Sometimes I just don’t have the energy to email people, even though I know I need to. It’s not that I don’t want to email them, I’m just a little too tired to fully concentrate on creating an email sometimes. Does this happen to you too? Do you ever have to talk yourself into sending an email? I do.
When you send an email, it feels like you are doing something special and important.
The task can seem daunting if you’re not a native English speaker.
Here are some helpful tips to make your emails better, from any perspective.
When you use these twelve strategies in your writing, you will be able to feel more confident when sending emails to anyone and hopefully get rid of concerns after sending an email.
1. How to write email subject lines
The subject line of your email is your chance to make a good first impression.
Since the subject line is the first thing recipients see, it’s important to make sure it’s attention-grabbing and relevant to the email’s content.
The first impression is very important if you want your text to be read.
Despite the fact that everyone knows what an acronym like TGIF means, it is still an effective way to get your emails read. However, you can also use other types of language to get your emails read.
If you want people to read your email, try using a teaser or announcement in the subject line. People are more likely to read the email if the subject line is interesting.
2. Keep emails for customers short and friendly
The best way to avoid making a mistake with an email is to keep it short and sweet.
You don’t need to put all the information in one email. You can spread it out over several emails, or put links to relevant pages on your website. That way, the reader can choose how much detail they want.
Don’t send your subscribers extensive emails with little value. This will cause them to unsubscribe from your emails. Instead, send a short email with a link to your website.
Provide a CTA (call to action) button to click through and take advantage of an offer after providing a description of the offer.
Every email should be short, sweet, and to-the-point. Many people only spend 15-20 seconds reading an email, so it shouldn’t resemble a novel.
It can be difficult to condense a lot of information into a small space. How do you determine what to include and what to leave out?
Let’s explore that.
3. Write better emails by adding relevant information and calls to action
Before journalists publish a story, they are required to find out the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story. We are going to set a similar standard for our emails.
We need to make sure each email we send answers these vital questions:
-What is the sale?
-When is it happening?
-What are the benefits of shopping during the sale?
Answering these questions will ensure that our emails are effective in promoting the sale and getting people to shop during it.
For example: the holiday sale is what we’re doing, our store location is where it’s happening, our business is who is doing it, the holiday is when it’s happening, special pricing is why it’s happening, and showing up is how you can participate.
Without this information, your recipients will be lost.
Your customers need to be able to take action on your site, so be sure to include CTA or “Buy It Now” buttons.
Before using advanced techniques to entice clicks on buttons, make sure your customers can view them on mobile devices.
Nearly half of emails are checked on mobile devices.
It’s a shame that you spent time crafting a brief, compelling email only to have limited engagement because it wasn’t compatible with mobile devices.
Don’t become a marketer who doesn’t make customers feel individually connected to your business.
4. Personalize each email and use the second-person point of view
It’s important not to make people feel like they’re just another faceless number. If you use email template programs, it’s easy to use language that sounds personal to each individual.
When you are writing an email, you should focus on the word “you.” This will help open up a conversation in which the person you are emailing feels important.
5. Proofread and check your grammar multiple times
There’s nothing worse than putting all your time into designing the perfect email template, sending it to your contact list, and then realizing there’s a glaring typo.
Typos are extremely frustrating, especially when they’re in emails. Not only do they look unprofessional, but they can also cause your email to get caught by spam filters.
It’s important to take the time to edit your emails before sending them out to customers. Checking for typos and ensuring that everything is polished will help create a professional image for your business.
Now that all the errors have been fixed, we can finally send our email out and see the positive results.
6. Have a compelling subject line (and examples)
The subject line of your email is very important in determining whether or not people will open and read it.
Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle with this part.
A great subject line is essential if you want the recipient to actually open and read your email. Subject lines are important if you’re reaching out to someone for the first time because the recipient doesn’t know who you are.
When emailing a colleague, consider spending an extra moment to write a clear and concise subject line. This will give them a better idea of what the email contains and make their life easier.
So, how do you write a good subject line?
Include all relevant information in the body of your email. Make sure your email is clear and direct. Include all relevant information in the body, so that the recipient can fully understand the context of your email. Here are some good examples of subject lines:
- [Action Required] Monthly Marketing Meeting
- FYI/Informational
- Request for [Insert here]
- [Reminder] Survey to Complete | Will Take 2 Minutes
- [Name] suggested I reach out to you
- I’m going to be in town next Tues – are you available?
If you’re sending a promotional email, avoid deceptive subject lines like:
- RE:
- FWD:
- Urgent
- Order confirmation
- Account Status
Sneaky tricks and clickbait titles are not effective in getting recipients to open an email, according to a 2019 Litmus survey. These tactics make recipients feel cheated and tricked, and will cause you to lose trust and end up in the recipient’s junk mail.
You want your email to evoke positive feelings, not negative ones.
7. Start with an appropriate greeting
You should start your email with a greeting that includes a salutation and an opening sentence.
The best way to start an email depends on the situation. If you’re writing a formal email to a bank or government institution, it would be better to use “Dear [X].”
If you are sending an email to someone you know or work with in a casual environment, it is perfect to say “Hi [name]” or “Hello [Name].”
When emailing a group where you are unsure of who will be reading it, you can start the email with “To Whom It May Concern.”
One thing to avoid is using terms that are not inclusive of everyone, like “Hi guys” or “Mr./Ms/Mrs.”
To help you out, here is a list of salutations you can open in your emails:
- Dear [First Name]
- [Name]
- Good morning/afternoon
- Hi team
- Hey
- Hi there
8. Have a strong attention grabber
After you’ve said hello in your email, it’s time to get down to business.
Having a great subject line for your email is important to get the email opened, but the opening sentence is just as important to get the email read until the end.
If you are introducing someone, you can find something interesting about them through research on social media profiles. You can reference a Tweet or post on LinkedIn.
Sending a personalized email will help you build rapport and show that you are not sending a generic email to multiple people.
It is important to establish some context in your email so that the recipient knows what is happening. This is especially important if you are emailing someone you don’t know.
With a colleague, start with the “why.”
It is important to answer the “why” quickly in an email so that the reader does not lose interest.
If you want some help coming up with what to say in your sales emails, HubSpot has a library of free templates that you can use. The templates are designed for different stages of the customer journey, so you can find one that’s appropriate for your needs.
9. Keep your message short and concise
We send and receive approximately 319 billion emails per day worldwide, according to Statista.
The statistic makes it clear that people spend a lot of time reading emails. Because of this, people usually just scan emails to get the main idea of the message and then move on to the next email.
With this in mind, you want to optimize your email for readability and scannability. This will look like:
- Keeping paragraphs short.
- Adding bullet points.
- Using visuals to break up the text.
Don’t try to tell them everything in one email.
No one wants to receive a three-page essay in their inbox. The main point of your email should be clear, and you should want your recipient to take a specific action.
Draft your email and make sure that every line you add will help you to achieve your goal. If it is not helping, remove it.
It’s usually better to schedule a phone call or meeting rather than trying to include a lot of information in an email.
10. Be consistent with your font
You can make your emails more fun by adding images, GIFs, and colors. However, you should be careful not to make them too jarring or distracting.
An example of bad design would be where the email uses several different fonts, font sizes, and colors, which makes it hard to read and visually overwhelming.
The message is lost because the person receiving it is too distracted by everything else that is going on.
If you want to use more than one font or color, use them sparingly so that it does not look cluttered.
If you’re using a non-English keyboard, your fonts may not show up properly on the other person’s device. Instead, use web-safe email fonts like:
- Arial
- Courier
- Georgia
- Helvetica
- Lucida Sans
- Tahoma
- Times New Roman
- Trebuchet MS
- Verdana
11. Write a simple closing
When you have finished writing the email, it is time to end it.
It doesn’t need to be complicated or extravagant, just keep your ending simple and to the point.
Use the safe, proven closing lines for the best results.
You can choose from some of the most common closing lines below:
- Sincerely
- Best regards
- Best
- Warm regards
- Warm wishes
- Kind regards
- Kind wishes
- Thank you
- Take care
12. Schedule your emails
Approximately 54% of Americans check work email within an hour of waking up, according to Sleep Advisor’s 2020 survey.
The time that people are most likely to read their emails is in the morning, with open rates starting around 6 a.m. and peaking between 9 a.m. and noon.
You can send your email either in the morning when you know they will be scrolling, or at a less busy time.
If you send an email in the morning, it may get buried. However, if you wait for a later time, your email may never get opened.
To figure out what works best when emailing with your team, you have to try different things and see what happens.
You need to take time zones into account when you’re emailing someone in a different state or country. For example, noon where you are could be 7 p.m. for the person you’re emailing. So you should think about when the person you’re emailing would be most likely to read and respond to your message.
Conclusion
Email is the most popular way to communicate electronically. More people use email than any other kind of electronic communication, including social media, chat programs, and forums.
This is a good opportunity to connect with your audience if you follow the best practices and are creative.
Email newsletters and triggered emails can improve conversions, foster trust, and result in a positive ROI.
The most important change you can make to your digital marketing efforts is to create targeted email templates based on behavior.