Copywriting For Emails – 14 Ways To Improve Your Campaigns

Copywriting For Emails – 14 Ways To Improve Your Campaigns

Your email list represents traffic that you own.

You have to pay for ads, sponsorships, or influencers — and you also have to worry about gatekeepers telling you what you can and can’t say.

But your email list is yours.

That’s why it’s so valuable.

Learn to market to your email list by writing compelling emails that tell stories, create emotion, and (most importantly) convert… and you’ll have developed a critical skill to be successful in the online world.

Here are 14 proven ways to improve your campaigns with stellar copywriting!

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1. Think About The Relationship

This is the first tip for a reason.

If you take anything away from this article, then take this: email marketing is about building relationships with your subscribers.

Think about it. 

Why does someone open an email, anyway? 

According to Email Mastery (and we agree with them), there are only three reasons that someone opens an email…

  • Self Interest — They open an email because they anticipate it’s going to provide them some sort of relevant value. This is a big motivator and, when it comes to crafting subject lines (more on that later), this is very important. Many people will open if they think the email has something of value to offer them. 
  • Emotional Interest — This is more ephemeral. But some people open simply because you (the subject line or preheader, I mean) made them feel something. Maybe you made them curious. Or maybe you showed some empathy. Whatever the case, they open because they feel emotionally interested. 
  • Relational Interest — Finally, we have the holy grail of email marketing… people opening not because of the subject line, preheader, or promise… but because the email is from YOU. This is the reason we always open emails from our family members or friends. What if your audience thought about your emails in the same way? 

That last one is the key. 

Ultimately, you want people to open it not because you woo’d them with a sexy subject line… but simply because the email is from you. And they like you and trust you. 

To give you an example proving that this is possible, consider David Perell. He has an email newsletter with over 45,000 subscribers and an average open rate of 52%. 

His subject lines? 

They used to literally just be the date of his newsletter. 

Yet his audience is still open because they know him and like his content. 

Of course, building that sort of relationship takes time. 

There’s no quick or easy way to build a trusting relationship with your audience. 

But here are some general tips that will help… 

  • Don’t Always Pitch — It’s okay to have an offer or CTA in most of your emails. But occasionally just saying something nice or giving a free piece of advice without any CTA in sight can help show you have the reader’s best interest at heart. Maybe consider sending a CTA-less email once per week. 
  • Send Often — We’ll talk more about the importance of emailing every day later in this article, but for now, just remember that it’s easier to build a relationship with someone who you talk to regularly. The same is true for your subscribers. The more you email, the faster you’ll build relationships. 
  • Provide Free Value — Whether it’s freebie resources or stories that contain lessons, sending free value to your email list regularly is critical for building a meaningful relationship with them. Ideally, you want them to feel like they get a lot by being on your email list. 

2. Start With a Soap Opera Sequence

What do you send your email list when they first sign up for your list? 

Popular wisdom says you should send a welcome email.

But how about a welcome sequence that introduces them to you or your brand, tells a compelling story, and offers them your frontend product? 

This sort of sequence is called a Soap Opera Sequence and it’s the best way we know to turn new leads into paying customers systematically.

There are five emails that go out (one per day) during this sequence. Here they are…

Set The Stage — This is where you introduce yourself, build a bit of rapport, and tell people what they can expect in your upcoming emails. You also want to build some anticipation.

High Drama → Backstory → Wall — This is where you capture them with a high-drama moment, tell them a bit of backstory, and then reveal the wall you came up against.

Epiphany → The One Thing — This is where you reveal your big epiphany, how you came to the realization that changed everything.

Hidden Benefits — This is where you’re going to talk about the benefits of your product that your target market probably isn’t even thinking about… the hidden benefits.

Urgency CTA — This is where you’ll create urgency or scarcity to push your most stubborn readers over the edge.

Check out the video below to learn more about how to craft your own soap opera sequence. 

3. Email Every Day

Obviously, you don’t want to send your list a soap opera sequence and then never email them again. 

Email marketing is a long-term game. 

You can build relationships with your subscribers that last years or even decades. 

If you can keep in contact with them, that is

You can’t, after all, have a relationship with someone who you don’t regularly speak to — the same is true for your email list. 

And that’s partly why we recommend emailing daily. 

Sounds like too much? 

In a minute, we’ll show you how to easily put together emails every day. But first, consider some of the benefits of emailing daily…

  • More Opens — Across the board, if you send more emails, you’re going to get more opens on a weekly basis. Sure, your daily open rate might decrease a little… but it’s worth it for the overall gain of getting more opens overall. 
  • More Clicks — The same is true for your click-through rate. You might get fewer clicks per email than if you were emailing weekly or monthly… but you’ll get more clicks overall. And that means more conversions and more sales. 
  • Lots of Hooks — Different people open and click for different reasons. By emailing every day, you’re able to throw out a lot of different types of hooks, offers, and deals to appeal to different types of people in your email list. This variety ends up converting, overall, a lot more people.
  • Learn Faster — If you go from emailing once a week to emailing 7 times per week, then you’ll learn 7 times faster. You’ll figure out which types of subject lines, stories, CTAs, and offers work the best with your email list. And learning fast is the key to success. 

But how do you write an email every day? 

Use the strategy we call Seinfeld Emails. 

Here’s a video explaining how this works. 

Here’s the basic idea. 

You sit down at the same time every day to write an email and set a maximum time limit of 30 minutes for yourself. Then think of something interesting that has happened to you recently. It could be a funny story, an interesting metaphor, a lesson, a riddle, something someone said, or something else. It literally could be anything! Then find a way to tie that thing into one of your products or offers. 

Voila. 

You’ve written an email. 

Use this dead-simple format…

  • Hook — Get the recipient’s attention with a curiosity-inducing subject line.
  • Story — Tell a compelling and interesting story.
  • Offer — Offer a product or service that’s related to the story you told.

Here’s an example…

Email Every Day

4. Create Curiosity With Subject Lines

I’ve written a lot of emails over the last few years — both for clients and for my own businesses. 

And I’ve found that, when it comes to writing subject lines, curiosity is king. 

This reminds me of what the famous copywriter, Joseph Sugarman, once said, “The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence.”

He explains, “So your first sentence should be very compelling by virtue of its short length and ease of reading. No long multisyllabic words. Keep it short, sweet, and almost incomplete so that the reader has to read the next sentence.”

That’s great advice for writing subject lines. 

If you tell me exactly what’s in the email, like this…

Ultimate guide to Facebook ads

…well, that’s a lot less intriguing than if you said…

Are you wasting money? 

… or better yet…

I wasted $10k on ads

See how that works? 

You want to give people just enough to grasp onto and make them crave more information. Make them salivate with curiosity. 

I write for a personal development newsletter and over the last 90 days, these have been some of our highest open-rate subject lines…

  • Doom & Gloom Goes Boom
  • Risk Taking
  • Purpose > Illness
  • Trust The Process
  • Fronely

See how short and sweet they are? 

How do they make you a little curious about what’s inside? 

Remember: the only goal of the subject line is to get people to open the email.

So the next time you’re writing subject lines for an email, think about how you can create curiosity with your subject line. 

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5. Don’t Forget The Preheader

In the last tip, I told you that curiosity is one of the best emotions to use in order to increase your open rate. 

Now I’m going to give you one of my favorite hacks to create curiosity. 

And it’s partly great because so few email marketers completely neglect the preheader. 

This is the section of copy that people see right after the subject line before they open.

Don’t Forget The Preheader

You can use this section to really drive home the curiosity. I do this all the time with my email newsletter. Here’s what that looks like…

You can use this section to really drive home the curiosity. I do this all the time with my email newsletter. Here’s what that looks like…

Notice how the preheader acts as an afterthought or a continuation of the subject line?

And why not? 

I’ve found that this structure catches the eye and builds curiosity. 

I originally discovered this by subscribing to Rachel Pederson’s email list… and it’s super effective. 

I originally discovered this by subscribing to Rachel Pederson’s email list… and it’s super effective.

The lesson? 

Don’t just think about your subject line. 

Try to figure out how your preheader can work with your subject line to create even more curiosity.

6. Use Urgency

Anyone who regularly sells stuff online to their email list will tell you that the vast majority of sales come in during the last few days of the offer. 

A friend of mine showed me the following sales chart for a one-week promo he was doing for his main product…

Use Urgency

Can you guess which day the offer ended?

That’s right. 

On the 16th — when almost everyone purchased. 

This is why urgency is so important. 

People are procrastinators. 

And if you don’t create a sense of urgency — this is going to go away! Get it before it’s gone! — then many people aren’t going to take action.

Why? 

Because they can do it later. 

You have to kill the “I’ll do it later” mentality.

Create an end date for your offer or limit supplies. Here’s a simple example of how you can create urgency in your emails…

Create an end date for your offer or limit supplies. Here’s a simple example of how you can create urgency in your emails…

7. Survey Your List

This tip isn’t exactly about copywriting inside of emails… but when it comes to copywriting for your offers, it’s very relevant. 

What if your email subscribers outright told you the product they wanted to buy from you?

Then all you would have to do is go create it and sell it to them. 

Easy as pie. 

Bryan Ward, for instance, routinely sends a survey to his list asking which products they’re most interested in. Here’s what that email looks like…

Survey Your List

If you click on the link, you’re taken to an extremely simple survey. Each question is the headline and subheadline for a potential product.

You can choose either “would buy” or “would not buy”. 

You can choose either “would buy” or “would not buy”.

How cool is that? 

This way, Bryan is able to determine what product his audience actually wants before he goes about creating it. 

If you’re unsure what to sell your subscribers… Why not ask them? 

8. Swipe File

I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of a swipe file. 

It’s essentially a collection of emails, ads, headlines, and sales copy that you like — so that you can refer back to it and use it for inspiration when writing your own emails or offers.

Sounds easy enough, right?

But don’t neglect the power of these swipe files. 

If you create a good one, it can come in handy for all sorts of emails — from sales emails to newsletters and broadcasts. 

Put together a collection of your favorite subject lines, preheaders, and even entire emails that you like…  so that you have something to refer back to when writing your own. 

You don’t have to copy their exact words. But having these swipe files can come in handy when you’re stuck on an email or subject line and just need a little bit of inspiration.  

And lastly, if there are any email writers in your network, try to exchange swipe files with each other. It’s always interesting to see what other people like and get inspired by.  

9. Periodically Run Discounts

A great way to add urgency and generate sales is to periodically run discounts on your products or services. It’s a great way to get people off the fence and take action. 

Periodically Run Discounts

You can set up a discount for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other seasonal event that might fit your business. Or you could just do it regularly — every month, quarter, or year. 

Make sure to communicate the discount in your emails so that your subscribers know about it. You can also add a timer to create even more urgency and get people to take action. 

Discounts are great for generating sales and getting people off the fence — but make sure you don’t overdo it. You don’t want to cheapen your product or service by offering discounts too frequently. 

So use them periodically, as a way to reward your subscribers and create excitement around your offers. 

10. Personalize The Emails (Not How You Think

You’ve probably heard of personalization as it pertains to email marketing before. 

Usually, it refers to using the recipient’s name, segmenting your email list, and trying to only send emails that are relevant to the people you’re sending them to. 

All good advice. 

But beaten to death. 

Here I’m talking about personalizing your emails in a way so that they feel like they’re BEING SENT from an actual person

This sort of personalization is more authentic and gives your readers an opportunity to connect with the person behind the brand. 

Why not send emails so that they come from the CEO of the company? Or a support team member? Or the head of marketing?

Personalize The Emails (Not How You Think. Why not send emails so that they come from the CEO of the company? Or a support team member? Or the head of marketing?

It adds a human touch and makes your emails feel much more authentic. 

So instead of just sending “emails from the company”, try to personalize them as if they were being sent by an actual person.

Your readers will appreciate it — and you’ll see better results!  

11. Use A/B Testing To Optimize Your Emails 

If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your emails, you need to be testing them. 

This is where A/B testing comes in. 

A/B testing allows you to send two different versions of an email and see which one performs better. 

You can test things like the subject line, the images, the call-to-action, and even entire emails. 

This way you’ll be able to see what works best for your audience and optimize your emails for maximum engagement. 

It’s also a great way to get insights into your readers’ preferences and interests.

You can create A/B tests with your email campaigns easily using ClickFunnels (learn more here!). 

12. Test The First 20% of a Campaign

This tip continues off of the last tip and is a great way to make the most of each campaign. 

When you’re writing subject lines, although curiosity is powerful, it’s hard to know for sure which one is going to get the best open rate. 

So why not A/B test two different subject line & preheader combinations for the first 20% of your email list and then send the winner to the other 80% of your email list? 

This strategy was popularized by the massive email newsletter, Morning Brew, and it is a surefire way to increase your open rate with every single email that you send. 

13. Re-engage Inactive Subs

Are you noticing a lot of disengaged subscribers on your list?  

It’s time to start re-engaging them. 

Re-engagement campaigns are specifically designed to connect with inactive subscribers and get them interested again in what you have to offer.

The goal is to get them to open your emails, click through, and ultimately convert.

There are plenty of strategies you can use to re-engage inactive subscribers. Some examples include offering exclusive promos, creating valuable content specifically tailored to them, or providing incentives for them to take action. 

Try a few different tactics and see what works best for your audience. With the right strategy, you’ll be able to get inactive subscribers back on board and make them part of your engaged audience. 

Here’s an example…

Re-engage Inactive Subs

14. Utilize Automation To Streamline Your Email Program

Email automation is a great way to make your email program more efficient and reduce the amount of manual labor you have to do. 

With automation, you can set up rules to trigger emails based on certain actions that users take (or don’t take). 

You can also automate processes such as segmenting your list or sending out welcome emails. 

These tasks can be time-consuming, so it’s important to automate as much as possible in order to save time and resources. 

With automation, you’ll also be able to ensure that your emails are being sent out on a consistent basis and reach the right people at the right time.

You can do this with ClickFunnels email marketing features

Final Thoughts

Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. 

It’s incredibly versatile and can be used to grow your business in a wide variety of ways. 

But it’s also important to remember that email is not a “set it and forget it” kind of thing.  

You need to take the time to test, optimize, and refine your emails in order to get the best results. 

By following the tips outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to mastering email marketing and reaching your goals.

Good luck!

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