One study found that for every $1 you invest in email marketing, you’ll generate $42 in revenue. That’s an investment worth taking, don’t you think? However, if you want your email marketing campaigns to be effective and convert, you’ll need an amazing copy.
Copywriting is a highly appreciated skill in marketing. The difference between content and copy is that copy aims to get the reader to take the desired action. While email content can just be used to engage and inform recipients, email copy is what will get you new customers, subscribers, or whatever you wish for.
When done right, email copywriting can be the most valuable asset for growing your business. Why is that? Because conversion rates for emails are higher than social media, direct traffic, and search.
If you want to be fully prepared for your next email campaign and ensure an increased conversion rate, try out these proven email copywriting formulas.
1. Be Concise
Reading your email copy should be effortless. That’s why you need to keep it as short as possible.
Don’t leave recipients much time to contemplate what you have written. Get straight to the point and add CTA (call-to-action) as a cherry on top.
Writing concise copy also insinuates that you don’t beat around the bush. If you say that you have a solution to their problems, they want to know what it is ASAP.
2. Write in the Second-Person Voice
A great copy should give the reader the impression that you are directly talking to them. Use a second-person voice to put yourself in the role of a friendly advisor rather than the seller.
Using he, she, or they, will make the email impersonal. The recipient should feel like you have written that email with their specific needs, likes, and interests in mind.
Just take a look at these two examples:
- “Get your presents ready just in time for Christmas! You don’t want to handle the stress of last-minute shopping.”
- “Purchasing presents before Christmas eliminates the stress of Christmas shopping.”
Consider that 80% of customers are more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand that provides personalized experiences. Writing about people, in general, won’t make recipients feel special, that’s for sure.
3. Create Impressionable Subject Line and Preview Text
An amazing copy doesn’t just consist of the email body. It also includes subject line and preview text. The subject line, preview text, and email content need to all work together to get you that conversion.
The statistics show that 33% of email recipients open emails because of catchy subject lines, and 69% of people will report an email as spam based solely on the subject line.
What does this tell us?
It tells us that if you don’t write a great subject line, the recipient won’t even get to the email content.
Think of it like this: if you had a bad first impression of a person, you wouldn’t want to get to know that person better. The same goes for the email copy. If the recipient doesn’t like the subject line, they won’t be interested in reading the rest of the email.
Here are some tips and trick to crafting clever and persuasive subject line and preview text:
- Apply exciting and strong action verbs
- Limit the length up to 10 words
- Leverage people’s basic curiosities and desires
- Provoke urgency and controversy (if possible and applicable)
Take a look at these examples of impressionable subject lines and preview texts:
4. Segment Your Email List to Increase Personalization
You may not have the time to write a different email to each and every subscriber, but you can put segmentation to use.
Segment the list of email contacts based on characteristics such as demographics, purchasing habits, the preferences they emphasized when filling the form, etc. Based on that, you’ll be able to write different versions of the copy that will personalize the recipients’ experience.
For example, you can send an email copy with different product recommendations to your high-spending customers and customers that don’t spend as much. Here’s an example:
You’ll have a much higher chance of selling when you customize the incentive according to customer behavior.
5. Demonstrate Your Empathy
Relatable copy that evokes emotion is a copy that sells.
When people can recognize their problems in those email lines, they’ll believe you that you know how they feel. They’ll also trust you if you say that you have a solution.
A digital marketer and copywriter at ClassyEssay, Anthony Sully, explained why demonstrating empathy is the right formula for email copywriting. “Showing understanding will make customers feel heard and understood. The perception that you are just trying to sell something will be replaced with the perception that you want to help them,” said Anthony.
For example, if you want to get parents to subscribe to your newsletter, you opt for a copy that goes something like this,
“It’s hard to act like you have all the answers, but you want to be the best parent you can be. You don’t have to do it alone. Subscribing to our newsletter will welcome you to the community of parents who share tips, advice, and stories you can learn from. We parents have to stick together!”
Recognizing empathy in your copy will soften the recipients and make them more comfortable and open towards clicking that CTA.
6. Put Benefits over Features
The user-centric approach focuses on product’s or service’s benefits rather than their features.
Features explain what the product is capable of while benefits present the outcomes that the customers will experience if they use the product. Here’s an example of how you’ll express the same function in the form of feature and in the form of a benefit:
Writing about benefits will paint a picture of a better life that awaits the users if they give your product a try. Rather than going on and on about how amazing your product is, put the spotlight on how great the customer will feel if they purchase the product.
7. Share One Main Idea per Paragraph
Short paragraphs and organized thoughts make email copy more comprehensive. Such a copy allows readers to find what they are looking for even if they take a glance at the copy.
For that purpose, limit one main idea to one paragraph. Even if that results in having a one-sentence paragraph, it doesn’t matter. Short paragraphs will keep the recipients reading.
If you are new at copywriting, you might need some guidance with this. Use online tools like Readable to get insight into lengthy sentences and paragraphs. Or, for more precise tips, team up with writers from writing services like TrustMyPaper and BestEssaysEducation. Editors can also get this done for you, so you can also check out TopEssayWriting editing services.
8. Use Storytelling for Engagement
Storytelling is such a powerful technique for drawing people in the copy.
People have always been fond of stories, and at some point, marketers decided to use that writing formula for marketing. What a great (and profitable) idea did that turn out to be!
You can use storytelling in your copy for different purposes:
- to introduce recipients to your brand
- to make recipients more familiar with your team
- to tell relatable customer stories
- to share stories that evoke deep emotions (and consequently, trigger response)
What storytelling does is that it humanizes the brand. Email recipients get a sneak peek of who your brand, employees, or customers are. Once they feel like they know your brand, they’ll be more trusting to make a purchase.
9. Add Some Humor
If your brand’s personality permits a humorous tone in the copy, you can do wonders with that! Play around with a humorous tone, jokes, puns, and so on in your copy.
Humor has an amazing effect on people. It relaxes them and encourages them not to take everything so seriously. Moreover, it portrays you as a friend who wants to make them feel good.
Many brands use humorous style as a proven formula for their email copy. Just take Chubbies, for example. This brand is a master at a humorous copy. They’ll kind of remind you of that cool, funny, carefree kid at school with whom everyone wants to be friends.
The copy they create is simply irresistible, and you can’t help but accept whatever they are offering. That’s how great humorous copy works.
10. Use One Noticeable CTA
The final touch to a copy that converts is the CTA. The CTA can make or break your email copywriting strategy, so you better make sure that you do it right.
Opt for one, direct, and specific CTA. You don’t want to provide the recipient with too many choices. Giving them one CTA will drive them to instantly click on it when they finish reading your great copy.
When you have two or more CTAs, the recipients will have to consider which one to choose. If they are hesitant, it’s not excluded that they give up on taking action under the conviction that they “have to think about it some more.”
Conclusion
There you go! You have in your possession the top 10 email copywriting formulas that will fire up your conversion rates.
Intertwine these tips with your brand’s personality, and you’ll get a winning combination for an impressive copy. Keep in mind that you should add your own twist to each of these suggestions and personalize the formulas to fit your target audience’s interests.
