5 Tips for Writing Emails That Actually Get Opened and Read

Content writers don’t have it easy.

You likely spend hours polishing your articles and crafting the perfect headline. When you are finally pleased with your work and hit publish, you wait…

And you wait…

And you wait some more…

In spite of your best intentions, your email open rates remain flat.

Why? Should you give up on email marketing altogether?

Of course not! With over 144 billion emails sent every day, email marketing is one of the best channels for business communication. What you need to learn is how to write better emails and get your subscribers’ attention.

Here are some guidelines:

1. Write a Compelling Subject Line

Do you know what the most important element of your email is? It is the subject line.

According to Convince and Convert, 33% of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone. And it does make sense. If the title isn’t engaging or it doesn’t inspire curiosity, why should subscribers bother opening your email?

When writing a subject line, try to keep these 5 key elements in mind:

• Curiosity
• Urgency
• Relevancy
• Value
• Emotion

A good example of enticing subject lines is President Barack Obama’s email fundraising campaign. He used subject lines such as “Join me for dinner”, “Hey” or simply “Wow” and short, concise email copy. Although extremely simple, the strategy worked and most of the $690 million he raised online came from fundraising emails.

2. Add Value

Think about why your readers subscribe to your email newsletter in the first place. It is to get something — a discount, a coupon, access to valuable information about the industry and so on.

In order to get your subscribers to open your emails, you need to add value to their lives. Once they realize that you’re not just trying to sell to them, and that you actually care about their needs, they will start to trust you.

3. Personalize Your Emails

According to Buffer.com, a significant element of email marketing is relationship. No one wants to be talked to in a formal language. Good content writers craft their emails just like they write blog posts. They use “you” and “I” and are not afraid to include a witty comment or question.
If you find it hard to personalize your emails, try this trick: pretend you are writing to a friend. What would you tell him? How would you let him know you have a new blog post up?

4. Keep it Short

Among the email mistakes content writers make, sending data-heavy messages is one of the most common. As with most things in life, keeping it short is a valuable asset. Although it may seem like a simple thing to do, far too many business owners feel that they need to put every piece of information they have in order to hold their cases.

5. Use Cliffhangers

A cliffhanger is an unresolved ending that leaves the audience eager to know what will happen next. It’s what keeps you glued to your favorite TV show or what makes you turn page after page instead of stopping at the end of the chapter.

QuickSprout recommends you think of emails as part of a series. Each email is an “episode” that leads to the nest. This way, you tease your subscribers and you keep them interested.

What are your best strategies to get your emails opened? We’d love to hear your thoughts.