I have a confession. Even as someone who writes marketing emails daily, I love receiving emails from my favorite brands. Subscribing to the email lists of my favorite companies is how I stay up-to-date on seasonal offerings, remain in the know about upcoming events and sales, and discover fun blog posts to read on topics that interest me.
It’s no wonder emails are such an effective marketing tool. But don’t just take it from me. Ask our clients at MarketSmiths. Recently, we helped a client surpass an email revenue milestone and increase clicks by 63%, achieving an ROI of over 6,500% for our email copy.
But, as we all know from our personal experiences with the ‘delete’ button, not all emails are created equal. And with so many emails hitting inboxes daily, it can be hard to stand out.
So what’s the difference between an email that inspires a lead conversion and an email that inspires an ‘unsubscribe’? Let’s delve into the key steps of writing an effective email:
Begin with a strong subject line.
Despite its brevity, the subject line is the most crucial piece of writing to nail. This is because your subject line will often make or break whether or not your recipient decides to open your email. According to a recent study from Finances Online, 64% of recipients base their decision on whether or not to open an email solely on the subject line.
In my personal practice, I try to keep email subject lines under 40 characters. The amount of subject line text a viewer can see depends on the email service provider and the device they’re using, but keeping your subject line short will increase your chances the recipient can view it in its entirety.
Your subject line should immediately grab the recipient’s attention and set expectations for the rest of the email. To stand out from the crowd, my best advice is to avoid cliches. Think of new, creative ways to introduce a reader to the content of your email—try making a clever pun, asking a question, or plugging an exciting benefit about a new product.
Write an informative preheader.
Next let’s move on to an important email aspect that’s often overlooked: the preheader. The preheader is the snippet of text that appears after the subject line in your customer’s inbox. It provides additional context and serves to further entice recipients to open the email.
The preheader should complement the subject line. Rather than repeating information, add something new to excite the reader further.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re a clothing brand doing a feature on a particular colorway in your collection. You might write something like:
Subject: Blue looks great on you!
Preheader: Explore wardrobe staples in this soothing hue
In this example, the subject line captures the reader’s attention, while the preheader provides further context for what customers will get out of opening the email.
Now let’s say you’re announcing an upcoming sale.
Subject: Stylish sweaters, sweet savings
Preheader: Take 20% off sweaters for the next 3 days
This subject line introduces the idea of a sale, while the corresponding preheader lays out the specifics.
In both of these examples, the preheader adds something new to the subject line—be it a short explanation of what readers will find inside the email or specifics to support a more general statement. When done right, the subject line and preheader together can increase your email open rates.
Keep body copy short, sweet, and benefits-focused.
When it comes to the body of your email, less is more. This has to do with reader expectations. Think about it this way: When a reader begins an 18th-century novel, they go in knowing they won’t be able to finish reading it in a matter of minutes. It’s many pages long, the dated prose might require a bit of extra deciphering, and they’ve set aside the time to dig in.
Now think about the expectations of an email. When a reader clicks on an email, they’re expecting something short, informative, and easily digestible. If they’re instead met with an essay, dense language, or overly complicated jargon, they may change their mind about reading what you have to say.
Pro tip: To start, write everything you feel belongs in the email, and then go in and condense it as much as possible.
In terms of the content itself, here are my top pieces of advice:
- Use aspirational, benefits-focused language to help readers picture their lives with your product or service. How will owning your new product make them feel? What types of problems will they be able to solve?
- Use images, bullet points, and formatting to break up text. Long blocks of copy may cause the reader to lose interest.
- Include a clear call to action at the end of your body copy—be it clicking a link, booking a meeting, or downloading a resource.
Stay true to your brand.
Keeping a consistent voice and tone goes a long way when building customer relationships. It builds trust. Whether you’re welcoming a new prospect to your email list or sending an update to a repeat customer, embody the messaging and values that drew them to you.
If you’re a brand known for your sophisticated, to-the-point language and you suddenly start inserting memes and using slang in your emails, or vice versa, you’ll likely leave your audience scratching their heads. By keeping branding consistent, recipients will begin to know what to expect from your emails and rely on you to provide consistently relevant and interesting information.
Ready to get an “in” with the inbox?
With a collaborative team of elite writers, a 35-point quality control process, and a centralized strategic approach, MarketSmiths produces attention-grabbing subject lines, informative preheaders, and winning body copy for our clients daily. We’d love to lend our creative minds to increasing your open rate.
Have other content needs? MarketSmiths also runs Content CatalystTM, a cross-departmental content solution designed to help companies unify their brand voice while maximizing ROI—producing impactful, effective content in a variety of formats for clients across a diverse range of industries. Contact the MarketSmiths team to get started today.
