#90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out
The Ecom Show · Daniel Budai
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Show Notes
#90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out
Copywriting is one of the most important skills of e-commerce marketing. So let’s take a deep dive into high-quality copywriting and how to incorporate effective storytelling into your email marketing.
Francis Nayan is a Direct Response Email Copywriter and Strategist for 7-8 Figure E-Commerce Companies. Francis specializes in automated behavior-driven emails that provide a steady stream of cash flow for e-commerce businesses around the world.
Daniel and Francis would like to give a shout-out to Joshua Chin, Csaba Borázi, and the Chronus Creative Agency for helping them get connected. Thanks, folks!
Tune in to hear Daniel and Francis discuss:
✔️ How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?
✔️ How to Increase Conversions With a Personal Tone of Voice
✔️ How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?
✔️ How to Handle Customer Objections
✔️ How Long Should An Email Be?
How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?
It all began in 2017. At the time, Francis was working as an English teacher in Budapest. He’d been in this role for one and a half years, and he wanted a change. When considering his options, Francis met a copywriter and an international meeting spot. Copywriting appealed to Francis as a career choice that would allow him to work remotely and travel.
From his first client on Upwork, Francis would take on various projects from emails to blog posts and website content until eventually he was hired by an e-commerce email marketing agency. Francis particularly enjoys the ‘instant gratification' from email marketing - seeing how well your work performs a mere few days after launch. That’s when began ‘niching down’ and taking on e-commerce clients.
Daniel and Francis agree that taking on feedback and understanding how customers are responding to your copy is crucial to professional development and success.
How to Improve Conversion with a Personal Tone of Voice
Authentic marketing has never been more important. Millennials and Gen Zs are particularly receptive to a personal and genuine style tone of voice (TOV).
“Nowadays, the buyers are smart. They know what boring templated jargon build copy looks like. They don’t have to be in marketing to know what that is. We have to give the customers credit.”
It’s important for the customer to feel like they’re having a one-to-one conversation while they’re reading your copy. Francis recalls one of his most important lessons from copywriting expert, John Carlton: pretend as if you’re talking to your friend at a bar. ‘Barroom copy’ reads more like offering advice to a friend rather than hard selling.
Naturally, this TOV works best with advanced segmentation, personalized automation, and top-notch design. In Francis’s words, that is ‘smart marketing’. Smart marketing for the smart consumer.
How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?
It goes without saying that marketing emails are shorter than landing pages. So how do you harness storytelling in such short-form content?
As Francis points out, e-commerce emails are limited to fewer than 500 words. Above all, stories show the transformation. To incorporate storytelling into your emails, you need to show how your product takes a customer from point A to point B. You don’t even need 300 words to do that. Most of this involves showcasing what makes your product unique and how it works better than that of your competitors. The more you demonstrate this transformation, the more you can simplify the copy.
“When I say storytelling, it’s not necessarily having that long narrative, it’s showing the transformation.”
It’s not just writing emails that promote a 20% discount, it’s showing the customer why they should use your discount code.
If you are going to go down the narrative route, Francis and Daniel recommend engaging your customers with a story told over a series of emails. AndréChaperon calls this the ‘Soap Opera Sequence’.
The ‘Soap Opera Sequence’ works best at around 5 emails with a call to action (CTA) on the third email. Customers will lose interest if the sequence is too long.
How to Handle Customer Objections
The best way to handle customer objections is to be upfront about them. Don’t hide the fact that there will be certain things your customers face, but that you have a solution to it. For example, “We realize some items will take some time to arrive. That’s why you can track your order every step of the way/we only charge X - amount for shipping.”
Always mention potential objections in the footer or P.S. Or dedicate an entire email to one. For example, “Worried your item won’t fit? Here’s our exchange policy.” Just make sure that your customers know that their objections are being taken care of.
How Long Should an Email Be?
Francis says that this all comes down to testing. Generally, don’t make it too long. Don’t have 300 - 400 words of copy with 10 - 20 product blocks.
The more expensive a product is, the more copy you’ll need.
Francis prefers ‘short, punchy copy’.
“People are just scrolling through their emails, and you want to stand out and get the point across pretty quick.”
Use short concise copy that tells a story of transformation.
For more fantastic advice on copywriting and marketing, be sure to follow Francis on LinkedIn and check out our episode with Csaba Borázi, ‘Why Copywriting is the Number One Skill in E-Commerce Marketing’.
Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!
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