Email marketing can seem hard. First, you need to get your subscribers to actually open your emails. Then you have to convince the people who do open your emails to click through to your landing page, blog post, or resource. And at every step, you lose people along the way. So what’s the secret? How do you write marketing emails that boost your open rates, increase your click through rates, and get more conversions? Check out these 10 expert tips for writing marketing emails that convert.
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1. Identify your goal
Before you start writing a marketing email, you need to know what your conversion goal is. Are you trying to sell a product, promote a webinar, or drive traffic to your blog? Identify what you ultimately want your subscribers to do with your email. Then use this goal to guide the copy you write for your marketing email. Be sure to focus on just one goal so that you can write copy that aligns with it.
2. Craft a killer subject line
When you write marketing emails, you may spend most of your time writing your body copy and very little time writing your subject line. Your subject line is just one line, so it may not seem that important. But remember this: aside from any visible preview text, your subject line is the only part of your email your subscribers will see before they open it. So what are they going to use to decide whether they should open your email? That’s right – the subject line.
Because your subject line will play such a big role in determining whether subscribers open your email, it’s worth spending time on getting it right.
Related: The 7 most effective email subject lines
Example: Check out this magnetic subject line in an email from Neil Patel.
3. Don’t forget about preview text
These days, subscribers don’t just see the subject line of an email when they’re looking at their inbox. In most cases, they also see preview text. The purpose of preview text is to provide more info about the content of an email.
If you don’t specify the preview text you want to display, most email clients will show the first line of your email. This isn’t a problem if you’ve crafted the beginning of your marketing emails carefully. However, depending on what’s embedded in your emails, your subscribers may instead see unclickable links or info on how to view your emails in another format. This is a wasted opportunity. Boost your open rate by taking the time to write a strategic line of preview text.
4. Make sure your body copy and subject line match
It’s acceptable and even strategic sometimes to write vague, intriguing subject lines. For example, a subject line like “I know what you did” doesn’t say much about what’s in a marketing email. But it sure does grab people’s attention.
However, even when you choose to write a vague subject line, you want to make sure it aligns with the copy inside your email (your body copy). If there isn’t a clear connection between your subject line and your body copy, your subscribers may feel like they’ve been tricked. And even if they don’t, they may decide that your email isn’t relevant to them after all. As a result, they may be less likely to click through to your landing page. Maintain subscribers’ trust and improve your click through rate by aligning your subject line and body copy.
Example: In this email from Melyssa Griffin, the subject line and body copy match.
5. Write for your audience
Not every audience responds to the same copy techniques. This is why it’s oh so important to understand your audience so you know who you’re writing for. When you know what your audience’s pain points are and what motivates them, you can write marketing emails that feel like they were crafted just for them.
For example, let’s say you’re selling a live online workshop on how to deliver successful webinars. You know that a fear of navigating technology is a key barrier holding your audience back from trying webinars. So what do you do? You write your marketing emails in a way that targets this fear and presents your workshop as the solution.
Need help crafting email subject lines that will make subscribers actually open your emails?
Download my 63 free email subject line templates.
6. Make your copy scannable
Most people get tons of emails. So not only do they pick and choose which ones to read, but they also scan the ones they do open. How do you make sure your subscribers still pick up on the key info in your marketing emails? Make your email copy scannable. This means writing short sentences and paragraphs, using bullets, and creating lots of white space. Get all the details in my post on how to write scannable copy.
Example: Amy Porterfield uses bullet points to make this long email scannable.
7. Build a connection with your subscribers
People don’t build relationships with corporations. They build relationships with other people. As a result, if you want your subscribers to open and click on your marketing emails, you need to make your emails feel like they were written by a real person (which they are).
Instead of crafting corporate memos, imagine that you’re having a conversation with someone at a coffee shop. Make your marketing emails sound like this conversation. Use casual language, tell stories, and don’t be afraid to show a piece of who you are. When you share a personal story in an email, it helps subscribers understand that you get their concerns and that you’re a real human being who struggles and makes mistakes too.
What more? Here are two additional ways to create stronger connections with your subscribers:
- Include an actual person’s name (not just your company’s name) in the “from” field. For example, in the emails I send to my email list, the “from” field reads, “Nadia from Inpression Editing”
- Include a photo of the sender in the email
8. Include a solid CTA
What’s one of the most important items in your marketing emails? Your call to action (CTA). A CTA tells your subscribers what you want them to do after they read their email. Do you want them to sign up for your workshop? Buy a product? Check out your blog post?
Whatever it is that you want them to do, spell it out explicitly and tell them why they should take action now. And unless your email is super short (just a few sentences), include multiple CTA links or buttons in your email. Learn more in my post on how to write a strong CTA.
Related: The 62 best words to use in your call to action + 80 free call-to-action templates
Example: Nathan from CoSchedule included two CTA links in this email.
9. Create urgency
If you’re selling something, you can boost your email conversion rates by setting a deadline and injecting urgency into your marketing emails. Without a deadline, your subscribers may decide to revisit your offer after they’ve had time to think about it. In reality, though, most people never return. However, if you set a deadline and make this explicit in your email, your subscribers will know that it’s now or never. And if they want to avoid the curse of FOMO, they better act now.
Related: The 7 most effective email subject lines
10. Study your competitors
Need more inspiration for your marketing emails? Study your competitors or related brands in your broader niche. Pay attention to the words they use, the kind of details they include, and their overall writing style. You don’t need to copy what they do. But if your competitor is successful, you know they’re doing something right with their marketing emails.
Small changes matter in marketing emails
When it comes to writing marketing emails that convert, there’s no one big change that will increase your open rate from 8% to 80%. Instead, writing better, more effective emails is all about testing small changes that make more people open your emails, click through, and convert. When you take the time to refine and test your subject lines, body copy, and CTAs, you’ll be much more likely to figure out what works for your audience.
Need help crafting email subject lines that will make subscribers actually open your emails?
Download my 63 free email subject line templates.
