Sifting through a never ending mail inbox… What do you choose to open? Who is emailing you, anyways? Aren’t the deciding factors limited to short subject lines, and perhaps the relevance of the incoming contact?
It is safe to say that email campaigns are an efficient method of direct marketing communication, however the competition for attention is massive. As a digital marketer, it all comes down to your skills in writing catchy, compelling content.
So, what is it that can trigger an uncontrollable curiosity? Or what sends the reader right to the “delete” button? To make the best use of this medium, you must become familiar with the fact that every small step matters greatly in a marketing campaign. Let’s take a look at all the copywriting components that can assist you in a complete open rate transformation, as well as what can bring your business to more incoming replies.
What your email should cover:
- The subject line – maximizing opens
- The body copy – maximizing replies
- The call to action (CTA) – maximizing sales
- Follow up emails – maximizing replies
Within the following three compounds:
- Your understanding of the audience
- Personalized, intentional vocabulary
- Alignment between body copy and subject line
1. Basic Psychology
Imagine you are the receiver. What usually grabs your attention in a crowded inbox? Maybe you give each notification the benefit of the doubt, only to face a gigantic text of unknown information and immediately click return.
Ask yourself these questions:
How prone are you to procrastinating answering such emails? And to be honest; are you ever a bit lazy? Or perhaps just too busy to read big bulks of written text?
I bet the answer is yes!
Part of showing comprehension of your target audience is to lay out concise texts with relevant information that shows your understanding of who they are and why they want to hear from you. Be as short and snappy as possible, going straight to the point with no extra fluff or badly focused information. Your reader wants to understand the purpose of this communication, and how this is hopefully not another wasted minute of their precious time.
In the body text of the email, this can be done in no more than a few lines. In subject lines, it only takes a couple of words.
Truth is, your customer doesn’t care much about you, but rather how your offer is totally valuable to them. The trick is to convey your proposal sounding educational, not pushy. If the customers feel you are trying to convince them of something, you’ve likely already lost interest.
The human ego tends to make everything about itself, so focus on what makes your client realize he has been looking for what you offer all along, and that this is the perfectly timed presentation to grab on to it.
Easier said than done? Allow these wording techniques to further assist you in the perfect psychological techniques:
1.2 Into Psychology: Personal Touch & Power Words
The intriguing thing about human functionality is that we have a wide spectrum of energy-fuelling emotion. Every word we read triggers a feeling, a remembrance, an association. You might not be aware of this, but it is always happening subconsciously.
The good news is that you can use this knowledge to phrase your copywriting in a way that evokes a feeling of relation, curiosity, or ultimately, interest. Be personal; we have covered it in our latest articles.
Check out this page to make best use of power words and increase your open/reply rates.
2. An Irresistible Subject Line
The challenge of this part is using a maximum of six to ten words to unquestionably pull the eye, as on desktop format, this is the one and only deciding factor of your open rates.
Of course, all copywriting varies from industry to industry and we highly encourage you to experiment– however, it is a fact that long sentences simply don’t cut it, especially when seen in mobile format.
Remember to keep it personal in every aspect and, if possible, create a sense of urgency as to why this email must be opened right away! You might use a sense of humor, make a promise, ask a question or mention names directly. Whatever you do, just make it irresistible, and make sure it is coherent with the body text.
3. Body Copy
If you make a promise before the email is opened, then it must be kept on the body copy. Using super catchy and mind blowing subject lines without actually backing them up will only make your long-term relationships deteriorate…. That’s clickbait, after all. Customers will no longer be awed at your catchy little tricks.
Make sure to show consistency and gain the respect of the audience. By aligning the body copy with the subject line, your readers will always trust your content, and this is exactly what we are looking for in any marketing relationship.
On another note, make sure to take advantage of white space. It makes everything easier to absorb and will increase the chances of your reader going through all of the material.
Avoid any technical vocabulary. The goal is for the customer to understand everything with ease and simplicity.
There are countless ways of formulating your body copy. Telling an original story performs fantastically in email campaigns; they create a direct sense of relation and compassion.
Overall, think in terms of covering the following questions: Why you? Why now? Whatever way you choose to go, double check that all information is of relevance and coherent with the psychological criterias we’ve covered above.
4. Remembering Preview Text
On mobiles, a few written lines are visible along with the subject line. Be aware of the presence of previewing text and use it to your advantage! You have half a sentence to make the reader feel some sort of significance.
Give a solid idea of what is inside the body of the email and use it to be strategically complementary. Is your introductory snippet worth checking out?
5. Call To Action
After attentively catching your customer and shortly introducing your business, it is time for the last concise step: Call To Action (or CTA).
Don’t overload the reader with links and buttons. Instead, state a clear, single invitation to your desired direction, whether it is to book a call, click an external link or propose a sale.
6. Follow Up
Following up plays a crucial role in email campaigns, especially as it is often not the first email to which the customer replies. Depending on your business, there are various ways to go about the structure of your follow ups. They can be as simple as reminders and inquiries of whether the last email has been received, or you may choose to split up the delivery of information between a couple of emails.
Here is an example of email sequences that might be useful for your business strategy.
At the end of the day, experimenting with different techniques will allow you to obtain the best results within your specific industry. We hope this guide has been a helpful tool!
See you next time.
Julia Arguello Busch – Ninja Partners
