Tips for Writing Effective Marketing Emails

Let’s talk about writing effective marketing emails … It wasn’t all that long ago that email was regarded as “dead,” and that society should now make way for social media and other forms of marketing that were more flashy, instantaneous, and touted as more effective.

However, all these years later, email marketing is not dead at all, and in fact it remains an important and critical piece of any marketing strategy. If you’re not currently utilizing email marketing, it’s definitely something you should add to your marketing toolbox.

However, the key is to understand how to create effective marketing emails — I mean, we’ve all received SPAM emails so you likely know what constitutes a catchy email compared to an annoying, poorly crafted one.

Furthermore, email marketing has come a long way in the past few years, and there are so many creative and interesting tactics and tools you can utilize to make your emails stand above the pack. The great thing about email marketing is that it can be much more personalized and unique compared to social media posts that target a larger, broad audience. When you’re sending emails, you can really speak to a specific customer to address their unique needs and issues.

This article will break down the components of an email along with tips for how to craft templates that will help you take your email marketing to the next level.

Writing Effective Marketing Emails 101

Subject Line

First things first (and arguably most important) is your subject line and preheader.

Most people get several — if not hundreds — of emails per day, which means you need to have a stand-out subject line if you want people to open your email.

Some tips for writing a strong subject line include:

Use personalization such as first name
Employ actionable language (register, start, take, download, etc.)
Ask a question
Be clear and concise
Make sure subject line is in line with email body

Once you’ve crafted the perfect subject line, now focus on the preheader. The preheader is the preview text that displays underneath the subject line, and if you’re using some type of email marketing tool (MailChimp, AWeber, HubSpot, etc.), you can actually specify this text. When writing preheader text, focus on 1-2 sentences that perfectly encapsulate what your email will be about, but don’t reveal everything — entice your readers enough that it forces them to open the email!

Branding

When you send out an email, you want it to have clear branding.

You can create strong branding by using a distinct voice, adding brand logos and colours where applicable, and linking to your respective social media channels.

This is important because when consistent, your recipients will know what to expect from you when they receive an email — and if you’re sending out quality content each time, you’ll boost your brand recognition.

Body Copy

Once someone has opened your email, you want to keep them engaged. Here are some things to avoid:

Copy that isn’t relevant to the subject of the email
Big blocks of copy that resemble an essay
Endless text with no CTAs or hyperlinks
Zero imagery or graphics

In order to engage the reader, there are tons of things you can employ, such as bolding/highlighting/enlarging text, using personalization, adding images/graphics, and using CTAs to break up your text — just to name a few. Images and graphics can be really helpful to provide visual context to what you’re saying as well as keeps the reader engaged.

Overall, your email should be concise and brief while still providing all the relevant details. And remember: a reader’s favourite subject is themselves, so you can never go wrong by including lots of “you” statements.

Lastly .. when you write your emails you want to write as if you are writing to ONE person. Get as personalized as possible so that your reader feels special, tended to and welcomed to connect.