Writing Emails That Convert

Matching your message to your market is the number one key to successfully engaging your email list.

How To Write Emails for Your Business That Will Turn a List Member into a Buyer

The term “match message to market” means to offer something they actually want. And before you try and convince me that “Everyone needs my thingie”, I can assure you they do not! They might be able to use it, or find a use for it if they buy it. You still need to present it to them in a beneficial way that matches their want or need.

Write the emails in the way that suits YOUR target market. In the email you should encourage the reader to respond to your CTA (Call To Action) with buttons or links with [click here]. The CTA needs to be enticing enough to EARN the click. First however, you need them to OPEN your email and this will rely on your subject line.

Write a Powerful Subject Line to Get Your Email Opened

The best subject lines are intriguing enough to get them to open your email. It should match the content. If you send emails with teasing subject lines for the open and the content doesn’t match, you can expect people will jump off your list fast. There are many tactics you can incorporate to improve your email open rate.

The types of subject lines and content match can be:

– Sale
– Limited Time
– Video
– Alert
– News

Things you can test is the length of the subject line. Try short ones, and long ones. Also your first sentence in the email can be important too. Most email services allow for a preview of the email before they open. You get to make your pitch before they open. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. They might find it interesting enough to keep but then forget to open.

This is where adding URGENCY to your email copy will be helpful like “Today Only” or Sale ends in 3 Hours” or “Only 5 Left”. What makes you open an email?

Should you use HTML email or Plain Text?

This question isn’t really applicable today. Just about every email service uses HTML. However, you can make your HTML email appear like it is just in text. Just like the emails you send your friends and they send you. If you use the text appearance it seems like a friendly email. If you use a magazine style email it is salesey and impersonal.

You will have to test it out and maybe you use both. Everything needs to be tested to find what suits your business and your audience. Another consideration is the amount of memory or CPU your email will demand from your customers computer. Sending big attachments could get you blocked from their servers for causing high load time.

Should I Send Long Emails or Short?

This is another thing to test. Some people prefer short, while others say long is better. There is a place for both. For example; if you have a long sales letter and want to get them to that then a curiosity or short and sweet email might get the click later in a sequence of emails. At the beginning of an email series you may need to be a bit more wordy so they know what they are clicking for.

Format the email so the important parts of the email will stand out to the scanners and make the interesting words stand out with bold, underline, italic, or CAPITALS.

The content needs to have breaks in the writing. On a small screen a large paragraph of information may read like a crazy person wrote a rambling message. Break it into meaningful chunks.

Test number and types of CTA’s. Place links early, middle, late, and in the PS. Make the images clickable too.

Limit the number of offers in most emails. Focus only one or two topics at a time so as not to confuse or overwhelm the reader. A confused person won’t take any action. Nobody will be curious enough to try and figure out what you are talking about by clicking the link.

Adding a Link to the Post Script

Frequently people will scan. They scan your web page, articles, sales letters, etc. They “scan” because they want to immediately decide whether or not it will be worth their time to actually read. As mentioned above you want to capture their interest using bold headlines and accenting important words and phrases. They will usually scan right to the bottom. This is why a link and a strong CTA will be helpful.

Test these with your list using different CTA’s and record the response rate.

Taking Care of Your List

Think of the people on your list as – people –
Treat these folks like your neighbours and friends. If you don’t talk to them in a caring and genuinely helpful manner, they will look at you like a street beggar. Because that is all you will be – someone with their hand out begging them to buy your pencils. Stop it!

When you attack your list with “buy this” buy this” buy this”, and give no valid reason why they should, you WILL sacrifice a perfectly good lead. Curtail this by offering truly helpful products. OR more profitably, show them how your product is truly helpful to them.

Offer bonus deals to your customers. If you are a renovation carpenter maybe you can offer “buy 5 window installations and get the 6th free”, or free home inspections and give them a discount on repairs needed.

Email Reputation Management

You can get them interested in renovations even before they are ready. Offer helpful tips on choosing the right carpet and then toss in a coupon. Or the big news on contemporary toilets in traditional homes. Now when they are ready they will turn to you because you have been helpful. Sell at them all the time and they could remember you too, just not in a positive way.

Along with seductive subject lines you need a good email address. Many autoresponders don’t like a gmail address because it isn’t professional. Use your real business address. It can be a special one just for you like John@MyBusinessEmail.com or product specific like Windows@MyBusinessEmail.com

It is important to always test your subject lines with open rates. Here is a list of things that have been tested to show a reduction in the open rate:

1. Using the word “you” instead of their name.
2. Using the word “quick” instead of actually the amount of time to be invested. ie “Watch this quick video” got opened less than “Watch this 5 min video”
3. The word “meeting” implies a commitment and reduces open rates.
4. Using the FW: trick but not changing the subject will reduct open rates.
5. OdDbaLl WrITinG or @(^$@)! will get you junked!
6. Saying “Weekly Newsletter” begs to be deleted or “filed”
7. The word “referral” can be a turn off. It screams sales pitch even from a friend. Rather than “Referral from Amy Smith” try “About Your Friend Amy Smith”.

Bottom line: You can find lots of conflicting advice on email marketing, just remember, this is YOUR list. Test. There is nothing you will find online that will definitively tell you what will work with your unique business relationship with your customers, clients and leads. Test, test, test. And when you are done doing that – test some more.

Find out how to write emails that will convert.