Email copywriting is only a small ingredient in the grand scheme of email marketing
Why do you send email promotions? Why do you send email newsletters? The answer is that you want the user to complete a task. Maybe the task is for them to click on an ad, or to click through to an article on your website. At the end of the day, you hope that your email newsletter will elicit some type of transaction.
David Silverman, once wrote on the Harvard Business Review blog:
“The number one thing that separates a memo, report, or PowerPoint from A Tale of Two Cities is a call to action. A novel is to be enjoyed. Business writing is intended to get the audience to do something: invest in a popcorn factory, fill out a kidney donor form, or flee the building in an orderly manner.
Questions to ask: Does my email ask the reader to do anything? If not, why am I sending it?”
[text_ad]
So, why do you send your emails? And are you effectively finding ways to get people to complete the transaction that you so desire? Before you send another email newsletter, first evaluate it with these four questions:
- What’s you headline telling the reader to do?
Your reader will open your email promotion or newsletter with a blank slate. Within 2 seconds, you need to convince them that you’re offering something they want, and they need to know how to do it.
- Is a product image above the fold?
Using the right product shot in your email newsletter can increase response rates by 20-30%. As humans, we are drawn to shiny things. You can have a 200-page book, but when you add pictures, examples and visual case studies to a page, you’re keeping the readers’ attention for longer, while they examine the image.
- Should you be scheduling an A/B test?
Any experienced direct marketer, working with an online newsletter editor, can think of 10 variations of the email template to test. And because we’re all still new at this, typically five or seven out of 10 changes will produce an improvement!
- Are you making the sale urgent?
The prospect has opened your email. They’ve been enticed with a great story and you’ve made it easy to order. Now you must provide a strong incentive for them to buy right now. Providing urgency is key to a successful email promotion. TODAY they need to buy. The FREE white paper is only available until MIDNIGHT. Your 50% off sale only has 3 HOURS LEFT. You get the idea.
Is there something else you’ve tried in your email newsletters that have increased transaction and/or conversion rates? Do share!
