5 Marketing Experts Share Their Top Email Writing Tips

By Julia Nitschke August 17, 2017

You know those emails you’re actually excited to see in your inbox?

Wouldn’t it be awesome to know how you could write emails like that for your own business?

Well, good news! We asked five marketing experts to share their best email writing tips for increasing engagement.

Now, you can boost your email performance with some pointers from the pros. Here are the top tips from top writers:

Try asking questions in your subject line

Amy Schmittauer, Savvy Sexy Social, YouTuber and Author

“I often use my emails to connect my viewers to the latest videos I’ve shared, but the subject line is the critical space that determines whether or not the email gets opened.

I’ve been excited to see high opens and click-throughs on emails that promoted videos based on the customization of the subject line, often with a question that they really wanted to answer about themselves. Question marks in subject lines can be a powerful move.”

“The subject line determines whether or not the #email gets opened.” -@Schmittastic Share on X

Here’s an example of how Amy used a question in one of her subject lines:

Key takeaways: Relate with the reader: address the questions they’ve been asking!

But remember that every audience is different

Michael Port, Heroic Public Speaking, Author and Marketing Consultant

“Check patterns to see which emails your audience opens (and which ones get clicks). Currently, the ones with practical advice tend to outweigh any shock value or wit. And so that’s how we connect with our audience (while consistently testing to see if/when the pattern changes).”

“Check patterns to see which emails your audience opens.” -@MichaelPort Share on X

Your own audience is different from other people’s audiences. So test to see what works for your own subscribers!

Key takeaways: Test, test, test!

Add a human touch

John McIntyre, McMethod, Copywriter and Marketing Consultant

“Telling a simple story from your own life about something you struggled with is one of the best ways to connect with your audience. Granted, this won’t be appropriate for every type of business, but if you have a personality-focused business like I do, it can work wonders. Tell people about how you almost died once, or your worst fear, or what makes you uncomfortable.

You’ll know if you’re doing it right if you’re feeling really uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable you feel about revealing something about yourself, the better the email (in most cases).”

“Tell people about how you almost died once, or your worst fear.” - @JohnMcIntyre_ #EmailMarketing Share on X

Catch your audience’s attention and engage them with an interesting story at the beginning of your email. Once you have them hooked, they’ll be more likely to read the rest of your email.

Below is a portion of an email that John sent to his subscribers to engage and connect:

Key takeaways: Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and, well, human!

Build community in your emails

John Corcoran, Smart Business Revolution, Business Advisor

“A couple of months ago, I sent an email saying, ‘I want to introduce members of my community to one another. I’m going to put together a blog post where I’ll share your website and your business. So send me an email with your website, what line of work you’re in, the name your business and your contact info and I’ll draft up a blog post, and share it. And you can do business together or refer business to one another.’

I just got the most tremendous response back: incredibly high engagement and open rates and people emailing me back saying they were crying when they read it. They couldn’t believe the generosity to it.

And anyone can do this. You can do this even if you’re just building your email list now. Go to your Linkedin connections, email clients or past clients. And just say, ‘Hey, I want to help you out by getting more traffic to your website.'”

How can you replicate this? Let’s say you’re a food blogger. Put a sign up form on your blog, and try sending this community-building email to that list.

Key takeaways: Be a friend. Offer the help and advice your subscribers have been seeking!

Use social media to connect

Amy Schmittauer, Savvy Sexy Social, YouTuber and Author

“I absolutely love including my Twitter handle or a Click to Tweet link in emails so that people take action in a social environment with me based on the conversation we have through email.

For instance, on the confirmation page for joining my email list, there is a Click to Tweet that is automatically drafted for them to say hello as a new email member through Twitter.”

“I absolutely love including my Twitter handle or a Click to Tweet link in emails ” -@Schmittastic Share on X

To do this, head over to Click to Tweet’s website. Just type in your copy and use the custom generated link as the hyperlink in your email!

Key takeaways: Don’t just build community within the emails themselves ― reach to new platforms!

Don’t be afraid to ask your audience what they’re thinking

John McIntyre, McMethod, Copywriter and Marketing Consultant

John’s most important welcome email trick?

“I ask one simple question (What is your most important questions related to X?). Over time, the hundreds or thousands of responses to that question have become a wealth of knowledge and data about my market. I can go into my email account at any moment and look for that email, and spend hours scrolling through the responses.

Everyone knows they should do more surveys and ask their market questions more often. But we rarely get around to doing it.

That’s what’s great about asking a question like this in your welcome email. You’re collecting data on autopilot, assuming you continue getting people to join the email list.”

Ask questions in your welcome #email. “You're collecting data on autopilot,” -@JohnMcintyre_ Share on X

There are two simple ways to ask questions in your emails: ask subscribers to respond directly to your email or direct subscribers to a survey link.

In the example below, we ask for feedback on our What to Write in Your Emails course using a link to a survey:

Key takeaways: Ask your subscribers questions early on. This way, you’ll ride the wave of new-subscriber excitement, and can benefit from the higher engagement that welcome emails see.

Remember the goal of your promotional email

Michael Port, Heroic Public Speaking, Author and Marketing Consultant

“An unscientific 80 percent of all of our email promotion stresses the specifics of what our audience will gain out of a program or opportunity – something that will make them want to click.

Email promotion is the lifeline of our business. Sometimes the entire purpose of an email is to get the reader to click to go to the webpage where the sale can occur. After all, the job of the email is to get potential buyers to click. The job of the web page is to get them to buy. Don’t confuse the two.”

“Email promotion is the lifeline of our #business.” -@MichaelPort Share on X

Key takeaways: Make your emails work hard for you, but remember that they don’t do all of the work.

Don’t leave your list hanging

Addy Saucedo, The Podcast Planner, Podcaster and Speaker

“A key to growing and keeping an audience is the speed of implementation.”

Make sure you constantly nurture your list and deliver in a timely manner. In order to keep your current audience happy and reach new people as well, always work to deliver value.

“A key to growing and keeping an audience is the speed of implementation.” -@PodcastPlanner Share on X

Key takeaways: Work effectively and efficiently.

Want more expert writing tips?

The content experts at AWeber have compiled their best email writing advice and more than 45 email copy templates into our What to Write in Your Emails guide and course. All expert-approved.  Get it for free now.

Happy writing!