Despite the significant rise of mobile chat apps, social media, forums, and web chat applications, email remains one of the world’s most popular forms of business communication.
In fact, research shows that there are over 4billion email users worldwide, and the number is steadily rising.
If you think that statistic is high, you will be surprised to learn that over 293billion emails are sent daily, making it quite difficult to stand out in the crowd.
Almost every business, regardless of its size and industry, uses email to reach out to its existing and potential customers.
Emails remain among the most effective marketing channels, with an average return on investment of 5X that of other marketing channels such as paid search and social media marketing.
Unfortunately, knowing that email is effective and sending out emails doesn’t necessarily mean your messages will be read and acted on.
You need to know how to write email messages that get opened, read, and clicked if you want to maximize the return on investment for your email marketing campaigns. If you send the wrong emails, you may end up losing customers.
Here are some tips that will help you write email messages that get opened, read, and clicked:
1. Everything Starts with the Subject Line
You only get one chance to make a great first impression, and the subject line is the only chance you’ve got in emails. Your subject line will determine whether or not your email is opened and read.
Research shows that approximately 33% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. Therefore, you have to do everything possible to nail that first impression for your email to be opened.
It is crucial to keep your subject line short and snappy. Remember that many email management tools cut off long subject lines, meaning your recipients won’t see the entire thing.
A teaser or announcement is a great way to entice your recipients to open your email and read it. Ensure you avoid spammy language such as “buy now” in your subject line.
Instead of being promotional, focus on being informative and entertaining with your subject lines. In fact, informative and entertaining subject lines increase the chances of your email being opened.
Once you have the right subject line, it is time to move on to the body content for your email copy.
2. Make It Personal
Your customers crave personalization. They want to know that your business has their unique interests at heart, and the easiest way to show this is by making your emails personal.
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, personalized email messages improve click-through rates by 14% and conversions by 10%.
You can personalize your emails by using the customer’s name in the subject line or email copy, giving them a birthday discount, or sending them content that appeals to their interests.
You can also use customer data to segment your email lists and send targeted messages to specific groups, which is likely to result in higher engagement rates.
The bottom line is that personalization works, and you should be doing it in all your email campaigns if you want more people to open, read, and click on your emails.
3. Keep Your Emails Short and Simple
The biggest mistake you can commit with an email is trying to cram too much information into it.
Your recipients are busy people and will most likely not have the time or patience to read through a long email full of unnecessary details. Therefore, you should always aim to keep your emails as short and simple as possible.
This doesn’t mean you sacrifice quality for brevity. You can still deliver a high-quality massage without going overboard.
If you find it difficult to keep your emails short, try breaking them into smaller paragraphs with headers. You can also use bullet points to make your email copy easier to digest.
The primary objective here is to ensure that your email copy is easily scannable so that your recipients can quickly get the information they need without having to wade through a lot of fluff.
4. Focus on Benefits, Not Features
Many of us tend to get caught up in the features of our product or service and forget to focus on the benefits. Your recipients don’t care about the technical details or how your product works.
They only care about what your product or service can do for them and how it can make their lives easier. Therefore, you should always focus on the benefits when writing your email copy.
For example, when promoting a new product, don’t just list the features. Instead, tell your recipients what the product can do for them and how it will improve their lives.
The same applies to any other type of email you might be sending out, such as Announcements, Discounts or Customer Retention. Always focus on the benefits to the customer and not on the features.
5. Include a Call-to-Action
Every email you send should have a defined purpose, which should be clear to your recipients.
Your email copy should always include a call-to-action (CTA) that tells the recipient what you want them to do next.
Whether you want them to click on a link, download a document, or make a purchase, your CTA should be included in the email copy and be impossible to miss.
Ideally, your CTA should be placed above the fold so that recipients can see it as soon as they open your email. You can also use visuals such as buttons to make your CTA stand out.
Make sure your CTA is relevant to the email content and is something that your recipients are likely to be interested in. Forcing people to do something they don’t want is a surefire way to get them to unsubscribe from your list.
Also, avoid using too many CTAs in a single email, as that will only serve to confuse your recipients. One CTA is usually enough unless you’re running a complex campaign with multiple messages.
6. Align Your Subject Line and Email Copy
You might already know how essential it is for your CTA copy and landing page offer to align. Well, things aren’t any different when it comes to crafting your subject line and email message.
You need to ensure that your email copy delivers whatever your subject line promises.
Why? It is not just about building trust, but research shows that when readers don’t get what they are promised in the subject line, click-through rates tend to plummet, affecting your conversion rate.
This is why it is essential to ensure that your subject lines are clear and concise and accurately reflect your email’s content.
Include a valuable offer or discount related to your product or service in the subject line to further incentivize recipients to open and read your email.
7. Use FOMO
FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out, a powerful psychological trigger you can use in your email copy to encourage people to take action.
FOMO essentially tap into our fear of being left out or missing an opportunity. No one wants to feel like they are missing out on a good deal or an amazing product.
You can use FOMO in your email copy by creating a sense of urgency and scarcity.
For example, you can promote a time-sensitive offer with a countdown timer or highlight that only a few units of a popular product are left.
You can also include customer testimonials and social proof to show people that others are taking advantage of your offer and benefiting from it.
When done right, FOMO can be a powerful tool to increase your conversion rate. But use it sparingly as too much urgency, and scarcity can come across as being desperate and turn people off.
8. Use an Email Signature
An email signature is a quick way to add a personal touch to your message and can also be used to promote your brand.
An email signature usually includes your name, job title, company name, and contact information such as your website, phone number, or social media profiles.
Including an email signature is a simple way to let recipients know who you are and how they can get in touch with you.
You can also use your signature to promote any special offers or discounts you might be running. For example, you can include a link to a landing page where recipients can get more information about the offer.
Email signatures are a great way to increase brand awareness and boost click-through rates.
9. Proofread and Check Your Copy for Grammatical Errors Multiple Times
Nothing feels worse than spending hours designing the perfect email marketing template and sending it out to your contact list only to find out that there are glaring grammatical errors in it.
Not only does it make you look unprofessional, but it also affects your conversion rate. Research shows that people are less likely to trust businesses that make spelling and grammar mistakes in their marketing messages.
This is why it is essential to proofread and edit your email copy multiple times before hitting the send button.
It might also be a good idea to have someone else read it over to catch any errors you might have missed.
Summary
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach customers and drive sales. But, to succeed, you need to ensure your email messages are well-written and engaging.
By following the tips we’ve outlined above, you can create emails that get opened, read, and clicked. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more tips from our industry experts!
