When I tell people that email copywriting isn’t all about the hard pitch, I tend to get some raised eyebrows and “waaatttt!!” exclamations of surprise.
And I get it.
Because the point of email copywriting is to sell…right??
I mean, the small business owners who give me those raised eyebrows aren’t wrong.
But it can be easy to forget that there are real humans on the other side of those email addresses, and real humans don’t like feeling like they’re being talked at by a smooth car salesman or just reached out to when holiday seasons rolls around.
(I’ve totallllyy been guilty of the whole “only talk to my email list during holidays” thing in the past. But I made those mistakes so you don’t have to!)
That’s why any successful email campaign (or at least any one that measures its success by opens, clicks and conversions — as pretty much all do!) will strike a very thoughtful balance of pitching and value.
So how do you strike that right pitch-value balance to up your conversions and nurture long-term relationships with your leads?
I’m going to break down what you need to know about upping the value of your email campaigns so that it becomes even easier to turn leads into brand lovers.
What Does “Audience” Have to Do with Email Copywriting Best Practices?
In marketing, audience is everything.
Because if you don’t understand:
- Who your audience is
- What experiences brought them to your site/brought them to sign up for your email list
- What’s causing them pain
- How your service/course/product can alleviate that pain
- And even what their life looks like behind their email address and screen…
Then you won’t be able to choose the kind of power-packed words that will engage them, foster trust, and eventually lead toward the conversion (and even the repeat buy!).
Just like there should be strategy behind all of your website copywriting, there should be strategy behind the words you choose for email campaigns.
Popping into your email subscribers’ inboxes just to remind them that you have a product to sell might lead to a little revenue, but it will also likely lead to a lot of “unsubscribe” buttons being pushed faster than you can say “lickity split.”
Nurture your leads and steer them clear of the “unsubscribe” by building a relationship, rather than just hard pitching.
How to Build Relationships with Email Sequences
If you’re sending an email out to your leads, it’s probably for a reason.
Maybe there’s a new product you want to unveil, or maybe your calendar of upcoming clients is looking a little sparse. Or maybe you just want to keep those leads toasty-warm to set them up for a future buy.
No matter the “why,” email sequences become most effective when you build trust instead of just focusing on smooth-talking the sale.
The way you build trust will look a little different for every industry.
If you’re selling software, you might send along a helpful “How To” to new buyers that goes over some of its more complicated features. Or if you’re a service business, you might send out an email that gives your list a little helpful advice and solves a problem that has totally been impacting their life.
You might also:
- Highlight a blog you just published and dig into some interesting tidbit that it discusses (than encourage your leads to go read it to learn more…)
- Offer access to an exclusive PDF or other freebie that they’ll find super-helpful and super-engaging
- Tell a personal story that’s relatable for them, then invite them to read more about you/your business on a blog or web page
- Dish out a little free advice or highlight your knowledge of a particular subject
What do all these possibilities have in common?
They don’t include a hard pitch of your services, course, or product. Instead, they focus on building trust while showcasing your expertise.
So that when the time comes to send a hard pitch as part of your email sequence…
Your leads are keenly aware of who you are, what you do, what separates you from the crowd, and how they can benefit from your product, services, or course…
So that clicking “yes” to that next step seems like the logical next step.
How to Balance Value and Pitch in Your Email Campaigns
Of course, the way that you balance value and pitches in your email campaigns will depend on several factors, most notably:
- The type of sequence you’re doing—like an onboarding, nurturing, welcoming, etc.
- Whether you’re talking to one segment of your audience or the whole list
- Whether the segment you’re talking to has has recently gone through an important touchpoint—like buying a product, signing up for a freebie, or taking a quiz
- What kind of product, course, or service you’re offering and how you’re presenting your brand story
There’s no perfect rule of how to introduce value into your email campaigns as an effective way to nurture your email subscribers into long-time brand loves.
But engaging with your subscribers through value-filled means—whether you’re sending a welcome email or just keeping your list warm—before you send out a hard pitch is a way to keep them engaged while priming them to want to hear more.
So you don’t just get one conversion, one time, with a lot of “unsubscribes” on the side…
You perform the kind of email copywriting that gets people excited to say “yes” to your offer, with full confidence in your brand story and overflowing excitement to hear from you.
