How to Write Email Campaigns that People Read

December 15, 2014

You may wonder why your open rates are 0 % after you’ve worked so hard crafting and polishing your message. Email subject line best practices can be quite elusive if you are just getting the hang of email marketing.

Among otherr things, all you’ve heard is true: a subject line can make or break an entire email. You’ve gone to the effort of generating this quality lead, you don’t want the majority of the email list to delete the message because the subject line is too confusing, salesy, or too boring. It doesn’t matter how great the email message body is if people never actually get that far.

First tip: don’t skimp on the email subject line.

You also don’t want your message to go unread because it gets caught in most people’s spam filters. One of the simplest ways to keep emails out of spam folders is to choose your wording with care. You can also use some tools to check how “spammy” your emails look.

All things considered, we do know certain words are problematic, increasing the odds of your messages going straight to spam. Encouraging your subscribers to add your address to their contact lists will help with spam, but avoiding particularly troublesome words altogether helps even more.

 

Words you should avoid in your email marketing

The following is a comprehensive list of words that could send your emails straight to your lead’s Spam folder:

•       Ad
•       Auto email removal
•       Bulk email or mass email
•       Click or click below, click here, or click to remove
•       Direct email or direct marketing
•       Email harvest or email marketing
•       Form
•       Increase [your] sales, increase traffic
•       Internet market or Internet marketing
•       Marketing solutions
•       Member
•       Month trial offer
•       More Internet traffic
•       Multi level marketing
•       Not spam
•       One time mailing
•       Online marketing
•       Open
•       Opt-in
•       Performance
•       Removal instructions
•       Sale or sales
•       See for yourself
•       Sign up free today
•       Subscribe
•       The following form
•       This isn’t junk or this isn’t spam
•       Undisclosed recipient
•       Unsubscribe
•       Visit our website
•       We hate spam
•       Web traffic
•       Will not believe your eyes

Words you should use to write email campaigns

Now that you know which words to avoid, are you struggling to craft messages without them? The next time you find yourself hitting a creative block, try using one or more of the following words.

You

Writing in the second person makes customers feel as though you’re having a conversation with them. Many companies also find it effective to write in the first person. Avoid using “we” or “our” or writing in a third person detached voice.

Because

Give customers a reason that they need to take action. “Download [company’s] new product photography ebook because it will help you get more sales!” will resonate with people more than “Our product photography ebook is available for download.”

Easy

No one wants to buy a product or sign up for a service knowing that the process will be long or complex. Make it easy for customers to take the next step and tell them how much easier their lives will be with said product or service.

Everything is included

About the only thing worse than knowing that it will be complicated to obtain a product or service is knowing that you won’t get all of the components that you need. Make it simple for your customers and let them know that it is simple.

Value

Customers want to know that they’re getting something from your offer as opposed to losing something. Just make sure that you stay away from the phrase “outstanding value,” particularly for the subject line.

Discover

What new and unknown benefits come with a product or service? You should be able to convince your target audience that a given item or offer has benefits that give it an edge over competing options.

Proven

Let customers know that there is proof behind your product or service or the business itself. In the email body, you can elaborate on this proof, such as providing statistics (i.e. social media numbers, scientific test results) or customer reviews or testimonials. Stay away from the word “guaranteed” such as “satisfaction guaranteed” or “one hundred percent guaranteed.”

How to

Your product or service should solve a problem or address a common issue among your target audience. Exactly how does your company solve this problem? Tease the topic in the subject line and then elaborate further in the message.

Elite

Your customers are in a special class, and they deserve recognition for being some of the best customers in the world. New customers should feel an immediate desire to join their rankings.

Caused by

Do your marketing materials present a case for your products? Transitional phrases (i.e., “therefore,” “thus,” “caused by”) can reinforce the reasoning behind a purchase.

There will always be a danger of losing important emails to spam folders, which means that you should consult the words to avoid list on a regular basis. However, there is also no set email subject formula that works for everyone. As such, you have to experiment with different formats and phrases for subject lines in order to figure out which are most effective for your target audience.

 

Have you used any of these “spammy” words in your emails? If so, how would you change your email marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments.