Email marketing is still going strong. With a highly targeted audience, more personal communication, and simplicity, email marketing has all that it takes to do wonders for your e-commerce store.    

What’s more, email copy is gaining more power. 

According to MailerLite research, e-commerce purchases through emails have seen a notable increase in 2020. Their study also found that email lists are growing by 34%. With this statistic in mind, the value of email copy becomes even higher.

So, how can you make the most out of email marketing’s potential? Write amazing copy.

An impeccable email copywriting strategy and the right practices can boost your sales. This is your shot to appeal to your audience and turn your emails into conversion tools.

Let’s dive right into essential steps for writing an impactful e-commerce email copy.

1. Craft Tempting Subject Lines

Subject lines are like the signs on the crossroad. If you put the right sign, the consumer will go in the right direction – opening your email. If not, you’ll lose them.

The relevance of the subject lines has been proven through research. It was found that 47% of email recipients open emails solely based on the subject line. 

That said, it is also important to factor in the validity of email addresses for better email deliverability and open rates.

So, it’s undeniable that subject lines play a key role in your e-commerce email marketing strategy.

How to use your copywriting skills to write perfect headlines, you ask? Follow these writing guidelines:

• Be informative (provide clear and direct information)
• Place the key information first
• Keep it short
• Be humorous, creative, and inventive
• Evoke curiosity with intrigue

To give you an example of a cleverly written and intriguing subject line, take a look at Freelancer’s email:

“Your late nights could become your dream job” the subject line provokes the need to know more. It hints at the benefit of using the Freelancer platform without being too specific. 

Use this example as an inspiration for how creative a subject line can be.

2. Use Everyday Language

You want to position yourself as the subscribers’ insightful friend. Therefore, being too technical and formal won’t do. Instead, write in a friendly and casual manner.

Using conversational language in your email copy makes them more digestible, engaging, and enjoyable. And you want your emails to have these qualities. 

Imagine that you are composing your emails for an acquaintance. An acquaintance is a right role because you don’t want to be disrespectful with inappropriate language. However, you do want to be friendly and casual.

If you take a good look at this Living Spaces email, you’ll notice the casualness in their style and tone. With everyday words such as “pals” and “comfy”, they added a touch of closeness. 

It’s all about keeping it cool and casual. Blur that line between an email from an acquaintance and a brand email. 

3. Adapt Your Writing to Your Target Audience

A brand that understands its target audience is the brand that will succeed. People want to purchase from companies that get them. Show your subscribers that you are one of them.

If a recipient reads your email and thinks “This is so me,” your job is done. They’ll feel like they’ve found a brand that shares their beliefs, and they’ll be ready for a commitment. 

To help you grasp how this works, we’ll take a Function of Beauty, a hair, body, and skincare company, as an example.

Function of Beauty understands the connection people have with their hair. Anyone who’ll invest in quality products cares about keeping its hair healthy and nourished. Based on the understanding of their target audience, they crafted a unique copy that resonates with the consumers. 

The best strategy for writing personalized copy, such as this, is by outlining the target audience’s pain points. When people see your products as a solution to their problems, that’s when you’ll win them over. 

Ultimately, that’s why people shop – to fulfill their needs and resolve their problems. 

4. Write Concisely

Email copywriting isn’t a chance to prove your vocabulary knowledge. It is not academic writing or literature writing. It has a clear goal – getting people to buy your products.

What this goal points at is that you need to make a connection with your audience. And to make that connection, you need to get them to read your copy. You won’t be able to achieve the latter if you bore the recipients with lengthy content.

Time is always in shortage, so people aren’t looking for complex and lengthy texts to take away some more of their precious time.

You’ve got something to say that can’t fit into a paragraph or two? That’s fine. But you can still aim for a high readability level. How, you ask? Well, by making your sentences short.

Concise and punchy sentences will make even the longest email copy easy to read. 

If you are doubtful that a long copy can be comprehensible, check out the following example by Tuft & Needle:

5. Be Informative

Regularly remind your audience why they should read your emails. Slip into some useful information in your copy.

Let’s take BeardBrand as an example. This beard grooming products company entices their inactive subscribers to head to their website with useful information. By sharing why nurturing a beard is important, they’ve supplied the consumers with informative content. On the other hand, they’ve also created a copy that works towards making a sale.

The crucial characteristic of an informative copy is that it must be truthful. Rely on credible sources for the information you want to spread around. 

Informative content from your niche can assure consumers that purchasing your products is a smart choice. 

If you need help with surfacing useful data for your copy, you can resort to writing services. They can do the research and a few email copies for you as well. Academic writing services are especially useful as research is their forte. You can check out the Ultius review to grasp the versatility and effectiveness of writing services.

6. Put the Effort into Welcome Emails

The interaction with the subscribers will be more effective if you make the right first impression. A well-written welcome email will gain their trust and show them the value of opening your brand’s emails. Therefore, all your future email copies will have a higher chance of success. 

Did you know that welcome emails skyrocket user engagement by up to 500%? They can generate 4 times more opens and 5 times more clicks than typical email marketing messages. 

Welcome emails are a big part of your email marketing strategy. Don’t overlook it.

The reason why welcome emails are so impactful is simple. When a consumer first subscribes to your email list, they are excited about your brand. It is something new to them, and they are curious about who you are and what you have to offer.

Use this opportunity to swoon them with a compelling copy.

Introduce your business properly and turn the newbie subscriber into a returning customer.

If you want to maximize the potential of a welcome email, consider these writing tips:

• Thank the subscriber for joining your email list
• Explain the nature of your emails and the frequency they can expect
• State the benefits that come with being your subscriber
• Include a link to your social accounts
• Share a CTA to your trending product page (best-sellers, sale, the new collection, etc.)

Here’s a great welcome email example by Sidecar:

Showing gratitude for signing up – check! Introducing the brand – check! Product recommendation – check! Sharing what their emails will be focused on – check! Sidecar has it all covered. 

7. State Your Point with a CTA

What’s the point of your email? That’s what recipients want to know. If you don’t state your point clearly, all that effort can be in vain.

You want to point out the next step they should take after they read the email.  Even if consumers skim through the email, you want a noticeable CTA (call-to-action) to grab their attention. 

To write an effective CTA, resort to these tricks:

• Add action verbs
• Use power words
• Opt for a popping color combination
• Use a sense of urgency (e.g. enroll NOW)

Notice how Boxycharm’s CTA instantly grabs your attention. 

It should go without saying that a CTA must be the next logical step. If your copy revolves around your new collection, the CTA must be in line with the topic of the email. The subject line, the email body, and the CTA should all address the same subject. 

8. Test It Out

Why depend on assumptions when you can make data-driven decisions? Rather than assuming what kind of copy works best with your audience, test it.

A/B testing can save you a lot of time and money. It can help you conclude how to make your copy more effective.

Create two versions of the email copy and monitor through the A/B test which one performs better. Once you get the results, you can use the higher converting email for the rest of your subscribers’ list.

Furthermore, the results will reveal what type of approach is your target audience more fond of. This will allow you to tailor all your future email copies to your audience’s preferences. 

Final Thoughts

Honing your copywriting skills may look like a challenge at first. However, it is a challenge you must conquer if you want to increase conversions. 

The purpose of these steps is to lead you to a more powerful and customized email copywriting. If you follow them properly, you’ll get there.

Just imagine your sales rate going up with every email you send. That should motivate you to continually apply the best email copywriting practices. 

Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a copywriter and blogger at EssaySupply with a background in marketing and sales. She enjoys sharing her experience with like-minded professionals who aim to provide customers with high-quality services.