Effective communication is the foundation of running a profitable business and resolving conflicts in both professional and private life.
This is even more key in email communication with your clients.
Email communication is the most popular and widespread method of business communication. Moreover, email marketing is a marketing channel that generates the highest ROI, a staggering $36 for every $1 spent. The ROI is enormous!
The conclusion is clear: You must master the art of writing emails to perfection.
In this post, you will find answers to questions:
—> Why is written communication so important?
—> How to write persuasively, and win every conversation via email?
—> What areas of communication are the most important, and why?
Have a good read.
3-C Rule Communication Management
Credibility
If you want to build a credible image in the eyes of your audience, you need to be trustworthy.
You can’t rely on the same old tricks “every marketer” uses or create your content with ChatGPT just because it’s “easier.”
Unfortunately, that won’t make you credible. What makes you credible is your content, which is based on your in-depth research and experience. Your readers want to read content from you, not mass-produced, random content.
The more of you there is in your content, the better it is for your brand, even if it means spending more time on it.
Content
The quality of your content reflects the quality of its creator. The better and more valuable the content you create, the greater the recognition you’ll receive from your audience.
It’s not just about quality, though; frequency also plays a role.
How often do you communicate with your readers? Indeed, the best answer might be—it depends. And that’s true because there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
Tim Ferriss sends emails to his readers every Friday, while Meera Kothand does it daily. Both are highly effective in their marketing campaigns, despite their different frequencies.
The number of emails you send to your readers depends on what you have to say and offer them.
You might choose to send emails once a week or every day.
However, the principle is simple: It’s better to send an email once a week with good content than to send tedious emails every day.
Commitment
Made a promise? Keep your word. Always.
Keeping promises always resonates well, especially in communication with (potential) clients.
If you promised to send something—be it case studies, a discount on the next purchase, or an analysis of the last 3 months—make sure to follow through. This example pertains to email, but commitment applies in every area of life, without distinguishing between personal and professional realms.
The Unquestionable Significance of Email Marketing
Even with so many online communication methods, email remains a potent way to reach out.
With email, you can easily measure:
- the open rate
- the response rate
- the conversion rate
Simply put, you see what’s effective and what’s not. The data doesn’t lie.
But let’s look at it from another angle. What makes email marketing so widespread and necessary?
Using email as your primary communication tool is like having VIP access to someone’s personal inbox. You can ensure they see exactly what they need, right when they need it. But to truly benefit from email, you need to know how to craft your message. A well-written email can convert a casual browser into a buyer, and a buyer into a repeat customer.
Therefore, mastering the art of email communication is essential for your business—and especially your brand—to be sought after in the market and to meet your customers’ needs.
Emails Help You Establish Trust
Reading this post, I assume that more than once you’ve felt discouraged or fond of a company, simply because your email exchange with them was of high (or low) quality.
This is precisely how you build your position in the market as an expert in the eyes of your clients.
In any case, the path to building credibility looks like this:
Stranger —> Reader —> Subscriber —> Engaged Subscriber —> Customer —> Brand Advocate.
So, how do you make a Stranger become a Brand Advocate?
There is one answer: write better emails to gain the trust of your readers.
However, let’s take a closer look at each of the individual groups of recipients:
—> Stranger: This is someone who doesn’t know about you or your business yet. They haven’t interacted with your content or products.
—> Reader: A reader has found your content and has some interest. They read your blog posts, articles, or social media updates but haven’t taken any action to connect further.
—> Subscriber: A subscriber likes your content enough to sign up for more. They’ve given you their email to get updates or newsletters, showing they’re interested in what you have to say or offer.
—> Engaged Subscriber: An engaged subscriber receives your emails, reads them regularly, and interacts with them. They click on links, reply to calls-to-action, or participate in surveys.
—> Customer: A customer has bought something from you. They’ve moved beyond liking your content to purchasing your products or services.
—> Brand Advocate: A brand advocate is a customer who loves your brand so much that they tell other people about it. They recommend your products, leave positive reviews, and help bring in more customers.
Email Personalization: How to Effectively Stand Out from the Crowd?
Personalization is the first and foremost step to catching your readers’ attention.
If you don’t address them individually, why would they pay attention to your brand and identify with it?
There’s a simple psychological pattern: through personalized messages, your reader feels that you have something exclusively for them and that you care about them.
This need for attention is what makes us identify with a person (or a brand) and become attached.
A must-apply takeaway: always personalize your emails whenever you can.
In fact, you can personalize every aspect of your email, however, mostly focus on these six:
1/ Location
2/ Job Title
3/ Last Purchase
4/ Company Name
5/ Recipient’s Name
6/ Special Occasions or Events (Happy Birthday, Jennifer!)
It’s a small step, but it will change a lot.
By personalizing each email, you’ll regularly increase the open & response rate.
Clarity and Consistency: The Forgotten Principle of Written Communication
Clear, concise, and consistent communication builds a foundation of trust between a brand and its audience. Emails that are straightforward and reliable in their frequency and messaging reinforce brand integrity.
This consistency helps form a predictable and comforting pattern that recipients grow to trust and rely on, turning your emails into anticipated messages rather than unwanted intrusions.
Be clear. Be consistent. Be concise. This simplicity will help you become more effective.
Compelling Content: The More, The Better
The effectiveness of email marketing is deeply intertwined with the content it delivers.
Crafting content that resonates, informs, and engages is both an art and a science, requiring a deep understanding of your audience’s needs, interests, and pain points.
Engage Your Readers Through Value-Driven Content
Engagement is the currency of the digital world, and value-driven content is the gold mine.
Emails that offer genuine value—be it through insightful information, entertainment, or exclusive offers—capture attention and encourage interaction. Quickly and for a long time.
This engagement is a critical step in building a relationship, transforming passive readers into active participants in your brand’s narrative.
What’s the conclusion here? It is better to send a good email once a week to your subscribers, instead of sending run-of-the-mill emails every day.
Sometimes less means more.
The Role of Storytelling in Email Marketing
In 1994, Steve Jobs said:
The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda for an entire generation to come, and Disney has a monopoly on the storyteller business. You know what? I’m tired of that nonsense; I’m going to be the next storyteller.
That’s right, storytelling is a superpower in the hands of marketers.
If you want to get closer to your customer, tell them a story that best reflects their current situation.
Facing many objections that make it hard to close a sale? Or getting the same responses from newsletter readers? Address their current situation with a story.
Show a case study, testimonials, or social proof that solved a similar issue.
Craft a story so compelling that your listener can’t resist choosing your solution.
Emailing: What to Pay Attention to?
I previously mentioned that email marketing has the highest ROI among all marketing channels. This is still very much a current truth.
That trend is continuing to rise, and that won’t quickly change.
However, to increase the effectiveness of YOUR marketing campaigns, you must pay attention to the small details in communication.
Before sending an email to a client, pay attention to details such as:
- Punctuation,
- Personalization,
- Grammatical errors,
- Stylistic correctness,
- Factual errors (e.g., customer data).
I know it sounds like a suggestion from high school, but how many times have you encountered making that “trivial” mistake?
Call-to-Action Button Is a Must
Every marketing professional appreciates the significance of a call to action (CTA).
They play a crucial role by motivating your (potential) customer to progress further.
Typically, they appear as buttons or links, ensuring they are noticeable against the backdrop of the remaining content.
A CTA’s success hinges on how clear, concise, and relevant it is to the audience. The implementation tools also play a vital part.
Characteristics of an effective call to action include:
—> visually striking
—> adequately sizeable
—> in a contrasting color (to differentiate it from the surrounding content)
This boosts its chances of being seen & clickable.
Moreover, it’s essential that the CTA seamlessly guides to the next action.
Below are three call-to-action button examples:
1/ Sign Up Now: This immediate and compelling CTA commonly prompts users to sign up or subscribe.
2/ Learn More: Perfect for content that’s informative or for detailed product insights, this button encourages further exploration without an aggressive pitch.
3/ Add to Cart: An e-commerce staple, this CTA is clear and signals the next step in the buying journey.
Integration with AI and Automation
Artificial intelligence and automation are revolutionizing the way we approach email marketing.
From predictive analytics to automated personalized content, these technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to enhance the relevance and timeliness of your communications, making each email feel like a one-on-one conversation.
Do you want to automate your emails? Rhetorical question, isn’t it?
Familiarize yourself with this tool: GetReponse.
It is effective, affordable & world-class. For sure, it’ll help you with your maladies.
Inactive Emails: What to Do?
Interactive emails that incorporate elements like polls, surveys, and interactive images are setting a new standard for engagement.
It’s not the first time that you’re facing this problem, and surely not the last once.
What’s the best option? Delete the inactive users. Not kidding.
If you’ve noticed that out of your 100k+ subscribers, there’s maybe 70% of them actively engaged, remove the existential ones. Apart from paying for their maintenance, there’s no positive outcome.
Afterword
In conclusion, the importance of communication in email marketing cannot be overstated. It is the thread that weaves through every aspect of a successful email campaign, from the initial strategy to the final analysis.
As digital marketing continues to evolve, the principles of effective communication remain constant: clarity, relevance, personalization, and engagement are the keys to connecting with your audience and driving results.
Be precise in your communication, ask clear questions (that expect clear answers), and never use more than 2 CTAs per email. These simple methods will make your emails much more readable and increase their open & response rate.
Now, you know why communication in email marketing is so important.
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments what’s your experience!
And if you enjoyed my content, feel free to buy me a coffee 😉
Thanks for reading,
Simon
Author Profile
- Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Lead Generation on LinkedIn, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.
Latest entries
- October 15, 2024Social Media Tools9 Best Strategies to Generate B2B Leads on LinkedIn
- September 17, 2024Email MarketingEmail Marketing: The Most Comprehensive Guide (+ Tips)
- September 13, 2024SEO for Business6 Key Elements of an Effective SEO Product Description
- September 9, 2024SEO for Business5 Expert Tips on How to Double Traffic with Graphics