How To Write Human Engaging Emails That People Open & Read

The secret ingredient to the success of your email marketing campaign lies in the quality and the value of the content you create.

This is because successful email marketing campaigns look at garnering the attention of high-quality subscribers, and the only thing that will keep those subscribers subscribed is if you send them emails that they look forward to because they offer everything they were looking for.

You want a subscriber to wonder how if you are a mind reader.

So, if you are going down the blogging road for good returns, spend time crafting emails that make you that human friend that gets them so well.

Now, email copywriting is time-consuming, especially if you are only getting started. Mainly because the process and the email copy you will send out is intimate.

To win in email marketing, personalization is crucial, and not just in how you address your subscriber by name, but how your words, sentences, and paragraphs flow.

So, how do you do it?

Perfect the art of creating seducing subject lines

Think about your office and personal emails, do you go through each email one after the other or you skim through the subject line to determine the email that needs your immediate attention?

The latter, we hope!

The reason for that is that you don’t want to miss an important or urgent email while looking over emails that do not need your immediate action. For this, you check the subject line.

An email’s subject line is the barometer that guides you on whether to open, read, and act on the email or archive the email.

The other important element lies in the structure of the subject line, or rather, the heading.

Away from business emails, think about the email newsletters you’ve subscribed to. Out of the long list of subscriptions, which email do you look forward to?

Which of the emails can you say that you cannot stop reading from the beginning to the end because of the captivating subject line?

Well, there goes your answer.

As you try your hand in email marketing, keep in mind that the subject line will either pull people in or send them away.

Still need convincing about just how important the email subject line is?

How about this: 47 percent of top marketers note that they run A/B tests on different headlines for them to optimize the performance of their emails.

To get started on the right foot, keep these in mind when crafting a subject line: urgency, curiosity, personalization, offers, timeliness, relevance, brand recognition, and cool stories. These are the ingredients that you should use for your headlines.

You also need to keep the subject line short and sweet, use a familiar name, and avoid the No Reply sender’s name.

To make all that possible, you should segment your lists to make sure that your subscribers receive what they signed up for. And, never make a false promise to get people to subscribe. Make sure that your headline tells your readers the exact thing that is in store for them.

Lastly, you should consider using acting actionable words to improve the open rates. According to research, short subject lines have a high click-through rate.

You cannot get too personal in email copywriting

Here’s the deal: you have to personalize your emails regardless of the size of your segmented email list.

And the only way for you to do this is writing a copy, not as you would when addressing an entire team,but as you would when writing an email to one customer you know (because of the things they signed up for).

What this means is that your copy should be focused on a persona. You should also keep your copy conversational. Basically, your copy should sound as if you are chatting with someone sitting across from you.

You should keep in mind that email is a personal and private form of communication. The copy will only resonate with your readers if your voice is conversational and if you address all the pain points of your readers.

You should, as much as possible use the active voice and use “I” and “You” – Reports by the Direct Marketing Association show that targeted and segmented emails will generate up to 58 percent of revenue with 36 percent of revenue from emails coming from the targeted subscribers.

Do not Overlook the Email Preview Text

The reason why Twitter is one of the leading social media platforms is that tweets are short, and straight to the point. Wondering how the email preview text relates to Twitter – before they increased the word count?

Well, email copywriting is only successful if you can use few characters to entice your subscribers to continue reading, hence the preview text.

The preview text plays a significant role, especially with the high number of mobile users because the text lets them know whether or not the email is worth opening.

Since most email users access their emails via their smartphones – reports indicate that mobile email opens accounted for up to 46 percent of all the email opens with desktop opens at 18 percent – you must keep the text as interesting as possible – make the recipient want to open and read the rest of your email.

Other reports show that 3 in every 5 consumers will open their emails on the go using their smartphones.

To make the most out of the preview text, make sure that you follow through with the promise in your preview text.

Avoid Jargon

Not everyone who signs up for your newsletter is an expert in your field or industry.  So, as tempting as it is to throw that technical term you and your cronies like, don’t. Use simple words.

Remember that you need to be conversational – you cannot do that when you use big words unknown to the rest of the world. Whether you are a medical consultant, a digital marketing strategist, or an investment firm, keep your choice of words simple.

To make this possible, always focus on a consumer’s pain point then use simple words to show your visitors and subscribers how your company can help them.

What are your words saying?

While keeping things conversational, there is something else you should remember, the fact that your words should convert a subscriber into a customer or an active reader.

For this, your words need to focus on the reader and the benefits that your product will offer them. Even though you will be tempted to toot your horn and shine the light on the top features of your products, that is not the way to sell. Sell the benefits offered by your products, always.

The other things you should consider doing include prioritizing the clarity and conciseness of your copy over its catchiness, as well as aligning your email copy with the subject line. Finally, keep your content relevant and use a simple, but catchy Call-to-Action.