The Profitable Guide To Email Copywriting In 2023 (real examples)

Did you know email marketing is 40x more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter?

But before we get into how important email copywriting is, I want to let you know why I value it so much.

In 2021, I co-founded a startup called Ticker Nerd with my close pal Sam. We bootstrapped the business and in eight months it was acquired by a FinTech company. 

The whole business was built on emails. We converted users via email, we delivered reports via email and we even request feedback via email. We needed to ensure every single email we sent was opened and read, and if there was a link it was clicked.

We had some strong competitors like Motley Fool, so there wasn’t much room for error.

Over time I started to write direct response emails and nurture sequences for various companies. I’ve even built high-converting sequences for this blog. 

So If there’s one skill you learn this year make it email copywriting. 

The good news is that in this guide I’m going to share everything you need to know about email copywriting. This isn’t limited to copywriting itself, it also includes email deliverability, email marketing tools, and even A/B testing. 

What is email copywriting?

Firstly, we need to understand what email copywriting is (and isn’t). Email copywriting is any form of written marketing content within an email. All the emails in your inbox right now were likely written by a copywriter, marketer, or at the very least the business owner.

The intent behind email copywriting is to convince someone to open the email, read the content and then click the link. That is the primary job of the email copywriter. 

In some cases, they might be responsible for writing the copy for the lead magnet or the corresponding landing page once the email link is clicked. 

What email copywriting is:

✅ Subject lines

✅ Body copy

✅ Preview texts

✅ CTA button copy

What email copywriting isn’t:

❌ Automated error emails 

❌ Anything outside of the email itself 

❌ Building complex sequences in complex tools

Email copywriting is so important for businesses because it has the highest ROI of any marketing activity. According to Litmus, email marketing can generate $36 for every $1 invested. Of course, this depends on factors like the cost of writing copy, generating leads, and other activities that might not be included. However, it’s still clear that email copywriting can help a business generate a lot more revenue. 

Types of email copywriting

Outbound 

This form of copywriting mostly refers to cold outreach (also known as cold emails). The purpose is to send an unsolicited email to someone who you believe could benefit from your service or product. It’s very similar to cold calling but instead, is much more scalable and less intrusive. Outbound emails are about establishing relationships with suitable companies. The end goal is to usually sell a high-end service (and sometimes a product). 

However, you never want to sell anything the first time you send an unsolicited email. You want to establish a relationship and offer some value. 

When writing emails for an outbound audience one of the most critical things to do is keep the email succinct, and to the point, and always ask a question. If you do not ask a question you will not get a reply. Here’s an example of a cold email I usually send to other sites I want to write for.

As you can see it’s straight to the point, adds value, and asks a question. Most people who read this would hesitate to say no since the value trade-off is so highly in their favor. I want to also point out that I’m not actually selling anything of enormous value. Instead, I’m offering to do some work in exchange for a backlink to my blog. 

Inbound

Inbound is the most popular form of email copywriting. Inbound refers to anyone that voluntarily enters their email address into a form that is connected with your email service provider. These users generally expect to receive something in return such as a resource or sequence of emails with information that will help them in some way. Here’s an example of an inbound welcome email from Drip.

It’s pretty obvious that I gave my email to drip expecting to receive a resource. This welcome email is simple, effective, and delivers on the promise. Keep in mind that not all inbound emails are this short.

How to write high-converting emails in six steps

1. Establish the purpose of the emails

Before you begin researching and writing you need to work out the primary purpose of the emails. Depending on the purpose, the style and number of emails you send will change. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this email for an inbound or outbound audience?
• Are we trying to sell a low-cost or high-cost product/service?
• What is the number one goal of the emails?

Selling the $5 product might only require 4-5 emails and a link to the product page whereas a $7,000 service might require 10+ value-packed emails and a link to schedule a call with a sales rep. 

According to Litmus, sending between 9 and 16 emails will generate the highest ROI. 

2. Nail the research

Copywriting doesn’t work without research. 

You need to know exactly who you’re writing to, what their problems are, and how your solution is the best option for them. Make sure you’ve done your homework. 

Nail the research by

1. Asking your client the right questions
2. Conducting customer interviews to learn more about the customer persona
3. Reading all the product reviews you can find
4. Researching your competitor’s website and their product reviews, Facebook ads, and emails

3. Apply proven formulas, statistics & sequences

This is exactly why having a swipe file is critical. Successful campaigns usually have proven formulas, incorporate proven statistics, and the right sequences. 

Here are some of my tips when it comes to applying formulas and statistics:

• Reference the BAB, PAS, AIDA, or AIDCA copywriting formulas when you’re trying to write emails. My personal favorite is BAB and PAS for emails. 
• Reference Drip Scripts if you need help finding a sequence with examples.
• Here’s a list of 22 copywriting statistics to improve your open rate and click-through rate.

Another key consideration when writing email copy is to match the correct sequence for the type of user. It doesn’t make sense to blast sales emails to someone who just entered their email address expecting a short eBook. Here are some popular sequences.

Welcome email sequence: This is the most obvious and well-known email sequence. The idea is to welcome your subscriber, thank them for giving you their email and ideally reward them with some value. There’s no specific length these sequences need to be but it’s important to front-load as much value so the user continues to open the emails.

Onboarding sequence: These types of sequences are mostly informational and help a user that has already converted get the most out of your product/service. The goal is to help your users successfully engage with your product and prevent them from churning.

Abandoned cart sequence: eCommerce businesses love this sequence. It’s the real rainmaker. When a potential customer enters their details in the cart but never proceeds to pay, an automated email is generated. The email is purely to reduce the risk with the purchase and in some cases offer a discount to convince the user to actually make the purchase. These sequences shouldn’t be more than three emails.

Value add sequence: A company might want to keep its potential users engaged by giving them as much value as possible. Many SaaS companies do this in the hopes their readers eventually become members. They work best when there is some form of a loop back to the product/service.

Sales funnel sequence: This includes all sales sequences more broadly. The goal is to sell a product or service to the email recipient. There are many different ways to do this but ultimately you need to still give value upfront, point out a problem your reader has, agitate it, tease the end state, and then show them how your solution will get them there.

Email newsletters: These are a whole different ball game. Think of The Hustle, Morning Brew, or even James Clear’s email newsletter. Whilst they resemble “blog posts” via email format they do require copywriting for things such as the subject line, introduction, call to action, and preview texts. They’re also an ongoing initiative so there isn’t a specific cadence to follow.

4. Apply cognitive biases and heuristics for better results

This is my favorite part of email copywriting and it might be the most underrated tip in this guide. But the funny thing is that investors spend more time learning about cognitive biases and heuristics than marketers. They believe them to be systemic errors in their thinking which can ruin decision-making skills.

But if investors spend time learning how to avoid falling trap to them, shouldn’t we be learning how to apply them?

Our target audience isn’t a traditional investor as such but the consumers we target still “invest” in what we’re selling. So it only makes sense we pay attention to it.

Here are three cognitive biases I like to keep top of mind when writing emails:

• Liking Bias: This is where users prefer to say “yes” to people they know and like. So if you’re ever trying to draw comparisons or involve a well-known figure, try to include one that you know everyone likes and not someone controversial. 
• Spark Effect: Users are more likely to take an action if the effort seems small. When you’re writing copy you can frame the action to be low effort. You can even include microcopy that says things like “it only takes 37 seconds”.
• Picture Superiority Effect: This law states that pictures/images are more likely to be remembered. In reference to emails, you could include GIFs or images where it makes sense to improve your conversion rates. If you join my email sequence you’ll notice a few of the emails contain interesting screenshots for context.

5. Write for high deliverability

This might come as surprise to most copywriters but a key consideration in email marketing is deliverability. Since email marketing is notorious for spam it’s critical to ensure the copy of your emails is not triggering spam filters or ending up in the wrong inbox such as promotions. 

There are hundreds of words and phrases you should avoid but in summary try to not make hard sales, bold claims, big promises, or anything that is generally seen as “dodgy”.  

I suggest using tools such as Mail Tester or Unspam to gauge the deliverability and spam level of your emails before running them.

6. Test your work

Great email copywriters test their work all the time. This is what separates average copywriters from the best copywriters.

Email marketing platforms make it so easy that it should be baked into your workflow and copywriting process. The most obvious A/B test is the subject line. Here’s an example of a campaign I tested for The Simple Science of Copywriting. 

Treat these as “mini-experiments” by creating a hypothesis, tracking the results, and making a conclusion on which performed best and why.

→ Consider using this free experiment template. 

Two email copywriting examples 

Ticker Nerd Sequence (email 1)

Purpose: The purpose of this email was to welcome the user and deliver value immediately. The user entered their email with the expectation of receiving our secrets to researching stocks.

Subject line: How you can steal stock ideas from hedge funds

Simple Science of Copywriting Sequence (email 6)

Purpose: This email was further in the campaign and its purpose was to add value and soft sell the Simple Science of Copywriting.

Subject line: {name} I bet you’ve fallen victim to this…

Email copywriting statistics to improve your conversion rates

As mentioned earlier in the article, you should reference copywriting statistics to give yourself the best chance of success. Below are seven email copywriting statics to keep handy. 

1. Using the word “you” in marketing messages can increase conversions by up to 47%. Source: Hubspot
2. Email marketing is 40x more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter. Source: McKinsey
3. Using the word “free” in the email subject lines can increase open rates by up to 29%. Source: Coschedule
4. Using the word “exclusive” in subject lines can increase open rates by up to 27%. Source: Coschedule
5. Using the word “limited” in subject lines can increase open rates by up to 28%. Source: Coschedule
6. Simple subject lines get 541% more responses than creative ones. Source: Sherpa Blog
7. Sales emails with 200-250 words witness the highest response rate of 19%. Source: LXA Hub

Related article: 22 Useful Copywriting Statistics

Frequently asked questions

In summary

When executed properly, email copywriting can be very lucrative for businesses. The expected ROI of email campaigns is incredibly high. Although, to write high-performing email copy you need must consider the following.

• The purpose of the email
• Research
• Formulas
• Cognitive biases & heuristics
• Deliverability 
• Experimenting