Do you know what’s always in trend? Perfecting the basics.
Your marketing email might include fun animations and 3D elements, but if the copy isn’t impactful, you can kiss all your chances of conversions goodbye.
Words are powerful. They can convince your prospects into performing the actions that you want them to take. Harness the potential of email copywriting in your marketing emails with this article. We uncover the top tips on how to write a marketing email, plus share a super top secret behind successful campaigns.
What Is a Marketing Email?
A marketing email is one in which a commercial message is written. The main purpose of sending them is to encourage the recipient to take action, like make a purchase, register for an event, or download an ebook. Examples of marketing emails include promotional emails and newsletters.
10 Tips on Writing an Effective Marketing Email
The content for a marketing email is better described as an onion. No, it’s not supposed to sting your eyes, but it has layers (cue Shrek reference). The subject line, preheader, email body content, and calls to action all pitch into creating a convincing piece of copy.
The following best practices apply to the different elements of a marketing email copy and can be used interchangeably. Let’s get started.
1. Actionable language for the win
If a marketing email intends to prompt an action, it makes total sense to use action words. Opt for words, like take, get, register, and buy, etc., so your subscribers know exactly what’s the next step they should take.
When coupled with urgency-creating words, their power for bringing in conversions gets doubled. Some examples are act now, buy before it’s gone, register to this one-time webinar - you get the picture.
2. Clarity first, creativity second
The biggest rookie mistake copywriters make is trying to be too creative. While there is nothing wrong with stepping outside the box, it shouldn’t come at the expense of your subscribers’ understanding.
It might so happen that a subject line, for instance, makes total sense in your mind, but your readers are unable to comprehend it. Always aim for clarity first, and then you can get clever with it.
The following email from Blue Apron uses puns multiple times, but still, the reader can understand the email’s gist - a Halloween offer.
Subject line: Forget the candy, this deal is the sweetest one yet!
3. Focus on the sync
Ever read an email that promises a 50% discount in its subject line, but in reality, that offer is only valid for an out-of-season collection? Frustrating, right? You should never write a clickbaity email or else be ready to witness a surge in unsubscribe rates.
Marketing emails generally create a lot of excitement. But when the promise is not fulfilled throughout, it creates a lot of mistrust and apprehension among your prospects.
Make sure that your subject lines, body content, and calls to action are in complete sync. None of the elements should contradict each other but rather add to make the offer more convincing.
4. Personalize to the heavens
When writing a marketing email, ensure to personalize it as much as possible. Why so? Email subject lines that include a subscriber’s name can boost open rates by up to 14%. Additionally, 80% of people are likely to buy from a brand that offers them personalized experiences.
Safe to say, personalizing marketing email copy is key when directing your audience to take action. The following tips explain how you can achieve this:
Talk to them with their first name
Link to products or content pages relevant to them
Highlight their usage and engagement
Speak in their language
5. The magic words: you, your, and yourself
One tip that will instantly skyrocket the success of your marketing email campaigns is writing in the second-person viewpoint. Doing so is not complicated - you just have to use the ‘you,’ ‘your,’ and ‘yourself’ pronouns.
Writing in such a way has proven to build customer confidence since you put them in the driving seat, not yourself. As per research, second-person pronouns are pivotal in enhancing customer involvement in online brand messages.
The following email from Blush has convinced their audience to use these illustrations without sounding too pushy.
6. Brag about the value, not features
If you want to learn the art of writing convincing marketing emails, you must remember to communicate the value you’re creating for your customers, not your product’s features.
Marketing 101 tells us to create a need for your brand to maximize customer loyalty. But before that happens, you must create a want that compels your prospects to invest their time and money on you. The latter can only happen when you solve their problems, make their lives easier, offer an irresistible deal, or simply bring benefit to them in any shape or form.
7. Let your brand personality shine
When designing impactful emails, we always recommend following your brand persona. The same applies to copywriting for marketing emails. Consider the example of Apple; their copy is consistent with their overall branding - minimalistic and innovative.
The next time you draft a marketing email’s copy, ensure to follow your brand tone, style, typography, and colors. Letting your brand personality shine aids in recall and encourages engagement. 65% of people are more likely to buy from brands that highlight their personality than those who don’t.
8. Play with fear
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the power of fear-based email marketing.
When you play with your customers’ fear emotion, you put them in an uncomfortable situation that compels them to find a solution. In this case, the solution is your brand, and clicking on your call to action will rid them of it.
The below email from Better cleverly uses one’s safety for marketing its security system deal.
9. Tell a story
You don’t need to have a Master’s in English Literature to be a good storyteller. You just need to narrate your story in an immersive way that your audience gets hooked on till the end. Use conversational language and ensure that your story has the below essential elements:
Characters
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Resolution
Storytelling is great for building connections as it shows your brand’s humanistic side. It is also great for boosting your brand’s worth. In fact, telling a story increases a product or service’s value by up to 20 times.
10. Cut out the fluff
If you want your marketing emails to convert big time, make sure there are no unnecessary details. Do not expect people to read long paragraphs of text. Your goal is to convert them, not to bore them to sleep.
Only write the needed information, cut down on adjectives, and market one message per email. Brownie points if you can make the email scannable by dividing content into bullets, lists, and subsections.
Bonus - The Secret Behind Successful Marketing Email Campaigns
You now know how to write foolproof content for marketing emails, but is that enough? For successful campaigns, you need to ensure that the email’s design, along with the content, is on point.
The design must be consistent with the type of marketing email you’re sending. Instead of hiring an expensive graphic designer, we suggest you take the easy (read: effective) way out. Unlayer has a vast collection of marketing email templates that can be modified easily with its drag and drop editor.
We created the following marketing email with Unlayer in a matter of minutes. With a convincing copy and a sophisticated design, this email will surely bring in lots of conversions.
[
](https://unlayer.com/templates/template-clothing-the-jeans)
Get this template here.
The Final Word
High-performing marketing emails are now a reality with this article. Just follow these 10 tips on how to write a marketing email, use Unlayer’s readymade templates, and you’ll witness for yourself maximum conversions.
