How To Optimize Your Email Copy

By: Alan Richardson

To keep your customers coming back for more of what you have to offer, it’s important your email correspondence offers them an irresistible incentive for doing so.

Include the 8 components below into your email and you’re assured an optimal customer response.

1. Know Your Audience.

The key to attracting your target audience to your product or service is making an assessment of who these people are.

Don’t start composing that sales letter until you can answer the following questions:

• What do your prospects or customers really want?
  
• What most frustrates those prospects or customers?
  
• Who else is selling something similar to you?
  
• Why should your prospects or customers believe what you have to say?
  
• Why should your prospects or customers respond to you instead of your competition?
  
• What type of appeals will your target market respond to?
  

2. Capture Them At The Subject Line

For want of an appealing subject line, your email may never get opened. Good subject lines spark your readers’ interest and entice them to learn more.

As a guideline, we can break into four types the email formulas to use in crafting an irresistible Subject line. They are;

• State a powerful benefit – “XYZ Improves Your Profits 10-Fold”
  
• Pique curiosity – “XYZ Has Discovered The Secret To Instant Success For Marketing Entrepreneurs”
  
• The News angle – “New Discovery XYZ Doubles Your Sales in Half the Time”
  
• Immediate gratification – “XYZ Formula Allows You To Lose 20 lbs. In 7 Days!”

A good rule of thumb is to write 25 or so subject line ideas for your email. Choose the two best and test them against each other in your marketing campaign.

3. Make It All About ‘Them’

Before writing a line of copy, assemble a two-column list of Features and Benefits associated with your product or service. Features describe your product and are a logical representation of facts.

Benefits describe what those features translate to for your customer, the results of using the product. Benefits appeal to the emotional wants and needs of your reader… what’s in it for them. Use features to justify the emotion, but emphasize the benefits to drive the sale.

List what your product or service can do for your customer, in terms of how much better they’ll feel, how their lives will be improved, how much more respect they can achieve, and you’ll compose a letter that attracts attention… and sales.

4. The Emotional Appeal

As we mentioned above, all buying decisions are, at their essence, made based on emotion. The more emotional hot buttons you can push the more appeal your product will have.

The most popular emotions to consider in your sales letters are;

• Fear (e.g. fear of failure, illness, impotence, etc.)
• Greed (e.g. money to buy more ‘toys’, keep up with the Jones’ etc.)
• Anger (e.g. at politicians, government policy, etc.)
• Vanity (e.g. better physique, more virility, etc.)
• Curiosity
• Ego (e.g. being better than your peers, etc.)
  

5. Inspire Trust

With all the shams and scams consumers have been exposed to, it is more important than ever that you demonstrate your product or service is credible and that your company can deliver on all your promises.

Three components you can include in your email letter to accomplish this are;

• Testimonials from satisfied customers.
  
• Endorsement letters from authority figures in your industry.
  
• Sincere and believable offers and promises.
  

6. Make A Strong Guarantee

If you make your living selling on the internet, a strong guarantee backing your product or service is a must have if you hope to maximize your success. And the stronger your guarantee, the better your response. When marketing on the web, TRUST is key.

And you’ll be glad to know that the increased sales a good guarantee ensures, dwarfs any losses sustained from product returns. Typical guarantees cover periods of 30-days, 60-days, 90-days, even a full year. And interestingly, the longer the guarantee, the lower the percentage of returns. And that’s consistent with human nature, where our propensity for procrastination causes many who are thinking of refunding to forget as time passes.

7. Call For Action

Many a dazzling and convincing sales presentation has failed to result in a sale for a very simple reason. The presenter failed to ask for the order, clearly and often.

Marketing statistics show you can increase sales substantially by asking for the order 3-7 times in your sales letter.

Consumers love choice. So give them several methods and opportunities to order. Make the process simple and crystal clear.

8. Avoid Eye Fatigue

It’s a fact. Large blocks of copy in your email letter are a turnoff. Intimidating and eye straining, this lack of white space often sends reader fingers to the Delete button. A few tips;

• Break up paragraphs into two to four sentences.
  
• Use several subheadings throughout the email letter.
  
• Use asterisks, dashes, and ellipses (...) to give your copy more rhythm. 
  
• Bullet points are excellent eye-catchers - use them whenever appropriate.

Keep these simple rules in mind when writing your email letters and you’re guaranteed to see your responses soar.
Good selling.

Copyright 2005 Alan Richardson