The average person gets 121 emails a day, but only a few are opened. Most emails end up in spam or stay unread. No marketer wants their marketing email to be ignored. That’s why writing a marketing email that converts is so important. Here’s how to do it.
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Define Your Goal
Marketing emails serve different purposes, so you need to know which ones matter most for your business. Do you want to nurture leads or make sales? Your goal will guide the type of emails you send and how they’re written.
Here are some types of marketing emails:
Newsletters: Share industry news, blog posts, ebooks, and guides. They nurture leads and keep your brand top of mind.
Promotional emails: Inform subscribers of discounts and exclusive deals to boost sales.
Product announcement: Perfect for launching new products to build anticipation, generate interest, and drive sales.
Event Invitations: Hosting a Webinar or Event? Your goal is to create buzz and attract attendees.
Reengagement campaigns: When active subscribers go quiet, use targeted emails to grab their attention.
For more on lead nurturing, check out this guide on building effective funnels.
Segment and Personalize the Email for Better Engagement
Personalization goes beyond just adding a name to an email. It’s about delivering relevant content that resonates with an individual.
Your readers are real people, not faceless personas. They have different interests, pain points, and behaviors. That’s why 80% of customers prefer brands that send personalized messages.
To get the best results, know your readers and what they care about. Group subscribers with similar traits and tailor your emails to their interests and behavior.
Here’s how to group them:
Demographics: Segment by age, gender, job title, industry, and location.
Behavior: Group by how they interact with your brand. Create different emails for inactive and active subscribers.
Stage in the buyer’s journey: Customize content for new subscribers, leads, customers, and inactive readers.
Learn more about lifecycle email marketing in this guide.
Craft a Compelling Subject Line
According to reports, more than 40% of people decide whether or not to open an email based on the subject line alone. A weak subject line can land your email straight in the spam folder.
Here’s how to craft a subject line that stands out in a crowded inbox:
Keep it between 30-60 characters or 6-10 words. Short subject lines get more opens.
Add catchy preheader text. It boosts open rates.
Keep preheader text between 40-130 characters for mobile optimization.
Personalize with the recipient’s name or use pronouns like “you,” “I,” or “we.”
Make sure the subject line clearly shows the benefit of opening your email.
Avoid words like “free” or “buy now” to stay out of the spam folder.
- Pro tip: Deliver whatever promises you make in your subject line and preheader text. Don’t craft clickbaity subject lines that disappoint your readers when they click through. They can just as quickly bounce off.
Write an Engaging Email Body
Your email copy needs to grab attention and prompt action.
To keep readers engaged, you can use popular copywriting styles like PAS, BAB, and AIDA. Here’s how they work:
PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution): Identify the reader’s problem, make it feel urgent or uncomfortable, then offer your product or service as the solution.
BAB (Before-After-Bridge): Describe the reader’s current situation, paint an ideal future, then show how your product can help them get there.
AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action): Start with a bold statement to grab attention, keep interest with relevant info, show how your product benefits them, and end with a call to action.
Optimize for Readability
Make your emails easy to read to keep the reader engaged.
Use simple, clear words to communicate your message.
Avoid long paragraphs. Keep each one under two lines.
Add white space between paragraphs for a better reading experience.
Break up the text with images, GIFs, and links to keep things interesting.
Include a Compelling CTA
Your CTA should emphasize the benefit you promised the reader throughout the email.
CTAs should be bold and stand out from the rest of the text visually. You can do this with a foreground CTA button or a highlighted link in your email, making it impossible for readers to miss.
Your call to action also needs to be short and compelling. Another tip is to eliminate friction in your CTA by avoiding strong action words like download or buy. Instead, use softer verbs like get, learn, and start, which imply the recipient can get benefits by putting little effort.
Proofread and Test for Mobile Responsiveness Before Sending
Remember to proofread your emails before they leave your draft.
Eliminate all typos or grammatical errors that may hinder the user experience. Read the text out loud to identify slip-ups, or use tools like Grammarly, Wordtune, and Hemingway.
Once done, test your email for mobile responsiveness. Preview it on different screen sizes to ensure it looks good across all devices, especially mobile, because most users check email on their phones.
Follow Email Compliance and Best Practices
A marketing email must comply with legal standards to ensure deliverability. If not, it could end up in your recipient’s spam folder and be ignored forever.
Email laws are in place to ensure recipients’ consent and privacy are respected.
One key requirement is to include an unsubscribe link in your emails.
Also, avoid spammy words like “free,” “buy now,” or “100% free,” because they can trigger spam filters.
Track Performance and Improve
While not an actual part of the writing process, tracking the metrics and performance of a campaign can give you valuable insights required to draft your next email.
In email marketing, you need to monitor metrics like open rate, click rate, conversion, and bounce rate to understand what’s working in your emails and what isn’t.
These insights will help you refine your strategy and improve future email campaigns.
FAQs
Keep them short and snappy for top engagement. Aim for 50–125 words to boost readability and open rates—readers skim, so make every word count.
It varies by your audience and niche, but starting with weekly or bi-weekly blasts works wonders. Steer clear of daily floods unless your subscribers crave constant updates; respect their inbox to build loyalty.
Try these tactics: deliver what your subject line promises, use action verbs in CTAs, design strong visual contrast, guide attention with arrows, use whitespace effectively, and make CTAs stand out.
It’s the percentage of recipients who complete a desired action like purchasing or signing up after opening your email. It reflects campaign effectiveness and ROI.
Nail one clear goal per email, use a trusted sender name, align subject line and preview text, maintain smooth layout flow, use bold headings, include images, and run A/B testing.
Direct conversion (instant switch), parallel conversion (old and new systems run together), modular conversion (gradual component replacement), and phase-in conversion (step-by-step rollout).
The Final Word
When it comes to email marketing, you need to understand that you’re competing against thousands of other brands for attention, and it just takes one poorly written subject line to send you to spam. That’s why learning how to write an effective marketing email for your business is crucial.
By following the tips outlined in this article, you can craft successful marketing emails that grab attention and drive engagement.
If you need an email builder to help you manage, segment, and automate your emails for maximum impact, Phalera is the perfect tool for you. Phalera offers everything you need to build email campaigns that boost engagement and drive conversions. Book with us today to improve your email marketing strategy.
