Common Email Writing Mistakes that Kill Your Sales

Email is a powerful tool that has been around for decades. It’s also one of the most underutilized tools in marketing today. Email can be used to communicate with your customer, generate leads, and drive sales. However, it can also be a dangerous weapon in your hand if you’re not careful about how you use it! This blog post discusses common email writing mistakes that kill your sales – so make sure to read on!

1. Cold Subject Line

To make sure your email copy is a success, you first have to make sure people will read it. Having business representatives and potential customers open your emails are one of the hardest steps in this process, so be careful with what you write under that subject line! What should we do if our subject lines don’t seem like they would interest anyone?

Write a subject line that is:

• Inviting – provide a strong reason for people to open the email
• Explanatory – give a glimpse of the important information it contains
• Specific – define what’s in it for the potential customers
• Promising – be honest about the content of the email
• Urging – add pressure

For example, a subject line that reads “Educate your employees- team copywriting course on discount!” is better than one that says “Copywriting Course Application”.

The potential customer needs to know the email is relevant and interesting for them, which will make them want to open it. Be creative in every message you’re writing!

2. No Clear Goal

You might find yourself stuck at the very beginning of your email with no idea where to go. You can’t start writing until you know what to say, so make sure that before starting a new message, you have an intention set in mind and are clear on why it’s important for this particular audience.

You can have goals such as:

• introducing a new product/service
• rewarding loyal customers
• promoting an event
• raising brand awareness

Give your readers the clarity of purpose they deserve by setting a goal at the beginning and focusing on it.

3. Little or No Visuals

A successful email has to be more than just text. This is why it’s important that you choose the right visuals for your campaign, not only because they add context but also make them aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eyes!

Some of the best email visuals include:

• images
• infographics
• colorful design 
• interesting fonts
• brand colors

Visuals should be a reflection of your company and in some cases, may even speak for you. Visual content can hold the entire message or just small pieces that will help to tell it with images.

Visual examples are very important when marketing because they create an expectation on what is being offered before customers have read any text-based information about it.

4. Too Much Text

When your potential customer opens that email to see what it’s about, you have them right where they need to be. But the next challenge is getting them to read all of the content in your email.

One mistake people often make when sending emails with a lot of text is overwhelming their reader and causing them not only stop reading but also abandon any further contact from the sender altogether!

Instead, you need to make your email a combination of:

• short paragraphs of text
• headings and subheadings in larger fonts
• bullet points and lists
• links to click on

To make your emails more exciting and engaging, shorten them to a single paragraph with only the most important points.

5. No CTA

CTA, or the call-to-action button is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. This small but crucial detail should be an integral part to every single email you send out and can influence potential customers into taking desired actions that are aligned with your business goals.

Your email needs to have a CTA that is:

• visible and dominating the email design
• intriguing
• brief and clear
• clickable and takes the customer to a specific landing page

CTAs not only help customers take the action you’ve intended, they also add pressure to make a decision and go for it. Don’t miss your chance to seal the deal with potential customers by giving them one more step down the sales funnel!

6. Not Proofreading

The importance of proofreading your email copy can’t be stressed enough. A single typo will ruin any chance you have at being witty, effective and trustworthy. Proofreaders are not optional – they’re mandatory if you want to give the impression that you’re professional and dependable!

When proofreading your email copy, you should use a combination of tools and techniques:

• use a spell and grammar checker
• use a readability checker
• ask a friend or a colleague to check it for you

Polish your copy before you send it to avoid coming across as sloppy and unprofessional.

Final Thoughts

We’ve listed our top mistakes that can seriously damage your sales rate and turn your emails into worthless pieces of content. Study those mistakes, and avoid them by following the advice we give you below on how to make better email marketing decisions.