Your best-written email might be your worst seller
Alice Mushrooms put instructions on a chocolate bar, and it’s the sharpest product email we’ve read all month.
Their Party Trick email reads like a manual for your night out, take a square, here’s minute 15, here’s hour one, and for a product most people have never tried, that’s exactly the right call.
The teaching’s excellent, the selling’s where it leaks, and we found 3 spots where it’s leaving money on the table.
Grab a coffee, let’s start the week. 👇
Alice Mushrooms wrote instructions for a chocolate bar
Alice Mushrooms didn’t send a buy our product email. They sent a step by step guide to using their Party Trick chocolate on a night out: when to take it, what to expect at 15 minutes, what happens after an hour.
That’s a smart move when you’re selling something functional people might not totally understand yet. The education’s strong and the visuals are clean, but the execution’s where conversions leak.
The header
What works: "Work is done, let’s play" signals the shift from productivity to fun and sets up the use case in 5 words. The copy ties the product to a specific moment: the chocolate square that puts you straight into a bubbly, off the clock mood. The hero puts the product on a champagne coupe next to a cork, so celebration is the first association you have. The CTA says Shop Party Trick, which tells you exactly what you’re buying.
What we’d change: the layout’s tight, and more room around the headline and product would make it scan faster. There’s no price and no urgency anywhere, so nothing in the block answers why tonight, instead of some other night.
The body, and the three step structure doing the work
What works: the step format removes the guesswork. Step one, take a square. 15 minutes. 1 hour and beyond. Each step carries its own icon, so the email is scannable even if you read none of the copy. The lines tie a benefit to a moment rather than a claim: feel the trickle of excitement, notice your mood lift, enjoy additional squares through the evening. It’s specific without sounding clinical.
What we’d change: no social proof at all. One customer line about an actual night out would make every promise above it land harder. The dosing guidance is also vague. Start with one and enjoy up to four gives a range but no context, and a line like most people start with one would settle a first time buyer who’s quietly nervous.
The footer
What works: one more Shop Party Trick CTA gives a second path to buy, the social links cover the right platforms, and made with love in los angeles adds personality without trying too hard.
What we’d change: there’s no route to the rest of the catalog. Anybody who isn’t sold on Party Trick but might want Brainstorm or Nightcap has nowhere to go. No shipping threshold, no guarantee, and nothing about ingredients, which a functional product needs more than most.
Where this email actually fits
Product education. Right call when people need to understand not just what it is, but how and when to use it.
New customer acquisition. Good for someone curious about the category but intimidated by it. The steps make it approachable.
Occasion based sends. Friday afternoon, pre weekend, any moment when the reader’s already thinking about going out.
Retention Marketing Associate, Austin, TX (Hybrid): Huckberry
Director of Retention Marketing & CRM, Walnut Creek, CA (Hybrid): VICI
Senior Retention Marketing Manager, South Gate, CA (On-site): AG Jeans
Assistant Manager, Retention Marketing, Culver City, CA (Hybrid): Beyond Yoga
Lifecycle Marketing Specialist, San Francisco, CA (Hybrid): Thuma
Email and SMS Marketing Manager, Rosemont, IL (Hybrid): Claire’s
CRM Manager, New York, NY (On-site): KREWE
Manager, CRM & Lifecycle Marketing, Birmingham, AL (On-site): Hibbett
