3 Proven Copywriting Principles That Will Lead To Better Email Marketing Results

Writing email marketing messages that get better results requires understanding the basic rules and best practices for effective copywriting. Without a knowledge of how to make convincing copies, your subject lines won’t open and the content of your messages won’t generate clicks. Without opening and clicking, you won’t get any conversions or achieve your goals.

However, this is not the only reason good copywriting is essential to email marketing success. Bad copywriting can actually affect your future email marketing campaigns as email service providers (ESPs – i.e., mailbox providers) like Gmail, Yahoo! Outlook, Apple Mail, and more to find out when people are not busy with your messages.

A lack of engagement (or negative engagement like marking messages as spam) will alert ESPs that you are sending messages that others don’t want and they will punish you for it by sending more of your messages to the spam folder in the future send.

For the best email marketing results and staying out of the spam folder, the bottom line is to write email marketing messages that are relevant to each niche audience and motivate them to take action.

Hyper-targeted list segmentation and great copywriting are the way to do it.

With that said, let’s dive into the top three copywriting principles you need to understand in order to write email marketing messages that get better results.

1. Features vs. Benefits

The most important thing to know about copywriting is the difference between features and benefits.

Characteristics are the “parts” of a product or service. They are the things that are built into a product or service and serve a specific purpose. Typically, functions can help users achieve something. On the other hand, benefits are the added value people get when they use a product or service and the features it offers.

For example, a point-of-sale (POS) software product may have a feature that allows pharmacies to send automated texts to customers 10 days after their last purchase, with a special discount that encourages them to buy again.

If you think about this feature – automated post-purchase texts – what are the benefits for pharmacies buying the POS software and using this feature? Some pharmacy benefits can include saving time (which could be used for other revenue-generating activities) and increasing repeat purchases (and revenue). Both advantages offer added value for the pharmacy, which results from a certain characteristic of the product.

When writing marketing emails, don’t just list the features of your product or service. First, they are likely to resemble what every other competitor does and won’t help your brand stand out, and second, email recipients are unlikely to make the connection between a feature and the value they get from it.

One of the basic rules of copywriting is never to assume that consumers can connect the dots. You need to explain the benefits of your products and services to them! Functions are interesting, but advantages trigger emotions and drive actions.

With that in mind, make a list of the features of your product or service. Using your list, make a list of the benefits for each role. Make sure to personalize the list based on your buyer personalities as different benefits will mean different niche audiences. It is important that you speak directly to each buyer personality by segmenting your email marketing lists and sending highly relevant messages that exaggerate the benefits that matter most to each audience.

2. “You”, not “We”

Pronouns play an important role in writing. In fact, a basic rule of copywriting is to use marketing communications to talk more about your customers and their needs than about your company, brand, or product.

The reason is simple. Nobody really cares about your business, brand, or products. Instead, they care about how your company, brand, or product can help them by making their jobs easier, making their customers happier, making their businesses more profitable, and so on. In other words, they care about how they can profit from what you are selling.

Therefore, always use the “you” language rather than the “we” language in your marketing email messages.

The use of the language “you” means that your message is mainly written in the second person (for example, “you can save up to an hour a day” or “you reduce your risk”) and focus on needs, problems and pain the recipient relates to points and so on. The use of the language “we” means that your message is primarily written in the first person (e.g. “We Offer” or “Our System”) and relates to your company, brand or products.

After you’ve written an email marketing message, read it through and make sure it has more copies about the recipient than your company or products. If not, you’ll need to make some changes so that recipients will immediately see and read the value in the message.

3. WIIFM?

All marketing communications, including marketing emails, should answer the audience question, “What good is it for me?” (WIIFM?). This is another basic rule for writing texts. If the email message you’re trying to send doesn’t tell recipients what’s in it for them to take the time to open and read, there are a few changes you need to make to the message.

Each target group likely has different problems, weaknesses, and needs that your products or services can help with. Ideally, your email messages give them something valuable (answering from WIIFM) that clearly shows them how your business can help them.

From the subject line of the message to the end of the message, you need to keep answering this WIIFM question to keep recipients busy and responding to your call-to-action (CTA). You can’t just stick them in once and expect them to last for your entire message. Ideally, every part of your message should share WIIFM.

You can answer the WIIFM question in any of your marketing email messages in a benefit-oriented language that is relevant to the audience you are sending to and by using more “you” copies than “we” copies.

Essential Email Marketing Copywriting Lessons For Better Results

When you understand the basics of copywriting and writing messages that speak effectively for any buyer personality, your results will improve.

Focus on taking advantage of your product or service, which is important to any target audience, writing more about your customers than your business and products, and making it clear to recipients that by opening, reading, and clicking they are something The links in your messages receive valuable information. If you do these three things, you should see an increase in engagement.

‍Want to learn more about email marketing for cannabis and hemp license holders? Read our Email Marketing Articles!