Crafting Compelling Emails: How to Write Emails That Get Opened & Read

A simple roadmap for writing emails that are eagerly anticipated.

#SFANLiveChat has become a unique knowledge-sharing forum for business owners and professionals, with over 36,000 impressions created from 6 chats this year! For our June edition, we explored how people leveraging email marketing to acquire leads or deliver compelling messages can write emails that actually get opened and read. Why? According to McKinsey, email marketing generates 40 times more revenue than Facebook and Twitter — combined! Actually, you are 6x more likely to get a click-through from an Email than from a tweet. Furthermore, email marketing can generate an ROI of 3800% and $38 for every $1 spent.

Our guests were Ben Anim-Antwi, Communications Director of Mefiri Ghana/Future of Ghana, and Roy Morrison, Blogger at Rise Africa Rise.

This chat comes ahead of the 5th edition of Future Executives Business Breakfast Meeting, Digital Marketing Strategies for Explosive Growth.

The following are our key takeaways from the meeting on how email is still very much relevant for effective workplace communication and marketing campaigns.

1. ON VOIDING SPAM FILTER

Don’t Over Commercialize Your Email.

What’s the point of writing emails if they can’t be delivered? According to Fast Company, of nearly 200 billion emails sent every day worldwide, 84% are considered to be spam. “The key thing to remember is that a spam filter is trying to remove commercial advertisements and promotions,” Ben explains. “Hence, avoid Spam Trigger Words and Phishing scam phrases. However, there is no complete list of spam trigger words. Therefore, words that are common in ad emails should be avoided. If you are sending emails for commercial purposes, e.g. newsletters, etc. then you need to be as transparent as possible,” he cautioned.

Depending on the email service provider you’re using, Roy says, ensure that your new subscriber whitelists you. Send the instructions as part of your welcome email.

By whitelisting your address, a subscriber is saying “I’ve determined that your content is valuable enough for me to make sure I receive it in my inbox.” 

2. ON EMAIL SUBJECT LINES THAT GET MORE OPENS

Be Clear & Concise.

Your subject line often determines whether your email gets opened or not. Good subject lines are personal or descriptive and give the recipient a reason to check out your content.

“Write a subject line that either states a benefit for the recipient or invokes curiosity, so they have reason to open your emails. Play with words and test different subject lines,” Roy says.“It can help to address your target audience in the subject line directly, e.g. African Entrepreneurs or Marketers. Knowing your audience is the key — mine your data and see what subject lines work the best for you and reuse them.”

Says Ben: Funny subject lines can really stick out among other emails. However, you will need to be careful here and display tact as humor is subjective. So know your audience!

Above all, always remember we’re in the mobile age. Most people check their emails on mobile phones, so pay attention to the number of characters as a long subject line will always be truncated.

Number of email users worldwide from 2017 to 2026 (in millions). Source: Statista

3. ON CREATING CONTENT PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO READ

Provide Value, Inspiration, Answers, and New Insights.

Most inboxes are filled to the brim with boring emails — that’s why many people don’t even bother reading past the subject line.

To write email content people love, Roy explains, “start by highlighting key points in headers or drawing special attention to them. Also, make the email format easy to read."

"Most people only scan emails. Few read an entire email. Email format and structure are essential and it goes back to knowing your audience. This means knowing what they care about; if your audience is marketers, an email about the benefits of meditation is unlikely to engage them. Again mine your data to see what kind of content your readers find interesting and try to reproduce it in future emails,” he stressed.

Also, do not be vague about the message you are trying to convey, Ben highlights: “Your recipient wants to know why you’re talking to them, so tell them!”

The key takeaway from this point is to put your audience first…think about how they’d feel when reading your email. Instead of writing as if your audience is a mass of faceless people, consider writing in a respectful, conversational tone. After all, your goal is to connect with your subscribers…right?

4. ON CONVERTING YOUR READERS INTO BUYERS

Focus on Creating Value.

As a marketer, you’re not writing emails just for the fun of it, are you?

Have an end goal in mind. And make every piece of content draw your reader closer to it, Ben says.

However, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to take action; don’t put unnecessary barriers in the way. Test your links before hitting the send button. Nothing hurts more than a broken or wrong link.

“Marketing automation tools like getresponse lets you send special emails depending on the subscriber behavior,” Roy intimates. “If somebody abandons your checkout page, you can send follow-up emails as reminders or nudge them to complete the transaction."

Roy continues: "Marketing automation done right can be very powerful. Keep providing value even if your readers do not buy immediately — sometimes it takes time to convince buyers.”

Equally vital, a digital marketing strategy, such as what Ryan Deiss outlined in this podcast, can help you increase your number of customers, increase the average transaction value per customer, and increase the number of transactions per customer.

Annoying Things People Do in Emails You Must Avoid

Ben says the first annoying thing people do in email is send long emails. Emails are best used for communicating action items, facts, or hellos. So keep it as short as possible.

Another annoying thing you can do in an email is use unprofessional email addresses. Your email address reflects you/creates an impression about you. Endeavor to keep it professional.

The third is not having a signature on emails! Create a signature line, which includes appropriate contact information, so recipients know who you are. If you're using Gmail, check this Google support for a guide on how to create your signature.

Carbon copying (CC’ing) email to mass numbers is another annoying thing people do in emails. This is annoying because if a recipient selects “reply all,” everybody gets the reply when it may not be relevant to them. To avoid this, use blind carbon copy(BCC) when sending mass emails. 

Also, avoid bedazzled marketing emails. Excessively decorative backgrounds often cause technical challenges when replying. For instance, they freeze and take a long time to scroll down. The best format is a clean white background.

We understand you need to make sales but don’t just focus on sales, and not on the reader, Roy says. “As in any other business discipline, it is important to provide value, and solve problems.”

Bonus: We asked Ben and Roy what time and day is best for email marketing

Roy: It depends on several factors, like target audience, season, etc. Most good email marketing software providers have a feature that automatically calculates the best time to send based on your past open and click-through. It is different for everyone and most likely keeps changing. For our newsletter, we constantly test different times to find the best time.

Ben: There’s no perfect time really. Everybody is different and you need to consider international time zones if you have that reach. Of course, if you use data captured from previous email marketing you can work out the best time for you/your company.

Final Thoughts on Writing Emails that Get Read

Email, if used effectively is very profitable. To make the best of your email campaigns, you must know your audience, create contents that add value to their lives/business, and leverage data (technology) to continually improve your marketing campaigns.

In tech, things change very fast. Work hard to continually improve your communication skills. Yesterday’s realities might not be today’s reality. But with careful observation and practice, every skill can be perfected. That includes email marketing. All the best!

At ReadyforWork Digital Career Accelerator digital marketing track, we teach students how to use social media to build and grow their careers. We share social media best practices with case studies on leading brands and practitioners.

To learn more and enroll in an upcoming cohort, visit the RewadyforWork website.