We’ve all had our inboxes flooded with marketing messages. Things like “Limited time only!” and “Act now!” are subject lines you might read every day. But how often do you open those emails?
As a business owner or marketing manager, your job is to create marketing emails that people actually want to read. It might seem like an impossible task, but the truth is when people identify with your brand and are intrigued by your content, they’ll be happy to read your emails and probably visit your site too!
In this article, we’ll go through a few different ways you can capture leads’ attention and get them to open your marketing emails.
Subject Line
It all starts with a good hook! Your subject line is the first thing people see in their inbox, so it has to be interesting enough to draw them in.
The goal of your subject line is to appeal to the person’s emotions. That could mean making them curious, asking them a question, making them laugh or even instilling some FOMO. When people have an emotional connection to something, they want to close that gap and resolve those feelings as quickly as possible. That’s why they open your email.
You can match your subject lines to the type of email marketing campaign you’re running. For example, nurture campaigns often pique people’s interest with more information or by addressing a problem. Sales campaigns will use more direct, urgent subject lines to encourage action.
Short and Sweet
Nothing turns off readers like a wall of text in an email. If your email looks like it’s going to take time and energy to read, most people will send it straight to the trash. That’s why you have to keep your email content short and sweet.
Ideally, you want short sentences and short paragraphs. A good rule of thumb is to avoid any paragraph that takes up more than three lines. Short sentences help you make quick points and lead the reader straight to your point, almost like breadcrumbs to the meat of the article.
Another great tactic in emails is using bullet lists. These lists can:
- break up the text
- make things easier to read
- present lots of details in a simple format
See what I did there? That’s how it will work in your emails too!
Email Etiquette
Naturally, you’re excited about your product or service. And you want to help people by showing them how awesome it is. That’s all well and good, but you have to be careful that your excitement doesn’t get interpreted as yelling.
Remember your email etiquette when sending marketing emails. Too many bolded words, exclamation points or all caps can create too much urgency. For readers, it will feel like you’re yelling at them to “buy my product NOW!” See how aggressive that is?
Instead, try to limit these elements to only your calls to action if you include them at all in your email. Your product will speak for itself and approaching your audience in an excited but measured tone will go much further than an email packed with exclamation points.
Calls to Action
Speaking of calls to action, they’re the most important part of your email. Readers should be able to identify your call to action the second they open your email. It’s the first piece of information they need to see so they immediately understand what you want from them.
The rest of the email is really just supporting this request. If someone opens an email and sees a “Call us today” button, they’ll wonder why you want them to call. Now they’re reading your email to find out and can learn more about your brand in the process. That’s how CTAs work in your favor.
Marketing emails are a precise art. If you can write a good subject line, keep your copy short, remember your email etiquette and include quality calls to action, then people will be happy you’re in their inbox.