The 3-Step System That Makes Writing Emails Stupidly Simple

I’m sure you’ve been there.

Staring at a blank screen. Out of content ideas. This has happened to me more often than I care to admit.

And when you’re responsible for creating new, relevant emails every week for multiple clients - I needed a system to do the heavy lifting for me.

Here's the framework that lets me write 5+ emails per week without ever wondering what to write about.

Part 1: Let Google Do Your Topic Research

You don't need to brainstorm topics. You need to automate topic discovery.

In my opinion, Google Alerts for 10-15 keywords related to your business is the easiest way to do this.

Pick 3-5 main content pillars. These are broad topics your audience cares about. If you're in email marketing, that might be deliverability, automation, and copywriting.

Then add 10-12 supporting topics underneath those pillars. These are specific angles like open rates, spam filters, subject lines, segmentation.

Go to Google Alerts. Type in your keywords. Use quotation marks around phrases so it searches for the exact term, not just the individual words scattered across an article.

Set each alert to send once per week.

Now you'll get a digest every Monday with fresh articles tied to your keywords. Scan the headlines. Pick articles that give you an angle.

Sometimes you'll turn the entire article into an email. More often, you'll grab one specific insight from the article and build your email around that.

For example, I set up alerts for "Ozempic" and "GLP-1." One week, an article showed up about how Ozempic may protect against Alzheimer's. I pulled out the stat that type 2 diabetes is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's. That became the angle for an email about blood sugar management and brain health.

The key is you're not inventing topics from scratch. You're curating them.

Google finds the material and you connect it to your offer.

This removes the hardest part of email writing: figuring out what to say.

In addition, AI has made this even easier where you can have AI scan the article and even prompt content ideas. However, I’ve found the results of this quite “meh” and you’re better off reading through the article yourself to create the angle.

Part 2: Write the Email Using Three Psychological Levers

Once you have your topic, you need structure.

Most emails fail because they ramble. They share interesting information but don't move the reader toward action.

The fix: We build every email around 3 key elements

1. The Villain

Every email needs an enemy. This is the thing holding your audience back.

It's not an abstract problem. It's a concrete adversary they can rally against.

There are five types of villains you can use:

• External Enemy: Competitors, systems, industry standards that don't serve them

• Internal Enemy: Limiting beliefs, fears, self-doubt

• Invisible Enemy: Hidden forces they don't know about (algorithm changes, silent failures)

• Time Enemy: Procrastination, market timing, windows of opportunity closing

• False Friend: Bad advice masquerading as help

Pick one. Make it specific to your audience's daily experience.

If you're writing to email marketers about deliverability, the villain isn't "spam filters." That's too vague. The villain is "security-first IT departments that block 40% of your B2B emails before they reach your prospects."

That's a villain they recognize. They've fought it. They want to beat it.

Your email explains how the villain works and positions your solution as the weapon that defeats it.

2. The Offer Limitation

Your offer only matters if it removes a specific limitation in your prospect's way.

There are seven limitations your audience faces:

1. Time: "I don't have time to do that"

2. Money: "I can't afford it"

3. Energy: "That requires too much effort from me"

4. Organization: "I don't know how to put the pieces together"

5. Approval: "What will people think if I try and fail?"

6. Skills: "I don't have the technical knowledge to execute this"

7. Belief: "I don't think this will work for me"

Your email should identify which limitation is most disruptive to your audience's daily life. Then show how your offer removes that limitation.

If your audience is time-constrained founders, you don't sell them a course. You sell them a done-for-you service that gives them the outcome without the time investment.

If they lack organization, you sell them a roadmap that sequences the steps in the right order.

The offer that wins isn't the most comprehensive. It's the one that removes the most painful limitation.

3. The CTA/Offer

Your call-to-action should feel like the natural conclusion of everything you just explained.

If your email built up a villain and showed how your offer defeats it, the CTA isn't a pitch. It's the logical next step.

Use transition statements to introduce your CTA to match where your reader is:

High intensity for late-stage prospects: "This is the right solution, the pricing is fair, and the only thing standing between you and the result is clicking the button below."

Medium intensity for mid-funnel readers: "You've done your research. You know this solves your problem. The only thing left is making it official."

Low intensity for early education: "If you want to see how this works in practice, here's a case study showing exactly what we did for a client in your situation."

The mistake most people make is using high-intensity CTAs too early. You can't pressure someone who doesn't understand the problem yet.

Match your CTA to the psychological readiness of your audience.

Part 3: Copyedit for Clarity and Conversion

You've written the email. Now you need to make it better.

Here's what to check:

Remove AI-isms

Delete these phrases:

• "It's not just X, it's Y."

• "The best part?"

• "The secret?"

• "Here's the thing..."

• "Let's be honest..."

• "At the end of the day..."

They sound robotic. Cut them.

Check villain strength

Your villain should be believable, not cartoonish. If you're writing "evil corporations that want to destroy small businesses," you've gone too far.

Real villains are more subtle. "While large competitors focus on volume and efficiency, they often overlook the personalized service that builds lasting customer relationships."

That's a villain people recognize without feeling manipulated.

Match villain to solution

If your villain is "the unstoppable force of technological disruption," your solution better be proportional. A 3-step checklist won't cut it.

Make sure your solution is powerful enough to defeat the villain you described.

Verify offer limitation alignment

Does your offer actually remove the limitation you identified?

If you said the problem is lack of time, your offer can't require 40 hours of implementation work. If you said the problem is lack of belief, your offer needs social proof and risk reversal.

The limitation you name and the solution you provide must match.

Test CTA transitions

Read the last paragraph before your CTA. Then read your CTA.

Does it flow naturally? Or does it feel like you slammed on the brakes and pivoted to a sales pitch?

If it feels forced, rewrite the transition. The CTA should feel like the inevitable conclusion, not an awkward ask.

Read it out loud

This is the fastest way to catch clunky phrasing.

If you stumble over a sentence, rewrite it. If it sounds like a robot wrote it, simplify.

Your email should sound like you're talking to one person, not presenting to a conference room.

And that’s it. The simple system that removes guesswork. Stop inventing topics and starting from scratch.

Research. Write. Edit. Send.

That's it.

If you want help implementing this system in your business, I can show you exactly how to set it up for your audience and offers.

Book a strategy call and we'll map out your content pillars, identify your villain types, and build the framework that makes writing emails automatic instead of agonizing.

Tyler