Crafting Conversion:
Insights from 10,000
Emails on Effective
Copywriting

We send a lot of email. Over the last few years, we've created over 10,000 emails that have gone out to hundreds of millions of subscribers of e-commerce companies.

It's really a lot of email.

Ever email requires copy and we've worked almost a hundred copywriters. From our own staff writers, to freelancers, to our client's copywriters, and even writing things ourselves.

Below we're going to go over what are the key elements in copywriting. After reading you will know what to focus on and what converts in copy.

If you find this useful, you can download our free guide to copy which goes into more depth on these topics with examples. You can also watch this video on X.com (formerly Twitter) or YouTube.

Let's dig in.

While everything important, you should focus the most attention on:

Attention, Clarity, Offer, Call-To-Action

Write for the Customer and Prospective Customer. Why should they buy from you and why should the buy again.

One short note before getting into it. It's more important to just get emails out to your subscribers. But dial in your deliveries first. Get the volume before you optimize. We have worked with so many clients that get lost in trying to perfect their emails and then don't send anything.

You need data to optimize. Don't worry about any of this advice if you aren't regularly sending out emails, just get things out. Even if they aren't great, people will still buy. You wouldn't believe how well emails perform when it's simply authentic text, even poorly written, from a passionate founder or business owner.

Now onto writing great copy.

Words Matter

Email copywriting can make all the difference for your brand. How you say things matters, even the order of the words.

As deliveries volume increases, measure subject line performance by the Open Rate, but subtract 30% (thanks Apple). Measure overall email performance by Click Rate, pay attention to unique clicks, that's the goal!

Clarity comes first. Better clear then fancy or sophisticated. Better clear then smart. Better clear then funny.

Make and keep promises. Your email content needs to deliver the promise of your subject line.

But not completely. The full promise should be answered on your site.

Be clear about what you want from your subscribers. Tell them clearly what you want them to do.
People often do what their told.

Big offers get big clicks. Every email is an offer (even if doesn't have a discount). Try to make it big.

Sometimes an offer is information. Sometimes it's entertainment. Sometimes it's a deal. Sometimes. it's a product. But it's always offer.

Figure out how to say things. If it's not super interesting, keep it short. If it is interesting, test long and short. I've seen longer convert over and over.

Write at an 8th grade level. Make it emotive. Make it simple. Make it appealing.

If you want to avoid skimming, don't write in a way that encourages skimming.

Products that are bought visually should be sold visually.

You aren't going to write a long sales letter to sell a skirt. Probably there is a copywriter who could, but you're probably not that copywriter.

Finally, the questions that every email should ultimately answer before clicking send:
• So what, who cares?
• Why should I believe you?
• Is this scarce or unique?
• Why should I buy this now?
• Why do I have to have this?

If you want to finally get your eCommerce brand making $1 million a year, @EssenceofEmail will help you get more customers to buy and then buy again by fixing your flows so within 30 days you are generating 20% of your total Revenue from email from our simple five-stop process.

This advice on conversion can also help boost your email's conversion.

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