How Disney animators can help you write better e-mails

I love my chiropractor.  She’s an artist the way she approaches healing.  She’s cool as hell and she’s fun to talk to.  

I started receiving emails from her shortly after I became her client.  When I opened her first email I was shocked to see that it was… So… 

Boring.  

I had to ask her if she was doing her own email marketing because she is so full of life and her emails are stale and make me want to cut myself.

I’ll show you what I mean.  This is the beginning to an email from last week.

SUBJECT:  Exposing the Truth Behind Opioids

RESEARCH THAT MATTERS WEEKLY 

Did You Know…   In the 90’s, medical doctors were falsely lured into prescribing opioids as a treatment for pain…

Who in the world are they writing to?  Medical students who need data for their term papers? Not only is this fluff but it’s boring fluff.  

Honestly I just feel sorry for my doc and I did voice my concerns.  I learned she wasn’t thrilled with the company she hired but she was giving them time to prove themselves.

If you would like to add some spice to your emails, take an animator’s approach.

In the Illusion of Life  Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston introduced us to 12 Principles of Animation. The most important one for me was APPEAL.

Appeal is about creating interesting characters that appeal to the audience and capture their  interest and attention.  

No appeal = boring.  

Animation is like good writing.  It’s not always necessarily what you say.  It’s also what what you DON’T say.  

JK Rowland said in an interview that she had tons of Harry Potter pages littered around her office.  She said she realized she gave away too much and had to keep taking things out so she wouldn’t ruin the endings.

Dr. Seuss put it this way, “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”

Dr. Seuss is being nice.  If reading is a chore most people won’t read what you wrote at all!  So take out the fluff and leave the good appealing stuff.  

For free daily tips and insights on how to get your emails oozing with appeal, sign up for free at https://adamstreet.net .

Adam