Tag Archives: Email Marketing

How to write email subject lines that make people open your message

Subject lines to improve email open rate.

According to this GetResponse report that was published in 2019, the global email opening rate in 2019 was somewhere around 22.15%.

Considering that the global email opening date in 2018 was around 24%, the number of emails people open has been steadily going down.

Let’s assume that in 2020, the email opening rate is 20%.

The ever reliable Statista tells us that more than 3 billion emails are being sent per day. What’s 20% of 3 billion?

600 million.

How many emails are not being opened?

2400 million

Even if you say that 90% of the 3 billion emails might be spam, still, you get a big number of emails that remain unopened.

Why should you bother about how many people are opening your email messages?

Suppose you’re sending out a business proposal through email to a group of people?

Recently I wrote for a company that was offering its line of products to retail stores.

They were sending out the message to 600 big and small retail stores.

Along with the body text of the message I gave them more than 10 subject line options to choose from.

When you send out such messages, it is very important that you use a subject line that makes people open your message.

Take the example of your own inbox.

Do you open all your email messages?

No.

Do people/businesses who are sending you all those messages you are not opening want you to ignore their messages?

No.

You still do, right?

One of the biggest reasons why people don’t open your emails is a subject line, or rather, the absence of a convincing subject line.

Take your own example again: unless the email is from your spouse, work, your kid or from one of those kinky websites you may have subscribed to, what makes you open an email message?

Actually, there are 2 things that make you open an email message:

The “from” name or the sender’s name.
The subject of the email.

As mentioned above, if the “from” name is not from someone you personally know or with someone you’re doing some sort of business, it is mostly the subject of the email that makes you open it.

Hence, if you’re sending out a cold email (the recipient is not expecting to receive the message from you) or an email marketing campaign, 50% success of your email depends on whether the recipients will open it or not.

Isn’t it logical? If they don’t open your message, how are they going to read it, and if they don’t read it, how will they respond?

Therefore, if you use an email marketing service that provides you some sort of insights, it definitely tells you how many people opened your emails, among the mailing list you have got.

Also, be mindful of your email being marked as spam due to your subject line.

There are many email services like Gmail that keep a close watch on what words you have used in your subject line and if they find suspicious words, they mark your message as spam and it never reaches your recipient’s inbox.

Here are a few ways to write email subject lines that will make more people open your messages.

1. Choose your targets carefully

If you’re sending your email messages to people who may never be interested in your proposal or may never empathize with your cause, they are not going to open your messages, no matter what subject line you use.

Before beginning to brainstorm on what subject line you should choose, make sure that you are about to send your email to the right recipient/recipients.

2. Let it be known what is inside

There is something compelling in your message that you want your recipient to read, right?

Mention that.

Example: 24 hours till you can save 50% on your favorite stationery.

What does it tell the recipient?

It is an email from the place she buys her stationery from.

There is a 50% discount.

The 50% discount is available till the next 24 hours so she must hurry.

Example: The handmade bags you would like to show off.

The recipient knows that the email offers to sell or promote handmade bags.

They must also be pretty good looking that’s why they are worthy of being shown off.

3. Create a short email subject line

Preferably, not more than 60 characters.

This is because many people check their email on their mobile phones these days and longer subject lines are truncated.

Whatever you want to convey, convey it with minimum number of words.

Example: The best tips on writing well.

Example: The sizzling summer collection.

Writing very short email subject lines is not a hard and fast rule.

Sometimes you can also use longer subject lines based on your needs.

4. Mention important words in the beginning of the subject line

Example: Lose weight in 2 weeks.

The person who wants to lose weight instantly sees the phrase “lose weight” and hence, opens your message.

Also, as I have mentioned above, many people will be opening your email on their mobile phones where subject lines are often truncated.

It is better to mention the important stuff in the beginning itself.

Example: 20 minute meal delivery at your doorstep.

5. Use numbers in the email subject lines

Numbers are always reassuring.

Take the example in the above point: 20 minute meal delivery at your doorstep.

Isn’t it better than something like “Very fast meal delivery at your doorstep” or even “Fastest meal delivery at your doorstep”?

When you say “20 minute” the recipient knows exactly how much time it is going to take.

There is no guesswork.

Another example: The top 10 funniest videos you don’t want to miss.

Example: 3 writing tips you can immediately start using.

6. Use personalization in the subject line

Personalization doesn’t mean using the name of the recipient although, in some email messages you may find your name in the subject line.

Personalization means knowing something about the recipient and then mentioning that in the subject line.

Example: Not happy with your gym classes? We are offering a one-week FREE trial.

Example: Enjoyed the dinner you ordered last night? Here are some more mouthwatering offers.

In the first example, you know that the recipient attends a gym.

In the 2nd example, you know that the recipient ordered dinner last night.

A quick note: the above examples are a bit longer, but sometimes, you can also experiment with longer subject lines.

7. Use emotions in your email subject line

You should play with emotions carefully but you can use them to great effect.

Emotions can cater to greed or vanity or regret or any other pain point.

Example: Make your entire neighborhood jealous this new year eve.

Example: Don’t open this email, and then carry the regret your whole life.

Example: Here is an offer you’ve always been waiting for.

You can also make an irresistible offer for better emotional impact…

Example: Open this email and you may be heading for a beach holiday.

Another example I came across once: A lazy man’s way to losing weight fast.

These tips will surely help you write better subject lines that will make people open your email messages.

Just make sure that you don’t make false promises.

Yes, you want people to open your email messages, but you don’t want to make them feel hoodwinked.

This is a sure shot way of getting your message, and all your subsequent messages, consigned to the spam folder.

When I’m writing subject lines for email marketing campaigns of my clients, I try to capture the entire essence of the offer, in as little words as possible, as compellingly as possible, without making a single false promise (as per my knowledge).

How to run a successful email marketing campaign with effective copywriting

Leave a reply

Successful email marketing with effective copywriting.

These days I’m getting lots of queries from clients who want to run successful email marketing campaigns and they need my copywriting services.

According to Statista, an estimated 306.4 billion emails travel the length and breadth of the web every day.

The graph below shows the trend over a period of 2017-2023.

As you can see, the number is projected to reach 347.3 billion emails by 2023.

Graph of number of emails being sent during 2017-2023

It is not just the number of emails being sent and received that excite digital marketers and general clients.

It is the ROI in the stats.

This is a slightly old finding, but on an average, for every $1 that you spend on email marketing, you get a return of $38. Some even claim $40.

Here is another pleasing graphic that I found on this link.

The highest ROI is in email marketing.

Of course, you may look at these numbers cynically because at personal level, you may not have experienced such a startling success with your email campaigns.

The problem is not with the numbers, the problem is with the implementation.

When people claim that you can earn $38 for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you must do whatever is required to make your email marketing effective.

What makes your email marketing successful and how does copywriting contribute?

Email marketing is not about sending emails to a group of subscribers or email ids though, it is a big part.

Successful email marketing is about active engagement.

Here are some attributes that enable you to call your email marketing successful:

A greater number of people open your email messages.
A greater number of people read your messages.
A greater number of people respond by either replying or clicking the call-to-action button or link.

All these three points are very important to make your email marketing successful.

If people are just opening your message and do nothing else, you aren’t achieving much.

Recently a client told me, with a touch of pride, that his open rate is 22%.

Marvelous, I said. Then how do you want me to contribute?

I’m not getting any business, he replied with a subdued tone.

Unless people open your messages, read them, get affected positively and then contact you to do business with you click the link to buy from you, you cannot call your email marketing successful.

Everything needs to work in tandem.

The success of your email marketing depends on the following factors:

The quality and growth of your email list.
The trust factor enjoyed by your email marketing service provider (so that your emails are not redirected to the spam folder).
Your reputation – are people familiar with you? Do they know what you represent and why you are sending them emails? Do they trust you?
Your subject line – no matter how familiar they are with your name or brand, unless the subject line compels them to open your message, they are not going to open it.
The main headline – this is going to be the biggest work. Only if the headline captivates them, they’re going to read the rest of the message.
The convincing copy that keeps them engaged, excited and leads them to a culmination.
The most appropriate call-to-action.

Effective copywriting for email marketing

My clients often hire me for my content writing services but when I’m writing marketing emails, I provide them my copywriting services.

You may like to read this: Difference between copywriting and content writing.

Copywriting informs, educates, influences and sells.

Content writing informs and educates.

Marketing means selling.

When you’re sending out emails wanting people to buy from you or do business with you, you’re selling an idea.

They have a problem, you offer a solution.

For example, if I send you an email marketing campaign with the subject line “Better conversion rate for your email marketing with my copywriting services” I am assuming that you are worried about your conversion rate.

Problems may include…

Not many people are opening your messages.

Even if they open your messages, they don’t respond to them.

Even if they contact you, there is some communication gap and they don’t become your paying customers and clients.

The gist is, you’re looking for a solution that can help you improve your email marketing conversion rate and I’m offering you the solution.

Frankly, without effective copywriting, there is no email marketing.

The communication dynamics are different in email marketing.

You need to be bang on the main message of the email.

People don’t want to read long messages unless they are reading some scholarly discourse on a highly technical B2B product.

They have a problem.

You offer a solution.

You offer an irresistible proposition.

You convince them, without making them feel vulnerable or defensive, what a great loss it is going to be not doing business with you.

For such a message, you need copywriting.

You need a copywriter who can write convincingly and persuasively.

The copywriting in your email marketing campaign must be able to directly talk to the recipients with zero distraction.

Remember that most of your recipients will be reading your message on their mobile devices.

They may be in a highly distracted state.

They may be travelling.

They may be in a meeting.

They may be standing in a queue.

They may be sitting on the toilet seat struggling with constipation.

Amidst all this, your copywriting must ensure that the message gets across.

Some tips for effective copywriting for successful email marketing campaigns

Here are some tips to follow when writing copy for your email marketing campaigns.

There are no hard-and-fast rules because every audience is unique, but you can apply the general template that works pretty much for every audience.

Then you can make small tweaks here and there for better conversion rate.

Another thing you must keep in mind is that there is no magic wand.

You will have to experiment.

You will need to gather data and allow your email marketing service (MailChimp, for example) to analyze your campaigns for at least a month to give you some usable insights.

Anyway, there are some things you can do for effective copywriting for successful email marketing campaigns…

Create a killer subject line

As mentioned above, your subject line is very important.

As a copywriter, coming up with the most compelling subject line is one of your greatest challenges.

If the subject line is not great people don’t open your email message and if they don’t open your email message, no matter how great your email message is, everything will go down the drain.

Hence, spend a lot of time coming up with the most appropriate subject line.

It doesn’t have to be out of this world.

There is no need to say something earthshattering.

You don’t need to shout “Earthquake!!” just to get their attention.

Just mention something that will make them open your message in a relevant frame of mind.

Offer something they need, in a clear language.

Make better use of the preview text

These days, many email clients such as Gmail show a small preview text in the inbox even when you haven’t opened your message.

This is another opportunity for you as a copywriter to convince people into opening your message.

Write for easier reading

More than 100 characters in a sentence including spaces?

More than a sentence in a paragraph?

You have already lost most of your audience.

Write very short sentences so that they are easier to read and comprehend on a mobile device, probably while the hand is shaking.

Represent one idea through one sentence.

Use simple sentences, avoid compound sentences.

As far as possible, make sure that your message is not more than 200 words.

Lay everything down for them as clearly as possible.

Never use words and expressions that can be confused or mixed with other words and expressions.

Preferably, write in the first person

It also means that you must know the name of the person to whom you are sending your email messages, but that’s a different issue.

Email messages written in the first person elicit better response compared to email messages that read like as if they have been written to a group.

Again, this is not a hard-and-fast rule – it depends on your audience.

Your copywriting style must reek of enthusiasm

If you don’t sound enthusiastic, how can you excite your audience into taking an action that requires them to go to the trouble of entering their credit card details and buying your product or service?

But make sure that your enthusiasm is not fake.

Remember you’re offering them a solution to their problem.

You are feeling good about the fact that after buying your product or service, their lives are going to be easier or enriched.

Feel good about providing them that solution.

When you feel good while writing the copy, it will show through your writing style and then it will get conveyed to your audience.

Don’t refrain from using persuasive language or power words

Of course, don’t overdo.

Remember you are not writing a Shakespearean play.

Your protagonist is not going to be stabbed by his own supporters.

On the other hand, unless you tell them to do something, how do you expect them to do it?

Hence, tell them that it is a bargain.

Let it be known to them that it is a never seen before offer.

It may even be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Can my copywriting quadruple your email marketing conversion rate? Heck, why not?

Is it a limited offer available to just the first twenty responders?

Cater to their greed.

Invoke their insecurities.

Just make sure that you don’t trigger a “flight, freeze or fight” response with too much aggression or assumption.

Most importantly, don’t lie.

Always mean what you say.

Write email copy with a specific goal

Don’t have multiple objectives for a single email marketing campaign copy.

Focus on one thing.

Let the objective be just one.

If you have multiple objectives this will stop you from effective copywriting and you will also end up confusing your readers.

So, if you want people to download your white paper after reading your email campaign, just talk about the benefits of downloading the white paper.

If you want them to download and install your mobile app, just focus on that.

Avoid messages like “Although I’m asking you to download my e-book, now that you are reading this message, here are the services that I offer…”

They will neither download your e-book nor contact you for your services.

In conclusion, I have observed that the best copywriting for successful email marketing campaigns comes from the heart.

Mean what you say.

Come to the point as fast as possible.

Give your email is enough time to evolve.

How to write an effective cold email?

Leave a reply

How to write effective cold emails.

To be frank, I have never written a cold email for myself. I have written many for my clients – I’m still writing a couple for a client in Italy.

They are highly recommended. Even for my own business I have been advised multiple times to use cold emails.

Even LinkedIn has a feature that allows you to send “cold” messages to your contacts.

Here I am going to discuss some effective ways you can write cold emails.

Write a clear, convincing subject line.
Use the name of the recipient in the greeting (definitely).
Introduce yourself in the smallest possible sentence.
Immediately come to the point.
Use small, direct sentences.
Avoid being pretentious.
Politely ask to get back.

What is a cold email?

Updating on August 22, 2020: In more refined form, sending out cold emails is also called an “outreach strategy”. Many companies are running their own outreach programs in the wake of Covid-19 to generate more leads and get more business opportunities. Here is a nice blog post on Outreach Tips by Rand Fishkin.

Cold email does not mean you refrigerate your laptop for some time and then write an email on it.

A cold email is an unsolicited email message that you send to someone without having contacted that person before. It is like approaching someone in the crowd and the person is not expecting you. Or knocking at someone’s door to sell something.

It is like the cold calls that annoy you all the time. The big difference is, unlike cold calls, you are not forced to pick up your phone to check who is calling. The email message remains in the inbox and you see it when you check your email, unless, you have set up a noisy notification for new emails.

Is cold email spamming?

Cold emailing is a prominent part of email marketing. Though, there is a very thin line that divides cold emailing and spamming. They are different.

In spamming you send out email messages relentlessly, using a cheap email broadcasting server.

Somehow, you get hold of a large number of email ids. You have no idea to whom these email ids belong. You think that if you send your promotional message to 20,000 people, at least 50 may respond and since sending spam is quite cheap, you may get a good ROI.

I’m not saying it works, but most of the people think that it works.

In most of the countries, spamming is illegal. The Russian spam mafia is notorious.

The moment it is detected that the spam has originated from your server, the IP address of your server is blacklisted by the email clients like Gmail. They have very advanced technologies these days to detect spam messages even by analysing the subject lines. There are already millions of blacklisted IP addresses.

In cold email, you send one email message to one person. You send a personal message. You know who that person is.

For example, I visit your website and notice there are many mistakes in the text. Being a content writer, I can help you write better content for your website and blog. I find your email ID and I write to you. I give you some examples of how I have previously written for similar websites.

Similarly, I come across your profile on LinkedIn. I read about you and find out that you are a real estate agent or a realtor. You have a website that can use a better content writer. The past year I have written for many real estate agents and realtors. Hence, I write an email to you introducing myself and offering my service.

This is, non-spam, cold emailing. I know who you are. After reading my email, you will know that I am a content writer. You know why I am writing to you. There is clear communication. Then, it is up to you whether you want to take that communication forward or not.

Does writing cold emails work?

I have mentioned above that even LinkedIn encourages you to send cold messages. They call it their “InMail” feature. I get lots of messages from my LinkedIn contacts.

As traffic on my website is gradually picking up, many people send me pitches for guest posting. Since I already have a link on my website and blog that encourages people to contact me, although these are cold email messages, one way or another, I am already expecting them.

So in this case, I can say that the cold emails that people send me often work. I know in most of the cases, well, in all the cases, they are looking for backlinks, but they also help me save time by giving me quality content for my blog.

Coming back to the topic, cold emails do work. Since most of the people who use them don’t know how to draw a line between writing effective cold emails and spamming, cold emailing gets lots of bad rap and people are wary of using them and receiving them at both ends of the spectrum.

In this Inc.com article, the writer, Larry Kim claims that his response rate is approximately 1 in 5 with cold emailing, which is higher than the traditional email marketing response rate.

Personally, I believe there should be no reason why cold emails shouldn’t work, provided you send them with a sense of purpose. The key is, what approach you follow.

Before I talk about how to write effective cold emails, I’m assuming you are going to write the emails to people who can actually benefit from your proposition.

Writing effective cold emails

Recently I was reading a copywriting book by Robert Bly and many of the suggestions can be applied to sending cold emails. He says that the most important task is making people pick up your pamphlet, read the headline and then proceed towards the body text.

You need to follow the same approach when sending cold emails.

The importance of the subject line when sending effective cold emails

You must come up with the subject line that prompts people to open your email message. If they don’t open it, they don’t read it. If they don’t read it, they don’t respond to it. If they don’t respond to it, there is no use contacting them.

Hence, without getting too dramatic, the subject line of your cold email is a matter of life and death in the context of your email. So, spend a lot of time figuring out what subject line you’re going to use.

There is no definitive subject line that you can use, but be as specific as possible.

It will take some time for you to finally settle on the right subject line. For example, what subject line would I use if I send out cold emails?

Some of the ideas that come to my mind are:

“Need a content writer for your website?”
“Introducing my content writing services”
“Hello, I can write content for your website”
“I can improve your SEO with my content writing”
“Some suggestions for the writing mistakes on your website” – use such subject lines carefully.

There is no need to be dramatic because dramatization may confuse the recipient. Clearly specify what you’re offering.

Writing the main copy of your cold email

If you cannot personalise your cold email, don’t send it. Just don’t.

Hence, always greet the recipient with his or her real name. Even if you have to make an extra effort to find the name of the person, find it, and then use it.

Remember that your cold email is not a marketing message. It is a one-on-one interaction. You are bringing up something. Of course, you’re promoting your product or service, but since this is a personal message you need to be tactful.

Introduce yourself as clearly as possible. Don’t use a very long sentence. Preferably, in a single sentence, tell the person who you are and what you do.

Then, in the second sentence, tell the recipient why you are writing. It needs to be a genuine reason.

For example, if I am sending out a cold email, first I am quickly going to tell that person that I am a content writer. Then I will tell the recipient that there are certain things that I noticed on his or her website and thought of contacting.

Every content writer has a different style. When I write emails, I don’t want to impose my opinion on anyone. I want the other person to make his or her own decision and I apply the same approach when I’m writing cold emails for my clients.

Keep your writing style conversational. Use some references to convince the other person that you have actually gone through his or her website and are writing a personal message and not merely using a template.

60% of the email writing must be about what the other person is going to gain by associating with you. Don’t focus too much on problems. Focus on solutions. Focus on benefits.

In conclusion, in a couple of sentences, you can talk about your experience, the number of clients or customers you have served and how you have been able to benefit the others.

In the end, ask the person to contact you.

Concluding remarks

Writing effective cold emails is all about making a personal connection. You shouldn’t mass email cold emails because then they become spam.

Just because you have got someone’s email ID doesn’t mean you should be sending emails to that person. Maybe he or she doesn’t even remotely require your services.

If you are a content writing service, should I be offering content writing services to you? Of course, if I need to partner with you or collaborate with you, there is nothing wrong in that, but I shouldn’t be offering you my services for YOUR website.

How does blogging help you grow your business?

Leave a reply

How business blogging grows your business.

More than a decade-and-a-half ago, blogging transitioned from a mere hobby or an AdSense money making tool to business branding platform.

Almost every mainstream business has a blog these days.

You may like to read: 10 Beginners Tips for Business Blogging.

Most businesses claim that they publish blogs regularly because they want to provide useful information to their visitors and customers & clients and also to keep them engaged.

This is a very good reason, but in reality, most of the businesses publish blogs because blogging improves their search engine rankings. Hence, it is a multi-pronged benefit.

In this blog post I would quickly like to discuss how blogging helps you grow your business. The post is inspired by another blog post published on Entrepreneur.com, titled 5 ways to grow your business through blogging.

Blogging improves your SEO

There are multiple reasons why blogging is good for your SEO, assuming you blog regularly. Here are some reasons:

Blogging platforms like WordPress are structured in such a manner that they make your content search engine friendly.
Individual blog post is also structured in a search engine friendly manner as it has the main title, headings and subheadings and categorization.
Writing and publishing new and fresh content is easier using a blogging tool like WordPress and hence, you don’t need a web designer to add new posts or edit existing posts. It means there is a greater incentive to publish regularly and without much fuss.
Since you can write and publish new and fresh content you are constantly providing Google and other search engines new content to crawl, index and rank.
Search engine crawlers can access every single blog post from your homepage (provided you haven’t taken extra measures to prevent this from happening).
Interlinking to other blog posts makes it easier for search engine crawlers to jump to different portions of your business blog.
Since you’re constantly publishing interesting and useful information, other bloggers and website owners have a reason to link to you, improving your SEO in the process.

So, writing and publishing regularly on your business blog is good for your SEO and when your search engine rankings improve, especially when they improve for your targeted keywords and search terms, your business grows.

Business blogging increases your direct traffic

One of the biggest benefits of regularly publishing a business blog is that it increases your search engine traffic, but additionally, it also increases your direct traffic.

As mentioned above, other bloggers and website owners link to your blog or individual blog posts.

For example, American Express publishes Open Forum and I have linked to this business blog multiple times from my website.

Hence, when you regularly publish valuable and link-worthy content many high traffic websites link to your website or blog, and in this way, you get direct traffic from there.

Sometimes even mainstream journalists find the information on your website useful and from their articles, they link to your website, generating more direct traffic in the process.

Business blogging increases your newsletter subscribers

There are multiple reasons why your newsletter subscribers increase when you publish valuable and useful content on your business blog. These are

They don’t want to miss out when you publish fresh content.
More people coming to your blog through search engine traffic as well as direct traffic means more people subscribing to your newsletter.
The blog content can be repurposed as newsletter content, attracting more subscribers.

Publishing a regular newsletter has proven to be one of the most potent marketing tools to grow your business.

Business blogging increases your social media engagement

When you publish a blog post on your blog you can share the link on your social media profiles. This in turn creates buzz.

There are many businesses who simply post content directly on their social media timelines. There is no harm in it but when you first publish useful and authoritative content on your business blog and then you encourage people to talk about your content on social media, it establishes your authority and when you establish your authority, people develop interest in your capabilities and they pay more attention to what you say.

How to build a successful business blog?

To build a successful business blog, you need to do the following:

Write high-quality, useful blog posts.
Stick to a publishing schedule.
Publish regularly – maybe three blog posts every week.
Market your content – use your social media profiles and your newsletter to let people know that you are publishing new blog posts.

The most fundamental thing you can do is publish regularly. This I have observed across the spectrum. Even if the design is not great. Even if you’re not very active on social media. Provided you publish great content and publish it regularly, your business blog is going to succeed.

16 highly effective email writing tips

Leave a reply

Highly effective email writing tips.

You use emails every day. You use them in your office. You use them for email marketing. Students and teachers these days are heavily using emails to communicate with each other.

How to make your email writing effective?

You make your email writing effectively by

Writing clear-cut subject lines.
Using the opening sentence convincingly.
Using personal greetings instead of nameless greetings.
Identifying yourself clearly.
Keeping your message short and crisp.
Proofreading your email writing multiple times.
Being regular with your email writing.
Not bombarding the recipients with too many messages.
Keeping your messages scannable and easy to read quickly.
Avoiding using too friendly a tone.
Briefly introducing yourself if people don’t know you.
Avoiding sending one-liners.
Avoiding words in your subject line that can get you marked as a spammer.
Always having a “why” for sending out the email message.
Avoiding clichés and hackneyed words and expressions.
Not forgetting to include call to action.

Since email is used for communication, and since you are not present in front of the person, your email message must accomplish the entire job of communicating effectively and convincingly.

Here are 10 highly effective email writing tips you can use to make sure that your email is delivered the message you want them to deliver.

1. Write a clear-cut subject line

You do not have to bother with the subject line if you are writing to your relatives or friends because they are anyway going to open your email.

Your subject line matters when you’re sending emails to people who may not open your message because their priorities are different or maybe they are distracted or they are totally indifferent towards your email.

In such a case scenario, it is very important to write an unambiguous subject line. Clearly state what is inside the email message and what is the purpose of your message.

Keep your subject line short and succinct. Make it convincing if it is a marketing message.

Avoid using spammy words.

2. Use a convincing first sentence

Your first sentence is going to decide if people are going to read your message. Make it as convincing as possible.

How do you write a convincing first sentence? Address the problem that your email intends to solve or mention the issue your email intends to raise.

Cut to the chase.

3. Use a personal greeting

“Hello Sophie” or “Dear Sophie” is much better than “Hey there!” or “Dear friend”.

Of course, if you don’t know the name of the person you can’t use his or her name. All the more necessary that when you are sending out emails, at least know their names.

4. Identify yourself clearly

Identifying yourself clearly solves many purposes. Even if people know you and they would open your message no matter what you write, they may inadvertently miss it simply because you fail to identify yourself clearly.

Although this is less to do with writing and more to do with your email setting, if people can clearly see “From Amrit Hallan” there will be a better chance of them opening the message because they will know that the message is coming from an awesome content writer.

If they remotely remember you it will help them recognize your name and if they associate your name with a product or a service or some brand and if they want to receive messages about that product or service or brand, your name will prompt them to open your message.

You may also like to read Define your brand voice with quality content writing.

5. Keep your message short

Writing short messages is a very important part of writing effective emails. These days most of your recipients open your messages on their mobile phones and on mobile phones, often it is difficult to read and comprehend long messages.

Even if you are sure that most of your audience constitutes of people who use computers and laptops, it is better to keep your messages short and focused.

This way your readers don’t get distracted.

6. Proofread multiple times

In the times of social media, the quality of writing has drastically deteriorated. It is often stressed that it is not the quality of your writing but the message that counts.

While this may be true when you are writing among your friends and relatives, when it comes to writing professional emails or even among your colleagues and co-workers, how you write and what is the quality of your writing matter a lot.

Your prospective customer may think that if you don’t even care about how you write, how are you going to care about your customers?

Typos and spelling and grammar mistakes reek of carelessness and disrespect.

Hence, proofread your email message after writing initially, multiple times.

7. Be regular with your email writing

This is for those who want to carry out email marketing campaigns. You can carry out highly effective email marketing campaigns if your recipients are familiar with your messages.

Although many people say that “familiarity breeds contempt”, it also breeds a kinship if you become a regular part of people’s lives.

Regularly send them useful information they can benefit from.

Always be sincere.

Remember that when you’re sending out emails, it is for the benefit of the recipients. Even if in the process you are increasing your business, ultimately, people will be receptive to your messages if you can convince them you’re sending them for their sake and not your sake.

Having said that, regularity can be very effective.

8. Don’t bombard them with messages

Just as writing emails regularly can be effective, going overboard can be counter-productive and may end up annoying the recipients.

Usually, one message every day is more than enough. If you can keep them a couple of times in a week, even better.

This is for regular email marketing. If you simply need to communicate regularly with your office colleagues then frequency doesn’t matter, it is always need-based.

9. Keep your messages scannable

Sometimes you can’t help writing longer email messages. If this is the case, you can make it easier for your recipients to read them by making them scannable.

What does writing scannable email messages mean?

Use headings and subheadings to highlight important points.

Use bulleted lists of very short sentences to sum up the main points.

Write one sentence per paragraph.

If formatting is possible, you can even use different colors to highlight different messages, but then, don’t overdo it.

10. Avoid using too friendly a tone

Being extra friendly in your email messages may creep some people out, especially if you’re not close enough to them. You can use whatever tone you feel like when you are writing to friends and family, but when you are writing to your colleagues you need to be a little less informal.

11. Introduce yourself if people don’t know you

Don’t just assume that they are familiar with you.

Although if you’re sending multiple messages you can’t be introducing yourself in complete detail in every message because this may turn off people who check your messages regularly, a one-liner about what you do and what you can deliver can go a long way in keeping people interested in you and developing a sense of familiarity.

12. Avoid sending one-liners

Email clients like Gmail these days allow you to send one-liners by suggesting what to type.

Although these suggestions help you respond quickly especially when conversations are happening in real time, if it has been a few hours since your last communication or the message you are replying to was sent a couple of days ago, write complete sentences so that the recipient can recall what you are writing about. Don’t simply reply with a “Thanks” or a “fine”.

13. Avoid words in the subject line that can get you mistaken for spam

Using all-caps can get you marked as a spammer by email services like Gmail and even Outlook. Expressions like “Earn money” or “Make money” or the dollar sign, can send your message directly to the spam folder.

14. Always have a strong “why” behind why you are writing

Want to give people a reason to open and read your email messages? Then include a strong “why” behind why they should read or pay attention to your message. Give them a compelling reason.

15. Avoid using clichés

Clichés are the common expressions that either we get too used to writing in our email messages and we don’t even realize, or sometimes we use them to sound uber and cool.

For example, whenever I am sending a completed document to my clients I simply write “PFA”. I don’t even write “Please find attached”. Although I do it with my regular clients and not with my recently acquired clients, if possible, you should avoid clichés such as

Thank you in advance.
I look forward to hearing from you.
As per our conversation.
To whom it may concern.
Sorry for the late reply.

16. Don’t forget to use call to action

Your “call to action” is the action you want people to perform when they have gone through your email message.

If you want them to buy from you, use “buy now”. If you want them to click a link and download your e-book, specifically mention “download my e-book”. If you want them to contact you, write “contact me now”.

It may seem strange, sometimes people don’t perform the action you want them to perform because you haven’t asked them to.

Concluding remarks

Frankly, to be able to write highly effective emails, you must have a compelling reason to write. People are too busy these days.

Although it is fine to write emails just to keep in touch, when you don’t know them personally, it is always better to write when you have something really valuable to offer.

In most of the cases, when you are convincing, when you are excited about what you are communicating, even with little effort you can write highly effective emails.