Write an email people read

An email is read in seconds: Litmus measured the average time spent on one at 11.8 seconds (2020), and later figures put it near 9. So the copy does three things, in order. It confirms the reader is in the right place, convinces them the next step is worth it, and hands them that step.

The short version

• Write to one person, the way a person writes. Say "you" more than "we".
• Start where the reader already is: the problem, the season, their last order.
• Put the point first. A reader who stops after the first line should still know what you want.
• One email, one job, and every paragraph earns it or goes.
• As long as the job needs. An email that sends people to a page: 50 to 200 words. One that sells on its own or tells a story can run longer, if every line pulls to the next.
• Plain words, short sentences, paragraphs of one to three sentences.
• Be specific: a number, a name, a place, a time.
• Lead with what the reader gets. Features are the proof.
• Give a reason for every ask, and answer the main doubt before the button.
• Urgency only when it's real.

Write to one person

An email arrives next to messages from friends and colleagues. Copy that sounds like a person writing to a person fits there; copy that sounds like a billboard doesn't. Gary Halbert's rule from direct mail: people sort their post into a pile that looks personal, which gets opened, and a pile that looks like advertising. Use "I" when one person sends it, "we" for the business, and "you" most of all.

Start where the reader already is

Robert Collier's advice (1931), as it's usually put: enter the conversation already going on in the reader's mind. Eugene Schwartz (1966) went further: copy can't create desire, only channel a desire that already exists. Before writing, name what the reader is thinking about: the problem, the season, their last order, the class they missed.

Match what the reader already knows

How much a reader knows decides what the email leads with, and how long it runs:

The less a reader knows, the more the email has to do before it can ask. Most lists hold people at every level at once, which is the case for sending each group its own email: The right email for the right people.

Put the point first

The headline and the first sentence carry the whole message on their own. Joseph Sugarman's rule: the first sentence exists to get the second one read. Keep it short, concrete and about the reader.

One job, and the length it needs

When an email's job is a click, every paragraph earns that click or goes. MarketingExperiments tested a 170-word email against a 95-word version that cut the long opening and moved the button up: the short one drew 16.9% more clicks. The email shouldn't try to do the landing page's job.

Length still follows the job:

• Constant Contact, 2.1 million small-business emails (2015): about 20 lines of text and three or fewer pictures gave the best click rates.
• Boomerang, 40 million one-to-one emails (2016): 50 to 125 words drew the most replies, over 50%. That's the benchmark for a sequence step or a personal note.
• An email that sells on its own, tells a story or speaks to someone who knows little can run 300 to 1,000 words, as long as every line pulls the reader to the next.

Plain words, short sentences

Boomerang found emails written at a third-grade reading level drew a 53% response rate, against 45% at high-school level and 39% at college level. Write in the active voice, with short words and contractions, sentences under about 20 words, and paragraphs of one to three sentences. Read it aloud. Plain isn't simple-minded: it's faster.

Specific beats general

"Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck," wrote Claude Hopkins (Scientific Advertising, 1923). People trust a precise figure, 27%, more than a round one, 25%. "Ships in 48 hours" beats "fast shipping". Name the thing, the number, the place, the time, the person.

What the reader gets comes first

A feature is what it is; a benefit is what it does for the reader. For every feature, ask "so that…?" until you reach something they want. "Self-watering pot", so it waters itself for two weeks, so you can go away without coming home to a dead plant.

Give a reason, and show proof

A reason. In Ellen Langer's copier study (1978), a small request to jump the queue worked 60% of the time with no reason and 94% with one. Every ask carries its "because": why now, why this, why you.

People like them. Proof works best when the crowd looks like the reader. In hotel experiments, "most guests reuse their towels" raised reuse from 35.1% to 44.1%, and naming guests who'd stayed in that same room did better still (Goldstein, Cialdini and Griskevicius, 2008). "1,200 people in Leeds booked a roof check this autumn" beats "thousands of happy customers".

A story. A study of 132 results from 76 papers found that being carried into a story changes beliefs and intentions, through the story rather than the argument (Journal of Consumer Research, 2014). A short email story has four beats: a person the reader recognises, a moment of trouble, the turn, and what changed. Then the bridge: "If that sounds like your March…"

The doubt, before the button. Most people who hesitate have one reason: price, risk, time, or doubt it'll work for them. Name the main one and answer it next to the button: the guarantee, free returns, "takes 2 minutes", a line from a customer like them. A guarantee or a returns promise is your own terms, stated as they are.

Shapes that work

A framework is a skeleton, not a script. Pick the one that fits the reader, write its steps, then rewrite until the joins disappear.

A PAS email, for example:

What the great copywriters knew

• Claude Hopkins: advertising is salesmanship, measured by results. Every email's tracked link is his coupon.
• John Caples: the headline is most of the ad, and curiosity works only alongside self-interest or news.
• David Ogilvy: facts sell, and five times as many people read the headline as the body.
• Eugene Schwartz: in a crowded market, sell how it works. "We ship in a sealed, watered box that keeps roots damp for 6 days."
• Joseph Sugarman: every line exists to get the next one read. End a paragraph with a pull: "But there's a catch."
• Gary Halbert: a crowd that already wants what you sell matters more than the copy.
• Robert Cialdini: give first, ask for a small yes before a big one, show proof, authority and scarcity, and be likeable.
• Donald Miller: the customer is the hero and the business the guide. "If you confuse, you lose."

The P.S. and the voice

The P.S. is a second hook. In Siegfried Vögele's eye-tracking work on direct mail, readers went to the signature and read the P.S. before deciding whether to read the letter. In a letter-style email, use it to restate the offer, the deadline or the single best reason.

Decide the voice once, as three words and a "this, not that" list ("warm, not cute"; "expert, not technical"), and keep it across every email. The tone shifts with the moment: a receipt gets straight to the point, a celebration can play.

A sequence email reads like a person typed it: short, plain, signed by a person, one question or one ask, often no pictures. Emails asking one to three questions were 50% more likely to get a reply than those with none (Boomerang).

Edit in three passes

1. 1

   Cut the warm-up. Most first drafts start two paragraphs late.

2. 2

   Cut every adjective that isn't a fact.

3. 3

   Read it aloud and fix every place you stumble.

Then ask "so what?" of every sentence, and rewrite or cut the ones that can't answer. Words you never need: "We're excited to announce", "Dear valued customer", "click here", three exclamation marks, and any sentence about how you feel rather than what the reader gets.

What has to stay right

Your characters, stories and examples are yours to write. What must be right: your own prices, discounts, guarantees and deadlines, and the law. No words put in the mouth of a real, named person or company, and no promise of earnings to the reader. More in Email marketing and the law.

Doing it here

• Each email is written for you from your plan, in the tone and style you choose and your brand's voice, and every word is yours to change: How your emails are written.
• Your brand preset holds your voice, so every email starts in it: Set up your brand.
• A signature with a real name and role ends every email: Make your email signature.