Here is an interesting little fact from the highly respected Data & Marketing Association. It’s based on industry averages over many years of reporting and analysis.
Ready? (This will blow your mind.)
For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you get about $38 back.
Whoah.
Spend one dollar… and $38 comes back in the door as profit.
That’s an incredible number…
More recent studies peg the return even higher, at almost $42 for every $1 spent…
And depending on the kind of company, the returns can be far higher… $50, $68, even $90 per dollar spent!
Is it any wonder companies are willing to spend BIG on trained copywriters (like me) who can write a simple yet effective email?
But no, artificial intelligence cannot write the kinds of emails I do.
It just can’t.
It requires too much creativity, original thought, insight, and research.
But, it turns out ChatGPT can be helpful to write tweets, Facebook posts, and other basic copy.
That makes me think of another thing…
Do you know why email is still the preferred way to directly communicate with millions of businesses every day?
Because people read them!
Studies show that 99% of people check their email every day…
More than half of those people check email as many as 20 times throughout the day… from the minute they wake up, to the time they go to bed.
In fact, if you’re like most people, email is the first thing you look at online each day.
- Before social media…
- Before the news and weather…
- Before logging on to company websites…
Before anything else.
And people respond to email messages as well…
Which is why these essential writing projects are the “drivers” of billions of dollars in online sales EVERY DAY…
Generating $38 in revenue for every $1 spent!
Email STILL ranks as the most effective way for businesses to engage existing customers and attract new ones.
So if you want to see a better ROI on your marketing, and you’re not yet focusing on email, you’re missing out.
If you already use email as a primary marketing communications channel, good for you.
The only question left is… who is going to write all these emails for you?
You need someone who understands and has studied the psychology, the triggers, the formula, etc.
And in fact, here is the “secret” formula right here…
- Grab your readers attention.
- Explain why the message matters to them.
- Show “why you” and why it’s important that they take action NOW.
- Tell them what they need to do, also known as a “call to action.”
That’s it.
Let’s break it down…
Grab attention
You see the subject line first — super important.
The whole goal of the subject line is to say something intriguing enough to get your email opened and read — without deceiving your reader.
Which is exactly what a good subject line does.
You NEVER want to disrespect your reader by saying something outrageous or unrelated to your core message just to get someone to read your email.
Next there’s the salutation.
ALWAYS — whenever possible — address your client by first name.
Then comes the all-important first three lines from the body of the email.
It’s all about grabbing your reader’s attention… making them stop and think for a moment.
Why it matters
The next few lines — part 2 — of the email structure is all about “why this matters…”
Or to put in another way, PROOF that this is REAL.
Why you… why now
Building on the “why it matters,” next comes the “why you” and “why now” part.
What you want to do is make the reader want to know more… perhaps without even mentioning what the real subject is.
Curiosity is a powerful thing, isn’t it?
Call to action
Which brings us to the final part of the email — the “call to action” or “what to do next”.
It can be something as simple as:
Curious? Go here now to learn more!
Which in turn links to a sales letter (written by yours truly) or a special article… or a website… or perhaps a landing page.
There you have it!
You now know more about writing professional emails than 999 out of 1,000 people — even more than most copywriters, quite frankly.
There’s a lot more to it, of course, but you have the basic ideas.
Different purpose, same formula
Of course, different types of emails have different purposes depending on where they’re being used in the “buyer journey”.
The purpose of that email was to pique your reader’s attention enough to do one thing… “learn more” by clicking the link.
An email welcoming a new customer might focus on getting them to log in to their member page for the first time…
While an email looking to ensure a good user experience might provide helpful tips for using the product they just purchased.
But the great thing about email is that they’re all written using the same core elements!
In fact, that’s what a lot of copywriters like me who specialize in writing email really love about it.
You don’t have to write l…o…n…g sales letters that take weeks and months to write.
Instead, as an email writer, what I do for you is produce short, simple copy that, depending on the purpose of the email, can be just as crucial to the B2B sales cycle.
Because the more people who click over to read that customer case study, white paper, sales letter, special report, web page, or article… the more sales and the more engagement your client will have.
