The uncomfortable truth about email copy in 2025

Hey, Michael from AdSumo Digital here.

"Our copy isn't converting..."

That's what a DTC founder told me last week on a call.

They'd hired expensive freelance copywriters.
Tested dozens of “ideas and messaging”.
Spent months perfecting their "brand voice."

Yet their emails were barely breaking even.

Here's the funny part:

They were selling a mushroom coffee supplement, which you think would sell really well considering how trendy that niche is.

But all their messaging and branding is surface-level and they show nothing unique about their brand or products.

Meanwhile, one of our supplement clients is absolutely crushing it with plain text emails:

• $63,213 in revenue from just 10 campaign emails in 30 days

• Best performing email: $9,500 from a single send to 30K subscribers AND it was a plain text

• Average order value: $219

• Email now drives 50% of their total monthly revenue (up 313% since working with us)

All with simple and good looking designs. No complicated strategies. Just powerful copy that solves real problems for real people through quality products.

Here's what most DTC brands get wrong about email copy:

Your copy is only as powerful as your product's problem-solving ability.

Let me explain...

There are two types of products in this world:

Vitamins: "Nice to have" products that might make life better

Painkillers: "Need to have" products that solve real problems

Take Miracle Moo for example.
They're not just selling colostrum supplements... they're solving the problem loudly with their unique mechanism: "First-Milking Colostrum, collected within 2 hours of birth, from grass-fed California cows."

That's not just copy. That's a real solution communicated clearly and boldly.

Here's what this means for your brand:

If you're selling vitamins:

• Pretty emails with minimal copy

• Heavy on lifestyle imagery

• Focus on brand and design

Why? Because you're selling a feeling, not a solution.

But if you're selling painkillers?

You need to be sending:

• Plain text emails that read like letters from a friend

• Direct response copy that hits pain points

• Clear, bold statements about your solution

The market is shifting.

In 2025, you can't afford to be another bland supplement brand sending pretty pictures with weak copy.

Consumers are drowning in mediocre brands playing it safe with:

• Corporate wellness speak

• Watered-down health claims

• Safe, boring templates

The brands that win are the ones who:

• Have a clear mechanism of action

• Tell real customer transformation stories

• Stand behind their solution

• Solve problems boldly

Our prebiotic client started scaling when they stopped trying to sound like every other gut health brand and started being real about their unique solution.

Their revenue jumped 313% when they:

• Stripped away the boring messaging

• Focused on problem/solution

• Sent more often (minimum 10 emails/month)

• Leveraged plain text format

Look, here's the truth:

If you're selling vitamins, stop obsessing over copy. Test focusing on design and bold branding.

But if you're selling painkillers?

Test out stripping the fancy designs. Write like a human. Solve loudly.

That's how you win in 2025.

Talk soon, Michael

P.S. Ready to start solving your problem loudly? Book a call here »