The document provides tips and best practices for writing persuasive copy and email marketing. It discusses various psychological principles that can be leveraged, such as using authority, social proof, scarcity, and storytelling. Specific suggestions are given for words, phrases, and techniques that grab attention, engage readers, and motivate action. These include using framing, guarantees, questions, personalization, and visual content. The document also covers email best practices like subject lines, previews, calls to action, and list management.

1. The ABCs of Persuasive Copy
“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.”
Blaise Pascal

2. Authority Principle
• Use titles when they are impressive
• Studies and surveys lend credibility
• 9 out of 10 readers love statistics! *
• Five Minutes Strong with
Jeff Bell
• Walk Your Community
with Melissa Wilder
• LAW Newsletter from
Darnell Self
LEGALSHIELD EXAMPLES
Humans are conditioned to respect authority and expertise
* I totally made this up

3. Because
Xerox “Line” Study
1. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the
Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
2. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the
Xerox machine?”
3. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the
Xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
93%-94% of participants who used #1 or #3 were
allowed to cut in line. Only 60% agreed to
response #2, which lacked the word “because.”
People will do what you ask them to do
if you use the word “because”
• Because you pay only a small
monthly fee, LegalShield
makes it affordable to protect
your family from unexpected
legal issues.
• Sign up for LegalShield today,
because you and your family
deserve legal protection.
LEGALSHIELD EXAMPLES

4. Commitment and Consistency
• Use this calculator to see how much your family can save with LegalShield MEMBERPerks
• Join our webinar—see how HR professionals offer LegalShield to attract the best employees
• Melissa Wilder is the master of this type of sales
 Get permission to talk about LegalShield
 Ask for contact preferences
 Ask to present to decision makers
 Ask to present to employees
Compliance tactic that involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them up by
having that person agree to a modest request.

5. Deals
• Avoid words like: price, cost, pay
• Focus on benefits
• Coupon codes: use these with care. Some
visitors will not buy if they don’t have the
coupon code
Handing over money is painful—take
away the pain by offering deals, but…

6. Eye Magnets
Secret
Free
New
Easy
Quick
Awesome
Examples of eye magnets: https://blog.bufferapp.com/words-and-phrases-that-convert-ultimate-list
The best email subject line words:
• https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-email-subject-lines-list
• http://optinmonster.com/101-email-subject-lines-your-subscribers-cant-resist/
• http://content.adestra.com/hubfs/2015_Reports_and_eGuides/2015_Subject_Line_Report.pdf
Introducing
Improved
Amazing
Discover
Instantly
Announcing
Readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to certain words
Revolutionary
Miracle
Magic
Offer
Fast
Now
Challenge
Compare
Bargain
Hurry
Wanted
Startling

7. Framing
• Contacted vs. Crashed
• Small $5 fee vs. $5 fee
• Focus on the benefits, not the costs
Position your offer in a positive light

8. Guarantee
• 100% satisfaction guaranteed
• Guaranteed or your money back
• 60-day unconditional money back
guarantee
Guarantees remove the risk of purchasing

9. Herd Mentality
Amazon.com
• “Also bought”
• Customer testimonials, reviews
Netflix
• Popular on Netflix
• Trending now
• Because you watched…
Put it in practice
• Use customer testimonials
People are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors

10. Information Gap Theory
If there is a gap between what you know, and what you want to know, you’ll be
more likely to take action to gain knowledge
• Why isn’t credit monitoring enough?
• Which flat sheets are most popular with
Executive Directors?
• Would you like to have 24/7 access to an
experienced law firm?
• What would you do with an extra $500
• How much money could your family save with
MemberPerks?
LEGALSHIELD EXAMPLES
• Don’t you hate shopping during the
holidays?
• Need help paying off your student
loans?
• Do you want to get rid of your bug
problem for good?
• What’s the most common street
name in America?
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE,
WHY, AND HOW

11. Jargon
Two exceptions:
• Suggest more value
• Imply insider status
LegalShield Jargon Insurance Jargon
Apps/applications Individual contracts or policies
Associate, Director, NVP, BVP,
Bronze, Silver, Platinum, etc.
Independent Associate; Sales Rep
Upline, downline Field leadership; sales team
Points, counters Compensation, renewals, bonus
Members, memberships Policy holders; policies; coverage
Residuals Renewals or bonus compensation
PBRs, PCCs, DMs Meetings, enrollments
LegalShield Examples
Don’t make your audience work too hard to understand what your jargon means

12. Knowledge
• Makes potential customers resistant to our solutions
• Associates may resist learning new sales techniques because they tend to stick with what they know
• Get reader to imagine a time when our service may have come in handy. They will immediately be able
to see how our products would benefit them.
The immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific
topic, concept, method or decision

13. Loss Aversion
People are twice as likely to want to avoid a loss than to reap a reward
LegalShield Examples
• Don’t miss a single update. Sign up for convention news now!
• Don’t wait! Hotel space is limited!
• Protect your family today!

14. Mental Energy
• Don’t bury the lead
• Use bullets! Place the most important point first, and next most important point last
• Avoid CTAs that are just links. Use buttons.
• Keep CTAs to a minimum. More CTAs = too many options = confused reader
• Spend more time writing headlines than the email body copy
• Fewer words=more impact
Don’t make your audience figure out how to take action

15. New
• With IDShield Vault, you no longer have to keep up with all your
passwords!
• Introducing Launch by LegalShield, the smarter, better, faster way to
incorporate
• Finally, you can live life knowing you have a lawyer in your back
pocket who, at the same time, isn't emptying it.
Readers are attracted to the new and novel
• Now
• Introducing
• New
• For the first time
• Latest
• Finally
• State-of-the-art
• Soon
KEY WORDS

16. Overcome Objections
Anticipate the most likely objections, and address them early
Objection Proof Point
“I can get the same results on
my own.”
Experience of LegalShield Lawyers, credentials of licensed private
investigators
“It’s too expensive.” For $10/month, you get unlimited consultation, five types of
monitoring, etc.
“Does it work?” Experience of other members, successful Associates
“Will it work for me?” Emphasize ease of using service; SLAs for law firm responses
“I’ve never heard of you.” LS has been in business since 1972, covers 4.15 million lives, etc.

17. Personalization
Beyond first and last name…
• Associate number
• Member number
• Associate level
• Location
Behavior
• Page visits
• Content downloads
• Clicked links List created for potential
Launch members
Your reader should feel like you know who they are

18. Questions
Use questions to engage your reader, grab their attention, and tell a story
• Would you like to set your own work hours and
spend more time with your family?
• How much could your family save with our exclusive
member discounts?
• What is the most downloaded flat sheet by
Executive Directors?
• How do I know if I have a personal injury case?
• How do I get out of my lease?
ALMOST-FAMOUS LEGALSHIELD QUESTIONS
• Have you heard about Claritin?
• Wouldn’t you really rather have a
Buick?
• Where’s the beef?
• Do you have any Grey Poupon?
• Can you hear me now? Good!
FAMOUS ADVERTISING QUESTIONS

19. Rational and Emotional
• Appeal to the reader’s emotions to hook them
• Give readers rational reasons for deciding to buy
People use rational reasons to justify
emotional decisions
Intellectual vs. Emotional Words:
http://unionez.net/adsezine/Emotions.html

20. Storytelling
Storytelling Resources
• http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/kurt-vonneguts-8-tips-on-how-to-write-a-good-short-story.html
• https://simplicable.com/new/storytelling
• Physiological: These are the underlying needs we as humans can’t
live without. E.g. Food, water, sleep, oxygen etc.
• Safety: We all need to feel safe. Whether that be physically, financially
or job security and health.
• Social: We all look for social connections in friends and family.
• Esteem: Desire to be respected by others; Self-esteem, confidence
and sense of self achievement.
• Self actualization: Realizing one’s full potential. This is the highest
level on the hierarchy.
Figure out what your audience wants, then frame your solution in such a
way that they become the protagonist in the story

21. Time
• Get to the point
• Don’t bury the lead
• Be clear and concise
• Use bolds, subheads, bullets, lists
Don’t waste the reader’s time!
Concise writing resource:
https://www.grammarly.com/ (check out their free Chrome extension!)
Only 28% of web
page content is
ever read
“To write is human. To edit is divine.”
Stephen King

22. Urgency
• Only 7 tickets left at this price!
• Auction ends at….
• For a limited time only
Scarcity drives demand
• Register today! $129 if you
purchase now ($149 at the
door)
• Last chance! Your membership
will cancel soon and we don’t
want you to miss out on the
important benefits of your
LegalShield membership.
LEGALSHIELD EXAMPLES

23. Von Restorff Effect (Dare to be Different)
Which email would YOU look at first?
When multiple homogenous stimuli are presented, the stimulus that differs
from the rest is more likely to be remembered
One of these things is not like the other

24. Wordplay
• The right words helps prospects give us the benefit of the doubt.
• Readers need to know we are a far cry from our competitors.
• If you need to hire a lawyer, wouldn’t you want one already in your pocket?
If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit
Literary devices: https://literarydevices.net/
Ad copy inspiration: https://www.pinterest.com/alecjankowski/headline-driven-print-ads/?lp=true
Use devices like rhymes, similes, alliterations, catch phrases, etc.

25. X Factor
• 93% of human communication is non-verbal
• Charts and graphs are memorable
• Visual content is processed 60,000 times faster than
the time it takes for the brain to decode text
Visuals are the X factor to help convey information quickly
Using visuals in email: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-infographic

26. You and We
Up close and personal engages readers
Before
Get the LegalShield app:
With the LegalShield App, members can
easily call their law firm directly. To
access, members can visit
www.mylegalshield.com to register an
online account. The app is available from
the App Store™ or through Google
Play™ .
After
Get the LegalShield app:
Keep your law firm close with the LegalShield
app. Use it to call your law firm directly, review
your basic plan info and more. Visit
www.mylegalshield.com to register your online
account. Then, head over to the your
iPhone® or on your Android ™ phone
to get the app.

27. Zeigarnik Effect
Readers respond to suspense! Consider the email subject lines below…
See what's new in
Business Solutions
training at LevelUP 2017
32% open rate
3.3% clickthrough rate
FIRSTNAME Have you booked a room
yet for Leaders@AllLevels???🏨
61% open rate
17% clickthrough rate
FIRSTNAME Do you have a game plan
to reach your team goals? 🎯
55% open rate
13% clickthrough rate
Zeigarnik Effect: http://www.frontiersin.org/blog/How_Marketers_Utilize_the_Zeigarnik_Effect_to_Increase_Conversions/2655
We like to finish what we start, experiencing dissonance when we don’t

28. E-Mail Best Practices
• More opens
• More clickthroughs
• More engagement

29. Most Popular E-Mail Clients
Source: https://litmus.com/blog/the-top-10-most-popular-email-clients-of-2016
1%
1%
2%
5%
6%
7%
10%
11%
20%
31%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Windows Live Mail
Windows Mail
Yahoo! Mail
Outlook.com
Outlook
Apple Mail
Google Android
Apple iPad
Gmail
Apple iPhone

30. 70% of LAW
newsletter email
recipients open
with a mobile
device

31. LegalShield Mobile Email
Scrap the CAPS
• Don't use all caps anywhere in
your email or its subject line.
Tone down the excitement
• Exclamation marks are fine—in
moderation
Avoid deception
• FW: and RE:
Make your content relevant

32. Subject Line Emojis Can Bring Home the
Best Emojis Worst Emojis
Symbol
Open Rate
(vs avg)
Rank Symbol
Open Rate
(vs avg)
65.72% 1 -9.52%
20.95% 2 -8.10%
10.65% 3 -8.03%
Subject line emojis: https://econsultancy.com/blog/66043-email-subject-lines-the-best-words-emojis-to-boost-open-rates

33. A Few Points to Consider
• From address
• Subject line
• Preview text
• Header
• Body text
• Calls to action
• Footer

34. Avoid SPAM Triggers
Keep your message short
• Subject lines six words or less
• Focus on the core value messages
Avoid SPAM trigger words
Comprehensive list of SPAM triggers: http://blog.automational.com/2016/03/08/spam-trigger-words-to-avoid/

35. List Management Dos
DO email contacts in these categories:
• Contacts who have visited a LegalShield web site or
landing page and have signed up for email updates.
• Contacts with an active Associate agreement,
imported from the iSeries.
• Members who are not active group members, also
imported from the iSeries.
• Trade show visitors who have explicitly signed up for
information and updates.