How To Write Better Marketing Emails

Email marketing is NOT dead.

Did you know that when marketed through email, people spend 138% MORE than people who don’t receive email offers?

And for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $44?

In this blog post and video, I’m going to give you 7 tips that will help you write better marketing emails so you can generate more leads, sales and clients from your database. 

1. Know your email database

The most important step is to understand who you are writing to, their needs, challenges and desires. When you know who your readers are, it’s easier to write email marketing copy that will make them want to respond to your emails.

2. Focus on one goal, one CTA

Don’t overwhelm and confuse people by putting multiple products, links and offers in one email. Get clear on the ONE product or service you want to promote and the ONE action step you want them to take.

3. Write a catchy subject line

Your email subject line is the headline of your email. If it doesn’t entice people to click and open your email, then the rest of your email won’t be read. The best email subject lines include either:

  • Personalization, i.e. first name and location
  • Benefits the reader cares about
  • Problems they want to overcome

Your email subject line is the headline of your email. If it doesn’t entice people to click and open your email, then the rest of your email won’t be read. The best email subject lines include either:

  • Personalization, i.e. first name and location
  • Benefits the reader cares about
  • Problems they want to overcome

4. Write for the web

People’s attention spans are shortest when reading emails. You should format your email content to be easy to read online. Which means:

  • Short paragraphs and sentences
  • Bulleted list
  • Only one main idea per paragraph

5. Write in a conversational tone

Write like a real person, not a corporate drone. Don’t bore your readers with technical jargon or corporate speak. Write in a friendly, conversational tone, like you’re writing to a friend.

6. Include case studies and testimonials

Do you have case studies or testimonials from previous customers or clients? Why not include these in your emails? It’s one thing for us to say how great we are, but it’s so much more believable when other people say we are great.

7. Create urgency

People procrastinate, especially when it comes to making a buying decision. They make all kinds of excuses like “I need to talk to my wife” or “I need to think about it”. One effective way to counter procrastination is by using real, not fake, urgency.

Some examples include:

  • Time is running out
  • Limited number of stock
  • Social proof: 10 other people are looking at this item right now

So there you have it! SEVEN tips you can use to write better marketing emails.

Content Writing VS Copywriting

Content writing and Copywriting are NOT the same! 

They’re two completely different types of writing.  

And if you’re a business owner or marketer who thinks you can hire one writer to do both, then you might be sorely mistaken. 

In this blog post and video, I’m going to answer the question “What’s the difference between copywriting and content writing?” 

Most business owners seem to think that all writers are the same. But it’s simply not true.

Not every writer has the same skill set or expertise. 

A poetry writer probably can’t write a technical white paper report.

A screenplay writer probably can’t write amazon product descriptions.

Some content writers can write copy and some copywriters can write content, but not everyone can.

Here’s why. Let me explain the difference...

Content writing is about writing content that educates, informs, inspires, and builds a relationship with the audience.

The different types of content writing are...

  • Blog posts
  • Articles
  • Ebooks or guides
  • White paper reports
  • Infographics
  • Social media posts
  • How to videos

Copywriting is about inspiring and persuading people to take action. Whether that’s to buy a product, service, register for an event, or subscribe to a newsletter.

The different types of copywriting are...

  • Website copy
  • Landing pages
  • Facebook ads
  • Video scripts
  • Sales pages
  • Product descriptions
  • Direct mail
  • Brochures

Summary

  • Copywriting is about inspiring and persuading people to take action. 
  • Content writing is about writing content that educates, informs, and builds relationships with your audience.
  • Some writers can write both copy and content, but not everyone can.


What type of writing do you prefer? Let me know in the comments below.


5 Email Subject Line Templates

Did you know that 47% of emails are opened based on the subject line alone? 

And that 69% of emails are reported as SPAM because of the subject line? 

Your subject line is super important. It’s the headline of your email. 

If it’s weak or boring, then your email is probably going to be ignored, deleted or even reported as spam. 

I’m going to give you 5 proven Email Subject Line Templates that you can use to get more people to open, read and respond to your emails.

1. The NEW content email

  • Template: NEW: [Blog Post Title]
  • Example: NEW: How To Choose The Right Content Writing Agency
  • Example: NEW: 10 Legal Ways To Pay Less Tax

2. The Problem Solver Email

  • Template: Fix Your [Problem] Now
  • Example: Fix Your Email Open Rates Now
  • Example: Fix Your Posture With Our Top 5 Foam Roller Exercises

3​. The Question Email

  • Template: How can you [Topic]?
  • Example: How can you grow your YouTube channel?
  • Example: How can you build a website for free?

4. The Better Way Email

  • Template: A better way to [achieve goal]
  • Example: A better way to pay less income tax
  • Example: A better way to lose weight in time for summer

5. The Chat Email

  • Template: [Name], I’d love to chat about [topic]
  • Example: John, I’d love to chat about your content?
  • Example: Mary, I’d love to chat about the marketing summit


Summary

So there you have it! 5 Email Subject Line Templates you can use in your own business to get more people to open, read and respond to your emails. 

Which of those templates were your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!


Source: https://sumo.com/stories/best-email-subject-lines

How To Write For The Web

People don’t read online. They skim, scan and scroll pages.The Nielsen Groupis a research institute and they do a lot of heavy data testing about web usability. Jakob Nielsen says 79 percent of test users always scanned any new page they came across. Only 16 percent of people read word by word.

Below is an example of a what we call a heat map. Heat maps track visitors eye movement on a webpage. As you can see, people online aren’t reading left to right, top to bottom of the page, like a book. Their eyes are jumping all over the place. And the areas where it’s really red, that’s where most of the attention is going to. Notice how the attention is going to the top of the page and also to the baby’s face?

Notice how the baby is looking at the headline? Thatâ��s no accident. Studies show that we are likely to follow a personâ��s gaze to see what theyâ��re looking at. So, if the babies face is looking at the copy, that’s going to get the attention because we’re going to first notice the picture then we’re going to follow the trail up to the all important headline.

5 Tips On How To Write For The Web

Here are five tips for writing for the web. Whenever you’re writing web copy, about to launch a new website, or send out an email promotion, be sure to follow these five tips.

1. Highlighted keywords


Highlighted means bolded, underlined or italicised keywords. I’m not talking about SEO (search engine optimization). What I’m talking about is highlighting certain words so they stand out to your website visitors. So, when someone’s scrolling the page the words you’ve highlighted are going to get their attention.

2. Subheadings


Subheadings are what you see when you scroll down a page. The reason to have subheadings is to break up the copy, draw your visitors in, and get them to start reading.
If they scroll the page, and they’re just reading subheadings, they should have a general idea of what the whole page is about. Which means you want to have meaningful subheadings throughout the page, not clever or cute subheadings.

3. Bulleted lists

Look at this readability graph [provided by the Nielsen Group]. What they did was they took this information, which has a 27 percent readability score and then presented the same information in a bulleted list. The result?

Readability increased by almost 100 percent! The same information just formatted differently, improved readability by 100 percent.

Because attention spans are getting shorter and shorter people don’t have time to read all of the copy, word for word. Copy is important but it needs to be formatted for the web. Having bulleted lists throughout your web copy is a great way to achieve that.

4. One Idea Per Paragraph

Don’t make the mistake of trying to say too much in a single paragraph. If you have multiple messages in the same paragraph then you will probably confuse your readers.

Each paragraph should present a different idea or message instead of trying to say everything in one paragraph. So, remember, one idea per paragraph. Which brings me to the final tip, which is probably the biggest difference between writing online and offline copy.

5. Half The Word Count Of Offline Copywriting

If you’re writing offline copy (like a brochure) you can have twice as much copy. When writing for the web, you should try and have less copy (and this is controversial because later I’m going to say long copy outsells short copy). The most important thing is that web copy needs to be easy for the scanners and the scrollers to read.