How to write a marketing email

Getting Started with Digital Marketing:

How to Write Good Marketing Emails

by Aimee Alleman, founder Hey Mae Mae

A good email is more than a pretty picture. It is map that guides a customer on their journey, and it is often the starting point of their relationship with your business. Knowing that this might be your first interaction with a new customer, you want to make sure you get it right. In this article we'll breakdown what you'll need to craft an email that sells.

Plain Text Verses Graphic (HTML)

There are two main types of emails that marketers send. The plain text email and the fancy graphic email otherwise known as an HTML email. Each of these emails has it's own pros and cons and place in the marketing journey. The majority of email marketers lean heavy on the graphics email because of their attention grabbing abilities using imagery, fonts, and colors. Plain text emails may not pretty, but they can get the job done and often can outperform their fancy counterpart.

Why Use Plain Text Emails?

SPAM Filters - If you are having deliverability issues with your HTML emails try adding a text version alternative to it. HTML only emails are usually a red flag for SPAM filters.
Non-Traditional Inboxes - People aren't reading their emails on their computers anymore. A vast majority are using their smart watches, gaming devices and voice assistants to read emails. Plain text versions of emails work much better on these devices.
Preference - Some people simply prefer the plain and simple text-only email.

You are probably wondering "how do you make plain text emails?" Fortunately, the answer is pretty easy. Most email service providers have a tool that automatically generates the plain text email for you, but if they don't creating your text version should still require minimal effort. Every operating system includes a text editor which you can use to just type in your relevant content minus the fancy pictures and graphics.

The Anatomy of a Good Email

Now that you understand the two types of emails used in marketing it's time to talk about all the content that goes into making and writing a good email that really sells.

Subject Line

Every good email starts with a good subject line. You want to make sure that you have a subject line that will resonates with your customer or prospect. When it comes to email, your subject line is the make it or break it component. You can send the greatest email ever written, but if your subject line isn’t on point, no one will ever see your content. Good subject lines spark the interest of the reader, are clear and concise, and usually highlight one benefit or pain point your product offers or solves.

Body Copy

After you have your subject line in order, turn your attention to your copy. Does it properly guide the customer along their journey? When writing your email copy, a good copy flow to follow is:

first introduce the product and its feature
speak about the product’s benefits
state how the product solves a customer's pain point
highlight customer successes with your product
A clear call to action (CTA)

You want to ensure that you have a clear CTA. If you have more than one CTA, stop and consider if turning your one email into multiple emails would make more sense and better support the different CTAs.

Visuals

Once you have your subject line and copy put together, you want to look for ways to support your message visually. Try to think of creative ways to illustrate to your reader what you are representing with your words. Sometimes a simple beauty shot of the product goes a long way. It is important to remember to stay on-point with your visual. Make sure the image you pick is truly supporting your copy and your CTA. If you can, try to incorporate your CTA into your header graphic. Play buttons or download arrows go a long way in generating click-throughs.

Template

Last but not least is cross-device, cross-browser display performance. Test and confirm that you are building your email in a template that displays properly across multiple types of devices and email clients. Make sure your email is laid out in a template that is either responsive or fluid and displays properly with the major email clients like Outlook and Gmail. Don’t worry, if you are using an email service provider (ESP) they usually have a stock set of templates for you to use that will display properly on all major devices. If you aren’t sending your emails through an ESP that has stock templates, litmus.com offers a selection of free downloadable templates that have been tested in over 50 email clients.

Wrap Up

Building and sending a good email isn’t rocket science, but it does take some planning and effort. If you put the above four pieces together, you are on your way to creating a good if not great email.

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