4 Email Writing Tips to Help You Get More Conversions

Writing emails that drive conversion isn’t rocket science, but it takes some knowledge and careful planning

February 13, 2020

All the time and resources you invest in email marketing can easily go to waste if you’re writing them the wrong way. In fact, over half of consumers delete marketing emails without opening them. In this article, we share four tips that’ll help you write your emails like a superhero and increase your conversions.

Call to Action

Whether it’s more conversions or increased site visits you’re after, you won’t convince many people to take the next step after receiving your email without a strong call to action. Here are three nuggets of advice for building a strong CTA.

Start from the End: Before you draft your call to action, determine the goal of your email and establish a message that will lead your readers to the desired next step. Also, focus your email content and design in a way that visually draws readers to your CTA and inspires them to click.

Get Straight to The Point: Swiftly let your audience know what you want them to do by being clear and concise with your CTA. Use benefit-driven CTAs to encourage your audience to take action, and personalize them for returning customers. Also, consider writing you CTA button copy in a way that foretells what will happen when it’s clicked, using the voice of your customer. Barkbox’s “Show Me The Box” CTA speaks in the voice of its customers.

The Subject Line

In a world of crowded inboxes, your subject line largely determines if your email will be read, ignored, or deleted. 64% of consumers are persuaded to open an email based on the subject line alone.

If you’re struggling with low open rates, use these tips to improve your subject lines.

Emphasize Value and Benefit: The consumer’s world is a “what’s in it for me” one. Your subject line should indicate what readers will gain by opening the email. Ensure the value you highlight in the subject line appeals to your target audience and that your message is clearly reflected therein. Sprinkle your subject lines with a bit of urgency to imply that recipients must act quickly.

Use Brevity: Keep subject lines short, specific, and personalized so recipients scanning their emails will read the entire line. Eliminate filter words like “hello” and place the offer or CTA at the beginning of the subject line where it’s more likely to be seen. When considering the length of your subject line, note your subscribers’ devices, stick to 41 characters or 7 words, and A/B test various messages to see which works best.

Don’t Be Spammy: To avoid spam filters and increase your deliverability rate, don’t use CAPS, excessive exclamation points, or clickbait in your subject lines. Also, avoid using spam-triggering words in your subject lines such as “Free,” “Click Here,” “Guarantee,” and “Subscribe”. Keep in mind that too many recipient email deletions designates your emails as spam. Use a familiar From name when sending emails, a real reply-to address, and segmentation to send targeted and relevant emails.

Nail Your Preheader Text

With nearly half of all emails being read on mobile devices throughout the world, a compelling preheader text is a smart way to capture attention and get more conversions. A preheader is the short text that follows the subject line when viewing an email from the inbox. Below are some tips to help you write a compelling preheader text.

Don’t Repeat Your Subject Line: Use your preheader text to support the message in your subject line and provide more information about the intent of your email. Consumers are time short so make the preheader brief and precise, including a call to action or question to compel readers to click your email.

Example:

Subject Line: Up to 70% off everything for Halloween!

Email Preheader: How’s that for a weekend treat?

Use Emojis to Stand Out: Include emojis in your preheader to engage your audience and stand out in a crowded inbox. To select the right emoji, understand your audience—who they are, their average age and demographic, and how they use emojis. Make sure the emojis you use align with your brand’s identity and voice, and test your emoji strategy on a small segment of your audience before you go full force.

Get Your Content Right

If readers are spending less than 8 seconds reading your email, your content could be the problem. The right email content keeps your readers reading and prompts them to engage your offer. Use these three tips to help you write more appealing emails.

Be Clear: Use clear and simple language when writing your content to enable readers to understand what your offer is and how it benefits them. Maintain clarity by breaking your text up with bullet points or images, making use of colors and graphics and lots of white space. In terms of organization, place your most important and urgent message first and don’t overwhelm readers with lengthy copy or multiple CTAs.

Create Actionable Content: To create actionable content, convey your offer in the language spoken by your audience. To motivate them to take action after reading your email, ensure your copy, CTA, and supporting elements show them exactly what they need to do next. Make sure your content is relevant and matches your reader’s needs and preferences.

Show Some Personality: Sprinkle some brand individuality into your email copy to differentiate yourself from the crowd. When writing emails, express your unique voice to emotionally connect with your audience. Online retailer Fashion Nova uses a cool, fun tone to connect with subscribers in many of their emails.

Test, Adapt, Improve

We’ve dropped specific tips to help you tighten up your email writing skills, but nothing in the digital world is cast in stone. Regularly test your subject lines, message copy, pre-header text, and content to gauge how your audience is responding to your email campaigns. Don’t forget to explore email metrics to obtain insight into user activity, and always be improving your campaigns.