Contrary to popular belief, email is still an extremely strong form of communication and a reliable way to boost engagement rates.

However, email will only benefit your marketing initiatives if you craft and send them correctly. If you don’t, you run the risk of overwhelming and annoying your audience, which can ultimately result in lost prospects, dissatisfied customers and a drop in revenue.

What type of content is email good for?

Email is not perfect for all of your content goals, so it’s important to know how to pick the right channel for your content. A good rule of thumb is to limit email content to information that conveys customer benefits or that outlines special updates:

By limiting your emails to cover these announcements, you decrease the risk of annoying or overwhelming your customers with unnecessary information or incessant communications.

Create effective email copy

Crafting successful emails doesn’t stop at picking the right topic. You also have to format them effectively.

Snappy subject lines

Always include a short, snappy subject line to grab your reader’s attention. If you don’t entice them to open it, they won’t. Make sure that your subject line clearly outlines the purpose of the email and shows your customers some type of value.

Consider using personalization, certain buzz words and emojis to capture attention:

• [Name], don’t miss out on your free gift!
• Act now and receive this $ discount.
• 5 tips to craft the perfect email.
• Attention! The product you’ve been waiting for is here.

Direct body copy

Keep your email copy short and to the point, clearly showcasing the value and purpose of the communication. Your customers don’t want to spend five minutes reading an email.

Focus on answering the question: Why should my audience care about what I’m telling them? This will help you focus on summarizing your information and eliminating any unnecessary verbiage.

Enticing CTA

To wrap things up, include a call to action (CTA) to outline the next steps customers should take. Without one, your customers may not know how to further engage with your company. Additionally, be sure to link your CTA with a relevant page on your website. This will further encourage engagement because you’re providing a quick and simple way to continue the interactions. Without a link, some of your customers may not bother to find the information on their own. Keep the CTA simple: Visit our blog, Contact us for more information, Download your coupon now.

Send emails that work

Make sure you know your audience. You don’t want to send them irrelevant information – that will just dissuade them from opening any other emails you send them. Use analytics and A/B testing to figure out what your customers are interested in. Additionally, give your emails a personal touch by addressing individual customers and, if applicable, add a snippet of content that alludes to previous conversations (i.e., vacation time, new subscription upgrade, recent feedback) to show that you pay attention to their specific situations.

Furthermore, make sure you track spikes in engagement rates and analyze open rates. Your customers will start to show a pretty reliable pattern of what they open and when they open it. Although optimal times will vary, consistently good times include:

• Tuesdays
• Thursdays
• 10a.m.
• 1p.m.
• 6p.m.

Email effectively with Tempesta Media

Tempesta Media is dedicated to creating quality content at scale, all while providing a platform that streamlines your content creation processes. Email copy is one of the nine content types that our industry-specific expert writers can craft, allowing you to create a customized solution that fits your unique goals.

If you have a content marketing program, or are planning one, download our ebook:  100 mistakes businesses make when starting, optimizing and scaling content marketing programs.  Learn from the mistakes of hundreds of other companies.  100 mistakes walks you through common and uncommon challenges that they faced with their content marketing programs.

To learn more about our content services, contact us today.