[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last time we met, we talked about the basics of email marketing and discussed some general tips on how to get started with it.

Now that we’ve covered the basics. This week we’re going to focus on how to write basic email copy.

But before we begin going into detail, there’s an important point we need to make: successful email campaigns are ones that involved high quality copy.

Writing email copy that’s authentic, helpful, and full of excellent wisdom is what makes or breaks an email campaign. So whenever you’re writing copy for a campaign, ask yourself if it’s clear and engaging.

If you don’t get your message across through your copy, then your campaign will not give you the results you were expecting.

Here’s how to write award-winning email copy.

Keep it simple and strong.

Writing for your customers is best when it’s short and simple.

When people read emails, they’re not sitting down to read a long drawn out novel. People expect email copy to be brief and to the point.

While there are some exceptions to the rules, you should always limit how in-depth you go with your email copy.

Save long and in-depth content for a blog or an e-book, where you have time to get into the nitty-gritty details.

Make your message scannable.

Piggy-backing off the previous point, emails need to be easy to scan.
This means using clear visual markers. For example, don’t write in giant blocks of text. Avoid writing copy like a newspaper article or like a traditional journalist.

What do we mean by that?

See the image example, below. It’s a wall of text not separated by subheaders, or smaller, bite-sized paragraphs, making it difficult to scan and understand the transitions from each point to the next.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5085″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Notice how hard it is to read?

Now, look at this example and see how easy it is to read and comprehend when compared to the other example.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5086″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Talk about the benefits versus the features.

One of the easiest mistakes you can make is to only focus features, instead of highlighting the benefits.

The easiest way to do this is to talk about how the product or service you’re selling affects the reader’s life, and makes their lives better. Using “you” instead of “we” makes it easier for your audience to connect with the email content.

By putting the benefits in the spotlight, you’re assuring readers will stay engaged with the email.

Make copy mirror subject line.

Picture this, you’re looking for a sweet new book, and are caught by a title and book description.

It promises an epic battle about invading aliens. Excited, you buy the book, you take it home, and begin reading it, only to discover it’s a love story, and not really about invading aliens.

You’d be pretty disappointed wouldn’t you?

Sure, it still has aliens, but you were promised a battle with aliens over the fate of humanity, not a teen romance. A lot of businesses and marketers do this same thing when they write emails. They write click-bait titles, and create a letdown experience for their subscribers when the subject matter doesn’t match the email copy.

Be aware of this when you’re writing email copy.

Make sure your subject line and body of text in the email match one another. If your headline teases learning how to use social media, your email copy had better explain how to use social media.

Stick to one goal.

This one is tricky, but essential.

As tempting as it is to go off onto another topic, your emails should be as focused as possible. You don’t want want to tackle too many topics in an email. All good marketing content really should only pick one topic to explore, and stay loyal to that.

Don’t talk about another subject unless it directly affects your talking points.

If you’re writing about emails, don’t fall off track by switching to giving good presentations. Save that topic for another email.

Write to get them to the next line.

This definitely takes practice and some planning, but when you’re writing keep it in mind that each line’s goal should be to get the reader to continue to the next line.

Your subject line leads to your readers to clicking open the email, and that in turns leads them to reading your first sentence. Which then leads us to reading the next line, and then the line after that.

Work on creating a natural flow that makes readers want to stay engaged in your emails.

Keep it short.

Surprisingly, it can sometimes be difficult to write a shorter piece of content instead of a more lengthen one. When you’ve got lots of time to write out your points and explain your ideas, it’s easier to build on one idea to another.

Emails need to be short and attention grabbing. It’s super easy to lose your audience’s attention, so keep it short and sweet.

If you do want to go into depth, then consider writing your email with a short of preview to the longer content, and then adding a “click through to read more” as your call-to-action (CTA).

Make your call-to-action (CTA) clear and singular.

This one is pretty easily overlooked, but if you don’t get this part right, then you’re campaign won’t have the results you’re looking for.

Your call-to-action (CTA) is what you want the reader to actually “do” when they get done reading your email. (or any copy for that matter)

You should always write copy with the end in mind. Meaning, what do you want to inspire your audience with, so they actually take action.

You should have a clear and defined goal you’re trying to reach through your marketing efforts and your campaign should be built around your call-to-action.

If you’re trying to have people download a case study, an e-book, or sign-up for a webinar, you need to center your content around that goal. Your readers should be led by the content to take the action you want them to take.

And keep this simple. Don’t have three CTA’s. Have one. We know it’s hard, but resist having more than one. The more options you give your reader, with multiple CTA’s, the more likely they are to take no action at all. Have one, and stick to it.

Download our guide on email marketing.

We want you to be the hero of your marketing, and the hero for your customers.

Fill out the form below to download our free guide to email marketing, where you’ll learn all about how your business can receive a return-on-investment on your email marketing efforts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”25px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]