Snaptastic Blog

So, you’ve decided that you want to send an email to your customers, and you’ve picked out the perfect template. But, your email won’t be much of a door buster if you don’t include compelling and creative copy.

The first step in finding the right words is to figure out the message you’re trying to get out to customers. Are you promoting a sidewalk sale that is a few days away? Reminding customers that it’s the last day to save on an introductory product offer? Sending a friendly newsletter? What you write and how you write it both depend on the reason for sending your message.

Next, you should be sure that you understand the parts of an email in order to understand what to write. Here is a diagram of an email with each section labeled:

Headline: This will be the first thing that an email recipient reads within the email. It should grab their attention and give a summary of why you are sending the email.

Sub-headline: This follows the headline and expands on it.

Body Copy: This is the actual message in your email, filled with all of the details you want to give to customers.

Signature: Your signature is the section of the email where you “sign off” with your contact information. When you send an email through SnapRetail, your customized signature is uploaded once and then can be included automatically in any email.

Two other important parts of email copy are your subject line and call to action. The subject line is the line that customers will read in their inbox, and it carries the pressure of having to entice its reader to open the email. It’s helpful to write this part of your email first so that you can be sure it includes all important information. Sometimes, longer subject lines can get cut off in certain email providers, so you should put the most important information first in case a reader doesn’t get the whole message. It’s also important to keep EVERY part of your email as short and tight as possible.

Do you know what a call-to-action is? It’s the part of your email that tells your customer what you want them to do after they are done reading your email. A call to action should be clearly stated, such as:

• Stop in for a holiday event you won’t forget!
• Print this email and show it in store for a discount.

Be careful, though. Putting too many calls-to-action in one email can end up hurting you in the end. Your customers may not be sure what their next step should be and give up on the process all together.

A great perk of being a small business owner is that you have a little bit of freedom to make your messaging fit the tone you want for your store. No one knows your business better and no one can better define your store’s “voice.”  You should decide right now what kind of tone you want to have in your messaging, and be consistent. For instance, choose which of these phrases you would include in your emails:

“We’re super psyched for you to mosey on in for our sale!”

OR

“Be sure to stop in for great deals. See you soon!”

Neither of these phrases is wrong, but not every store wants to use the phrase “super,” “psyched” or “mosey.” Luckily, it’s all up to you.

One thing that should not be up to you is editing your emails. When you are writing something, it can be difficult for you to catch your own mistakes. Use the ability to send a test email in order to send to someone with knowledge in grammar and spelling. Four eyes are definitely better than two when it comes to catching errors.

If you’re a SnapRetail subscriber, we don’t just give you these tips on writing better copy. We give the copy TO you using our monthly Promotion Kits. Each month, subscribers are sent an eBook filled with digital marketing ideas and copy to support that month’s theme. Learn more about promo kits or sign up for a test drive to get your own now!