Email has been around longer than most technologically-driven forms of communication. It predates social media by quite a while and has remained a premier way to correspond for decades now. In fact, there were a staggering 3.8 billion different email accounts being used across the globe in 2019 — representing a 100 million account increase in just a single year.
The privacy, affordability, simplicity, mobile-friendly nature, ease, and convenience of sending an email has ensured that it remains a robust option for all and sundry over the years — including marketers.
How to Write Engaging Marketing Email Copy
There’s no doubt that email is still an extremely effective way to reach customers. Not only that but recently its use has grown as an effective tool for generating engagement. In fact, 80% of marketers reported an increase in email engagement in the months leading up to 2020.
If you’re all in on using email marketing to engage with your audience, but you’re not sure what exactly to put in the body of each email in order to engage the reader, don’t worry. Apart from MailChimp, here are some of the best ways that you can create engaging email copy for your customers and clients on a regular basis.
Write a Killer Subject Line
It’s no secret that successful email engagement all starts with your subject line. If your email is titled correctly, it will simultaneously encourage the recipient to open the email and set reasonable expectations for what they’ll find inside.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when crafting your email’s subject line:
- Keep it as short as you (reasonably) can: This doesn’t mean you have to use two to three words or you’ve failed. However, 82% of marketers do send emails with no more than 60 characters in the subject line, indicating that there is a clear connection between shorter titles and improved results.
- Don’t lead potential readers on: Be upfront about what you’re offering your reader right in the subject line. Don’t beat around the bush.
- Use questions: Posing a question related to the subject is an excellent way to hit a pain point for the reader that encourages them to see what solution you have provided. Just make sure it’s clearly connected to the content of your email.
- When possible, make emails time-sensitive: Whether you’re promoting an urgent sale, meeting a deadline, or honoring a holiday, using time to create a sense of urgency is an excellent way to beef up a subject line with extra drama and purpose.
Writing subject lines for emails is an art, not a science. So don’t be disappointed if you can’t discover a formula that provides stellar results every time. However, generally adhering to the above advice is a great way to keep your subject lines inviting and on point.
Maintain Consistency
Consistency is a key component of creating a successful brand. Your emails should always have a similar flair that makes them undeniably your own. Your company’s voice, tone, style, and format should all remain consistent and similar.
This tendency towards consistency doesn’t just refer to your emails, either. It should be mirrored across all of your brand’s marketing platforms. That’s why email marketing giant MailChimp suggests that you create a customer service philosophy in order to unify your brand’s interactions with its customers under one consistent banner.
This philosophy should incorporate more than just looks and style, too. It should identify ethical components such as respect and honesty that can be actively reflected in your text conversations as well.
From your subject line to your email’s body and even your customer service philosophy, it’s essential that you strive for consistency throughout your email marketing.
Remember: Quality, Not Quantity
Everyone has that email list that they signed up for without thinking — only to receive unwanted emails once, twice, or even thrice a day for months on end. If you want your emails to read with engaging, informative copy, then you absolutely must avoid the trap of prioritizing quantity over quality.
Instead, gauge the best frequency for your particular situation. You can do this by researching competitor behavior, asking for customer feedback, and researching email marketing best practices within your industry.
Then, focus on providing a reasonable number of high-quality emails. These should include concise, informative, authoritative text that genuinely provides value to your audience. This could come in the form of industry tips, special promotions, or anything else that customers value.
Segment Your Audience
Segmentation allows you to tailor your marketing message for a variety of different demographics. This can be extremely helpful in increasing engagement with email campaigns.
For instance, you can have a select email that goes out to new subscribers and a separate list for repeat customers. You could also attempt to segment your list based on geographic location, age, gender, or anything else that can help you create more specific emails that will encourage greater engagement from the reader.
Personalize Your Message
As you segment your email list, it also provides more opportunities to personalize each message. We already covered personalizing a subject line, but there are many other ways to individualize your content, such as:
- Using a macro to automatically insert individual names in each email.
- Sending abandoned shopping cart emails.
- Creating new recommendations based on past purchases.
- Personalizing a message based on a geographic location.
The more personal your email text can be, the more likely it is that you’ll entice a reader to open, read, and engage with your brand.
Refining and Engaging
From personalization to subject lines, quality content to segmentation, there are many ways to thoughtfully attempt to increase your email marketing engagement. No matter what tactics you choose to use for your campaigns, at the end of the day, always track your analytics and ask for feedback to see how your strategies are performing.
Despite analytics and data, successful email campaigns are still in many ways an art, not a science. Patience, innovation, and adaptation are key. If you make an effort, track your results, and then tailor future efforts based on your analysis, sooner or later you will be able to hone in on that all-important goal of increasing engagement with your customers.