Emails are an important part of most marketing campaigns and can be highly effective when done right. As we all know, everyone is bombarded with emails every day, so making yours stand out from the crowd can be tricky. Within a split second, people pick and choose which emails they want to read and which they toss into the trash.
Avoiding these four email writing blunders will help ensure your emails aren't immediately tossed into the trash, giving your campaigns a chance to produce higher open rates and conversions.
1. Using ALL CAPS for the entire subject line or email body.This is like shouting, and nobody likes that. On the other hand, you don't want to use all lower case either. In other words, just use proper capitalization in your subject line and throughout your email body.
2. Using fonts that are difficult to read and don’t display well on mobile.Stick to standard font styles, sizes, and colors. Your reader is only giving you a few seconds to a couple minutes of their time; you don’t want to make them spend that valuable time trying to decipher a weird font.
3. Not knowing the audience.Always,alwayskeep your audience in mind when writing emails. Be sure your tone is appealing to your audience and that your email content is appropriate and interesting.
4. Confusing offers and/or calls to action.If you’re making an offer in your email, be sure it’s very clearwhatyour offer is andhowto act upon the offer. Also, be sure that your calls to action are easy for your reader to complete.
I recently got an email that offered a free consultation at my gym. In their call to action, they told me to come into the gym to sign up. That sounded like too much work to me. I wanted the offer, but they didn’t allow me an easy way to get signed up. (Since you’re dying to know, I found their email address on their website and got myself signed up. I really wanted this consultation, otherwise I certainly wouldn’t have gone to that effort to figure it out.)
Don't worry if you've made any of these mistakes in your emails. Just make sure your future emails are free of these blunders, and you'll most likely see improved campaign results.