Compelling your subscribers to open your emails isn’t easy. Even if they open your emails, there’s no saying whether they’ll take the intended action or ignore your message. You must pay close attention to what you’re saying in the email to get the desired results. Learning how to write a marketing email will get you there in no time.
However, a lot goes into a successful marketing email, whether you’re a content creator or an established brand. So, it’s not just the words you must pay attention to. From planning the email to sending it, you must take some precise steps.
If you’re new to email marketing, you might not know what these steps are. But that’s what this article is for. It will take you step-by-step through everything you need for a successful promotional email. So, let’s dive into how to write a good marketing email!
The Power of Crafting a Compelling Marketing Email
When it comes to email marketing, simply having an irresistible offer isn’t enough to drive conversions. You must learn the art of crafting a compelling marketing email if you’re serious about getting results.
Emails that don’t resonate with the reader don’t bring much return. You must tell them what’s in it for them. That will only happen with a compelling email.
When subscribers open your email and feel like it’s especially for them, that’s where the conversions happen. As a result, you can increase your email click-through rates (CTRs.)
Besides, your subscribers’ inboxes are always full, with various businesses fighting for attention. A compelling message is enough to cut through this noise and catch your subscribers’ eyes.
Moreover, a targeted, compelling email makes subscribers connect with you on a deeper level. This connection encourages them to keep returning to your messages. They won’t go anywhere else if you keep them hooked with compelling messages.
This means you’ll gain customer loyalty and ambassadorship. They might even share your emails and increase your subscribers.
How To Write a Marketing Email in 6 Detailed Steps
Now that you know what a compelling marketing email can do for you, you must be ready to create one. But again, it’s not that simple. A good email starts with meticulous planning. Another thing you need is a marketing strategy.
One thing is true whether you’re looking for marketing emails for your small business or an e-commerce email marketing strategy. Having detailed steps before crafting your email helps you focus your message and deliver value to your audience. That might seem like a lot of work, but the results will be worth your while.
So, let’s see how to write a marketing email in six steps!
1. Plan the Email
A good marketing email starts with proper planning. You need to answer a few questions beforehand to avoid confusion when you’re writing the email. Some of these questions are:
- Who is your target audience?
- Who are your competitors?
- What are the pain points of your target audience?
- What’s the language of your readers?
- What do your subscribers need, expect, or demand?
- Which stage in the customer journey are you writing for?
- What goal do you want the email to achieve?
Write down the answers and use them to choose your wording and offers.
2. Come Up With a Catchy Subject Line
The email subject is the first thing your subscribers will see, even before they open your email. It’s not just an introduction to your email but a chance to make an excellent first impression.
So, use the prior planning to create a catchy subject line. Tell the reader what to expect from the email in less than 30 to 50 characters. Moreover, subject line best practices show that you should focus on the benefits of reading the email.
However, it should be balanced with intriguing language to surprise the reader and compel them to open the email. If your marketing emails contain discount offers, say so in the subject lines.
Plus, try to add a verb like “download,” “buy,” or “explore” to stimulate the reader’s subconscious mind.
3. Work on the Email Body
The next step is to work on the email body. You don’t need to be or hire a designer for email content to encourage action. Even plain HTML text can bring unmatched results if you use the right words and messaging. So, here’s what you need to do.
Firstly, pay close attention to personalization. Generic email messages will never get you the results you’re hoping for. Therefore, use the answers from the first step and address your readers with their first names. Try to find and use their exclusive pain points to get their attention.
Let’s say you’re a freelancer, and an old friend told you about their friend’s company that needs your services. Start the email by mentioning this acquaintance. This will create a familiarity that might help your case.
Secondly, make sure the content stays true to the subject line. Focus on the benefits rather than features to complement the subject.
Moreover, use language that matches your brand’s personality. Otherwise, you might lose the familiarity you created at the beginning.
Use images and interactive elements to make the email more interesting. You can also add emojis, but only if they align with your brand’s language. It’s also important to keep your message short to avoid frustrating the reader.
4. Think About a Persuasive Call-to-Action (CTA)
Without persuasive calls to action (CTAs), even the most compelling email content can be ineffective. Every email should encourage the readers to take a specific action. This is possible by using actionable CTAs that align with your email body.
For example, “Learn More” isn’t a good CTA for an email encouraging readers to download a guide. This implies that clicking on the CTA will require more information from readers before they can get what they need. Instead, using “Download the Guide” would be a better approach.
Moreover, make the CTA visible and use active language to avoid losing your readers’ interest.
5. Edit the Email Like a Wordsmith
Would you take action on an email that has multiple errors? Of course, you wouldn’t, and neither would your readers. That’s why sending emails without reading them at least three times is one of the worst email marketing mistakes.
To avoid this, consider taking a break and doing something else after writing the email. Don’t think about it for a while and return to it with a fresh perspective. This will help you catch errors that you might not have noticed otherwise.
Proofread your email to make sure everything is on point. Use grammar tools to help you along the way. Moreover, getting rid of the fluff will make the email more effective. If you’ve ever wanted to be a perfectionist, now would be the best time.
6. Make Your Email Mobile-Friendly
One more thing you need to do before hitting the send button is make the email mobile-friendly. According to a survey, 60% of people open emails on their phones. Customers might click off if the email appears distorted or doesn’t make sense on the small screen.
For example, if a subject line is more than 50 characters, the email app will truncate it. That might lower the effectiveness of your subjects. Similarly, look for other character limits and follow them to optimize for mobile.
5 Email Marketing Tips To Make Your Emails More Effective
When it comes to promotional emails, the wording and offer aren’t the only things that matter. There are a few extra things you need to take care of. For example, if you’re not careful about the spam filters, your message will end up in the spam folder.
Now, most people ignore the emails in this folder. If that happens, your email is less likely to appear in front of your subscribers.
To avoid such things, here are five email marketing tips that make your emails more effective.
1. Segment Your Email List for Personalization
Not personalizing your emails translates to wasting their potential. Nobody wants to read a boring email message that they can’t relate to. But how do you know what to write to personalize an email? By segmenting your email list!
Categorize your subscribers based on their demographics, behaviors, preferences, and history. Moreover, create user personas to help you find information when needed.
This will help you send targeted emails that compel your audience to take action. For example, you can send a personalized recommendation based on the person’s previous behavior or interactions.
Investing in an email marketing tool for this purpose would be a good start. These tools can automatically segment your lists to take the burden off your shoulders.
2. Pay Attention to the Compliance Guidelines
Earlier, we mentioned spam filters and how they sabotage your results. Following email compliance guidelines can help you avoid these filters. Plus, ignoring these guidelines might put you in legal trouble. Here’s how.
Firstly, email service providers have strict filters to catch emails that violate anti-spam regulations. If you continue to violate these guidelines, you might even end up on the blocklist.
Secondly, different governments have different regulations. For example, CAN-SPAM is for the U.S., and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is for Europe. Following these guidelines will help build trust and credibility. Some requirements of these guidelines include:
- Gaining subscriber consent.
- Giving clear options for unsubscribing from your list.
- Cleaning and managing your email lists.
- Adding proper sender information.
- Avoiding deceptive practices.
3. Know When To Send the Email
Another tip that can make or break your email marketing campaign is knowing when to send the email. Data shows that morning is the best time to send marketing emails. Anywhere from 9 AM to 11 AM would work in your favor.
However, the ideal timings will change if your audience is in a different time zone than yours. In this case, send the email when it’s morning in your recipient’s country. You wouldn’t want to disturb your subscribers at night and risk your reputation.
If you send a follow-up email, wait at least three days after sending the first one.
4. Use Storytelling To Connect
Connecting to your readers through storytelling is probably the best decision you can make for your marketing emails. Humans have always loved stories, and that’s why they build a better connection through them. Here’s how to put this into action.
Grab your reader’s attention through a strong opening sentence, anecdote, or question. Use a story to talk about how you solve your subscribers’ problems. But remember, how you tell your story will depend on what your readers want to read. So, make sure to do proper research before using this tip.
You can also tell your brand’s story about its origin and why it started. If people find your “why” compelling, they will want to take action.
5. Track Your Results and Adapt
The last tip is to track your results and adapt. Some people send their emails and forget all about them. Following in their footsteps means never improving your efforts and potentially losing your audience’s attention.
But you can judge what’s working if you track things like open rates, CTRs, and conversion rates. By doubling on those things and ditching other strategies, you can make your emails even more effective.
This would also be a good time to invest in an email marketing tool. These tools allow you to learn a lot about your email marketing efforts. Plus, you can automate emails based on audience actions!
The Best Marketing Email Examples To Guide Your Approach
After learning how to write a marketing email and learning tips to make it effective, let’s get practical. How will you put things into perspective if you don’t learn from brands already doing well?
So, here are three of the best marketing email examples to guide your approach.
- Netflix: In its engagement emails, Netflix provides information on new shows that a customer might like. These recommendations relate to the customer’s preferences and compel them to act.
- Lita Lewis Fitness: This content creator writes her emails like she’s talking to a friend. Moreover, her CTAs are to the point, actionable, and friendly. She also uses sentences like, “Let’s do this, ladies!” to prompt her audience and compel them.
- Starbucks: Starbucks is no stranger to standing out in its customers’ inboxes. In one brilliant campaign, it incorporated a changing image of its handcrafted beverages with a 50% discount!
Get Your Email Game Going With Compelling Messages
Every marketer, content creator, and business owner should ask, “How to write a marketing email?” Since every inbox gets multiple new emails daily, cutting through the noise is very important. Following the process in this article will ensure you start on the right foot.
Do you need some extra help with email marketing? At Beambox, we’d love to help you market your business. We use a multi-avenue approach to connect, attract, and keep customers.
Start your Beambox trial today, and let us help you maximize your email marketing knowledge!
