6 Easy Steps to Write Emails That Actually Get Opened

Marketing your own business can feel a little overwhelming at times.  If the idea of reaching your audience via email sends you into panic mode, then this information is for you.  Today, we’re going to talk about six simple ways that you can improve the odds of writing email or newsletter content that will actually get opened by your audience.  If you’re consistently looking at a low open rate percentage, that’s a good sign that it’s time to take a look at what you’re delivering.    

Email marketing is important because it’s the one way that you can always reach your audience.  Social media marketing is important, sure, but it’s also akin to building on rented land.  There’s no guarantee that the platforms you’re utilizing to reach your audience will be there from one day to the next or that your clientele will always be on those social media platforms.  How many times have you heard, “I’m taking a break from social media right now.”?  When you build your own email list, however, you always know where to find your client.  So, you know where to find them…now, how do you grab their attention?   

1.  Speak to the topics that are on your client’s mind.  Not what’s on your mind, but what’s on their mind.  How do you know what’s on their mind?  Think about what questions you are getting asked the most by your clients.  What seem to be the common pain points with your audience members?  This is where you’re going to find your gold.  Your readers want information that is important and valuable to them.  The best part?  You don’t necessarily have to be the creator of that important information.  Your email or newsletter can (and, oftentimes, should) most definitely contain links to outside sources that your audience might benefit from.
2.  Speak directly to your client. Notice that I didn’t write “clients”?  That’s right, speak to each client individually.  Make your emails start with “Dear Bob”, or “Joe”, or “Sharon” as opposed to something generic and broad like, “Hello Everybody!”.  Personalizing your content will help your reader to feel like they are engaging in a one-on-one conversation with you.  It grabs their attention and builds rapport as they feel like you are speaking directly to them (which in turn gets them thinking about how the content you’ve delivered applies directly to their 
3.  Use your own voice! While it is certainly important to “be the expert” in your field, if you’re just throwing around a bunch of intellectual jargon, you might sound smart, but you’re unlikely to come across as relatable.  Don’t be afraid to use a more conversational tone in your content.  Be who you are!  Are you funny?  Own it and throw a little humor in there.  Are you passionate about something?  Let your passion shine out!  Do you have signature phrases that you’re known for?  Use them!  Let others into your world and they will begin to see snippets of themselves in you and vice versa.  Let your personality leap off of the page.  Avoid presenting your information as a lecture or a case study.  This stuff typically has no warmth or emotion behind it and it’s not going to necessarily draw your audience closer. 
4.  Don’t ignore the subject line! The subject line is more important than you might think.  For one thing, it’s the first thing that could prevent you from getting into your client’s inbox in the first place.  How so?  Using words like “free”, “deal”, “guarantee”, or “limited time offer”, incorporating lots of punctuation, and even titling your subject line in all caps can flag the spam filters of your client’s email provider and get your message sent straight into spam.  Your message does no good there.  Additionally, it’s the grabber that’s going to initially get your reader’s attention (or not), so make sure it pops.  If you’re not sure whether or not it does, there’s an excellent free resource you can use, amiinstitute.com/headline, where you can enter your subject line and get a rating.  Ideally, you want to make sure that the readability of your headline is above a 40%.  If you’re not satisfied with that, challenge yourself to get a higher score! 
5.  Consider the email length. You may not initially know whether your audience prefers long emails chock full of juicy content, or shorter, more digestible emails, so do a little research.  Send out a mix of long and short as you begin your email marketing campaign and see what lands.  Where are you getting the most opens?  The most clicks?  Whether it’s short or long, remember that, as humans, we’re typically a little lazy.  If we see a page full of text, there’s a good chance we’re going to feel a bit daunted and put off by that.  Make your content skimmable by breaking it up into readable sections.  Use bullet points, images, and paragraph breaks to section it off and you may even choose to use a slightly larger font to make it more readable.       
6.  Consistency is key. One of the things I’m often asked is, “How often should I send my emails or newsletters?”.  The answer to that is entirely up to you, but my suggestion is to start with something palatable.  If once or twice a week feels like a hard no, start with once a month and then bi-weekly and build your way to weekly or twice per week, depending on the needs of your audience.  Don’t forget, too, that you have access to my free guide, “How to Build 90 Days of Social Media Content in 30 Minutes”.  This guideline can be applied to your email marketing, too.  Posting about a particular subject one week?  Great…email about it, too! 

That’s it!  Follow those six steps and you’ll be on your way to email marketing success.  How will you know it’s working?  You definitely want to be checking your email open percentage rate!  Every industry has a different optimal rate and you can check yours through a simple google search.  If that number doesn’t start going up, come back to these six steps and see if anything is missing. 

If you still need some additional support, don’t forget that you can always reach out to me and I’d be happy to help you forge ahead and find success as an entrepreneur.  Additionally, you can download another free guide, “5 Free or Low-Cost Ways to Gain New Clients Every Week” or join our Facebook group, “Be a Confident Entrepreneur, Gain Confidence and Grow Your Business”.

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