Email Copy that Sales – Best Email Writting Strategies
Before writing an email copy, you have to get your hook i.e. the objective of the mail you are writing and what you want it to accomplish for you.
The value of being able to reach your audience is priceless and that is why I will be explaining a few the next minutes, the important steps involved in writing great email copy.
1. Use a Captivating Subject Line
The subject line is a great place to start If you want to get a better open rate with your copy. Perfecting the subject line can be the difference between recipients opening your email, deleting it or, even worse which could lead to reporting it as spam.
Your subject line is the first thing people seen once they get an email notification so you need to make it as captivating as possible to get a better open rate.
People open your emails if they feel they it will benefit, if they’re worried about missing out, or if you present compelling evidence about why they should.
Sure, it’s a lot to ask from a single email subject line, but you can do it. You could try asking a question, personalize it by adding either the person’s name or email with most Auto-responder have an option for and finally by adding dates which helps to get their attention.
2. Nail the Preview Text
Once you succeed with the subject line the next thing that will grab your reader’s attention is the text preview. With modern email clients, it’s not just the subject line that sells people on opening your email. It’s also the preview text. That’s the piece of text that tells subscribers more about the content of your email.
Often, this shows part of the first line of the email. That’s fine, as most email copywriters craft this carefully.
But if your preview text shows instructions on how to read the email online, or unclickable links to offers you’re promoting, then you’re wasting an opportunity. With email preview text ranging from 35 to 140 characters, depending on the client, this is an aspect of your email you can’t afford to neglect.
3. Write for the Web
Writing email marketing copy is similar to writing web copy. That means it’s important to:
- Follow a logical structure.
- Keep paragraphs short and the sentence simple.
- Ensure that each paragraph contains one main idea.
Bullet points are something to get your reader more interested in what you have to say which is of benefit to them. Email marketing is not about you or your product rather it’s about the end user.
4. Avoid Ambiguous Claims It’s Spammy
Avoid all caps and multiple exclamation marks in both the subject line and body of the email. Be careful not to make ambiguous claims in your email but you can go ahead if you have proofs. That’ll hurt your email open rate and if enough subscribers report you, it could also hurt your email deliverability or even get you blacklisted by your email newsletter service.
It’s okay to make claims as long as they are substantiated and always add the little sub-headlines which helps you to modify the main headline All you need is just one solid curious triggering headline and that will be all.
5. Know Your Audience
Getting to know your audience is very important so you can write email marketing copy that meets their needs. This is a great way to boost conversion.
Use what you know from web and social analytics and interactions with customers to build your buyer personas or customer avatars. When you know your customers, it’s easy to write email marketing copy that makes them want to click.
6. Write Your Copy for the Readers
You have to sound like a real person If you really want readers to click, Avoid marketing terms and be more conversational, as if you’re talking to someone who’s sitting across the table from you. The email below from Carbon Based Podcast is a good example.
Don’t be boring – there’s no rule that says that emails from a business have to be dry. Use your emails to stir readers’ imagination by sharing an insider’s view of your company, customer stories or even a personal anecdote. You can only build a relationship you’re your subscribers when they can imagine themselves in your shoes.
7. Use the Right Words
When you look at the best email copy examples, one thing stands out. Word choice is crucial to make reading your email a great experience, and since most emails are short, every word counts.
If you want to stir readers’ imagination, appeal to their emotions and get them to take action, you’ve got to:
- Use analogies and other literary techniques.
- Seed your email marketing copy with emotional words to help them see and feel the picture you’re painting with your words. In an ideal world, you’ll evoke touch and taste, too.
- Stir up your readers and convey action by using logical words in your subject line, copy and call to action (CTA).
What you don’t say is also important for building trust. Avoid making false promises and other sleazy marketing tactics, or you risk losing subscribers forever.
8. Use Psychology in Email Marketing Strategy
Most human brains are wired to react in likely ways to certain types of input. That’s why using psychology can help you create more successful, high-converting email marketing copy.
Some of the factors that make people read and click include:
- Fear of missing out (FOMO): The use of scarcity and urgency in your email works well because people never want to lose anything. That’s why time-limited discounts also work so well and this applies to curiosity too.
- Color choice, since different colors elicit different reactions. You can use this effectively in CTA buttons, for example; pictures of faces can elicit the emotions shown on those faces or direct the gaze towards a CTA.
- Social proof tells readers that people like them think you’re great, which makes them more inclined to read your emails.
- There’s also personalization, which we’ll look at in tip #11.
9. Be Relevant
Sending relevant email improves open and click through rates, so segmentation is essential.
Avoid being ambiguous and covering a long range of topics in a single email. Be specific and straight to the point when writing as this will not only improve your click through rate rather is will also help you earn your readers trust.
10. Know Your Goal
It is the best practice to have a single goal – the one thing you want to achieve for each email. This will help you focus your marketing copy, which we’ll talk about more in the next tip. Remember, if you have multiple goals you don’t really have a goal, so when planning your emails focus on the key action you want readers to take and build your email copy around that.
Not every email needs to have the goal of selling something. Pro copywriter Barry Feldman says: “Where a web page is the terrain, the copywriter’s the tour guide, instructor, custodian, and of course, sales clerk. If the copy can’t seal the deal, it must offer something compelling to start some sort of relationship.”
11. Personalize Your Email Marketing Campaign
Read any advice on writing email marketing copy that works, and it’ll include a tip about personalization. It’s true that using people’s names or email address in subject lines and email marketing copy gets their attention, but there’s more to personalization than that.
We talked earlier about segmentation. Well, that affects personalization, too, because each segment is looking for something different from your emails. You can send different emails depending on the age, gender and location of your audience, whether they are looking for a personal or business purchase, etc.
12. Have A Human Face
Another aspect of personalization is letting subscribers know who you are. Most people like getting emails where they can see a picture of the sender and where there’s a personal rather than generic sender. Your emails must have a human face for you to get your audience to:
- Love you
- Trust you
- Buy from you
When you take this approach, it’ll help subscribers form a connection with you, which is the first step in winning conversions and earning your customers trust.
13. Align Everything
With the best email marketing copy, everything’s aligned. Your copy delivers on the promise of the subject line, and your email delivers on the promise of the optin form and the landing page where subscribers signed up.
For example, if you’re delivering an ebook, you’ll probably have a picture of the book on both the optin form and the landing page. When you send the confirmation email, you’ll likely include the title of the ebook and the same image again. And the copy will match, too. This reassures readers that they’re getting what they signed up for, which starts to build a trusting relationship.
14. Reward Your Readers
Any email marketing best practices guide will advise you to reward readers for opening your email. That process starts when they open the email and see what they expect after seeing your optin form, landing page or subject line.
But to cement this, you’ll need the copy to show both the benefits they get and proof of those benefits. Often emails will include some stats or will link to a case study that lets readers know they were right to subscribe, and gives them another reason to stay on your list. Or it could be as simple as providing an extra gift to thank them for subscribing.
15. Promote Action
Aside from the subject line, the CTA is the most important part of your email marketing campaign, because that’s what’ll get subscribers to convert, by taking the action you’d like them to take.
Call to Action (CTA) is not a link rather it is the line which is inspiring them to take an action. All the tips we’ve listed above can also help you create the perfect call to action that subscribers find it almost impossible to resist.
16. Test and Split Test Your Email Marketing Campaigns
If you really want to boost conversions when writing email marketing copy, you’re going to need data. Before you send emails, check subject lines for effectiveness.
Next, collect data on email marketing performance from your Auto responder so you can figure out how you can improve performance.
Finally, it’s time to test. Start by split testing your optin forms, which is easy to do with OptinMonster, then test headlines, copy, CTAs and more till you come up with your best-performing email.
There’s one last tip that’ll help you write emails that convert. Here it is:
17. Steal Great Ideas
Don’t be scared; this kind of stealing is perfectly legal.
You can get inspiration for high converting emails by subscribing to your competitors’ email marketing newsletters – or any other newsletters that interest you – to see if they’re doing something that really gets attention. Add these to your own personal swipe file so you can adapt them to suit your own email marketing strategy.
Other places to find good ideas are sites like Quora, Reddit or Answer the Public, where you can check out the topics people are talking about or searching for. Use these as inspiration to craft emails that address key issues for your target audience.
Buzzsumo is another good research source because it highlights the most shared social content. And if people are sharing, then people are reading.
You can also use headline generators to come up with titles as a starting point for winning subject lines. Tools to try include:
Conclusion:
Now that you are fully equipped for your email marketing campaign, Don’t get afraid to scale something you believe in. Replace the make money on the internet over used headline with something better like make money using the internet as a foundation. Avoid doing things wrongly.
P.S: Is a really strong part of an email that shouldn’t be ignored. If your email is long then add a PS with a link but if not then just highlight to main points in the mail and give your CTA.
Thanks for reading through and feel free to leave your comments, thoughts and questions below.
Cheers!
I find that putting a human face and sharing your experience in your email always works.
People want to relate and be inspired by what you are telling them. Because it is not just about selling your product it is also about solving their problem. You need to put yourself in your client’s shoes and think about what would have convinced you to buy that product. in doing so, you will always get the right words for your client.
I think your list has everything for an online marketer to succeed with his/her email marketing campaign and for any product.
Thanks
Thanks for your comment.
Adding a human face to not just your emails but every aspect of your business is sure a great way to boost conversion.
Thanks once again for reading through.
Your article is well written, I am new to online and affiliate marketing and I have really been trying to find the right way to go about my email marketing.
I have bookmarked this page and will definitely be making use of the points you have made. I have never heard of Answer the Public and buzzsumo I will definitely look at those 2 sites. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment.
Check out those sites and am sure you won’t be disappointed with the results you will get.
These strategies are something I’ll follow when writing back emails to my readers that request more insight on my posts.
Emailing is a great way to connect to clients if you have your own business. By-email is more professional. Everyone needs help with something.
Thank you for this post. I’ll bookmark this for later.
All the best,
Aabidah
Thanks Aabidah for your comment.
Email is indeed the most professional and best way to connect with your clients and when done the right way, produces great results. Hence, this post is just to ensure that you get the best result with your emails.
Excellent tips David,
I think I’m getting better at the writing part, I’m slowly in writing emails as though I’m writing to a friend and I have noticed that my readers are reacting better towards it too.
Sometimes though, I can’t help but feel like I’m running out of ideas but I would have never guessed to check out Quora, that’s brilliant! Awesome, thank you for this! Time to get to work and craft my daily email
Way to go Riaz.
I too at some point got bored and ran out to ideas for my email so i left my list dormant for awhile but that was definitely not a good way to build trust with your audience so i quickly got back to work and did more research which produced good results and hence i decided to share the tips in this post.
Thanks for your comment. Am glad you found some ideas to boost your emails.
Cheers!