Why Some Emails Print Money (While Others Just Get Deleted)

In partnership with

Get this…. a brand called FinalStraw ran a simple email campaign a few year back.

And in just 3½ months, it generated more revenue than they’d earned from emails over the prior 11 months.

That’s a 1,310% ROI and their best month ever, even doubling their previous record by ~$20,000.
Source: CodeCrew FinalStraw Case Study

This wasn’t a massive list.
It wasn’t an AI-powered send-time optimization feature.
And it wasn’t some “hack.”

So what made it work?

And why do so many other emails fall flat, ignored, unopened, or deleted in seconds?

Let’s unpack it.

Create How-to Videos in Seconds with AI

Stop wasting time on repetitive explanations. Guidde’s AI creates stunning video guides in seconds—11x faster.

• Turn boring docs into visual masterpieces

• Save hours with AI-powered automation

• Share or embed your guide anywhere

How it works: Click capture on the browser extension, and Guidde auto-generates step-by-step video guides with visuals, voiceover, and a call to action.

Best part? It’s 100% free.

👉 Download the extension now

The Real Reason Most Emails Fail

The average inbox is a war zone.
100+ emails flood in daily, each one fighting for a glance.

So if your subject line blends in… it’s already dead.
If your first sentence doesn’t immediately hook the reader… it’s game over.

Most marketers spend all their time on tools, segments, and platforms.
But they forget the one thing that matters most:

Your email must be built to sell the click.

That’s the currency.
Clicks = sales. No clicks = no revenue.

Why FinalStraw’s Email Worked So Well

FinalStraw’s emails didn’t rely on gimmicks. They nailed the psychology.

Each message tapped into proven persuasion triggers:

• Curiosity: subject lines that hinted at something strange, urgent, or untold.

• Emotion: openers that sparked surprise, frustration, or relief.

• Identity: positioning the reader as someone smart, savvy, and eco-conscious.

• Urgency: countdowns and real consequences for missing out.

• Open Loops: starting with a tension point and delaying the answer.

These are the same tactics copywriting legends like Gary Halbert and Todd Brown used to craft multi-million dollar campaigns.

Here’s how they apply.

The Email That Prints Money Starts With One Thing: The Hook

According to Todd Brown, your opening sentence is just as critical as your subject line.
It creates a “slippery slope”, a mental path that pulls the reader into your message.

Bad openers feel flat, vague, or safe.

Winning openers start in the middle of tension:

• “I was robbed.”

• “Everything was in shambles.”

• “You won’t believe what happened.”

These lines aren’t just attention-grabbing. They demand resolution.

Lou Larsen calls these “Hooked Openers”, starting your message at the peak of the action, like dropping someone into a movie during the car chase.

Once you hook them, you keep them reading with open loops, raising a question without immediately answering it.

For example:

That’s an open loop.

It keeps the reader leaning forward, desperate to know the “something else.”

What Happens After the Hook? You Sell the Click

This is where most emails go wrong.

They tell everything.
They give away the punchline.
They spoil the story.

But high-performing emails know the goal isn’t to inform.
The goal is to get the click.

That means you don’t reveal everything in the body of the email.
You create tension, build curiosity, and then bridge to the CTA.

Here’s an example using the FAB Formula:

That’s how you deliver value while pulling people forward.

Use Contrast to Reframe the Reader’s Thinking

Lou Larsen teaches the Contrasting Comparison tactic to flip objections on their head:

• “Falling coconuts kill more people than sharks.”

• “You’re more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a poisonous spider.”

These comparisons jolt the brain. They shift perception.
And they’re perfect for reframing tired beliefs in email marketing.

Imagine this:

That kind of contrast resets the frame.
It makes your solution feel not just valuable, but necessary.

So, Why Do Most Emails Still Fail?

It’s not about effort.
It’s not about the size of your list.
And it’s definitely not about your email platform.

Most emails fail because they’re not built to move the reader.

They don’t hook.
They don’t tease.
They don’t create enough tension to make a click feel mandatory.

But the good news?

Once you start using these psychological triggers, curiosity, identity, urgency, contrast, and open loops, your emails stop being digital flyers…

…and start becoming magnetic, money-making machines.

Cheers
The InBoXer Team