Email copywriting is more than just a series of words thrown together and sent out—it is a powerful tool that bridges your brand and your audience. With email marketing delivering an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, it’s vital to write emails that not only capture attention, but inspire action. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting out, this guide covers the essentials to transform regular emails into high-converting assets.

What is Email Copywriting?

Email copywriting describes the practice of developing email content to encourage your target audience to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or enlisting a service. Promotional emails are one type of email copywriting, as the purpose of these email campaigns is to develop calls to action to support specific marketing goals.

Email copywriting and general email subjects are not synonymous; although general emails can function as marketing materials, in that they raise awareness of your brand, an email copywriter is specifically focused on generating copy that encourages purchases, clicks, and other actions that can support your brand. General writing and email subjects can focus on a wide array of subjects and ideas, but do not have the calls to action that a promotional email or copywriting email contain.

Email copy is an important player in inbound marketing campaigns, because it has a high ROI, it reaches out directly to your target audience without a middle man, and it provides a way for your audience to regularly interact with your brand without leaving their own inbox.

Why Is Great Email Copy Important?

Your email copy starts with your email subject, and can be a powerful tool to increase engagement and improve conversion rates. Email subscribers have already opted in to receiving promotional emails and others from email marketers, but the engagement need not stop there. Email copy brings new ideas, new products, and even new blog posts directly to email subscribers. Email messages essentially function as personal emails to your audience, bringing them into the conversation, and offering them a unique opportunity to engage.

88% of people are reported to check their email daily–a platform that does not obey the same algorithmic rules as social media platforms. This means that your marketing email may have a greater chance of coming to the forefront. Email recipients are also said to typically spend as many as 8 seconds on each email–something that is difficult to achieve with the perpetually-scrolling nature of social media. Email subscribers may be better able to focus on a personalized email than a social feed.

Email strategy is similar to social strategies, with one important caveat: you are speaking directly to your target audience, on their “home turf,” if you will. Your emails go directly to your email lists, which means that you can create emotional connections with your audience and develop a sense of urgency. This is one of the most useful aspects of email marketing strategy: an email marketing campaign can begin with the actual first name of your audience members, and explain why jumping on an opportunity is an absolute must.

Elements of High-Performing Email Copy

An email strategy is one that focuses on important email marketing tools–not individual apps or software, but the elements I have identified below. By bringing all of these elements together in one place, you can cover the foundations of email copywriting and develop effective email marketing campaigns that are compelling and impactful. High-performing email elements include:

• Targeted audience insights: By focusing your energy on audience insights, you can tailor your email body to fulfill the wants and needs of your audience.
• Engaging subject lines and preview text: The subject line and preview text are the first introductions of your content as exceptional emails, so make sure you are clear, concise, and engaging in your speech.
• Concise and persuasive body content: Make use of the white space in your emails, and make sure that your content uses engaging, persuasive text with action verbs and encouragement.
• Clear, actionable CTAs: Clear, actionable calls to action are essential; even if your target audience only opens a single email, you should have a clearly defined call to action present.
• Personalization and segmentation: A great way to increase your engagement rate is to use personalization and segmentation, a practice that tailors emails toward specific audience segments, and uses specific names.
• Testing and optimization: A/B testing and optimization can help develop your digital marketing voice and increase your open rates.

10 Definitive Tips for Writing Email Copy That Converts

Email subscribers are your bread and butter, so it is vital to continually develop content that will capture your email recipients’ interest, whether you are sending to subscribers, or you are sending out cold emails. My 10 definitive email marketing tips include:

1. Write attention-grabbing subject lines.

Although your email content itself is important, place some emphasis on your subject lines, as this is the first interaction your audience has with your content. A subject line should capture attention and encourage readers to open your email.

Further advice: 10 Top Tips To Write Convincing Email Subject Lines That Get Opened

2. Use preheader text effectively.

Preheader text can also help with email deliverability, because it is the second line your audience goes to after reading your subject line. Using preheader text effectively means capturing your audience’s attention and encouraging them to open your email.

3. Focus on benefits over features.

Your email body needs to offer your audience something, so make sure that you are creating beneficial content while also utilizing the benefits your email service provider offers, including A/B testing. A successful email copywriter will talk about the powerful features that are relevant to an email client. Otherwise, there’s a chance your valuable email will end up in a spam folder.

4. Keep your message concise and scannable.

While email is not short-form content the way that social media is, the basic digital marketing strategies remain the same: create easily understood, concise, and scannable types of content that your audience can quickly digest and act upon.

5. Personalize your content for your audience.

There are different ways to personalize your content, starting with names, and going to tailoring your content for different segments of your audience. Your freelance copywriter can use different language to tailor content to your audience, as well.

Further advice: Content Personalization: What It Is and 9 Ways to Use It for Your Marketing

6. Incorporate storytelling to drive engagement.

Stories are one of the best ways to connect with your email list. Make the most of your email marketing campaigns by incorporating stories, including success stories from actual users and stories from the origin of your brand. Look at your product or service through the lens of storytelling and look for ideas on how to tell one, like the travel company did in the example above.

Further advice: Brand Storytelling: The Definitive Guide

7. Avoid spammy words and overuse of capitalization.

It can be tempting to overload your emails with keywords and use a lot of spammy language, but this can actually make your email messages seem as though they are one in a sea of other marketing emails. The spam filters might also kick into gear and never expose them to your intended recipient. In addition, avoid overuse of capitalization to sound more personable and engaging, and use natural, organic language.

8. Use psychology (e.g., FOMO and social proof) to persuade.

Psychology is invaluable for a sales rep, and it is equally important for email marketers. By making use of your audience’s fear of missing out and social proof from others, you can more effectively encourage your audience to answer calls to action within email messages. The above example shows how to do that using customer reviews to persuade.

Is Your LinkedIn Not Delivering Results?

Just released: my new book to help professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners maximize LinkedIn for real growth.

With years of LinkedIn expertise, Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth offers actionable steps to build your brand, expand your network, and drive results.

Start leveraging LinkedIn like never before—grab your copy now! Click the cover or button below to buy on Amazon.

9. Optimize for mobile devices.

Think about how ubiquitous mobile use has become. Whether you are announcing an upcoming product launch, or you are merely updating your audience on the goings-on of your company, make sure it is optimized for mobile devices.

10. A/B test everything from subject lines to CTAs.

A/B testing is powerful, because it shows you which subject lines work well with your audience, which calls to action are most effective, and which elements of email copywriting work best with your brand.

Examples of Effective Email Copy

Analyze successful campaigns from leading brands like Beardbrand, Casper, and Dollar Shave Club. Highlight storytelling, personalization, and urgency in email examples. Showcase innovative CTAs and actionable copywriting. (please include links for each case study)

Beardbrand

Beardbrand is a company focused on men’s hair and beard products–as well as some all-purpose products–that successfully leverages email to keep their users (and those who have only just been introduced to the brand) interested, engaged, and coming back for more. From sharing a helpful blog post, to helping newcomers navigate the right products to meet their needs, Beardbrand does a great job of utilizing email to build customer loyalty. Beardbrand reports seeing thousands of dollars of revenue come in as a direct result of marketing via email.

Casper

Casper utilizes email marketing in several valuable email marketing strategies, including asking for reviews, encouraging potential customers to refer friends, and sending out abandoned cart emails. By combining these techniques, Casper is able to create an atmosphere of inclusion and welcome, and offers a sense of safety for those interested in trying Casper mattresses. Casper’s email marketers recognize how important direct lines of communication are, and it shows: in only 4 years, Casper has grown to an estimated $750 million worth.

Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club may have started out gaining prospective customers through unbelievable prices and effective sales messaging (not to mention this viral video), but email recipients also receive plenty of incentive to keep coming back. The Dollar Shave Club email strategy is multifaceted, including a killer welcome email, and an email body in the form of a monthly email newsletter that reinforces brand tone, invites engagement, and encourages email recipients to open their newsletter for entertainment and information each month. It is one of the greatest effective email copywriting examples, because it is delivered with specific goals and purposes in mind.

Advanced Strategies for Email Copywriting

I have put together the baseline of what you should be doing when developing a powerful email strategy, but there are additional email copywriting tips that you can utilize to improve your email copywriting practices and truly get the most out of your email sequences.

Leveraging data for segmentation and relevance

As you develop your content, you will bring in data on your audience. This is less dependent on your email strategy and more dependent on your email marketing service, as data-gathering tools are found primarily via your email marketing platform or provider. When you gather data to segment your audience and gauge relevance, you can improve your response rates and ensure that your sales emails are performing optimally.

Dynamic content and triggered emails

Dynamic content is a key aspect of content marketing of all types of emails, as it helps your users and customers feel as though they are a part of a community. Email newsletters and triggered emails contribute to that sense of community by creating a type of call-and-response with your audience, wherein they feel a greater pull toward engagement.

Writing for specific goals: sales, onboarding, re-engagement

Not all sales emails are the same type–think cold outreach emails versus abandoned cart reminders–but all email templates should be designed for a specific purpose. Business owners can separate their sales emails and, consequently, their approaches and email templates, according to goals. Sales will encompass emails including product launches and how-tos. Onboarding emails will likely cover topics such as frequently asked questions, what sets your brand or products apart from competitors, etc. Finally, re-engagement emails can include abandoned cart messages, review requests, and even emails announcing a pending removal from subscription.

Tools to automate and optimize email campaigns

Optimizing and automating your email campaigns can work wonders to improve the performance of your email marketing efforts. By automating your email flows, you remove repetitive or time-consuming practices, and by optimizing, you improve the likelihood of seeing regular opens and subsequent engagement from your audience.

Many email marketing platforms offer automation and optimization tools as part of their suite. MailChimp, a longstanding email marketing platform, offers the ability to automate newsletters and other marketing emails, and can even help users develop effective email templates from which to base their overall email strategy.

Further advice: The 18 Best Email Marketing Software Tools to Consider Investing in Today

Final Thoughts

Email copywriting isn’t just about crafting a message; it’s about connecting with your audience in a way that inspires action. By applying these key strategies and learning from proven examples of motivating email marketing campaigns, you can turn every email into a high-performing marketing asset. Ready to take your emails to the next level? Start refining your copy today and watch your conversions soar!