The Ultimate Guide to Email Copywriting (Updated Edition)

In this guide, I’ll teach you everything you need to know to kickstart your career as an email copywriter.

If you’re looking to:

• Write kick-ass emails
• Learn the art of crafting attention-grabbing headlines
• Increase the open and click-through rates of your emails
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of email marketing

Then read this guide to the end.

Let’s start.

What is Email Copywriting?

Email copywriting is the process of writing and sending targeted emails to a group of people with the goal of promoting products or services, building relationships, or increasing brand awareness.

It differs from other forms of copywriting in that it’s highly personalized based on subscriber data, preferences, and behaviors.

Also, compared to other types of copywriting, emails are typically shorter, are sent more frequently, and allow for the embedding of interactive elements (images, videos, and GIFs) within the copy body.

Another major difference is that email marketing is typically permission-based, meaning that the receiver has to opt in to receive communication.

This affects the tone of the email and the entire marketing plan’s strategy, as already some form of relationship has been built with the audience.

Finally, while analytics are important in every form of copywriting, email campaigns are highly measurable. Marketers can assess the success of their campaign based on metrics like CTRs, conversion rates, open rates, and more.

How to Become an Email Copywriter?

Now that you know what email marketing is and what distinguishes it from other forms of copywriting, let me help you kickstart your career as an email marketer.

Follow these steps to start writing high-converting emails:

Step 1. Learn the Basics

While you may think that email marketing involves sending frequent emails to people who have expressed explicit interest in your product or service, there’s much more than meets the eye.

Here’s a deeper dive into the basics of email marketing:

A) Permission-Based Marketing

In the world of email marketing, asking for permission isn’t a sign of weakness but a proof of respect and customer-first attitude.

Even if you don’t believe in ethics, privacy regulations like GDPR require that you receive explicit consent from individuals before sending them emails.

There’s another reason why you must ask for permission – it will help you target an audience genuinely interested in your content instead of spamming the inboxes of persons who aren’t interested in what you have to offer.

Here are a few practical ways to secure explicit consent:

• Clear opt-in forms on your website or landing pages. Explain the value they’ll get by subscribing to your email list.
• Offer incentives to those granting permission. This could include a free ebook, special discounts, access to exclusive content, or free resources.
• Create a sense of urgency by offering limited-time access. Explain clearly that the offer will expire at the end of the given period.
• Promise to solve a problem. Highlight what pain points will be resolved if the audience decides to give up their email address.

B) Email Lists

The above Tweet by one of my favorite creators online perfectly encapsulates what I feel about email lists – if carefully curated, they are worth their weight in gold.

That is because email lists are populated by individuals who have already said yes to your offer once. This makes them more likely to convert, provided you present them with enticing and targeted offers.

Also, since you have already tapped into the interests and preferences of your audiences, you won’t need to research much to create content that resonates with them and drives conversions.

Given their significance, it’s essential that you start building your email lists from the first day of your journey as an email marketer. Every other item on your to-do list can come in afterwards.

C) Segmentation

Once your email list is bursting to the seams, it’s time to take a scalpel to it, dividing it into smaller targeted groups based on demographics, past behaviors, and preferences.

Segmentation allows you to send personalized and relevant content to segments of your audience who are more interested in that specific offer.

For example, if you’re doing email marketing for a clothing brand, you might want to send different emails to young adults versus older customers.

Email segmentation is the single greatest tool to scale a business.

Targeted content leads to:

– Higher open rates
– Fewer unsubscribes
– Improved brand loyalty
– Better deliverability (less spam)

All of which leads to higher conversion rates. And up to 760% ROI.

— Lauren (@Leveraged_Minds) December 18, 2023

A book retailer, on the other hand, might want to send science fiction recommendations to nerds who have previously shown interest in that genre.

And how can you measure interest? By analyzing metrics like click-through rates, open rates, and conversion rates of your previous emails.

All in all, if you want your email marketing strategy to be precise yet effective, there’s no better tool than segmentation.

Step 2. Build Your Email List

Building a relevant email list is the foundation upon which successful marketing campaigns are built.

However, the methods used to gather email addresses must be ethical and comply with data protection laws, especially if you’re going to target audiences based anywhere in Europe and America.

Non-compliance can result in severe penalties, including fines that can gobble up a percentage of the business’s annual turnover, lawsuits seeking compensation for damages caused by mishandling personal data, and more.

1) Growing Email List Using Twitter

Despite all the efforts of its new CEO, Twitter’s 300 million user base continues to grow, making it an effective platform for growing your email list.

Here are a few ways you can use Twitter to build your email list:

• Optimize your profile. Make sure your profile is complete and up to date. It must have a clear bio that explains what you do. Most importantly, it should have a link to your newsletter sign-up form.
• Pin the opt-in offer. As you may already know, a pinned tweet gets more engagement than the average tweet because it always stays on top of your profile page. It thus makes sense to pin the opt-in offer.

Imagine a year of building a strong Twitter presence, 6,000 followers and growing.

Just to lose it all overnight because Elon didn't like your last tweet.

That's why you need to grow your email list too.

A list is traffic that you OWN, not borrow.

You control it all.

— Dane Chaplin (@Deeper_return) December 20, 2023

• Share valuable content. Your tweets are the perfect opportunity to show your audience that you’re the expert you claim to be.
• Reply to accounts with a large number of followers. If you reply to someone with a large following, you stand a good chance of your tweet (and, by extension, your account) attracting a sizeable number of eyeballs.

2) Growing Email List Using Pinterest

Posting content on Pinterest lets you kill two birds with one stone – building your email list as well as driving more traffic to your blog.

Here’s how you can use Pinterest to grow your email list:

• Create a business account. A Pinterest Business account offers valuable analytics and insights about the performance of your pins and boards. Plus, you gain the ability to run ads and create Rich Pins.
• Create pin-worthy graphics. Don’t know how to create graphics others would love sharing? Canva is your best friend.
• Make sure to pin regularly. Most creators I know (who have populated their email lists using Pinterest) pin regularly to keep their content visible in the feed.
• Optimize pin descriptions. Writing keyword-rich descriptions will help your content appear in relevant search results, helping you attract the right kind of audience for your email list.

Step 3. Select an Email Marketing Platform

Selecting the right email marketing platform can decide whether your campaign achieves its goals or falls flat on its face.

A reliable platform will make the entire process seamless, giving you all the tools you need to create, deploy, and manage your email campaigns.

This, in turn, will translate into saved time and increased productivity, thereby creating a more efficient workflow.

Follow these tips to pick the right email marketing platform:

• Opt for a platform with an intuitive and user-friendly interface. This is necessary to reduce the learning curve.
• Select a platform that offers plenty of customization options. This will help you create visually appealing emails.
• Make sure the platform offers superior automation capabilities. Doing so will streamline your marketing efforts, ensuring timely and personalized campaigns.
• Choose a platform that offers testing and optimization features. Look for a platform that supports A/B testing and optimization features – as these elements let you experiment and identify what your audience likes most.
• Check the platform’s uptime statistics. Never choose a platform with a poor record of uptime. Otherwise, your emails will be sent and received with disruptions, resulting in lost opportunities and engagement.

Based on my personal experience of using several email marketing platforms, several tick the above boxes, including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, and Drip. Check these out before you go searching for others.

Step 4) Craft Compelling and Eye-Catching Copy

Once you have built up a healthy email list and settled on an email marketing channel, it’s time to come up with copy.

This step is crucial as its effectiveness (or failure) will determine whether your email marketing campaign hits the desired target.

Follow these tips to churn our effective email copy:

• Make sure the subject lines are concise, intriguing, and relevant. After writing every subject line, ask yourself: Will I open an email with the same subject line? This should help you refine your subject lines.
• Keep the body focused on delivering value to the reader. In a conversational tone, explain what benefits the reader will get if they do what your email wants them to.
• Keep your copy scannable. One of the reasons I’m writing this section in bullet points is because I know you’re less likely to read entire paragraphs. Do yourself a favor and follow my lead when writing your emails.
• Personalize beyond just using the subscriber’s name. Make sure to craft the content based on their preferences, likes and dislikes, and pain points. This will let them know you’re genuinely interested in them.
• Craft compelling CTAs. Position your CTA prominently within the emails. Design it using colors that contrast with the background. Use words that propel the reader into taking immediate action.
• End with a request for feedback. Make it clear that you value their thoughts and are open to a two-way conversation.

Step 5) Test and Optimize Campaigns

.Once your email campaigns are live and kicking, testing and optimization will elevate them from average to exceptional.

That is because only by repeated testing and optimization could you know which type of content resonates best with your audience.

If you keep shipping the same type of emails forever, you’ll never know the opportunities you might be missing out on.

Also, without repeated testing, you’d never understand why certain emails have an explosive open rate, whereas others are constantly ignored.

Here are some testing and optimization strategies to refine your email campaigns:

1) Subject Line Testing

Testing different subject lines will help you understand which ones encourage your target audience to open your emails.

To conduct this testing, create two versions of your subject line (let’s name them A and B). Send each version to a segmented group of subscribers (those with identical interests and preferences).

Whichever version gets more opens is the winner, and you can continue to use that subject line for the remainder of your audience.

2) A/B Testing for Content

This test involves checking out which variation of your email content (aka body copy) resonates best with your audience.

As you did with the subject line, create two versions of your email’s body copy. Ensure slight differences exist in the copy, images, and layout. You can also modify the CTA if you want.

After you have sent each version to a small group, analyze metrics like open rates and click-through rates to pick the winner.

3) Timing Testing

According to HubSport Blog Research, Tuesdays are the best days to send an email for the highest performance, followed by Mondays and Thursdays.

Likewise, the best time to send a marketing email is 9 AM to 12 PM (EST), followed by 12 PM to 3 PM (EST).

Want to verify for yourself? Experiment with the timing of your email to find the schedule that performs the best for your audience.

Conclusion

According to a report, the return on investment in email marketing is a whopping $36 for every $1 spent, making it one of the most effective strategies for building relationships, selling products or services, and creating brand awareness.

If you’re still hesitant, apply the above strategies and see how powerful email can be.

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