A step-by-step guide
Email marketing is a must have, it brings with it many benefits, not least the ability to increase sales. But creating an email that successfully converts is a combination of both art and science.
No matter how beautiful your emails are, they are nothing if the copy is overlooked. The words in your email can make or break whether it converts leads into customers, or not.
It is important to craft fine-looking emails (which is easy with our handy drag and drop email templates) but understanding what makes (and how to write) email copy that converts is also key.
So, because we’re here to support you, we’ve compiled a step-by-step guide to writing email copy that converts.
Step 1: Think about your message
Are you offering a discount, opening a new store, changing your opening hours, or launching a new product?
Whatever your message, clearly define it. Sending emails with a single-minded proposition ensures you don’t confuse your readers with too much information. People take around 10 seconds to read a brand email. So, you must be clear about what you want to achieve.
Step 2: Segment your contact list
To be successful in email marketing, targeting your audience is vital. Being generic will mean your message will get lost as they won’t resonate with your audience.
Instead, segmenting customer groups together using certain characteristics or features will help you create more relevant messaging, specific to them – which is much more likely to convert.
Step 3: Get Personal
The act of personalising an email means you identify your contact as an individual, and deliver them an experience and a message that’s more suited to them.
True personalisation goes further than data-merging a name into the copy and will entice your subscribers to make a purchase of their own free will.
Combine this with a little bit of psychology, such as how your message can change their lives, or what they’ll lose if they don’t act, and you’ll be well on your way to drafting excellent email copy.
Step 4: Nail your subject line and perfect your preview text
If no one opens your email, they won’t even get the chance to view your expertly crafted copy, so the best place to start is by nailing your subject line and pre-header text. Getting them right will create interest and insight further action.
Conveying a benefit, or compelling evidence as to why they should open the email as succinctly as possible is the best strategy to take.
The length of them is important. Subject lines should be no more than 9 words and 60 characters, while pre-headers should not exceed 100 characters. Don’t forget to test them to see how they look on different devices before sending the message.
Step 5: Format for skimmers
This is a biggy. With only 5 – 10 seconds to catch people’s attention, you need to make sure your writing is succinct. Break up your copy into short sentences, use bullet points, and formatting to get your message across quickly. Avoid jargon and be conversational – remember you’ll know exactly who you’re speaking to if you’ve followed points 2 and 3 above.
Break up your content with eye-catching imagery to keep messages focused and the reader interested.
Step 6: Create a clear, compelling CTAs
A CTA (or call to action) is one of the most important aspects of your email campaign. It’s the action you want your subscribers to take, that will hopefully lead to them converting.
A good CTA must be clear and informative, and there should be no questions as to what the link will take your reader to. If it states, ‘book my appointment’, your link should take readers straight through to the bookings page. If it says, ‘call us today’, ensure you use a click to call link.
Handy hint: A more prominent, eye-catching CTA button in a vibrant colour will increase its visibility, and therefore also the likelihood of conversions.
Step 7: Create a seamless experience
The best email experience will provide a clear journey for the reader. The email copy will deliver on the promise of your subject line and the landing page will deliver on the promise of your email.
This seamless experience will reassure readers that they’re getting what they’re being sold, which will build trust in your relationship, and hopefully keep them engaging with your content for the long-term.
Step 8: Proof, proof, and proof some more
Once you’ve written your copy, make sure you proof it to avoid any unfortunate errors, or unnecessary words that might detract from your goal. Send it to someone else to read too, as they may just spot errors that you’ve missed.
It’s also an idea to show someone who doesn’t have the writer’s expertise on the message, as they might be able to help you clarify your copy.
Step 10: Test, track and try again
Testing your copy will help you learn what works, and what doesn’t with your segment. Fortunately for Transpond customers, split testing is easy to set up.
When split testing your email campaign, remember the original version is the control, and the variant changes a single element, like your subject line, your call-to-action, or a single part of the text. If you change too many things, you won’t be able to attribute any differences in results to a single element.
Once you’ve sent your campaign, track your metrics such as deliverability, open rates or click through rates to see if there are any significant differences between the two versions.
Whether there are, or not, keep trying. You’ll learn something new with every campaign you send.
The Takeaway
First class email copy will convert leads into customers and customers into customer champions.
Will your copy sell to everyone who reads it? Of course not. Nothing’s guaranteed. But practice makes perfect, so try, try, and try again. Monitor your results and learn from your mistakes. We promise you’ll get to know your audience and be an email copywriting pro in no time at all.