Think about the last email you read that you enjoyed. Was it the catchy subject line? Maybe it was the content of the email. How long was it? Most often, the short and sweet emails are the best.
Studies show that our attention spans are decreasing thanks to social media, ads, and news. So consider this when writing your emails.
Most people will not want to read long emails. Keep your emails short and to the point.
Here’s how to start…
Stick to One Idea
Concise, well-written, converting emails focus on one topic. If you talk about too many things, readers can get confused about the purpose of your email. If you have an offering, talk about it in one email. If you have a blog newsletter, stick to a common theme.
Outline Your Content
Outlining helps to organize your ideas. Start with the goal of the email. Then create the idea or topic you’re going to be talking about. Break the outline by the problem, solution, and sub-topics that relate to the main idea. End with a call to action. Here’s an example:
– Topic – How to shop for groceries sustainably
– Problem of the topic – increased waste for the planet
– Subtopic- Shopping for produce without plastic bags
– Solution of a topic – Use this reusable bag to prevent additional waste
– CTA (Call to action) – Buy product X
An outline can help eliminate any redundant content and keep this short and to the point.
Write Your First Version – Even if It’s A lot
After you write your outline. Write your first draft in a Word document. Don’t pay attention to grammatical errors or punctuation.
Step Away
Once you have a good amount of copy, step away. Do something else. It can be something simple as reading, meditating, listening to music, or just going for a walk. You need to give your brain a rest. Come back to your copy within a day and then edit the hell out of it.
Trim, Trim, Trim
Review your initial outline and compare it with your first version. Cut and remove anything that seems repetitive or irrelevant. Read it out loud. Stick to the idea, problem, and solution that you mentioned in your outline. Don’t be afraid to trim your content.
So how long should you keep your content?
Here’s a breakdown:
Subject lines – Keep them no more than 60 characters.
Preheader text – 40-130 characters – This is the top area of content you see in your inbox. Based on the email provider, preheaders can be cut off at various characters, but keep them short and use curiosity in these.
Body Content – Keep the ‘meat’ of your emails under 200 characters. Remember that the content of your email should direct your readers to a larger piece of content. They don’t need to read a whole essay in the email. Send them to a blog, landing page, or product page to read more.
Now that you’re done writing and editing, it’s time to schedule your emails. Before you hit that send button, consider the following.
Do A/B Tests
A/B tests can help you find out what content performs better. Many email marketing providers, such as MailerLite, allow you to run an A/B test on your subject lines and body content. Experiment with different areas of your email to see which content your audience prefers.
Select Your Images Wisely
Images play a role in the aesthetic of your emails, but make sure you don’t use huge images. Large images cause emails to load slow and can trigger your emails as spam.
The best width for an image is no larger than 640 pixels. Avoid using just images over text. An ideal ratio of content to images is between 20-50% of the content. Remember, accessibility. Adding alt text to each of your images can help your visually-impaired readers to better understand your content.
At the end of the day, your email should provide value for your readers. Keep your emails short, sweet, and to the point. Let your call to action button take them to another piece of content where they can learn more. Below are real examples of emails I received with images.
I go into more depth with email copywriting, so if you want the FREE ebook, download it!
If you have questions about creating or writing emails, feel free to reach out. As a marketing consultant, I write engaging, converting emails that generate sales for my clients!
Email me to book your free discovery call at my contact page.