When it comes to reaching out to your target audience, what you have to say is important, but how you say it is just as crucial. It is necessary to understand how you want your message to be received. There are several points to consider when getting your message across through email communications. Using the right email marketing software can be beneficial, but ultimately you need to ensure you get your message across to draw in your customer base.

Tone 

First and foremost, we want to get the tone of the email right. Every aspect really comes under the tonality of a business, but specifically, how does the message sound? I like to think of the old adage, “it’s not what you said, it’s how you said it”. People may not remember what you said, but they will almost certainly remember how you made them feel. Missing the mark on your tone will only harm your potential custom.  

Structure  

If an email is all over the place and incoherent then most readers won’t read all of it. People are busy and if you can’t get your message across in a structured manner then you may be losing custom. Try not to use overly long sentences, and break your points up into relevant paragraphs. You can even use an email marketing template to set the right themes and colours to your emails.

Narrative 

It may seem odd, but try to think of your email as having a story to tell. A novel has to have some basics such as a beginning, middle and end. There needs to be a natural flow and progression in order to keep your target audience reading. A messy structure can reflect am incoherent business, as your marketing is usually the voice your audience hear to personify your business.  

Images 

Nothing is as unappealing as a great wall of text. Images are great at separating sections of your email up to frame the information. Relevant imagery can also reenforce your points and will reflect the type of business you are.   

Wording  

Knowing more about your audience will help with the way you word any communication. There are instances of companies talking in a casual manner which has worked out for them, some stick to strict professional address. Both are valid however they can be polarising to some potential clients. 

Personal Pronouns 

There was a long time where if you came across a business person on LinkedIn, they would write their profile in the third person. This was believed to be more professional but a lot of people have moved away from this to a more personal approach. When communicating through email you would ideally want to make it a little more personal. Using personal pronouns such as “you/your” addresses the recipient directly, and looks a lot less like a general email. 

Language 

Language is similar to wording but it more specific to the tonality of the words. How technical do you want to be? Is the email for a general audience or a specific niche? What doesn’t change is the use of an active voice when speaking to clients.  

Active Voice 

An active voice is written to make the tone of your email clearer. The use of an active voice is to get to the point. An active voice makes your email sound less business and sales-like. Being assertive and polite will always have better results than using euphemisms and passive language. 

Check out our email marketing guide for more information on how to create the perfect email marketing campaign for your business.