mailing from Zingerman’s, the Michigan-based purveyor of gourmet foods like cheeses, breads, meats, sauces, and other goodies.

Zingerman’s is known for its use of humor and personality in its marketing — in everything from its catalogs and marketing emails to normally boring communications like their order confirmation and shipping update emails.

Here’s how they managed to get their holiday catalog out in front of their customers without triggering objections and outrage to being so early (i.e., “it’s not even Halloween yet!” In fact, it was delivered a full month before the 31st).

Let’s take a look at the front of the large envelope the contents arrived in…

It’s clear it’s about the holidays — but the penguins make it cute and friendly and not as triggering. And the teaser copy helps with that messaging as well to repel any angry feelings of, “Are they serious? It’s only October 1st!”

I mean, who doesn’t like penguins? What kind of human are you if you don’t? And they’re sipping hot cocoa to boot… adorable! And they’re just trying to help.

Okay, so that got me to open the envelope — even though it was 80 degrees outside. Here’s the letter that was inside, along with their “Early Bird Holiday Catalog”…

 

The letter — which is the first thing you see when you open the envelope (important) — starts off by immediately acknowledging the “too early” objection.

It downplays its early timing at the top right with “Sometime before the holidays 2024”. And the opening sentence directly addresses what may be going through the customer’s mind as they read it: “I promise I’m not trying to stress you out…”

The next sentence emphasizes the theme of just trying to make things easier. It’s followed by a coupon graphic (with the cute cocoa-drinking penguin) that contains a “secret code”… with directions to “Whisper the secret code” when they call. Fun stuff… like we’re in a special club of people.

I encourage you to read the rest of the letter by making the picture above bigger. It’s packed with other subtle tidbits of humor… and it’s not written in typical “marketing speak”. Plus the letter is coming from a real person — “Mo”, the founder — which also helps make the communication feel more authentic.

These are some great examples of how writing and communicating like a real person instead of a “bot” — and using humor — can give your marketing a huge edge. Hope you found them valuable!

A big part of being able to speak your prospect’s language and understand their objections is by having an effective process for copywriting research. If you don’t have my Research Beast course yet, you’ll want to consider getting it. Keep an eye out for a special opportunity to do so over the next few days.

Yours for smarter marketing,

Kim

P.S. After my “Meet Orzy” email went out yesterday, Copy Insider Joseph Chelidze wrote me to say the following: “Chris is a G. You’re an OG. As an email marketer & copywriter, I gotta say you two write the most entertaining emails ever. They always read like Steven Spielbergs movie lol.”

Thanks, Joseph! I love reading Chris Orzechowski’s emails, too. If you missed yesterday’s announcement about the free, live workshop Chris is hosting on the 15th about how to build a million-dollar email list, go here to grab your seat.

P.P.S. I know we’re keeping it light in this email by looking at things that are funny, but I want to acknowledge what people in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas have been going through with Hurricane Helene, and now with Hurricane Milton heading their way. The destruction and lost of life have been terrible, and I hope we don’t have another round of it with this latest storm. Stay safe, everyone!