Email marketing tips: how to write emails people will actually open and read

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You know your newsletter is a big part of your marketing campaign, it is one of your best tools to communicate with your customers and keep them engaged with your brand and product. Email marketing is also the channel with the best ROI. However, you can’t just do anything and expect it to work. Actually, do you struggle with the open rate and feel lucky if it hits 17%? Are you scared your contacts would hit the infamous “mark as read” button when they get your newsletter?

If you answered yes to those last 2 questions, this guide on how to write emails is for you!

Be niche and target your audience

First of all, an email newsletter is part of the overall marketing strategy, so it should be planned in advance and promote the different milestones, product launches, achievements and news of your business. And it should also provide some valuable information. It’s not something that can randomly come out when you need it.

Then, focus on your target audience and write something that appeals to them. You don’t need to create a newsletter for everyone, but just for the ones that matter, your customers. If you carefully choose who is going to get the email and make it relevant to them, you won’t need to segment it. You will have a specific list in a certain niche.

Like we said many times before, quality is better than quantity!

Try to please the people you are sending the email, making it seem like a friend who is casually writing to update them. The secret is, try to make them feel excited about reading your newsletter.

Write good content

It goes without saying, if your content isn’t good and interesting, people won’t be happy to read it. There are certain tools that can automatize the curating process of the newsletter. Don’t use them, because curating means to carefully choose and pick what is good, remove what does not work, refine the text in a methodical and thoughtful way. Only a human brain can do this job. So, read what you’re about to send out and make sure there is no random content a software put together. Of course, you can automatize the tedious procedures, but never have the machines replace you entirely.

First you need a good understanding of what your audience likes and cares about. Then, make the effort and deliver accordingly. You might need to do a lot of research to put together something interesting for them. But it will be worthy, they will be happy to receive your updates.

Don’t forget the context

The context of your newsletter is you writing to your customers to update them on your business, products and provide them with some useful information. So, your tone should be friendly, making your business seam more approachable and closer to their needs. Also, try to be casual and to make your brand’s personality stand out. This way, you will make your communication seem like a conversation between 2 people and not you blasting them.

Don’t just put a list of events or links you recommend, always comment on them, saying why they should read them. Make everything you write relevant to them.

When adding a link, you can also not reveal too much about the content of it, to create expectations and make people want to click on it. Another idea is to put links in the body of your email, incorporating them in the context of what you are saying. It will make it more interesting and sort of gamify the content.

how to write emails

Be like a scientist: test and act accordingly 

Your email marketing campaign is an eternal work in progress. You can always do better and you can always learn from your mistakes. When it comes to email marketing campaigns, you should be like a science: experiment and act accordingly.

A great way to see what works and what doesn’t is to do an AB test. Most email marketing software provide this option. You will split your receivers into 2 groups and deliver them slightly different content. You can test one variable at a time, it can be the subject line or something in the content. The reports of the campaign will tell you which option worked best. Next time you will implement the option that had the best results and test another aspect. It will give you a great insight on what your audience likes.

Don’t overdue with the design

The new trends in writing newsletters is to have a very neat design and a good content. You want people to read the email and not just look at how pretty it is.

Don’t overwhelm them with flashy design. It’s better to keep it simple, with a lot white spaces to provide a break from the content.

Put one content block at a time with relevant images between them. It will highlight the single sections and make it easier for readers to skim to the part that most appeals to them.

Personalisation

Every email marketing software offers an option to personalize the email, from putting the greeting at the beginning of your text (“Dear Name”) to customize part of the content in the body. We all like to receive something that looks as if it was written for us personally.

As previously said, the aim of an email marketing campaign is to interact with your customers, offering them valuable content. It’s not just a one-way communication tool. So, make it personal, act like a human being. Always remember to whom you are writing and create something that will appeal to them.

Don’t bombard your readers with your offers, or they will hit the “mark as read” button. Provide them with reasons why they should be excited about your newsletter. Did you know that over 50% of the emails in an average inbox is promotional?

Writing a good email is not a mysterious science. After all, it’s all about caring about your readers and value their time. Make them want to stay in touch with you and they will be happy to read your campaigns!

If you need further help with your email campaigns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mail@annafranchi.com. If you are looking for support for your digital marketing, please check out my services for startups and small businesses