Marketing

How to write a professional email - A step by step guide

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MarketingCopy Bot

Whether you are writing an email for your marketing campaign, sales, or professional correspondence, email copywriting plays a big role in how you get your message across. While most people hardly use emails in their personal lives, professional usage remains at an all-time high. Good email copy etiquette is an essential tool for anyone looking to make a mark in their career or build their business. Knowing how to write a persuasive email can mean the difference between a raise or a new sale.

Imagine a scenario where you have to write emails to prospective employers or customers. A good email copy can completely change your life. Email copywriting is so important that many large corporations employ professional email copywriters. They have the responsibility to get the firm's message across in the best way possible. However, not everyone can hire professionals to write emails. However, email copywriting is a skill that you can practice and even master. A good email copy is short, concise, to the point, and ends with a message to take some action.  Want to know how to write a persuasive email? Follow the five simple steps below:


Step 1: Identify your goal and tone


Are you writing a sales email or a professional email to a vendor to negotiate new rates? You need to identify who you are talking to and finalize a tone. While writing an email, it is important to determine the audience and the actionable message you want to get across. It will have a direct impact on the kind of email you write and its tone. Similarly, while writing an email to a customer, you would refrain from using colorful language and slang words. A professional email does not need to use difficult language. It just needs to convey the message in simple, straightforward language. In a nutshell, the email copy should ‘speak’ to the reader, to generate an actionable response.

Step 2: Write professional email subject lines


Writing a professional email subject line is as important as the message in the email itself. By using the correct words, you either can create urgency, a sense of importance, curiosity, or catch a reader’s imagination. These should be short, to the point, and make it interesting for the reader. For example, if you are sending an email to a new customer, trying to sell a product, you do not have to say that in the subject line. Instead, you can rephrase the offer to create curiosity. If they see ''20% off on our new product'' in the email subject, they will probably discard it even without opening it. Think of your target audience and how to connect with them emotionally. Ask yourself, would you open the email and be excited about it if you got to see the same professional email same subject line?


Step 3: Engaging opening lines to get your reader hooked


A good email copy starts with the first line. Give the purpose of the email within the first two lines of your email. Especially if this is a sales email. No one likes to read long emails - and most people get bored quickly. If the reader loses interest, it is difficult to get them to respond positively. Therefore do not beat around the bush and engage your user from the beginning.


Step 4: Short and well formatted email copy


When crafting your professional email copy, keep it short and simple but have a proper beginning and a conclusion. Use courteous language where possible but do not go off the subject. Even if you are handling a difficult topic over an email, for example, a vendor complaint or a late deadline, be firm but always respectful. If it is a sales email, it is even more important to quickly get your message across by using a strong opening line and a call to action in the end. Make paragraphs, even if it is a short email, and highlight words and sentences that need to be emphasized. Overall, make it easy for the reader, and your email copy can work  wonders.


Step 5: Proofread email copy


Never, ever send a professional email without proofreading thoroughly. No matter how much time you spent on writing it, it will fall flat if the reader spots grammatical errors. Spelling mistakes, misquotes, commas, and even factual errors are common problems in a professional email copy. Do not be fooled into thinking these will not be spotted. People who read emails every day are fine-tuned to spot these mistakes, and your message can lose all importance. Even if you don’t follow any other rule, a good email copy should be, at a minimum, without any literary flaws.


Conclusion


Most of the time, you would need to create an actionable response from the reader. You might ask them to call you, buy from your website, or give you a raise. Whatever it is, your email copy should be designed to get the reader to act. Writing a perfect professional email copy is more of an art than a science, and it can take some time to get the hang of it. Email copywriting requires a very thorough understanding of not just the language but the psychology of the reader and how to connect with them.


Engaging email copy to grab attention for your audience

Writing a professional email copy is not hard if you follow our best practices. The steps and best practices introduced in this blog post provide you with a framework which should always be personalized to reflect the client and occasion. However, there's an even easier way. MarketingCopy is an AI-powered marketing copywriter for creating short form and long form copy like emails and blogs. With MarketingCopy, you can create engaging emails in seconds. The next time you need to write an engaging email copy, just keep our steps and practices in mind or sign up for MarketingCopy and let our AI write the next email for you.