Email is still the most widely used marketing tool out there, and that is for a good reason.
It works.
Like most, I receive many emails, and having subscribed to all sorts of sites over the years, to see what works and what doesn’t, as well as to get my hands on their stuff.
Every email whose purpose is marketing has, or should have a pretty common structure.
Subject line.
The subject line makes or breaks the opening rate of your email. It does not matter how great the content of the email, if it does not get opened, it will not be seen. Spending time on the subject line will be a great investment.
Good subject lines have at least one of c couple of common characteristics. They grab attention by appealing to our deep instincts for survival, they create an interruption of some sort, appeals to our curiosity, or promises to deliver a relevant benefit.
Opening sentence.
Having conjured an open, the first sentence of the email must reinforce whatever grabbed the attention of the reader and motivated them to open it. It is like a sub headline of a sensational headline you click on a news site, it delivers a bit more information, and draws you into the body of the email
Email body
As implied, this is where the message is delivered, where you are drawn into the description of the problem that got you this far, and then given the solution.
The Pitch.
Every email should have a pitch, it is the reason the email was written, it is the delivery vehicle for the pitch. In effect, ‘I have outlined the problem, here is the solution”.
Call to Action.
The CTA answers the question “what do I do now”, it may be buy here, or sign up to this webinar, or just go to this site, whatever it is, the email must be clear on what they how the reader to do now, as a result of reading.
The power of the CTA is considerably enhanced by the use of some sort of ultimatum. ‘There are only 7 left in stock’ or ‘this price lasts only until Saturday’. Just directing someone to ‘click here for more information’ these days is pretty lame, there is insufficient motivation of FOMO (fear of missing out) as it implies they can come back at any time, and they rarely do.
