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Best Email Marketing and Email Copywriting Tips – Emails Are Easy, Right?

Writing emails is easy, right? You just sit down, put in a quick subject line, bang out the body text, and hit send. It only takes a few seconds and doesn’t require that much thought.

While that may be true for the email that you’re sending to your best friend about your fantasy football league, that strategy doesn’t work for business and marketing emails.

Put simply, the business and marketing emails that get the best response are those that have been carefully, even lovingly, crafted.

Much thought has been put into them and they don’t get sent until they’re nearly perfect. The emails are personalized, relevant, and get the reader to take action.

Not so easy, right? It’s even a little intimidating. How can you know what makes for a great subject line and compelling body copy? Should your emails be brief or long? Should the subject line be simple and to the point or more creative?

That’s where we come in. In this eBook, you’ll discover the most effective principles of email copywriting. We’re going to talk about:

How to get inside the mind of your reader
How to craft the perfect subject line
How to create compelling body copy that gets readers to take action
How to personalize your emails
And more

By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid grasp on how to write outstanding emails that actually get results.

Ready?

Let’s dive in.

Best Email Marketing and Email Copywriting Tips

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The Ultimate Goal Of Every Email

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of how to write killer emails, we need to first talk about the goal of every email you send.

Ultimately, your goal is to be engaging.

You want your emails to get the reader to do something, whether that’s reply, click a button, or something else. When it comes to business and marketing emails, you’re not sending them just for the purpose of keeping up with people.

You want the reader to take action.

First, you want the reader to open the email. That’s why you need to work hard on your subject lines.

Then, you want the reader to actually read the email itself. This is why you must work hard to craft the body of your copy.

Finally, you want the reader to take action, which is why you need a strong, compelling call-to-action with every email.

We’ll talk more about each of these in detail, but it’s critical to get these things clear up front.

See, here’s the thing…

Email is a two-way communication tool. Even if you’re emailing a large list, you want your readers to engage with your emails. You want them to feel as if you’re talking to them individually, not just blasting out an email to a large list.

If you can’t get people to open your emails and read them, then ultimately you can’t make sense to your audience.

As you read the rest of this eBook, keep this fundamental point in mind. It’s easy to get lost in the details and forget that the main point of your emails is engagement.

Step #1: Get Into The Mind Of Your Reader

First and foremost, it’s essential to get inside the mind of your reader. Most people don’t even take the time to consider the psychology of their readers. Rather, they simply dive right into their email, hoping that if they send out a large volume of emails they’ll generate at least some sort of response.

This is an ineffective technique. Remember, there are real people at the end of your emails. When you send an email without considering what your reader is thinking, you risk coming off as spammy.

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So how do you get into the mind of your prospect?

First, keep in mind that you’re ultimately trying to convince an individual. A person is reading your email, and most people make decisions based on emotion, not logic.

When writing your emails, consider the emotional state of your prospects. What are their hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles?

Tap into those things. Help them see why working with you will alleviate their greatest struggles and fears, as well as help them achieve their goals.

Second, consider when you send the email. How does your prospect typically work? Are they the kind of person who will be in their inbox all day or do they only handle their email in batches?

While you can’t know this for certain, you should be able to make a fairly good guess about when to send your email.

Consider sending your email either early in the morning, to get their attention first thing in the day, or later in the day, so that they see it before they head home for work.

Step #2: Craft The Perfect Subject Line

The subject line of your email is like the headline in a newspaper. It’s what gets people’s attention. It creates curiosity in them and compels them to read the rest of the email.

A great subject line can result in a very high open percentage on your emails, while a mediocre subject line will almost always produce mediocre results.

On average, most people get dozens of emails every single day. If you want others to actually read your email, you must get their attention right away.

Megan Marrs says this:

Your subject line is your first (and maybe your last) impression on users. In many ways, your email subject line is more important than your email body. After all, a great newsletter is worthless if it never sees the light of day.

So, avoid skimping on your subject line. If you want people to actually read your emails (which is the whole point), it’s essential to spend a fair amount of time crafting the perfect subject line.

So, what makes for a great subject line?

Here are eight formulas you can use to get the attention of your readers.

1. The Question

Questions make for outstanding subject lines because they force the reader to stop and think for a moment. They make the reader ponder how they will answer the question.

And they create a sense of curiosity. They make the reader want to know how you will answer the question as well.

For example, consider these subject lines:

Can you relate to this?
Do you feel like this too?
What do you think about this idea?
Do you feel exhausted without your morning coffee too?
Do you make the same mistake I do?

All these subject lines create what’s called a “pattern interrupt” for the reader. In other words, they interrupt the reader as they mindlessly scroll through their inbox and force them to pay attention to your email.

They also push the reader to click on the email because they want to know how the question gets answered.

2. The How To

People love to learn new things that are especially relevant to their lives. This is why DIY videos are so popular on YouTube. People have questions and they want answers. Using a how to subject line piques people’s interest, especially if it’s really relevant to them.

For example:

How to quickly get 1,000 email subscribers
How to get that nasty stain out of your shirt
How to make 10 sales every single day
How to win friends and influence people

Again, these subject lines interrupt the reader as they peruse their inbox. They cause the reader to think, “Is this something that I want or need to learn?”

If it is, they’ll click on the email.

It’s important to note that in order for the how to email to actually work, you must know your audience. In other words, you need to know what they want to know how to do.

As noted earlier, you need to be able to get inside the minds of your readers. If you don’t, your emails won’t be relevant.

3. Scarcity

People are always afraid of missing out on something good. In fact, there’s even a term for this fear: FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). You can capitalize on this fear in your subject lines. If you can create a sense of scarcity with your subject line, there’s a greater chance that people will click on your email.

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What does scarcity look like in a subject line?

Only 2 days left!
Almost out of stock! Get yours now!
Only three hours left to register
This will be gone very soon
You’re almost out of time!
Only 4 spots left for a consultation

Your goal is to make the reader feel like if they don’t take action, they’ll seriously miss out on something. The more you can make your reader feel like things are urgent, the more likely it is that they’ll open your email.

4. An Announcement

Announcements trigger something in us. We want to be in the know, up to date, and always on top of things. We don’t want to miss out on any important information.

When you use words like “New” or “Introducing” or “Just Added,” you make people feel like there is important, breaking information that they need to know.

For example:

An important update to our app
New: a faster way to get paid
Introducing the best way to create beautiful photos
An invitation just for you

You want people to feel like they must open the email if they’re going to stay up to date on information. Think about your own life. You don’t want to miss out on critical information. In fact, there’s even a fear of missing out on critical information.

You want to create that same sense of anticipation and even fear in your readers.

5. The Numbered List

It’s no secret that people absolutely love lists. It’s why magazines constantly use headlines like “10 Ways To Get In Shape Fast.” We like it when things are quickly broken down for us to scan.

When things are presented in list format, we can easily get a sense of the entire thing.

You can take advantage of this by using list format subject lines.

What would these subject lines look like?

The 4 best email marketing tools you need to be using
7 ways to beat anxiety today
15 ways to quickly build your email list
9 methods for getting in shape quickly
6 steps to overcoming the blues

List subject lines also tap into our desire to gain information. We know that because things are presented in list format, we’ll be able to quickly get information that we wouldn’t otherwise.

6. The Curiosity Gap

Websites like Buzzfeed constantly create curiosity with their headlines. They’ll write something strange in their headline and then answer it in the body of the article.

For example, they might say something like “You Never Knew This About Santa Claus.” Of course, this makes you want to know what you never knew about Santa Claus. You then have to read the article to find the answer.

You can use this same tactic with the subject lines of your emails.

For example:

A little-known trick to bust belly fat
He asked me a question that I couldn’t answer
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this
Most people get this completely wrong
I don’t understand why this keeps happening

The subject line should create a question in the reader’s mind. What is the little-known trick to bust belly fat? What exactly weren’t you expecting? What do most people get wrong?

Then, in the email, you actually answer the question. It’s really important that you actually answer the question in the email. Otherwise, your readers could feel like they were duped by the subject line.

7. Surprise

Studies have shown that when people are surprised (in a good way), it lights up the pleasure center of the brain. We like to be surprised, and if you can surprise your readers with your subject line, there’s a much better chance they’ll open your email.

How can you surprise your readers? Make them laugh. Force them to think about something unexpected. Cite a surprising statistic.

Your goal is to force them to stop scrolling through their inbox and pay attention to what you’re saying.

A surprise subject line could look like:

What Elvis Presley can teach you about email marketing
Unexpected lessons learned from a bout with the flu
I’m so frustrated!
Warning: this email will self-destruct in 5 minutes

When people are surprised, they are also delighted. If you can delight people with your subject line, they’re almost sure to open your email and read the rest of it.

Again, it’s important that the body of your email actually match up to the subject line. You don’t want your readers to feel like you tricked them.

8. Personalized

We all love to hear our own names. In fact, in his hugely popular book How To Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie says that there is nothing sweeter to a person than hearing their own name.

You can use this to your advantage in your email subject lines. A recent study on subject lines found that including a person’s name increases the open rate by a whopping 14.68%!

Consider combining using a person’s name with other tactics on this list. For example:

Tim, Elvis Presley can teach you about email marketing
John, most people get this question wrong
I don’t understand why this keeps happening, Mary
Have you ever had this happen to you, Melissa?

It’s hard for a person to ignore something with their name on it. When you use a person’s name in the subject line (and the rest of the email), you compel them to open the email and read it.

Use Your Name In The “From” Section

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When setting up the “From” section of your email, be sure to use your name and not just the name of your company. You don’t want your email to look like it’s just coming from a company.

You want it to look like it’s coming from a person who actually cares about the recipient.

Yes, it’s fine to include your company in the “From” section but do it in combination with your name. For example, your “From” section could look like, “John @ Company X”.

Using your name also adds authenticity to the email. It shows that there is a real person behind the email.

A/B Test Your Subject Lines

A/B testing is simply testing one subject line against another to see which one gets the best results. When sending out an email you should always A/B test email subjects against one another.

Most email clients make it really simple to A/B test subject lines. Typically, you just enter in two subject lines and the email client will send out the email to a portion of your subscribers. Once a winner has been determined, the email will be sent to the rest of your subscribers.

Pay Attention To Your Preview Text

In addition to your subject line, it’s also essential that you pay attention to the “preview” text of your email. The preview text usually shows up next to the subject line in the email. If you don’t manually enter preview text, it will simply show the first line of the email.

Your preview text should also be created using one of the tactics above and should give people an additional reason to open your email.

For example, if you ask a question in the subject line, you could ask a follow up question in the preview text. Or if you create a curiosity gap in the subject line, you could write, “You won’t believe the answer,” in the preview text.

Step #3: Create Compelling Body Copy

Once you’ve crafted an extremely compelling subject line, it’s time to write the body copy for your email. In some ways, the body copy has to also do what the subject line does: keep people reading.

Each line of the copy should motivate them to read the next line. If your body copy is boring, people won’t make it past the first line. They’ll quickly delete your email and all your work will be wasted.

So how do you write compelling body copy? Use these tactics.

Get To The Point Quickly

From the outset, it should be very clear to readers why you’re emailing them. After all, they probably get hundreds of emails every single week. Why should they bother reading your email?

Avoid making the reader scroll through lots of text in order to figure out why you’re emailing them. Get to the point quickly.

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If you want your email to be read, it must be absolutely relevant to them.

So why should they read your email?

Are you releasing an important new product?
Do they need to update some information?
Are you running a sale?
Are you opening up some new consulting slots?
Are you making an important change to your existing product?

One way to make your emails relevant to your readers is to begin by asking them a question. For example, if you’re a business growth consultant, you could open your email by asking, “What if I told you that you could double your revenue over the next year?”

Then you could move into the rest of your email where you announce that you’re opening new consulting slots.

Talk In The Second Person

Writing in the second person means using the pronouns “you”, your”, and “yours”. Doing this makes the copy about the reader, NOT about you. If you find yourself using the words, “I” or “We” a lot, there’s a good chance that you’re talking too much about yourself in the email.

You want the email to focus on them and not you.

Talk About Benefits, Not Features

You know why you’re sending your email, but does your reader understand why? Not off the bat. You need to give the reader a compelling reason to read your email and take action.

The problem with many emails is that they only focus on features, not benefits. In other words, they make an announcement or proclamation, but don’t tell the reader how that announcement benefits them.

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For example, let’s say you’re offering 30% off on a product or service. You could simply tell the reader that you’re offering a discount and that they should take advantage of it. But this doesn’t do much to convince the reader to take action.

Or, you could tell the reader the benefits of your discount.

What benefits will they get by purchasing from you?
How will it improve their lives?
Why should someone invest their money with you and not someone else?

Your goal is to paint a picture of the good life for the reader. You want them to feel like they would be foolish to not take advantage of what you’re offering. Show them just how much purchasing from you will make a difference in their lives.

Be Brief

Let’s be honest: no one likes emails that are overly long. If a long email appears in our inbox, we almost immediately delete it. Why? Because it’s simply too overwhelming to read. This is especially the case if we’re reading on a mobile phone. Long emails take way too much time to read and process.

In light of this, try to keep your business and marketing emails relatively brief. Ideally, you should be able to quickly summarize your main points and then let the reader click to a web page where they can get the full information.

Before you write your email, ask yourself:

What is the point of this email?
What action do I want the readers to take?
What will make this email a success?

If you find yourself sending an email that’s hundreds of words long, you probably haven’t sufficiently answered the above questions. Keep your emails succinct and to the point.

Delight Your Readers

Most emails are incredibly boring, right? They are purely informational, and most of the information is extremely dry.

If you can convey your message and delight your readers at the same time, there’s a much better chance that you’ll be able to get them to actually take action.

Email can be a great way to let your brand personality shine through and build a relationship with your readers.

How can you delight your readers?

Share a compelling story
Use GIFs and photos (which also serve to break up the text and catch the eye)
Use humor
Reference current events
Make fun of yourself (in an appropriate way)
Admit when you made a mistake

Overall, you want to add a sense of humanness to your emails. You want to let people know that there is a real person sending the emails, not just a nameless face at an enormous company.

Have A Compelling Call To Action

Almost every email should have a call-to-action (CTA). If your email doesn’t have a CTA, ask yourself why you’re sending it in the first place. After all, your goal should always be to get the reader to take action.

In your CTA, use actionable language. In other words, tell people exactly what to do. If you’re promoting a deal, use language such as, “View the Deal,” or, “Get In On This Deal.”

Also, make your CTAs very obvious. Make it clear what you want the reader to do. Don’t leave them guessing. If you want them to click a link or button, make it big and obvious. If you want them to reply to an email, ask them specifically to reply. If you want them to share something with friends, tell them to share.

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Spend the necessary time crafting a compelling CTA. This, after all, is the point of your entire email – to get the reader to take action.

Optimize Your Emails For Mobile

Somewhere around 60% of all emails are read on mobile devices. This means that your emails need to be easily readable on mobile devices. How can you ensure that they are?

Follow these tips:

Use a bigger font size. This simply makes the text easier to see on small mobile screens.
Use lots of page breaks and white space. Huge chunks of text are very difficult to read on mobile devices. Break up your text as much as possible so that it’s easy to skim.
Test your emails in multiple email clients. See how they look in GMail versus Apple Mail or Outlook. This will help you ensure that your emails look good no matter what platform they’re read on.
Test your emails on different devices. For example, evaluate the look of your emails on Apple devices versus Android. Also, test the emails on tablets as well. You want to ensure that no matter what device is used, your email will look outstanding.

Step #4: Personalize Your Emails

We already discussed the power of personalizing the subject line of your emails, but you can go much further in terms of personalizing the emails themselves. The more you personalize the emails, the more likely it is that people will respond to them.

What are some effective ways to personalize emails?

Use The Person’s Name

Throughout the body of your email, use the person’s name at least once or twice (once in the subject line and once in the body of the email).

Obviously, you don’t want to overdo it when using a person’s name, but by including it a couple of times in the email, you make it sound as though you’re talking directly to your reader rather than to a large email list.

Be Conversational

As much as possible, make your emails conversational. Avoid talking in stiff, industry jargon. Rather, talk as though you were talking to a friend.

If you’re promoting something, promote it in a friendly way rather than an overly salesy way. Think about it as if you were recommending a product or service to a good friend rather than trying to make a sale to a complete stranger.

Campaign Monitor puts it this way:

It might feel silly at first but instead of writing for hundreds, thousands, or millions of people, pretend you’re writing the email for one person. Pretend you’re talking directly to one friend or one customer. Let them know about the exciting stuff you want to tell them and explain what you want them to do.

Focus On Them

This was noted earlier, but bears repeating. The focus of your email should always be the reader, not you. Don’t tell your readers all about what you’re doing. Rather, focus on how you can add value to the reader. Explain to the reader why your offer is so valuable.

Segment Your List

Instead of sending every email to every member of your list, consider sending different offers to different segments of your list. Why should you do this? Because not every email is going to resonate with every member of your list.

Consider these ways to segment your list:

Location. Base your emails on where your readers live.

For example, let’s say you know the locations of your email subscribers. If you sell bathing suits, it wouldn’t make much sense to send an email about discounted bathing suits to those who live in a location where it’s winter. That email simply wouldn’t be relevant to them.

Or let’s say you’re doing a meetup at a particular location. You could send emails only to those who live in that location instead of your entire list.

Behavior. You can also segment your list based on demonstrated behaviors.

For example, you can send offers only to those who have opened your emails in the last month. This ensures that your offers are only going to your hottest prospects.
Or you could only send emails to those who have clicked on a particular link. By clicking on a link, they demonstrate an interest in a particular subject.

Purchase history. For example, if they’ve purchased a particular item or service from you, you could send them emails about related items or services.
Lead magnet. For example, let’s say you have two different lead magnets, one about losing weight and the other about healthy eating. You could send weight-loss related content to those who downloaded the first lead magnet and healthy eating content to those who downloaded the second lead magnet.

When it comes to segmenting your list, your goal is to make your emails as relevant to the reader as possible. The more relevant an email is to the reader, the more likely it is that they’ll read it and respond accordingly.

Achieve Email Marketing Greatness

One of the great temptations with email is to do things too fast. To simply bang out your email without giving it much thought. And while this certainly allows you to send more emails, it doesn’t allow you to send effective emails.

Effective emails take time, work, thought, and creativity.

In your emails, it’s important to:

Get inside the head of your readers, so you know what really matters to them.
Carefully think through your subject line to make it as compelling as possible.
Craft compelling body copy so that the reader wants to go through the entire email.
Personalize your emails so that they’re relevant.

If you don’t do these things, your emails will probably achieve mediocre results. Your open rates will be low, your click-through rates will be even lower, and your readers won’t be inclined to take much action.

If, on the other hand, you thoroughly follow the above steps, you truly can achieve email marketing greatness.

So, don’t wait any longer. Start crafting emails that get results today!