These 5 Email Marketing Copywriting Tips Will Take Your Emails to the Next Level

In this video, Bailey from the WebFX Internet Marketing team shares five tips for writing mind-blowing email copy.

Transcript: 

Do you want to stop people in their tracks with your email copy? All it takes is a bit of research, a little practice, and your attention throughout this video.

If you haven’t guessed yet, this video covers five tips for writing email copy that grabs attention. I won’t make you wait any longer. Let’s start with the first tip.

5 tips for mastering email marketing copywriting

1. Write for your subscribers

Writing good email copy means considering your subscribers every step of the way. People signed up for your emails with the expectation that the content would be tailored to their interests. Don’t disappoint them, or you’ll risk losing them.

Start by choosing email topics that your audience finds interesting. If someone subscribed to a newsletter for tea enthusiasts — the drink, not the letter — they probably don’t want to receive emails about milk… unless it’s a recommendation for the best milk to use in tea.

You’ll want to mimic the way your audience speaks, too. A newsletter that reaches business executives will be much more formal than one aimed at college students. I think the greeting, “Hey, smarty pants,” will go over well with a junior in college. But a serious executive who gets hundreds of emails each day? Probably not, although you can always run an A/B test if you want to try it out.

Use the language of, and cover the topics that relate to, the people who willingly give you their contact information. You’re sure to generate interest in your emails by doing that.

2. Spark curiosity with your subject lines

Intrigue your subscribers with a headline that makes them want more. The trick is telling them what’s in your email but not giving away so much that it spoils the big reveal. Think of it like turning on your faucet and letting a little bit of water squeak out — enough that you know the faucet works, but not enough that you can use the water for anything without turning the faucet all the way on.

In this real-life example from PremiumBeat, they use a question as their subject line to play on our curiosity. They ask, “Are Holograms The Future of Filmmaking?”

Holograms are a fairly new technology, so that alone is a great way to spark interest. The fact that the subject uses a question leaves things open-ended, telling me the only way to get the answer is to open the email and read.

3. Make your copy easy to skim

According to estimates from Statista, people send and receive a total of 306 billion emails around the world every. Single. Day.

While your email marketing makes up a tiny fraction of the global email landscape, keep in mind that you’re not the only one with an email newsletter.

If people thoroughly read every single email they received, they’d never put their phones down. Make your copy easy to skim so your readers don’t miss out on your messaging.

• Start by keeping your sentences short and sweet.
• Break up text into short, one-  to two-sentence paragraphs.
• Use bullet points to highlight information.
• Use headings to separate your topics.
• Add images to make your content more visually appealing.

People are going to skim whether you like it or not, so the best thing you can do is adapt your email copy to their reading habits.

4. Give people a reason to care

An email newsletter is a transaction, just without the money. Someone willingly gives you their personal information, and you give them valuable emails. If people don’t see the worth of your emails, they’ll quickly make a return (or, in this case, choose to unsubscribe).

With every email you send, think about why your subscribers should care. What about this email makes it worth reading?

In this email copy sample from Vimeo, the subject line immediately tells me that I can get my videos in front of TikTok users.

Vimeo is a video hosting platform, by the way, so this is very relevant to subscribers.

Within the body of the email, I see plenty of lines that tell me how I’ll benefit from this content.

• “Discover how you can up your video’s success…”
• “Build customer loyalty with video”

The email focuses on me and how I’ll improve my skills with this content. This tells me that providing my email was a great idea. A small price to pay for something so helpful.

5. Tell subscribers what you want them to do

Seriously, use your email marketing copywriting to tell people what you want from them. Whether you want your audience to continue reading something on your website, make a purchase with a coupon, or sign up for an event, be clear about the actions you want them to take.

This call-to-action (CTA) can appear as a button, a bit of linked text, or a graphic with arrows. I leave the format up to you.

In this email copy sample from DoorDash, the subject line reels me in with the promise of a discount.

Under the text sits a bright red button with the action DoorDash wants me to take: Order now. Twist my arm, DoorDash.

The CTA is clear and simple—two essential qualities of a successful CTA. There’s no question about what DoorDash wants me to do. It gets to the point and doesn’t use complex language.

Another point I’ll add: Try to stick to one main CTA. If you tell people to do too many things at once, they may choose to do nothing.

So sign up for our email newsletter, give our team a call, read more on our blog, and download a marketing guide on our website. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

I’ll focus on our email newsletter in going along with the theme of this video. Sign up for Revenue Weekly using the link in the video description to receive expert digital marketing content twice per month.

That’s all I have for you in this video. Thanks for joining me, and have fun writing up some amazing email copy.