Copywriters Forum

This is an email I got from Netflix a while back…

I won’t break it down with too much critique this time. I’ll just let you look at it, and soak it all in…

So what do you think of it?
Without trying to sway your opinion, let me just say I think it’s pretty good copy.

Basically, they start out by telling me they’re going to raise my rates.

But, before I have a chance to get all indignant at them for charging me more, they immediately start hitting me with benefits to justify the reasons why the price is going up.

By the end of it… I’m almost ready to “thank” them for raising my rates. (Well, maybe not… But at least I’m still a loyal customer who has no problem paying an extra dollar)

And then they finish with a version of the old takeaway tactic at the end (i.e. if I don’t want all those great benefits, I can always cancel and give up my membership)



So anyway… Tell me what you think makes it so damn compelling (or, why you think I’m goofy for believing it’s pretty good copy?)

All comments are welcome… (good comments will actually be appreciated )

I am not a heavy Netflix user, so this copy does nothing for me.

Yes, Franklin,

I’d say you just summed up the one true secret of good copywriting.

The target audience is always the most important factor (even more than the words themselves)

An average message to the right market, at the right time, will always outperform a brilliant message to an audience with no interest in what we’re selling. (you can have the best copy in the world – but you won’t sell many shoes to people with no feet)

SARubin wrote: ↑February 15th, 2019, 11:05 am The target audience is always the most important factor (even more than the words themselves)

An average message to the right market, at the right time, will always outperform a brilliant message to an audience with no interest in what we’re selling.

This is so true. New copywriters are always looking for magic techniques or powerful words. Experienced copywriters look for the right message to market match.

This post is a few months old but thought I’d share my opinion if that’s alright.

For me…it’s just lukewarm. I am a Netflix user. I’ve seen a few emails like this since signing up several years ago, this ad isn’t exactly missing the ‘why?’, but imho, they are displaying ‘why’ with a laissez faire attitude.

Why are you asking me to pay a $1 more? Why I should want to pay $1 a month more? They take a sentence to tell you that they are raising the cost in order to continue adding new programming.
And another sentence or two to tell you that you can now download to your devices and watch Netflix without needing to log onto the internet.

In 2019, Netflix’s original programming won 27 out of the 117 overall Emmy nominations and an eye popping 34 Golden Globes. Why not say something to the effect of…

“At Netflix, we work hard to bring you original programming that you can’t see anywhere else. That extra $1 a month will allow us to continue to provide you with some of your favorite shows like Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things. We can also keep bringing you epic new shows like Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ starring Robert De Niro…” blah, blah, blah… then pick up at the we bring you awesome entertainment bit.

I think that by adding a couple of sentences, it will take that mediocre email and remind folks why they have Netflix’s in the first place.

Excellent points Debra,

They certainly could’ve expanded their prose with a few more benefits.

I guess I was just giving Netflix the benefit of the doubt with this email. But now that they have some competition from a couple of other major players (most notably Disney) moving into the streaming business, Netflix is going to need to up their copywriting game a bit.