25 Tips for Writing the Email Marketing Copy that Converts

Choosing an effective marketing strategy is not a decision you take lightly for your business. And naturally, marketers could not afford to invest time and resources into something that isn’t going to deliver the results they are expecting. That’s why they try to find the most cost-effective way that will give them the power to reach potential and existing clients in a place most people visit every day. And to note, the place that they visit every day is their inbox, that’s why e-mail marketing was employed.

This represents a way to reach clients in an organized and targeted way hence, it is utilized by thousands of businesses of all sizes across the globe. As a matter of fact, about 72% of the customers choose email as a medium of communication and 60% of them appreciates the email you send to them every week and 80% of marketers says that the email marketing strategy helps them to capture the client’s attention.

See? Email marketing has a lot of benefits to give your business but not all are successful in doing so. But I’m sure that after you read this article, you will be able to get the conversations through your email marketing campaign that will convert. So read the 25 tips below for your perusal.

1. Take advantage of the preheader text to entice the readers to open your email:

Preheader text is important since it is usually seen below or right next to the subject line. It usually shows the first sentence of the email you composed. And it should be appealing so that your client will be enticed to open your email! You can make the preheader a well-detailed text about the intention of the email or a bit intriguing and mysterious to tickle client’s curiosity since your main goal is to keep them on reading your email. So knowing how to properly utilize this valuable space is crucial for you to avoid the so-called “inbox-zone”.

2. Make your emails mobile friendly:

Statistics say that 51% of all emails are opened using mobile phones, well that isn’t surprising because taking a phone with you is more convenient than taking a laptop. Most clients disregard an email that doesn’t support mobile viewing that is why you have to send responsive emails that can simply adapt or fit in the screen size of any device a reader is using. It is essential that you know how the decision-making process of your client is affected.

3. Track phone calls that come from email:

It is important that you should track all the phone calls that come from email. Ignoring these is one huge mistake a company usually does. They were able to accurately track the success of their online marketing strategies but they forgot and failed to track their phone leads! These two elements, phone and email leads, should be equally monitored and tracked in order to know the effectiveness of both mediums. It is found that phone leads outnumbered the web leads with a ratio of 8:1 in every home service industry! Imagine the lost and impact of this information on your client’s data if you failed to track the phone leads.

4. Click-through and emails opened statistics don’t matter:

Click-through and email opened statistics don’t actually matter since there are so much more specific statistics to focus on if you are an email marketer.  Keep in mind what kind of button gets the most engagement or after client clicks through your website what page do they visit.These are few of many important and higher level statistics that you should keep in mind. No matter how over-rated it may sound, it can surely help you in giving you a little more information that can help you craft emails.

5. Use a real person’s address as the reply to:

Why using a no-reply or some generic company email as the reply to if you can actually use a real person’s email address? This can probably increase the amount of feedback you will get! Always ask questions in the newsletter for the sake of making an effort to engage your client. And if you are lucky enough, the client may be willingly forward your email along to a friend so that the friend will be able to contact you!

6. Keep it short:

It is important that you keep your emails discreet and short. Before you start composing your email, ask yourself what is the objective and the purpose of your email. Knowing the goal and the desired impact of your email will help you get straight to the point.

According to the recently conducted study, the average attention span of an adult is only 8 seconds; that is very short! Some people might be also busy that is why you have to compose an email that is relatively short yet sweet and straight to the point so that your client’s attention is focused on your goals!

7. Send re-engagement emails:

Subscribers who have not opened their emails for a long period of time can be reminded by sending them re-engagement emails. Sending them this kind of email is an important tactic and it will be a big help in reestablishing your connection with some of the clients you think are gone. This type of simple emails usually says something like: “We noticed you haven’t opened our emails in the past few months. Are you still interested in receiving them?” If your client does not respond to your re-engagement email, you have to remove them from the list since there is a huge possibility that they flag you as a spam.

8. Tell non-responsive fans you’re going to remove them from your list:

Bidding goodbye to your non-responsive clients is important in making a formal closure. So why don’t you try to create a “Sorry to see you go” campaign? This may help you in reminding your unresponsive clients that they will be removed from your list. This idea of casting off your subscribers may surprise you because it has a reverse psychological effect on your clients!

9. Your mailing list should consist of people, who are actually interested in your product:

You may think that increasing the conversion rate(sign up) of your email is a good idea because of an increase in subscribers, but it’s not! Your mailing list should only include those people who are actually interested in your product because in doing so, you’ll be able to focus on them and be able to meet their demands. Removing uninterested people on your list will emphasize your potential customers and will avoid the clouded email by those who do not elicit any spark of interest in your business.

10. Be a little negative:

Opposite attracts and that means we need a little negativity that can attract positivity. It may sound a cliché and an overrated marketing strategy, but trust me, it works! Marketers always tend to shake off the negativity because they are afraid of what will be its impact of into their business. But sometimes, you have to put a slightly negative angle on your label.

11. Offer something of value, but do not give any kind of sales pitch:

This approach is very counter intuitive because the marketer slightly wants to plug for the service or product. Remember that email recipient will always know no matter how disguised your agenda is.  This may cause them not trusting you so it is essential that you keep on sending those emails.

12. Split your email up into micro conversions:

The goal of email marketing is to get a click. It is also important that you know how to split up your email into micro conversions and be familiar with some of the emails’ features like subject that contains details that will push the client to open the email; header contains text that will spark curiosity to your client; body that contains the most important part; and lastly the call to action that will surely get client’s using will!

13. Use the lightest possible touch:

In emailing your clients, do it with the lightest possible touch and try sending them things that would keep them updated with your product. You can also send an email about product progression so that you will know what they think about it. This technique will guarantee you website traffic that is due to many corresponding sales.

14. Do not market your content by using the title of your content:

It is important that you learn not to market the content of your email by simply using the title of your content that gives everything off.  You have to keep a sense of curiosity that would trigger your client to open the email, but if the title says it all, there is a huge possibility that the client would disregard it.

15. Don’t overuse images in your newsletter:

It is important that the image content of an email is balanced. Since this will surely increase the risk of being a spam email. Some marketers can’t avoid putting images and are too tempted to go big on visuals, if it is the case, make sure that the email contains at least two lines of text per picture and make sure it is well-placed and balanced.

16. Remove as much design and styling from your email newsletter as possible:

Simplicity is important. Drop off unnecessary designs and improve the content of your email. And a typical email looks exactly as we imagine, they have a minimal format that is very plain and boring. But that is how a newsletter should look like so this is not avoidable.

17. Use a digest in your emails:

To create a free written email with digest, it is important that you already set at least two or as many as four topics that a client can choose from. This gives the client freedom to choose and it will also help you know the interest of your client by checking the topic they picked. It is also important to include visual or call to action button on each topic.

18. Try a short sentence:

As we said, it is important that you compose your email in the most straight to the point and shortest possible approach you can. The content of your email is not about how you can effectively and formally sell out your services, it is about how you approach the client and make them responsive to you. That is why you should try a short sentence that contains at least 9 words that are directly asking the need of your client.

19. E-newsletter goes to PEOPLE, not businesses, so make it highly personal:

Since we want to have an intimate connection with our client, it is important that we treat them personally like a friend and not as a source of money. You can also showcase your product or service to the client through video presentations with an extra personal touch. Remember that making highly personal deeds is the key to build the bridge towards your clients.

20. Use customer logic, not company logic:

You wanted to promote a more personal approach to your client so why would you use company logic in writing emails? We are all a customer at some point and that sense can help us in making a content that will surely give impact to the client, put yourself in the shoes of your clients whenever you are crafting emails. You can also assess this approach by running a copy to your friend or a stranger and ask for their honest opinions and feedbacks.

21. Imagine your email as a mini webpage:

You might think that email marketing is just about text and image. Then why don’t you try to imagine your email as a mini web page? In this, you can practice giving the purpose of this email immediately and obviously. You don’t need to ramble up on so many words because you can actually say what you want ahead. The use of message title and the visual image should be clear and discreet.

22. Use subject lines like text messages:

Subject lines are one of the first things a client will see in an email. That is why many email marketing experts suggest keeping this part short yet catchy so that people will be able to remember it! Though some prefer long subject lines,it all depends on how or what approach do you think will work best for you.

23. Baby Boomers want a clean and simple subject line:

Leaving your client on hang or not finishing the entire word you have uttered will surely be a good way of intriguing your reader but it only works on certain demographics. Baby boomers want a simple and unique email marketing that is why you have to consider a good subject line in this field since it is the first thing they’ll see on inbox.

24. Straight-forward, non-sexy subject lines can be very successful:

Words help, reminder, and percent off are factors that can negatively affect the open rates. MailChimp provides some of the email data that we can consider as one of the best and most counter-intuitive ones.  It is important to exercise a straightforward, non-sexy subject lines because it is surprisingly successful.

25. The most important part of any email is the subject line:

It is obvious that subject line is the most important part of an email because it clearly explains what is in the email. It is also one of the parts you will see first in the email that is why you have to properly utilize this space just like how you use the header.

Author Bio:

Kenneth Sytian is the CEO of Sytian Productions, Web Design Philippines. Kenneth has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade.

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