Knowing how to write and how to do it well is not an easy thing. When one speaks of writing, one enters a world that to define as varied is really reductive. If we then talk about writing for the web, the field undoubtedly narrows, we move into a smaller world, but one that is still varied and multifaceted.
Copywriting is a fundamental aspect of communication on the Internet. The main mission of online copywriting is the translation into words of concepts, ideas, or proposals to reach a specific target identified through the analysis of buyer personas.
Initially, copywriting was linked to advertising and advertisements. The copywriter was essentially responsible for devising and drafting commercial releases.
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Email Copywriting: what it is
Today, things have changed slightly. The copywriter still deals with advertisements, but his or her scope has expanded considerably. This is mainly due to what has been referred to as Digital Business.
In fact, the copywriter has evolved into a web copywriter, becoming one of the leading figures in the new digital professions and coming to take care of almost all aspects of text content: from advertising on social media to articles for SEO-optimised corporate blogs, to writing persuasive emails.
The copywriter, therefore, can have different valences and conduct different writing activities. When his main engagement corresponds to writing texts for e-mails, we are in front of a professional we can call an e-mail copywriter.
But what does an email copywriter do and what does email copywriting consist of? If you’ve just asked yourself this question, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, you will discover email copywriting and some simple tips for good email marketing copywriting.
The importance of creating a seductive text for Email Copywriting
In order to write professionally, one needs to have a mainly humanistic background, a creative soul, and a careful understanding of who the message is addressed. A good e-mail copywriter, in fact, should not only have a perfect knowledge of the grammar of the language he or she uses to work but should also be flexible and able to use different writing styles.
An AdWords ad or a blog post, for instance, requires necessarily different editorial standards. Writing e-mails accordingly will require a special “narrative method”.
In the context of email copywriting marketing campaigns, whether trigger marketing related or not, there is often an insufficient focus on the text component, detracting from the central importance of email copywriting.
There is a general tendency to pay more attention to graphics instead of working on a good text that is attractive and seductive to the final reader.
For reasons of space and focus, we will not talk about how to improve an email marketing campaign (I recommend reading this page to understand the trigger and what it is) but we will focus on how to write a well-performing email. More specifically, we will talk about the various components of an email:
- Sender
- Object
- Body of the text
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How to fill in the email sender field
What is an e-mail? I am sure you know what an e-mail is, but as with all things we use daily and have come to know, we often take its true meaning, its essence, for granted. Today, an email can take many forms.
It can be short and simple or long and articulate, it can be a template or an HTML box, but it remains primarily a message. A message that starts from a sender to reach a recipient.
If we imagine an e-mail as a letter, we are not doing anything wrong. In fact, just like the good old romantic letters, the e-mail consists of three basic elements: the sender (which in the letter appears on the front of the envelope), the text (the contents of the envelope), and the addressee (the name with the address written on the back of the envelope).
Without these three elements, the mail would not be mail. I am talking to you about something as “old-fashioned” as letters to make you realize how important all these elements are in getting an e-mail opened.
Let’s say you have three envelopes in your mailbox: one bears the name of that cousin who lives in America, one bears the name of a large home furnishing chain of which you have never been a customer, and the last one is signed by the president of an organization you were associated with years ago.
Well, which of these communications would you open immediately? Which one at a later date? Which one would you trash? Needless to say, our dear cousin will take precedence and perhaps play it safe with the old president, while the “indistinct” advertising message will have little chance of opening.
With e-mails, heirs of old paper communications, we behave in exactly the same way. Technology is advancing and improving services, while our instincts remain more or less the same. That is why when we talk about email copywriting, we are not just talking about text.
Here are some tips on how best to draft the three fields of an email, starting with the sender.
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Make the sender of your e-mail recognizable and trustworthy
The sender of an e-mail must be immediately recognizable because it has always been the first element the recipient considers when deciding whether to open the message. Furthermore, in most email clients the sender is the field that appears first.
All the more reason when you deal with email copywriting you must ensure that it is clear, effective, and above all recognizable and reliable. To succeed in this there are some basic rules to follow.
Do not use fancy names or formulas reminiscent of advertising slogans
It may sound trite to say it, but it often happens that fancy names are used in the sender’s field, sometimes so original and weird as to be almost embarrassing. It may be an idea to aim for humor, but it must certainly be a studied strategy and not the casual result of a communication that claims to be serious and official.
So it is a good idea to stick to reality and not use made-up names. Another fundamental thing is not to confuse the subject with the sender: the sender has the task of identifying us, so it is wrong to include slogans or catchphrases in this section.
Present yourself with your company or brand name
Whether the company is yours or whether you are an employee, when you write an email to provide information or to convey official communication it is always appropriate to introduce yourself by the name of the company, to indicate and clarify the company, or in any case the organization that is conveying the message.
In some cases, the sender may differ from the company name if the marketing and communication plan provides for something else, such as using a friendly tone.
Humanize communication through a person’s name
In the previous paragraph, we stated that in order to be credible when we send out emails, we must make ourselves perceived and recognized through the company name. Right, but this does not prohibit us from trying to humanize our communication by placing the name of a person alongside the brand name.
A good formula is as follows: “Juary Santini by Digital Coach”. Inserting a person’s name in the sender field allows us to make the communication “friendly” by making the company perceived as “familiar”.
Do not use long senders
In addition to being identifying and reliable, the sender must be brief. If we want our readers to remember us, we cannot use names that are too long; remember that a concise formulation sticks in the memory more easily.
Furthermore, on some devices, a maximum of 20 characters are displayed for the sender field. This feature indirectly tells us that the name must be short or at least not too long.
Always use the same sender name
Always use the same sender. If you have differentiated the sender by type of mail, be careful not to mix it up. Always using the same sender’s name in the sender field helps the reader to recognize and remember us and will help us to retain the reader with regard to the open factor.
The sender must match the signature
Another very important thing in an e-mail is the accuracy and correspondence in each section of the names. In companies, either out of haste or distraction, this is often not done.
Before sending an e-mail, therefore, make sure that the name entered in the sender’s name corresponds to the person who will sign at the end of the internal text because the sender is not just a field but is the one who is communicating.
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What to write in the subject field of emails
The subject field together with the sender represents the most important text string of an email. If we misplace just one of these two sections, we run the great risk that our e-mail will remain closed forever or even end up in spam.
To avoid this possibility, there are some good practices to follow for the subject field.
Opt for a short, linear, and direct sentence
Yes, although the sender and subject line are two distinct fields they share characteristics and standards to be best emphasized. Brevity and simplicity are always welcome, even more so when dealing with copywriting and email.
After reading the sender of the communication, the reader instantly jumps to the subject line, deciding within seconds whether to “waste time” reading. For this reason, the subject field must contain a concise and effective sentence that immediately highlights why the email was sent.
It is advisable to immediately emphasize the advantages and benefits that will be gained from opening the virtual missive.
Be consistent with the content
True, our main goal when sending emails is to get them opened and read but to do this we must not overplay our hand. The subject field must, and I stress must, be consistent with the content of the email. It is very inadvisable to use sensationalist or even misleading headlines, as is often the case with click-baiting newspaper articles.
Forbidden to use spam words
This should be an obvious precaution, but judging by the daily emails we receive, it is not. Every day, large quantities of e-mails end up directly in the recycle bin. But we don’t want to end up in the spam folder, right?
So to “not throw everything in the bin” we try not to use risky words in the subject line. To find out what they are, just have a look in the “junk mail” section of your inbox. As a general rule, it is always a good idea to avoid totally capitalized titles, not to overdo punctuation, and to be careful with superlatives.
Some of the most banned terms are certainly “free”, “earning”, and “saving”.
Varies the wording of the object
If for the sender field, the rule of consistency applies, for the subject field this applies less. On the contrary, it is advisable to vary the wording of the sentences we insert in this section, avoiding using standard and overused expressions out of convenience, laziness, or haste.
If, for example, you are inviting your recipients to an event, do not always use the usual “attend our event” formula, but rework the statement and look for synonymous verbs. Some ideas could be “take part”, “join us”, “we invite you to participate”, or “attend the presentation”.
Search for the perfect object by testing
These are very useful tips, but we know perfectly well that market niches are infinite. So it can happen that some advice is more or less suitable for your business environment. If you want to get the perfect subject line for your e-mail, test several versions.
Only after a few trials will you be able to work out which words, which tone, and which features are best suited to your target audience.
The subject field must always be filled
I have left this suggestion for last because I hope no one will think of leaving the very important subject field blank. But since you never know, I will tell you as clearly as possible: the subject field cannot be left blank and must always be filled in.
All the spaces in the email must be filled in because that is how it should be. If we are sending an email it means that we want to communicate, forward reports and information, and do lead nurturing.
If we leave the subject line empty, what we are communicating will be total emptiness. So why should the user open the e-mail if we are telling him that we have nothing to tell him?
Examples of levers for the subject line of your e-mail:
- Subject matter (e.g. 50% discount on our email copywriting course);
- Promising subject matter (e.g. become an email copywriter with our online training);
- Subject How-to (e.g. find out how to learn how to write a good email text);
- Subject list (e.g. 10 ways to write a welcome mail);
- Intriguing subject matter (e.g. Learn the secrets of email marketing copywriting from our experts);
- Narrative object (e.g. when I started writing professional e-mails…);
- Question object (e.g. would you like to become a web writer?);
- News item (e.g. new email-marketing tool);
- Subject testimonial (e.g. why John chose to take the email copywriting course);
- Event subject (e.g. World Writing Day: learn new techniques for e-mail writing);
- Object imperative: (e.g. Don’t waste time, learn how to run an email marketing campaign!).
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The heart of email copywriting: the body text
After having dealt with crucial topics such as the sender field and the subject line, I would like to focus on what represents the beating heart of email copywriting: the body of the text.
After we have chosen the sender’s name and painstakingly filled in the subject line, we cannot miss the central part of the email, i.e. the text. Not least because it is precisely the text contained in the email that will, in some way, be read by the recipient.
If we have managed to lead him this far, we cannot disappoint him. So here are 6 little copy tips for writing a perfect e-mail text.
Write less to write better
Do you remember when your teacher at school told you that you had written a good essay but that one page wasn’t enough? Well, in email copywriting, and in general in writing for the web, being short and clear is an A-plus; in the face of the first in the class who used two protocol sheets and who, in our place, would be in trouble today.
So remember not to be long-winded, but at the same time do not forget to include all the most important information in the text. Writing less is now synonymous with writing better. In fact, quality content does not necessarily have to be long but must be complete and free of information gaps.
If, on the other hand, you are at the top of the class and you just cannot shorten the length of your text on the spot, my advice is to write as you know how. Once you have completed your textual content, reread it and start by removing all the adjectives and adverbs that you have used to embellish the sentence or that, identifying with the reader, seem superfluous.
I used to be very good at writing essays, giving free rein to my imagination, and using a lot of metaphors. On the web, you cannot always write like that, and over time I have learned to recognize what is needed and what is not. What you are reading is the fruit of this very technique, so with a bit of practice, you will be able to do it too.
Divide the text into paragraphs
This is probably the princess of rules for packaging texts suitable for web and mail. When reading on the screen and not on paper, the user behaves differently. The eye scans the entire content from left to right in a few seconds and focuses on certain passages.
It has been proven that dividing the text into paragraphs helps reading and increases concentration, or rather helps not to get distracted. Knowing this, divide your text into paragraphs of up to six lines.
Use correct formatting
If Marylin Monroe had been a copywriter she would surely have sung “Text formatting is the copywriter’s best friend”. That’s right, formatting has become our best friend because it supports us in making the text “digestible”.
The web reader is very lazy and always in a hurry, so we need to make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy our communications. The first thing to do is to choose the font. I recommend using a linear font that does not strain the eyes, such as Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica.
I also suggest you use, without abusing it, all the elements that formatting makes available to us to make reading more fluent: bold, italics, underlining, and words highlighted with colors. Bold, for example, is very useful for highlighting keywords or names of influential people, and italics for citing book titles or English terms.
Use a call to action
Without a call to action, an email would lose part of its value. When we send an email we are trying to convey instructions and we want the reader to perform some action, simple or complex. So in the text of your e-mail, especially in the closing, try to motivate your interlocutor through calls to action.
Calls to action are very powerful, but watch your tone of voice. The imperative is too aggressive and we do not want to command but want to give advice that will benefit the recipient. The key is to persuade the user but always with discretion.
Use the right tone of voice
What kind of e-mail are we writing? Institutional or informal? If we are drafting an institutional e-mail, it is a good rule to use a formal tone of voice, perhaps using a “lei” and strictly following grammatical rules. If not, we can safely use a friendly tone of voice.
On the contrary, in most cases, the reader feels more involved and comfortable when receiving a friendly tone of voice.
Close with a Post Scriptum
The P.S. is a very valuable tool to end the email on a high note and to keep the reader hooked. So at the end of your email, you can use a postscript to insert extra information, a secondary CTA or to refer to a minor offer.
If you have made it this far, you are a champion reader and are likely to become an excellent email copywriter. We have gone over the basic rules for practicing effective email copywriting, analyzed all the parts that make up an email, and seen how to write the body of the text.
Now you can finally write your best emails but remember to always do the analysis of your target audience and add a dash of personality, your own.
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