4 Steps to Crafting Emails That Engage Your Audience

Are your sales and marketing emails effective in compelling your audience to engage with your product or service, or are they leaving them confused and uninterested?  Follow these 4 simple rules to create emails campaigns with impact.

Follow these few simple rules to create marketing and sales emails with impact.

Choose Your Target Audience Well

Your message must resonate with your readers. If you choose a very broad and diverse audience, it would be hard to write content that resonates with all readers. Pick a narrow target audience, so your message sounds personal to them. Create different marketing emails for the different segments of your target market and tailor your message to each one.

It helps to think about it in this way: “What job is the customer hiring us to do?”. Break your target audiences by the specific job they need done.

Craft a Compelling Subject Line That Will Intrigue the Reader

A well crafted subject line makes the difference between your marketing emails being ignored or opened. You can’t deliver your message if your emails are ignored. Spend time to create subject lines that compel your audience to read on.  The most effective subject lines are ones that resonate with a pain point that we are currently experiencing, or something we aspire to achieve. People never look for a new product or a solution if they are happy and content. They act when there is a pain they wish to make go away or want to achieve something aspirational.

Effective subject lines are short, frequently in the form of a question, and could be a bit shocking or even controversial.

Structure the Body of Your Email as: Problem, Solution, Call to Action

You must engage the reader with your opening sentence, or they will hit the delete button before finishing that first sentence.  Expand upon the problem or aspiration that your subject line introduced. Phrase that problem in the customer’s own language. Using a question to which you know your target audience will answer with a ‘Yes!’, is a good way to engage the reader.

Next, tell them how your product or service solves their pain point, and why you are better than any other products or services. A clear and concise statement of your value proposition is key to keep the reader engaged.

  • Be specific. Avoid using empty phrases and general statements like “We offer a best-in-class solution”.
  • Use simple language. Numerous neuroscience studies have shown that complex words create negative perception in the readers. Simple, familiar words are perceived as true, genuine and more likable.
  • Be authentic and real. Speak in your own voice. People like doing business with other people.

Finish your email with a clear call to action and give your readers a reason to act now. The incentive to act doesn’t have to be monetary. You can simply help the customer envision themselves without the pain or have achieved their aspirations.

Test, Measure, and Do More of What Works

Good marketers are always testing and measuring what works. Split your target audience in batches, and test various subject lines, value proposition messaging and calls to actions. Learn what works and do more of it. Always experiment, measure and learn.