email copy tips - Express Writers

10 Hot Email Marketing Tips for 2022

January 18, 2024September 6, 2022 by Nicole Inge

It’s predicted that 333.2 billion emails will be sent and received each day in 2022. It’s proof that email marketing is far from dead. So, if you haven’t gotten your brand moving to take advantage of email marketing, now is the perfect time to start building up your email list. With so many emails sent daily, how can you make sure your emails stand out in a crowded inbox? How do you ensure people take notice? What do you need to do to make sure they consume your content? We’ll cover the answers to these questions and more as we share 10 hot email marketing tips you can use in 2022 and beyond. 10 Hot Email Marketing Tips for 2022 It’s safe to say most of us subscribe to a lot of email newsletters, especially if you run a business. And there’s a good chance many of them get sent straight to the trash unopened. If you want to prevent the same fate from happening to the newsletters you send, keep these email marketing tips in mind: 1. Keep Your Target Reader in Mind When Writing To write truly irresistible emails, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your target reader. What would they want to see in an email from you? What kind of content would they enjoy reading? Whatever it is, that’s what you want to send to them. When they look forward to seeing your name in their inbox, they’re more likely to open and eagerly engage with the content you send. To take it a step further, consider segmenting your email list based on interests or where they are in the buyer’s journey. This makes your content more focused and personalized for the groups of subscribers you target with each campaign. Essentially, it ensures they receive the content they’re most interested in seeing versus getting bombarded with other information. Not only does this increase open rates, but people will be less likely to unsubscribe. 2. Write Subject Lines That Grab Attention Of all the email marketing tips in the world, this is the one you should take the most seriously. Your subject line could make or break the success of your email. It might sound like a lot of pressure, but your subject line is crucial. It’s what people see first thing. Those few words help them decide whether they open your email or send it straight to the trash. If you want to increase your open rates and get people to read the content you so painstakingly crafted, your subject line needs to grab attention. It needs to be descriptive while still being short and sweet. And most importantly, it should never mislead your subscribers. Clickbait subject lines can reduce your read rates by 9% or more. 3. Schedule Emails to Send at Optimal Times After you finish crafting a compelling email, it might be tempting to hit send immediately. However, it might not be the most optimal time for an email to land in your subscribers’ inbox. You want to reach them when they’re more inclined to open and read your content. The tricky thing about finding the right time to send emails is that it tends to vary based on the industry. Although, there is some data you can use to help you narrow down a few times to experiment with. Then, you can see what your unique audience responds to. Here’s some advice from WordStream to get you started: Stick With Daytime: It’s better to send emails to your list when your subscribers are awake. Because you can have subscribers based across the globe and in different time zones, consider the location of most of your audience when choosing your ideal time. Avoid Mondays and Weekends: Many people arrive in the office first thing on Monday morning and delete any unnecessary emails, so you don’t want yours to fall into that category. Emails are often ignored on weekends as well, which is when people tend to disconnect. Go With Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday: According to MailChimp, these three days tend to be the favorites when sending email campaigns. Try sending emails on these days to see if one triggers a higher open rate than another. Then, you can choose one day for weekly consistency. At the end of the day, be willing to test and tweak your schedule. Once you’ve figured out the best day and time to send your emails, it’s one less thing you to worry about. Instead, you can just focus on implementing the rest of these email marketing tips. 4. Make Sure Your Emails Are Optimized for Mobile Because you’re sending your emails from a desktop website, it can be easy to forget to check how the result looks on a mobile device. But, most of us are reading our emails on mobile. That’s why you need to take the extra step to ensure your email template and all your content suit a smaller screen. Otherwise, your subscribers will have a hard time reading what you’ve sent, and they could delete your email without engaging. Luckily, many platforms allow you to preview your email on mobile. Often, you can even send a test email to yourself before it goes out to your list. Then, you can make any final tweaks to ensure it’s mobile-friendly and looks great. Take the extra few minutes to do this before sending! As a good rule of thumb, you’ll want to stick to a single-column email template. You’ll also want to choose a font size that’s legible on mobile since subscribers won’t be able to make it bigger. Additionally, you’ll want to double-check the size of any images and buttons that you’ve added. 5. Engage Subscribers Right Off the Bat If you’re not already sending a welcome email (or even an entire welcome sequence) to your new subscribers, you’re missing out. The smartest thing you can do to take your email marketing and your business to the next level is … Read more

An Up-to-Date, Nutshell Guide to Your Best Email Content Marketing

December 31, 2020March 6, 2017 by Adam Oakley

Have you ever wondered how effective your emails are? Do they leave an impression, or just end up in the trash folder? It may be that you measure email success by the amount of people who open it and then click through. Which means that the email first has to be opened, then read, then clicked. Not to mention it also has to be the appropriate length and interesting enough to engage readers and move them to action. How much does email length matter? Can your tone shine through, and does anyone really read the subject line, anyway? We’re here to break the answers to these questions down, and give you an updated guide (with a recent Boomerang exclusive!) all about email content marketing. Boost your email results when you put these into practice. Keep reading! Email Marketing 101 Email is still critical to our content marketing efforts today. Take a look at these email marketing stats for a better understanding of the impact email has in the industry: Marketers have seen a 760% increase in revenue from segmented email campaigns. Automated email messages average over 70% higher open rates and over 150% higher click-through rates than “business as usual” messages. Email is 40x more effective at acquiring new customers than Twitter or Facebook. Email is the connection between us and our prospects. When content marketers invest their time and resources into powerful emails, the reach potential is limitless. While technology has changed and social media has emerged over the past decade, email has stayed as a constant. Sure, we may not be using the same domain we did ten years ago, but the truth remains that when we need to send information, we email it. When we want to be connected to our favorite brand, we join their email list. Need a receipt for your store purchase, but don’t want a paper copy? Have it emailed. For these reasons and more, content marketing efforts can be enhanced when we learn to take the best email marketing practices and use them effectively. 3 Best Email Content Marketing Practices Back in the early 90’s, email hit the scene. Remember those AOL disks that were available through the mail and at the grocery store checkout stand? And how we communicate has not been the same since. (Letters? What are those?) Fast-forward to 2017, when 93% of marketers now say they use email for content distribution and consider it an important channel for their marketing success. And while it does remain an effective tool, it doesn’t mean we always use it in the best way. Emails have a wide range of possibilities in reaching an audience, including: Newsletters Product updates Transactional emails (after one has taken action on your website) Deals and promotions There are some qualities that make email an effective tool for your content marketing efforts. We have to learn the best way to increase the open rate, how to craft a subject line, how to create quality content, and how to choose the best time to write. 1. Learn How to Write a Great Email You may be thinking, “Wait a minute. I’m a content writer. I know how to write.” Isn’t it true that if we all knew how to write effective emails, there would be a higher response rate and we would be inundated with conversions? Especially since over 200 billion email messages are sent every day. So, yes, we can all use reminders from time to time about how to write effectively, and specifically, how to craft an email that engages the audience and encourages action. A. Craft a compelling subject line This seems like an obvious one, but if the subject isn’t engaging, few readers will want to click through to the actual content. Start by incorporating language that tells the reader what he or she can look forward to in the email. Words like “take,” “don’t miss,” and “reserve” are goods one to start with. B. Use personalization, if you can Shaping email content to fit a reader’s needs by using customer segmentation has the potential to increase revenue. In a study conducted by Direct Marketing Association, emails which were segmented and targeted generated 58 percent of the total revenue for marketers surveyed while 36 percent of revenue came from emails sent to specific target selections. C. Create relevant and honest content No one wants their time wasted, so coming up with a catchy email subject line that has nothing to do with the content inside is unfair and irresponsible. While you are crafting an engaging and personalized subject line, keep in mind that it should align with the content in the actual email. This not only keeps everything relevant, but sets you apart as an honest authority who isn’t out to trick anyone into clicking. D. Continue to offer relevancy by expressing to the reader right away why you are writing What is your connection? How are you providing a solution to the need? Our reach will go much farther when we highlight the benefits rather than the feature. E. Get to the point Practice writing concisely so the end result is powerful, tight sentences. Too wordy, and you’ll lose your readers. Too short, and they could miss the point. Content marketers must find a way to summarize a catch for the reader and encourage a click-through. Everywhere we go, we see content – in just one minute, there are millions of Facebook and Instagram likes, hundreds of thousands of Tweets, and hours upon hours of YouTube videos uploaded. We are consumed by content. The last thing we need is more unusable information, interruptions, or sales pitches coming through our inbox. A long, drawn-out copy won’t cut it here; readers must be able to sift through quickly in order to make a decision about whether or not they’ll click through. Try keeping emails between 50 and 125 words, which can increase the response rate for your efforts. Suggested tool: SmartBlogger’s list of 317 Power Words 2. Learn How … Read more

The Marketer’s Nutshell Guide to Effective Email Copywriting

June 19, 2024April 30, 2016 by Adam Oakley

It’s time. You’ve spent hours crafting the perfect email. You’ve agonized over the words you’ve included, written and re-written every sentence, and considered your reader at every fork of the road. You give the work of art you’ve just crafted one last read-through, then you take a deep breath and click “send.” You close your laptop. Your work there is done. A few days later, though, you check out the stats for that work of art you were so proud of and they’re, well, disappointing. How could this possibly be? If you’ve ever found yourself in these shoes, don’t fret. This is a very common problem, and many marketers struggle to figure out why the content they work so hard on isn’t as effective as they thought it would be. Luckily, you’re not doomed to live in this place of email marketing limbo forever. By learning the keys to stellar direct email copywriting, you can craft outstanding marketing emails that rake in the clicks, opens, and conversions. Read on to learn more. Great Direct Email Copywriting: The Basics While many people brush off direct email copywriting as a skill that died along with the early 2000s, the fact is that it’s still very, very relevant in today’s marketing environment. While email marketing might not have the universal appeal of social media or podcasting, it’s still far too important to overlook, and marketers that do find themselves missing out on a large segment of traffic and engagement. If you’re one of the many people who wonder what’s so great about email marketing, here are a few of its most winning qualities: #1. Direct email marketing is effective and cost-efficient While every company wants a cheap, efficient marketing strategy they can count on, this is especially important for, small business owners, who are always looking for efficient marketing solutions that will provide results on time and under budget. Luckily, email marketing fits the bill. According to one 2013 report conducted by Direct Marketing Association, marketers who use direct email marketing earn a 4,3000% ROI. How’s that for incentive? #2. Email marketing provides real value Every day, customers around the world take time out of their busy schedules to read through the emails that land in their inbox. Unfortunately, many of these emails are junk. Luckily, marketers who master direct email copywriting can set themselves apart from the crowd by providing real value to readers. According to CopyBlogger, brands that are truly successful at direct email marketing are those who position themselves as companies truly concerned about the happiness and well-being of their readers. This, in turn, helps readers feel as if they can trust your brand, which makes them more willing to share personal information and convert on your offers. #3. Email marketing opens up a reliable line of communication with customers Where else do you get unparalleled access to your customer’s pocket or inbox? Nowhere but email marketing, that’s the answer. When you provide valuable, unique, and interesting direct email copywriting, you succeed in opening up a valuable dialogue with clients, the likes of which isn’t seen anywhere else in marketing. #4. Email marketing is a powerful tool for word-of-mouth and shares According to DuctTape Marketing, quality content is one of the only things that will produce reliable sales results every time. With this in mind, it’s clear that people who master the art of direct email copywriting are uniquely qualified to make more sales and produce more positive word-of-mouth advertising within their customer base. Despite all of these benefits, many people are afraid of writing marketing emails, assuming it will be challenging or unproductive. Luckily, crafting good email copy doesn’t have to be a challenge. With that in mind, check out our top tips for writing effective marketing emails your customers will love. 10 Steps to Craft Stellar Email Copy That Can’t Be Ignored If you’re ready to incorporate great email marketing into your content strategy, follow these ten steps: 1. Remain relatable in all of your marketing copy Let’s get one thing straight: nobody wants to read a stuffy marketing email. Would you? Of course the answer is no. That’s why it’s so important to keep your voice relatable and approachable in your direct email copywriting. Here are three good examples of brands I love that do just that: Tim Ferriss’s Five Bullet Friday email always feels like grabbing a quick coffee with a friend. It’s approachable, casual, and informative. Which may be why it has a few million subscribers: Another blogger who has always done a great job of maintaining a relatable approach is Mark Manson. Here’s one of his most recent marketing emails that decidedly does not feel like a marketing email: Finally, for reference, here’s a marketing email from GroupHigh, an influencer marketing startup that always kills it with the copywriting: With those examples in mind, strive to keep your email copywriting in the same tone that you’d use to talk with a friend. It will benefit you in terms of conversions, clicks, and engagement down the road. 2. Personalize your emails as much as possible A personalized email is a successful email, so take steps to make them as individualized as possible. This often means using your reader’s name in the subject line, using your name as the “From” address, and inputting a personal email as the “Reply to” address rather than allowing it to fill in with an auto-generated email from MailChimp or whatever service you use. While personalization may not seem like a big deal, Aberdeen reports that personalizing an email can improve click-through rates by 10%. 3. Make clarity your main priority Too many marketers try to be too gimmicky in their email copy, which only drives users away. Instead of focusing only on hooking your readers, think first about how you can provide clarity and value. Once you’ve got those two things down, you can move onto being catchy. 4. Write a compelling email subject line When it comes to … Read more