What Pretty Farm Girl, Salt & Stone and Necessaire do

The rule

Pretty Farm Girl

closest peer, 23 emails Sept 6 to Oct 4). This is the only studied brand that sends real plain text, so it is our evidence for letters.

• About two thirds of their emails are typed notes from Jen: logo, 'Hey Brent,', short paragraphs, a blue underlined link or two, and a signature. They arrive looking like mail from a person, so people read them as messages instead of skimming them as ads.
• Notes cost almost nothing to make, which is how they send about every other day (12 emails in 18 days) without running out of design time.
• They pay for design only where a picture does the job: the cart, where you see your own item, and new products, where you choose between four jar scents. A buy-2-get-1 sale still goes out as text because the whole deal fits in one sentence.
• For a launch, the plain note goes first and the designed catalog follows two days later (mini balm, Sept 25 then Sept 27). The note tells the news and the designed email shows it.
• Every offer is one complete sentence that says what you get, the condition, the deadline and whether you need a code ('No discount code required!'). A cold reader knows exactly what to do.
• Each follow-up adds one new reason. Cart #1 has no discount, #2 adds the code, and #3 adds customer reviews. The sale emails go from the offer alone to the offer plus three quotes. Nothing reads like a repeat.
• Proof is plain quoted lines from different people with different problems, placed after the offer link so it doesn't slow down people who are ready to buy.
• The subject and preview read as one thought: a question and its answer, or a deadline and the code. Someone who never opens the email still gets the offer.
• Things that don't fit us (not that they're wrong): exclamation marks on almost everything, small typos, the selfie avatar, a coconut-oil recipe (hard rule 5), and the 'expired then reopened' credit beat unless the credit really expired.

Salt & Stone

premium body care, 16 sends Sept 12 to 30). Designed 15 of 16, so it supports the designed and light formats, not plain text.

• Every email uses one fixed layout: offer bar, wordmark, hero photo, a short headline, one or two sentences, a pill button, product cards, the same footer. Readers learn it after two emails and go straight to the button. It is also cheap to fill.
• Under the design, each email is a short message: one headline, one sentence, one coupon box, one button. The words are few and the photos make the sensory case.
• They send the same news twice with a new angle. The Discovery Set went out first as 'you don't have to choose', then as 'trial, travel and gifting'. The second send reaches people the first one missed and doesn't feel like a repeat.
• Their one letter-style send, the gift deadline reminder ('Hi there,', a sign-off, one button, one product photo with the Allure seal), is a light email, not plain text. The change in format tells the reader this one is different. That supports making a deadline email light.
• Proof sits inside a reason ('With 50k+ five-star reviews, these best sellers are the perfect place to start') or on the photo (award seal, before and after, 'SAVE $11' chip), so it costs no reading time.
• They sell scents through moments the reader already has ('For beach days and coastal escapes'), with the scent name right above, so a mood line never floats free of its product.
• Doesn't fit us: their text is baked into image slices, with a hidden text block that keeps the text-to-image ratio up on image-only emails. Live text solves the same problem for us, and Brent's default is no baked text.

Necessaire

premium body care, 12 sends Sept 12 to 30) plus the one DECIEM / The Ordinary welcome. Necessaire designs every send; DECIEM is the light example.

• Necessaire designs every email because it sells a feeling and the email has to look like the product. The black-and-white frame tells you the price point before you read a word.
• The welcome code shows up in all three welcome emails in one identical black bar ('Use Code X | $10 Off Orders $80+') and never in regular campaigns, which protects full price. Codes are unique per person, so they can't leak to coupon sites.
• Check-mark panels on a dark block ('Dermatologist-Tested / Certified B Corp / 1% For The Planet') build trust in about three seconds. Opening with a candid line ('We do not give back as much as we take') makes the list easier to believe. That is the same job our check marks and Eco-Soap Bank panel do.
• Product cards are a name, a two-word scent pair ('Woodsy + Grounding', 'Warm + Indulgent') and Shop. Fragrance-Free gets its own card with 'Neutral', so it reads as a real choice. This is the closest match to our four-scent grid. Whether two-word pairs are allowed is pending Brent, because his rule 2 bans fragments.
• They answer objections in the order the reader thinks of them ('Same Formula. Same Results.' right after 'why a smaller size'), and describe feel with physical verbs ('lather, glide, absorb, and dry down').
• DECIEM's welcome is the in-between format: live text in large type, text links ('Start here', 'Shop Now'), a couple of photos, and the code right after a plain instruction ('Paste your code at checkout:'). It shows a premium brand can send a note and still look premium. It never says in the body what the code is worth, and ours should.

Each of our emails

Recommended format and what changes. Study recommendation, waiting on your call.

Writing rules the study suggests

Derived from the three brands, not your words. Not added to your rules until you say so.

1. [Derived from the studies, not Brent] The subject and preview are one thought read together. The subject sets it up, and the preview finishes it in one complete sentence that names the product, the offer or the code. On reminder emails the code goes in the preview. Sources: Pretty Farm Girl 'Still thinking it over?' / 'Save 10% off your order!'; Salt & Stone 'Not sure where to start?' / 'Find your signature scent, get 10% off.'; Necessaire 'A Product Worth Trying' / 'The Body Retinol.'
2. [Derived from the studies] Say every offer in one finished sentence: what you get, what it works on, the condition (minimum, one-time or subscription), the real deadline if there is one, and where the code goes. Then add one line that removes the last hesitation ('No code needed.'). Sources: Pretty Farm Girl Coffee Day and the store-credit notice; Salt & Stone gift emails. This applies Brent's complete-thoughts rule to offers.
3. [Derived from the studies] Open by telling the reader why they got the email: 'You were looking at our tallow soap.' / 'You've had your soap for about two weeks.' Source: Pretty Farm Girl rewards email. This applies Brent's cold-reader rule.
4. [Derived from the studies] Give each instruction, then its plain reason in the next sentence. A numbered tip is a short bold label plus two sentences, what to do and then why, with no chemistry. Source: Pretty Farm Girl '6 Ways to Use a Castor Oil Roller' and 'Did you stock up'.
5. [Derived from the studies] Set expectations only with cleared numbers ('A bar lasts about four weeks.', Brent 10-02). Don't print bars-per-month math or shelf-life lines until they are cleared on the fact sheet. Never promise a skin result we can't back. Source: Pretty Farm Girl 'One week in you will notice ...'.
6. [Derived from the studies] Link text says the result ('Use my 10% off', 'Reorder Lemon Litsea', 'Move my next box later'), never 'Click here' on its own. In a letter, link the product the first time it's named and add one closing link, with at most two destinations. Sources: Pretty Farm Girl text emails; Necessaire CTAs.
7. [Derived from the studies] Each email in a series adds one new reason instead of restating the last one: first the reminder, then the code, then customer proof. If the same news goes out twice, the second send gets a different angle or a different reader. Sources: Pretty Farm Girl cart #1 to #3; the Salt & Stone cart pair; Necessaire retinol mini, Sept 28 and 29.
8. [Derived from the studies] Frame a discount as a thank-you, not a markdown. Urgency comes only from real facts (a real expiry, a real sell-out). Never invent or 'reopen' a deadline, and don't use last-chance language on a code with no end date. Sources: Pretty Farm Girl cart #2 ('As a small thank you'); Salt & Stone restock ('before it sells out again'). This fits Brent's confidence rule.
9. [Derived from the studies] Customer quotes: each from a different person in a different situation, placed after the offer link or right after the claim it supports, and introduced in one line ('Here's what a few customers said.'). Choose situations our buyers share (men, shaving, hair and body, dry winter skin). Use real Loox quotes only. Source: Pretty Farm Girl last-day sale and mini balm launch.
10. [Derived from the studies] Put proof inside a reason, as one clause, and use only numbers we can verify. Source: Salt & Stone 'With 50k+ five-star reviews, these best sellers are the perfect place to start.'
11. [Derived from the studies, PENDING Brent] A scent line always sits under the scent's name and says how it smells in plain physical words, or names a moment the reader already has. Two-word pairs ('Bright + Zesty') as card tags are pending Brent, because his rule 2 bans fragments, and never go in headlines. Sources: Necessaire scent grid; Salt & Stone scent guide.
12. [Derived from the studies] In a designed block, use one headline that is a complete thought, then at most two sentences, then one button. Salt & Stone and Necessaire run 35 to 180 words per email; aim for under about 150 words of our own copy in a designed email. This supports Brent's 'say less, but clearly' and his ban on fragment headlines.
13. [Derived from the studies] Letters signed by Brent are in his first person, with one reply invitation and an optional one-sentence P.S. that carries a second point (for example the Eco-Soap Bank) and a link. Ask for replies only where someone reads them. Source: Pretty Farm Girl Jen notes and the '5 ingredients' P.S.