How to Craft Compelling Emails that Convert: A Guide for Small Business Owners

One component in any small business marketing plan that we have seen from experience and that is essential is email marketing. However, when you are sending out generic or poorly written emails that can result in your efforts having low open and even worse low click-through rates. With this quick guide, we’ll go over the types of emails that you should be sending as a small business, tips and tricks for writing engaging emails, the importance of personalization in the campaign, and effective call-to-action strategies.

Understanding the types of emails that small businesses can send is the most important starting point of email marketing. Newsletters are the regular update on the latest news, offers, and promotions that you are offering. Promotional emails are highlight reels into a specific product or service that you are promoting. Welcome emails are the starting point into your email style to new subscribers for your email list and introduce your business in a more personal manner. Abandoned cart emails remind customers who have added products to their cart but haven’t completed the checkout process to complete their purchase. This process requires a platform that integrates with the analytics and pixels on your site. Re-engagement emails are there to encourage inactive subscribers to engage with your business again and make use of the lead you already have in your list instead  of finding a new one.

When you are writing  an engaging email, you need to focus on what is important to your subscriber and focus on key elements. A catchy subject line can capture your reader’s attention to encourage them to open the email. By keeping your message short and sweet, when you are focusing on one topic or promotion, it is important to hold their attention. When you are using a more conversational tone with your readers this keeps them more engaged. More importantly avoiding technical jargon, that is outside of the scope of understanding of your average reader. This will help readers easily understand your message and stay more connected with your message. Don’t forget humans have the need to process visuals, such as images or videos and by including them in your emails this keeps it more appealing. Don’t forget the bullet points or numbered lists, this will help break up the text and make it more scannable for the points that have the most value.

When someone receives an email that is personalized it  makes it more relevant to their subconscious so the message is engaging them in a different way than it would if it wasn’t displaying their name. There are several more ways to personalize your emails. 

• Segmenting your email list based on demographics, interests, or behaviours can allow you to tailor your message to specific groups of subscribers. 
• Using dynamic content to show different content to different subscribers based on their preferences can help increase engagement. 
• Additionally, using retargeting ads to show subscribers ads for products they’ve shown interest in can help increase conversions.

Throughout your email message your goals is always leading to your call to action (CTA) as this is THE crucial step in  encouraging subscribers to take action. When you have an effective CTA with action-oriented language, it tells your subscribers exactly what they need to do. A clear CTA means there is no confusion about what is it they are acting on . With the CTA standing out visually by using contrasting colours or bold text, this will help draw attention to it. When you bring in the FOMO, fear of missing out  or offering a limited-time offer,, creates a sense of  urgency and scarcity to can encourage your subscribers to act now!

Testing different CTAs to see which ones are most effective in converting subscribers is important to help optimize your email marketing strategy.

Start testing out different CTA’s and subject lines with the tips above and  you will start to see a difference in your metrics. By doing this you will quickly learn why  this is a crucial skill to have in  your business. By enhancing these skills yourself or outsourcing them  you will see an even larger impact on business in the long term. When you understand the different types of emails, focus on key elements of writing engaging emails, personalizing your message, and using effective call-to-action strategies, you can create emails that drive conversions and grow your business. Remember to experiment with different techniques and strategies to find what works best for your audience.