Despite the popularity of instant messengers and social networks, email remains an effective marketing communications tool for various industries.  In a marketing survey done by a digital marketing company, it is revealed that email marketing is the advertising channel that performed best for many companies in the last year.  In another study, email marketing outperformed all the other direct marketing channels examined in terms of return of investment (ROI).

Email provides an opportunity to reach out to as many people at minimal cost and with less effort.  However, considering that most people get a lot of email daily, you have to state your message in the most concise way.  Remember that there’s a delicate line between writing an effective email ad and one that will be marked off as spam. So how do we write email ads that attract and lead recipients to open and respond to it?

Let’s examine the parts and attributes of a good email ad.

The sender.  Most of us can immediately recognize spam sources. Sender names that sound too “commercial” are promptly trashed, as well as names that don’t sound as if they belong to a real person or company. For example, emails that come from a company or at least corporate-sounding name is more credible and likely to be opened rather than obscure names of persons.

The subject line. An effective subject line is catchy. It captures the recipient’s attention and makes him or her sense the benefit of opening the email at first glance. But don’t use phrases like “make money fast” and “$$$” on your subject line or else the spam filters will block your email.  Perhaps it would do you well to open your inbox and study the spam that actually escaped the email filters. Most filters today are too strong, even legitimate email could end up in the Spam inbox.

The hook. This is the most important part of your email. It is normally placed in the first sentence or the lead and involves a persuasive call to action.  It states what benefits the recipient will get if he or she responds to the ad positively. Make sure to state it clearly and with conviction, preferably in active voice. Exercise: try your hook on yourself and see if it convinces you to buy the product yourself.

The length.  It goes without saying that recipients will have short attention span because there are many emails and sites for them to look at daily.  Write the email in the fewest but most effective words possible. This is done by using bulleted lists and powerful one-liner hooks.

The links and contact info. Email signatures look highly credible, especially if they have the complete contact information that the recipient needs. Provide links to your website for details not included in the email. Perhaps you can provide an alternative page through popular social networks like Facebook or MySpace.

The unsubscribe option. It’s unbelievable for some, but yes, this feature adds more credibility. Recipients appreciate being given options. Even if it means not availing the product or service offered for you, they might recommend your site to other potential customers. Conversely, an annoyed recipient may just email another potential customer about your emails and thus tarnish your reputation.

As a last note, remember that there are many digital marketing tools and strategies that a company could study and use. It all depends on who the target market is. As copywriters, this should be at the top of our daily to-do list—studying the market. Only then can our marketing copy be effective.