6 Tips For Writing Captivating Emails That Convert

I talk about emails a lot, both to my clients and on my blog. Why? Because the inbox is where it’s at. According to HubSpot, 78% of marketers have seen increased email engagement over the last 12 months.

Need I mention that emails have the best ROI (we’re talking 4,200%) of all the platforms your business shows up on? When you are given an email address, those subscribers have given you access to their last remaining sacred online space, their inbox.

But getting subscribers to your list is only the first step. You still need to write unmissable emails. To do this, here are my best tips for writing captivating emails that convert your subscribers into raving clients.

Write A Clickable Subject Line

Your emails won’t convert if nobody opens them. That’s why it’s so important that you get the subject lines right. You can write the baddest email copy in town, but it’s the headline that gets your subscribers to take the first action in your email funnel: opening your email.

40% of consumers say they have at least 50 unread emails in their inboxes (HubSpot). Let’s make sure your emails aren’t a part of this stat.

Give Your Email A Purpose

Each email you write should serve a purpose. What is the end goal? Do you want your subscribers to sign up for your course? Follow you on the ‘gram? Read your latest blog? Listen to the newest podcast you were just a guest on?

Every single email you write needs to guide your reader towards an action. Yep. You’re giving them an obvious and very singular call to action. 

Tell them exactly what you want them to do next. But don’t give them a million options. Give them one big, juicy CTA inside your email.

Outline Your Emails

Bouncing right off of the previous point, plan out your emails ahead of time. If you have a series of emails that build off the previous ones, this is called an email sequence. Read this post if you want to know what an email sequence is and why you need one! 

In a nutshell, an email sequence is a series of emails that work in coordination with each other to deliver value and move your subscriber into taking action. Breaking this content up into several emails helps you deliver the necessary information in digestible pieces.  

When you outline your emails, you know exactly what’s going on with your emails because they’ve been planned out accordingly –and the copy in each email will reflect this. If you need some inspiration on what kind of email sequences to write, here are three popular ones: Welcome Email Sequence, Sales Sequence, and a Re-engagement Email Sequence. I talk more about them in this blog post.

Outlining your sequence allows each email -within a sequence- to have a specific purpose (see point above) so your subscriber knows exactly what to do next. When you know how your emails will play out, you can tease what’s coming or refer back to a lesson learned from a previous email.

Readable Copy

So your subscribers have opened your email. Fantastic. Now they need to read the words you’ve written inside your email. To help them along, you want to make their journey as easy as possible. 

Format the heck out of your email. I’m talking about bullet points, bolding, italics, and most importantly –short paragraphs. Make your email skimmable! Break it up into chunks so your subscribers aren’t overwhelmed by potentially novel-length emails. Hopefully, outlining your emails (see tip above) can help you break your novel-length emails up into more digestible chunks.

Give Your Email Structure & Personality

A little structure goes a long way. Do you know what else goes a long way? An email that doesn’t sound like you just copy-pasted it from someone’s email template freebie. Please, don’t do that.

Write your emails in your voice –like you would write an email to your BFF. Seriously. Writing in your natural voice and flow will not only make your copy easier to read but more enjoyable to read. Don’t be afraid to show off your personality!

Make Your Email Interesting

If your subscribers are anything like me, they probably have about 100 emails a day to get through. Not only does that mean your subscribers have a short attention span, but you’re also competing with a lot of other emails, many of which will probably be more pressing than yours. Hellooo lost package from your most recent Amazon spree.  

And yes, using a well-written headline will help to catch your subscriber’s eye. But it’s the content inside your email that will either excite them or bore them to tears. So make it count.

You want to make your subscriber excited to see your name in their inbox. You can do this by writing emails that tell a story, that excites them, that provides tons of value for them, that gives them actionable steps they 

When you sit down to write your emails, think about how you can make every subscriber feel satisfied that they’ve taken the time to open your email and excited to read your next one–whenever the next one decides to show up in their inbox.

Hopefully, these tips for writing captivating emails have gotten you excited to finally sit down and write your next welcome sequence or newsletter. If not, I would love to write your emails for you. Head over to my services page to see how we can work together. 

If you want more goodies on writing emails, check out some other blogs I’ve written about this topic. 

• 5 Mistakes You’re Making In Your Emails

• How To Increase Email Open Rate