On the internet, content is king. From social media platforms, streaming services to websites, content is everywhere. It may take different forms like pictures, videos, music, articles, etc. But all these forms are content and we consume a large amount of it daily. There are currently over 1.6 billion websites on the internet. Users upload 300 hours of video every minute and watch nearly 5 billion videos a day on YouTube alone. Spotify has over 30 million songs in its database. And every day, we create more content in the form of videos, articles, websites and music.

Because of how ubiquitous content is, it has become the medium through which marketers reach their audience on whatever platform they are on. Email marketers are no exception. Email marketers use email as a platform to market their business and products, build a relationship with consumers and increase sales.

Due to the volume of content the average internet user consumes daily, attention spans have drastically reduced. Buffer says the attention span of the average person who reads your blog post is 15 seconds. Crafting great content that will snag the attention of your audience has become important in this age of dwindling attention span. For many email marketers, emailing their subscribers isn’t a guarantee that someone will read their email. Creating email content that draws attention and keeps it is paramount.

How does a marketer produce email content that rocks a subscriber’s world? Here are our favorite tricks for crafting email content that gets subscribers’ attention every time.

Know your audience

Before you create any piece of content, you first have to define and know the audience for whom that content is for. This rule cuts across all forms of content creation. When crafting your email copy, you can’t just create without knowing who will consume your content and what their interests are.

Building audience personas based on data you have provides you with the interests of your target market, their age, needs and other demographic data you can work with. A good way to gather data is to check your website’s analytics data and build personas from there.

Value of the email content

In marketing, adding value by solving problems and issues that your customers have is the only way to get ahead. Email copy that adds value to your customers will ensure your open, click-through and conversion rates remain high. Knowing your customers’ interests and issues ensure you create email content that aims to cater to those interests and solves those problems.

Write a compelling subject line

One of the first things your subscribers will see when they get your email is your subject line. Subject line determines if someone will open your email or not. Subscribers may report subject lines that are too sales focused as spam. The key to compelling subject lines is writing a summarized version of what your email is all about. Your subject line should not exceed 41 characters.

Use preview text to your advantage

In this age of short attention spans, the subject line isn’t often enough to get subscribers to open your email. The preview text plays an important role in getting you good open rates. Preview text is a piece of content, usually 35–140 characters long, that tells subscribers more about the content of your email. Use this valuable little real estate to expand on what your email is about.

Personalize your email content

Nobody wants to receive an email addressed to “whom it may concern” or “dear subscriber” in 2019. Personalizing your emails with the name of your subscriber makes it easy to build a relationship and have a conversation. Personalization does not stop at using your customer’s name in the email. Signing your name at the end of your emails puts a human face to your brand. Consumers are more likely to trust another person than a faceless business.

Be conversational

You may get everything right with the subject line and preview text but if your main copy does not follow through, you will lose subscribers. When writing email content, be sure to:

• Follow a structure
• Keep one idea to a paragraph
• Use short paragraphs

Remember to keep the tone of your email conversational. Always write your email content in the second person (use pronouns you/your). Keep your message clear and concise as there is only so much space in an email.

Avoid using all caps

In internet speak, all caps denotes anger or yelling. Using all caps in your emails makes them appear “shouty” and is likely to get them reported as spam. Nobody wants to see a “GET 50% OFF NOW” in their subject lines.

Format your email content with visuals

Visuals can enhance a reader’s experience in email marketing. Adding images, infographics, GIFs or videos can make your email content stand out. We have talked about how much impact visuals like video have in email marketing and how you can leverage them in your content. Remember, the context of your email copy will determine the visual you should use. Serious emails may require an infographic or no visuals at all while lighthearted ones may have GIFs for playfulness.

Do not forget your goals

For every email campaign you send out, there must be a goal. This goal should dictate the direction of the content you create. If your goal is to boost sales, your email content should be in line with that. Say you want to increase engagement, writing compelling email content with curated articles that your subscribers are interested in will work better than an email with a discount.

Wrapping Up

Choose the words you craft your email copy with care as it may affect how people receive your emails. Always consider the device your customers are opening your emails on and tailor your email length to that. Shorter content works best if many of your subscribers use their phones to check their emails.
Email marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep testing to see what works and change your campaigns to reflect that data.

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