Email Marketing Tips, Tricks, & Articles

Email Marketing Video Tutorials Show you how to plan, create, and send successful newsletters.

Read Email Marketing Tips and Lessons written by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva.

Learn E-Marketing Lingo from the glossary of Email Marketing terms.

by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva(TM)

I Get a 'Click' Out of You: Writing Email Copy

(Sing to the tune of Cole Porter's 'I Get a Kick Out of You')

music note Long boring emails are lame
Dull folderol doesn't thrill folks at all
So please tell me what I can do,
So I'll get a 'click' out of you…
music note

>>> My apologies to Cole Porter fans for ruining this classic tune. Cole Porter really knew how to write a great song. And, like a hit song, good email copy can capture the attention of your recipients, striking a chord that makes them take action and click through to your site. There's no magic formula, but here are some hints and tips on writing email copy. I hope you get a 'click' out of them.

 

Know Your Target Audience
Tailor your message according to your audience and your objective. Know what motivates your recipients and use it to determine how, and in what order, to describe the benefits of your offer.

Be Clear and Concise
Stick to simple words, short phrases and paragraphs consisting of 1-3 short sentences. Your recipients should not have to think too much, parse long sentences or read big sections of text. Check for words that can be eliminated. You will be surprised at how many you find and how much cleaner your writing is when you are finished.

Get to the Point
The first two sentences of your email should answer important questions for the recipient like, "Who are you? What do you want me to do? And what's in it for me?" So state your offer up front, include benefits and make it easy for your audience to take the next step.

Include "Call to Action" Links
Know what action you want your recipients to take. Do you want them to read an article? Learn more about a product or service? Buy something? Then, place a link in the beginning, middle and end of the email, making it easy for the recipient to click whenever they are ready. People read, react, make decisions and take action differently. By sprinkling links throughout your email, you can be ready whenever they are.

Focus on Benefits
Make your offer valuable. Before you start writing, try listing the benefits of your offer, rank them in order of importance, then pick the top three and be sure to emphasize those benefits early on.

Create a Sense of Urgency
Limit the offer to a specific time period or, for example, the first 50 customers. People don't like to be at a disadvantage or left out. Try throwing in a bonus, for example, "Act now and also receive…" to sweeten the deal.

Proofread
Read your email copy aloud. If you stumble over words or phrases, rewriting is a very good idea. Check your spelling and grammar thoroughly. Errors not only make your email harder to read, they can make your company look unprofessional. Ask others who are not involved with your business to read your email. They will be able to tell you if it makes sense.

Use These Words
Experts agree that the following are among the most powerful and persuasive words you can use in email promotions:

You, your, discover, free, healthy, easy, introducing, gain, new, money, advice, results, sale, proven, benefits, effective, save, value, now, win, right, why, most, safe and guaranteed.

Punctuate Judiciously
Save exclamation points for when you really need them, use ALL CAPS carefully for emphasis and steer clear of emoticons ;). The benefits of the offer itself will motivate the recipient more effectively without reasonless clutter.

Beyond these general guidelines, it is experience that will help you improve your response. Define your objective, your audience and your offer, and then be creative!

 

Email Marketing Video Tutorials Show you how to plan, create, and send successful newsletters.

Read Email Marketing Tips and Lessons written by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva.

Learn E-Marketing Lingo from the glossary of Email Marketing terms.

by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva(TM)
 

Email Marketing Tips, Tricks, & Articles