Health Email of the Week #2: Performance Golf Zone
Updated: Sep 17, 2021
Yes, I know I know I can hear the copy trolls whining now…
Ummm Nick, this is not a supplement company how is this a health email?!?!?!
Pipe down, kiddos. I consider sports to be in the health niche and it’s my website so I’m doing this. We’re breaking down Performance Golf Zone’s email marketing strategy.
Plus, I think ANYONE wanting to improve their email marketing chops can replicate what they’re doing and get killer results.
But, first, a quick note...
I specifically chose to review what I call "clicker" emails. These are short, curiosity-driven emails made to get a lot of clicks. PGZ mixes short and long copy so, today, I'm only looking at their short, "clicker" style emails.
Now, let’s get into it…
As I said above, Performance Golf Zone has a great email marketing strategy. Not only do they email very frequently, but they also have a solid lineup of offers and funnels.
Before I go any further, don’t forget…
If you have some great health email(s) that you want me to review, forward it to me! If it’s good, I’ll buy you a drink the next time we hang out. You can forward the email(s) to: nick@iamnickyates.com.
Make sure you review the selection criteria first though…
Here’s How I select the Emails to Review
1. They must focus on text-based emails. Sure, you can use the occasional image and GIF (bonus points for good GIF usage), but I’m not reviewing one of those walls of graphics with 25 buttons and 45 total words.
2. It needs to excite me deep in my loins. Sorry, was that too much? I’m an email nerd, I get excited about this stuff, give me a break… Long story short, I’m going to review emails that catch my attention. I’m not reviewing a crazy hypey email that sells a product that makes you shit oil slicks and “lose 61 lbs. in just 3 weeks!!!”
3. They need a bit of strategy (just a little, please!) I don’t plan on reviewing the soul-crushing companies that spam their list with neverending BUY MY SHIT types of offers. Those types of “churn and burn” lists cause me physical pain. At least put a little effort into your strategy and I’ll toss you a review, capiche?
Overview
I chose this to review PGZ for a few different reasons, but the main one is their overall strategy. It really stood out to me.
They focus on getting link clicks via curiosity and value.
And I really, really like this strategy… as long as the backend is proven to work.
I’ve seen too many rookie copywriters and businesses try to emulate these “clicker” strategies and drive big CTRs with little sales.
And they wonder, what the f*ck?!?!? This is supposed to work!!!! *angry face emoji*
PGZ has got it figured out. Their videos are extremely useful to any golfer, being that they offer drills and tips that you can apply immediately. Then, they typically follow that with a segue into a VSL format or the value video is above a page of sales copy. I’ve seen them effectively utilize both of these options.
Now, let’s dive into the first part of this breakdown, subject lines…
Subject Lines
Here are a few subject lines that I especially liked:
Email 1 subject line: Steal Tiger's drill (Video)
Email 2 subject line: Best ball strikers do "this" (Video Drill)
Email 3 subject line: Trace your perfect swing path (Video Drill)
For the subject lines I’ve chosen, I focused on their shorter, “clicker” emails that use the video drill funnel.
They also use longer form emails with different SLs but for this post, I wanted to focus on these specifically.
You’ll notice a few things about these SLs…
First, they are filled with curiosity.
What’s Tiger’s drill?
What do the best ball strikers do?
What is my perfect swing path?
This is how you get your emails opened.
Second, they do a great job of using the target market’s lingo.
For example, notice they don’t say “Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer of all time” in the first SL. Anyone who knows what the sport of golf is knows who Tiger is.
The second SL uses “ball strikers” which is a commonly used term in the golf world. You can ask any golfer and he can rattle off a list of the best ball strikers in history.
And lastly, I like the use of the “(Video)” and “(Video Drill)” copy. They use this a lot so it’s obviously making a difference in their open rate and CTR.
Now let’s take a look at what the body copy looks like while we review the general strategy for these…
Body Copy and Overall Strategy
Email 1 subject line: Steal Tiger's drill (Video)
Let’s take a look at the first email…
This is straightforward and to the point -- I have a video for you to watch, it helps with this, and Tiger Woods used it.
That’s a golfer’s wet dream.
They’re clicking and they’re learning what drill Tiger did before he played, guaranteed.
This is a great strategy to get click -- combine curiosity + a valuable CTA.
And it helps that it’s a free value add. As of now, the reader has no idea they’re selling anything on the backend.
So, PGZ nailed the first half of the email…
But then they go right into… offer #2?
Two different links, two different CTAs.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of doing that. I prefer to direct the reader to one offer.
Other than that one thing, this is, overall, a solid email.
Now let’s dive into email #2…
Email 2 subject line: Best ball strikers do "this" (Video Drill)
This one was even shorter than the first, but I don’t mind that at all.
Something I especially like about this email is the curiosity copy they’ve added in the link…
“Move your right arm through the downswing like the best ball strikers do” and the video image matches up with the link.
This really helps dial in the curiosity here.
It makes me, a golfer, wonder if I’m doing this ONE THING in my golf swing? What is this ONE THING?
Very good.
Now let’s check out the final email…
Email 3 subject line: Trace your perfect swing path (Video Drill)
This is similar to email 2 in the shortness, but I still wanted to show another example to you.
As in the second email, this is short and to the point, but there are a few things I’d test against these email styles…
I’d test adding a few curiosity-inducing bullets to the copy to further push the value of watching this video drill.
For example…
The one way to set your wrists so they never “break” during your swing
How Ben Hogan found his perfect swing path (and how you can too)
Why using 25% of your swing speed is the key to the perfect backswing
Etc.
See how these really dial up the curiosity?
It’s just a few lines but it can hit on that one thing that the reader has struggled with that they want to solve, driving them to click and watch the video.
Also, I think keeping the curiosity copy in the actual link is very important. I love what they PGZ did in email 2 with that link copy. It’s a really solid link and I would bet it got more clicks than the other emails.
Now let’s tie this all together…
Conclusion
Overall, I know that curiosity “clicker” emails like these work really, really well in the right situations. I’ve personally used them for health clients and we’ve done 6-figures in a single month with them.
But, as I said before, you have to make sure the backend landing page and funnel are optimized and perform well.
You don’t want to drive clicks to an underperforming sales page and then blame it on the email copy…
That’s not how email works.
If you have an untested sales page or funnel, I would not recommend using these types of emails.
I hope you found this week’s breakdown valuable. I had a lot of fun with Performance Golf Zone and love what they’re doing with email.
If you have any health and fitness emails you’d like to submit for any upcoming Health Email of the Week posts, please forward them to my email: nick@iamnickyates.com
And if you found this valuable, please consider giving it a share.