10 Words That Will Make People Open Your Email

Email marketing is fast becoming the new black. It’s been around for a while but companies are now beginning to understand the potential it has.

In the past your mailings involved folding copious numbers of letters, sticking them in envelopes and slapping on stamps – today you simply spend a bit of time crafting your email and pressing send.

But how do you stop your email going directly into the delete file?

It’s all in the opening

The first thing your recipient will see is the sender’s name and subject line. So how do you make sure you pique his curiosity sufficiently to click on your email and open it?

Take Henry here for instance. He’s been tasked to come up with an email that will knock his customer’s socks off.  geek

He works for a washing power factory. His company has come up with a new detergent that will banish every stain known to man. To help him out, I have emailed him 10 little words that should him create something amazing.

———————————————–

Sender: sally@briarcopywriting.com

Subject: At last, the words you need to succeed

Hi Henry,

I thought you might find this list of words useful when putting together your sales email today. As a copywriter I find them invaluable when creating email campaigns for my clients. Try them out and see how you get on.

  1. Advice – this indicates you’ll be sharing something really useful “Advice for getting your whites white”
  2. Why – this indicates they’ll learn something new “Why stains will be a thing of the past”
  3. At last – this indicates that it’s finally here “At last a washing powder you can trust”
  4. Introducing – this gives you the opportunity to use your product name or company name “Introducing Magic White”
  5. How to – everyone loves to learn things “How to get whites white first time”
  6. How – very similar to the previous one but allows a more subtle introduction “How you can banish stains forever”
  7. Announcing – this can be used as an effective teaser because you don’t have to include your products name “Announcing the latest laundry technology”
  8. Which – this will get their interest because they’ll want to know if there is something new they need to know “Which powder banishes stains every time?”
  9. New – This is an old one but a good one because everyone loves something that’s new “New advanced formula that banishes stains”
  10. Now – this is one of the most powerful three letter words used by copywriters “Now you too can have whiter whites”

I’m sure you can come up with some better lines than the ones I’ve written above – they are just there to illustrate how the words work.

The other thing to remember is to keep your subject line to 40 characters or less so it doesn’t get truncated.

Remember Henry, the subject line is all that stands between your email and the delete file. It should be short, directed at your reader and instantly attention grabbing.

These 10 little words are tried and tested and get results again and again. Give them a go and let me know how you get on.

Warm regards,

Sally

Freelance copywriter

———————————————————-

Related posts:

Boost your email open rate

Email your way to success

Email marketing – when’s the best time to send

Work you way towards the perfect email body

Email marketing – why it doesn’t always work

Is email marketing right for you?

Related Posts with Thumbnails

3 comments ↓

#1 Copywriter on 09.28.10 at 9:50 am

Thanks for posting this. This is really great. You are right in saying that its all about opening. Email marketing still works. It has only changed its requirements. I still use it for my campaign.

#2 Change the subject | Wylie's Writing Tips on 02.01.14 at 6:14 am

[…] Sally Ormond’s list of 10 Words That Will Make People Open Your Email […]

#3 Change the subject | Wylie Communications, Inc. on 02.04.14 at 1:30 am

[…] Sally Ormond’s list of 10 Words That Will Make People Open Your Email […]

Leave a Comment