What Differs Good Emails from Mind-Blowing: 7 Factors

Every time something new comes along in the world of d digital communications, industry experts are quick to proclaim the death of email. At least that was the case when SMS, chat applications, and social media came along.

However, in the world of marketing, email is still the most effective tactic, with a whopping ROi rate of 4400%. That means you will earn $44 for every $1 you invest into email marketing. But, apart from using it as a marketing tool, writing great emails if a useful skill you will need when communicating with your business partners or colleagues.

The truth is that writing a mind-blowing email is not all that complicated, but the problem is that we tend to rush through them. They end being full of grammar errors, poorly formatted, or simply lacking any useful information or calls to action the reader can take away. So, what makes a brilliant email then?

Every brilliant email is focused on the customer, not on the needs of the person sending the email. In the visual sense, the design and branding should be consistent across all of your outlets, and that includes your website and apps. Also, it uses a balanced combination of text and images, and enough interesting content, so that it engages the reader. Finally, it should read equally well on all platforms. In order to make your email not just good, but mind-blowing, check out the following factors you should pay attention to.

According to research in 2017, 269 billion emails were being sent and received on average every single day! Your average customer receives over 100 emails every day, which really goes to show how much competition there is out there. In order to make your email stand out, you need to grab the recipient’s attention with your subject line. That is the first thing they will see, and if it’s subpar or merely average and non-descriptive, it’s probably going to be the last thing they will see about your email.

For instance, a good email will have a decent subject line, but a mind-blowing email will grab the reader’s fickle attention right away, and they will be compelled to click on it and read your entire message. Great subject lines are also very specific. For instance, instead of writing “Incredible marketing opportunity you don’t want to miss”, which is a good subject line by most standards, you should go with something like “Boost Your Marketing Campaign Like a Boss with These 5 Tools”.

The superior subject line offers a very specific benefit, plus the whole “like a boss” thing makes it a bit more personable and approachable. However, you will notice that we have avoided making the subject line misleading, which is essential. Never write something like “Double Your ROI with These 5 Tools in 3 Months”, because that’s not the kind of promise that you can make. If you don’t have the time to put that much time into creating an effective subject line, there are plenty of cheap custom essay writing services and freelance websites where you can find professional writers which can do that for you in no time.

Once the reader gets past the subject line, they will scan or skim your email, and if they aren’t able to identify a clear point or a message you are trying to get across, they will close it immediately. Pointless emails are something that wastes not just yours, but the time of your reader as well. Good email might not be pointless at all, but unlike mind-blowing email, it lacks a clear point which can be summarized in a single sentence.

The problem is that lots of email marketers try to cast a pretty wide net with their emails, so they cram in multiple points into a single message, and by the time the reader is done reading it, they might be end up being confused about what you are trying to say to them. More specifically, if your main point does not appear within the first three sentences of your email, you should rewrite it. Remember that today’s audiences are impatient. This means you only have a few seconds to really grab their attention, so why waste time when you can get straight to the point?

Good emails always begin with a greeting and end with a short thank you at the end, but mind-blowing emails take that a step further. Let’s consider a few things. There is a huge difference between simply starting with “Hi” or “Hello”, and using the more specific “Hi, [name]”. If you are sending an email to your colleague, always refer to them by their name. If you are addressing more of them, you can say “Hi team”.

By making your greeting more specific, you immediately establish a connection between you and the reader, even if it’s only on a subconscious level. The reader will feel more comfortable and at ease if you are addressing them directly. The same goes for your email marketing campaign. As soon as you are able to gather user information, you should start using their name in your emails.

Saying “Thanks” at the end is nice, but it’s sounds perfunctory if it’s not specific. Every “thank you” should have its own “why”, i.e. the reason you are thankful for in the first place. It could the fact that the reader has taken their time to listen to what you have to say, or because they have subscribed to your mailing list or service. By being more specific, you will be able to earn your readers’ trust more easily.

Cold emails are usually not very effective, but sometimes, you don’t really have much choice. For example, if you are trying to reach out to your target audience for the first time, you will have to cold email them. If you are trying to reach other companies, it really helps if you already have some kind of an “in”, which can actually be someone who you can use as a reference.

As mentioned before, cold emails don’t really have a great response rate, but if you decide to send a follow up email, you might improve your chances. It’s all about the timing. You don’t want to come off as too salesy or pushy by sending a follow up email the next day. However, you also shouldn’t wait for an entire month to pass. The sweet spot would be one week later.

We’ve already mentioned that you should always aim to get the main point of your email within the first three sentences, which doesn’t mean that you have to end it there. A lot of times, you will need to provide more detail about your offer, product, or service. However, there is a limit to that, as well. You should use as few words as possible and do away with all the redundant word, phrases, and sentences.

Try and use short paragraphs for easier scanning, and if you need to list several different items, such as all the features of your product, use bullet points. Of course, we are sure you have plenty to say about what you have to offer to your customers, but that’s what your official website and/or blog is for, so if you want your readers to find out more, use a call to action to get them to visit either one, or both.

A lot of times, especially in the case of cold emailing, the recipient will not care about your pitch or offer, even if they fit the description of your target audience perfectly. However, lot of people will keep on sending emails after their follow up email, even if they are still not getting a positive response from the reader. In this case, being able to hear and accept a “No” might actually help you turn things around in the long run.

For instance, maybe the customer has already purchased a similar product from your competitors and they don’t have the need for another one. If you keep on insisting, that “No” will become pretty solid. But, if you refrain from being insistent or overly pushy, then you have a better chance of winning that customer over with one of your future pitches, at which point they might be readier to take you up on your offer. If you get a “No”, be polite and thank the reader for taking the time to respond to your email.

Grammar and spelling errors can slip into your emails fairly easily if you don’t take the time to go over your message a few times in order to make sure it’s perfect. There are several things you can do to remedy this. First of all, don’t type your emails inside your email application. Instead, use a word-processing application such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

The tricky part is that, while these applications are good, they aren’t able to pick up on all the subtle contextual mistakes we make. It might be a good idea to read your text out loud. Our minds have a habit of filling in the blanks when we read a text, but not if we do it out loud. Even though grammar mistakes might not seem like a big deal, the reader will think that, just because your email is sloppy, that your product will be as well.

Bonus Tip

Before you click that “Send” button, imagine your mail being show to your boss, family, or the entire world to see. If it would make you cringe, then it’s probably not professional enough, and you need to go back to the old drawing board.

Although it may seem like putting together a mind-blowing mail as opposed to a good one is will require a lot of work, you will notice that some of these guidelines are just common sense and will come naturally to you. Others, you will be able to implement fairly easily and improve your reader’s response rate in no time. Good luck!