Effective email copy can take a while to master. If you fail at creating interesting titles, your email likely won’t even be opened. Therefore, it is vitally important to master not only writing an intriguing subject line, but to use the copy to engage with your customers.
We’ve analyzed what the professionals are doing and created some tips that you can implement today to improve your own email marketing copy writing. 
General Email Marketing Guidelines
- Stop thinking about it as a list. Think about your subscribers as individuals. Write to them as though they have a problem that you can help them solve.
- Don’t waste people’s time. Do not send emails bi-weekly just to get two touches with your customers in that week. No one wants to waste time reading a useless email.
- Be helpful. Don’t simply send emails when you have a promotion. Act like a true friend and email your subscribers with helpful tips.
- Use your name as your from address. It is more personal if it comes from you than a business structure. It is more likely to get opened.
- Build Trust. Set expectations and meet them. Your customers will appreciate this. It is fine if sales are part of your email marketing, but just let customers know this when they sign up.
- Empathize. Subscribers signed up because they had a problem that you could help them solve. Tell them that you understand their struggles. Ask them how you can help them. People will start to feel a connection to you.
- Reward people for reading your emails. Ensure that your emails are worth opening. Provide useful tips, discounts and make your customers feel great about being a subscriber.
- Get to know your audience. Learn what their pain points are and why they subscribed to your list. Knowing your audience can help you effectively tailor the right messages to them in your emails. You can get to know them better through surveys, polls, and analyzing their buying habits.
Get Your Emails Opened!
Inboxes are filled to the brim with boring, useless emails. Many of them just get deleted.
Make sure that yours aren’t on the other end of the delete button.
Write appealing subject lines that stand out from the rest. You want to seduce people in a few words to click on your subject line.
Here are some tips to get those emails opened:
- Promise something great. People want to know what they’re going to read quickly. Don’t make your subject lines vague. Be specific with how you’ll make them happier, more informed or improve their business. They’ll be itching to learn more.
- Use Powerful Words. Emotional and sensory words will grab your reader’s attention. Use these type of words in your subject lines to ensure that they stand out.
- Numbers! Digits are different from letters, so they will automatically stop the eyes. Use numbers in your subject lines. For example, “21 Ways to Lose Belly Fat.”
- Pique curiosity. Occasionally use some bizarre words or state something outlandish. Your readers will be curious and want to learn more.
- Use the Common Mistakes. No one wants to be making the most common mistakes. “Avoid the 3 Most Common Mistakes On Your Taxes”
- Quit cleverness. Be simple and direct. For example, “40 Free Animated GIFs for Your Email Campaign”
- Experimentation. A/B headline testing will let you know what phrases resonate with your audience. Each demographic is a bit different. You may be surprised to discover what works and what doesn’t with your followers.
- Check Your Competition. Subscribe to your competitors email lists. Analyze their subject lines. Are they working on you? Do you want to click on them and open them. Take notes about what you feel is effective and what is falling flat in your inbox.
- Build a Relationship. Stop trying to create the optimal subject line length or get the perfect emoji in your subject line. There is no average reader. Work on building a relationship so that your readers anticipate your emails and want to open them when they see your name. This can overcome a bad subject line.
- Send Regular Emails. While you don’t want to be sending useless emails just to stick to a schedule, people will forget about you if you wait six months before you send an email to them. Aim for some consistency in your email schedule.
Writing Engaging Emails
They’ve clicked on your email. No you have to keep their attention. How do you do that?
Captivate your readers with the following tips:
- Write quickly. Get enthusiastic and write quickly. Your personality and enthusiasm for the subject will shine through. The email will come off as more engaging.
- Short and Sweet is best. No one wants to spend days reading your email. Edit your emails down to the most important words and sentences. Make sure that each word is interesting enough to carry the reader to the next sentence.
- Use a Question. Picture yourself having a conversation with your readers. You would exchange questions. Therefore, you should use questions in your emails. It will help them to question things they may not have thought about previously.
- Lose the Formulas. If all of your emails start to sound the same, they won’t be opened after a while.
- Use a Personal Touch. Include some personal info about yourself and challenges that you’ve faced. You could share some fun details about your life. As the world becomes more and more digital, people embrace the personal things that make them feel a bit more connected.
- Vary the greetings. An automated greeting comes off as robotic. Use a variety of different greetings. For example, warm wishes, “Greetings from Virginia”, Best regards, and simply “Hello”.
- Use the word you. You is one of the most persuasive words in the English language.
- Use a Natural Voice. Don’t think about your email as though it is email marketing. Think of your emails as a way to talk to your readers.
- Infuse Personality. Use the words and expressions that you use in your daily life. Be human. People are looking for a connection with a real person.
- Quit being greedy. Stop focusing on the sale. Focus on genuinely helping and caring about your readers whether they make a purchase from you or not.
Tips for Selling in Email
The emails aren’t just for fun or helping your customers with fantastic tips. You need to stay in business and pay for the monthly email service.
How do you sell without coming across as salesy?
Follow these conversion tips to turn subscribers into buyers:
- Don’t sell immediately. Become a trusted friend and source of information first. Readers will more readily buy from you when they know that your recommendations are reliable.
- Highlight the benefits. Avoid telling your customer to buy the product. Instead, feature the benefits that will improve your customer’s life.
- Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). People want to avoid missing out on a deal. They don’t want to be the ones left behind. Emphasize remaining time on deals. They will be more inclined to make a purchase than to procrastinate and forget about it.
- Work towards the sale. Use interesting stories that lead into your sales message.
- Use Multiple Links (to your sales page). Multiple links to your sales page ensure that the reader sees the link. It also increases the chances of your readers clicking on the link to your sales page.
- Clear Call-To-Action. Be specific when you tell your readers what to do. Remind them why it is in their best interest to buy.
- Use a PS. Use a post-script to remind your readers of a promotion deadline. Repeat what they’ll lose if they don’t take you up on your offer. A post-script is a great place to offer additional reminders
Your email won’t improve overnight, but if you follow the tips above, you will get better. You may want to implement a step-by-step approach for improving your email. Start with the subject line and then work through the sales tips. Your email marketing campaigns will become profitable if you pay attention to the details.