Has it happened to you that you send emails that have beautiful designs but users do not open them? You may be making several mistakes when composing an email.
Writing is a work process, but not a creative process. When creating an email, you must take into account several rules, tactics and limits. Wording aligned with other factors will shape the image of your brand and make the difference between the competitors.
Your written content conveys the energy of your brand and inspires people to buy the product or service. Therefore, the text on your website, emails, publications, even comments on social networks will define the loyalty of users towards your brand.
1. Leave out nonsense headers and preheaders
The header will help you attract attention and intrigue readers to click on your email. The preheader will be a summary of your article. On both sides, you can captivate your audience if you learn to place the correct information. How?
When it comes to a header and preheader, the words eye-catching, informative, and tempting should be present when creating a new email. If your header doesn’t invite readers to click on your email, you’re trying in vain. A misspelt header can even direct your email to the junk mailbox (spam) or the trash.
2. Do not leave the subject line blank
Let’s say you have a great new marketing idea for your company that involves doing that magic trick, David Blaine electrocuted himself, using the company president as a human torch. You have all the skills to do it because you read Nikola Tesla’s book. In a moment of urgency and enlightenment, you send the email to the president describing a great and safe idea. Unfortunately, you don’t include a descriptive subject, perhaps something like “Innovative marketing idea that is safe and won’t kill you, I promise.”
We know that you are very busy and that half of your lunch is now within the spaces of your keyboard, but it is difficult to type another word or two before sending that gem to the abyss? If you don’t show your purpose in that first instance, your boss will probably ignore your email without a subject and assume it’s spam and send it to the recycle bin.
3. Say no to cliches and non-original content
Do you want to stand out from your competitors? If so, avoid using old phrases like:
✓ We have had incredible success.
✓ As a progressive company.
✓ We are pleased to inform you.
✓ Dear readers.
✓ Good quality, a wide range of choice, customization.
✓ Team of professionals.
✓ We offer an excellent service.
✓ The customer always comes first.
✓ We are delighted to welcome you.
Forget about clichés if you want to be unique and original.
SEO specialists claim that “Content is king.” So why is writing original content so important? Mainly because search engines tend to position websites with unique content in the top search positions.
Conclusion: don’t duplicate content! When composing an email, try to be as frank as possible with your readers. Reach out to them personally and create new unique content. Also, check the originality of your content with specialized plagiarism checking software before submitting it.
4. Be careful with grammar
Your readers won’t take your brand seriously if you misspelt it when sending emails. Correct your emails before sending them. In this way, you show respect to your readers and buyers. We recommend using online spell checker services that are free or inexpensive.
5. Avoid very long emails
Respect your readers’ time and don’t bore them with long paragraphs. Be concise when it comes to creating an email. Long texts are often the result of a poorly formulated message and an excess of meaning.
Make your sentences clear and short. A complicated sentence can be done in two lines, so that the reader does not get lost at some point in the sentence and what you are saying stops making sense.
Tip: If you find it difficult to write using short sentences, put it aside for a while and come back to it later with a fresh mind.
6. Don’t go overboard with keywords
In the rush to get it right with SEO copywriting, some copywriters overload their texts with keywords. Does it sound familiar to you? These texts are hard to read and perceive because they are unnatural.
Overuse of keywords used to work in the past, along with other SEO tricks. However, now, filling your page with keywords could even lower your search average and drive your audience away from the immense repetition of words.
7. Too many exclamation and question marks
Exaggerated use of exclamation marks or question marks in a text when creating an email is not a good way to express emotions and be persuasive. Instead, it is a way to annoy your audience. Too many exclamation and question marks will kill any well-written text.
Conclusion: use exclamation and question marks sparingly when composing an email. There are other tools to express emotions and improve the effectiveness of your message, for example:
- Synonyms, which are slightly different in meaning
- Metaphors refer to one thing mentioning another
- Personifications, which are attributions of the human form and characteristics to abstract concepts.
- Hyperbole, which is an exaggeration.
8. Don’t fall for poor formats
A valid format is used to visually describe the foremost information of the text in an email. If your content is poorly formatted, the reader can get lost in it. Instead, a well-formatted text will be a visual guide for the reader’s eyes, leading them to the most relevant information in the text.
Here are some practical formatting tips:
- Create intervals between the lines to visually separate and make it easy to read.
- Set pauses between letters in words.
- Evenly distributes the words within a line in the text.
- Use numbered and marked lists.
- Use the large fonts as a headline.
9. Not everything is urgent
Even if someone took away the self-help message that you had printed in your workplace is an emergency for you, you do not need to mark it with “High Priority” in the mail, especially if you are sending it to the whole office including your bosses.
If having a motivational message in your workplace didn’t make you look unstable, your colleagues will consider you that way by reacting that way. So, you can say goodbye to that promotion and welcome even more depressing motivational reading material.