Sharpen your copywriting skills

Sharpen your copywriting skills

CharityComms Enhance your email marketing workshop

23 May 2013

What we’ll cover

1. How to get people to sign up to your mailing list

2. How to get people to open your emails

3. How to get people to click through to your website

…with great copywriting

The golden questions

• Who is your audience?

• What do you want them to do when they’ve read your email? What action to you want them to take? What is the purpose of sending this email?

The ‘secret’ of email success…

Make your emails useful to your audience

1. How to get people to sign up to your mailing list

Tell people the benefits of signing up. What’s in it for

them?

2. How to get people to open your emails

Scary statistic 1…

On average, only 23.25% of charity emails are opened Source: Email Benchmarking Report 2012, Sign Up

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

1. Keep it below 50 characters

28-39 characters = highest click rate in a study of 200 million

emails. Source: Mailchimp

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

2. But don’t abbreviate

Bad: Res conf, 5Mar11: 20 tkts left. Save ££ & see Gov’t spkrs.

Good: Just 20 tickets left for our research conference

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

3. Don’t use unnecessary punctuation, or capital letters.

Bad: Housing Chief Will ‘Justify Sector Cuts’ at Conference

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

4. Keep to one message, keep it descriptive and simple

Bad: Discounted entry to our events, tips for coping with chemo, prizes

Good: Tips for coping with chemo

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

5. Start where the action is

Bad: Greentree Foundation Newsletter March Edition

Good: Bring the kids to Greentree park fun day on Saturday

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

6. Use the right words

• ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘my’

• Your guide to saving money

• How the Foundation saved my life

• Numbers

• 10 things you didn't know about our planet

• ‘How to’ and ‘top tips’

• How to save energy in your home

• 10 top tips for marathon fundraising

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

7. Ask a question

• Are you drinking too much?

• Do you care for a loved one?

• Are you job hunting?

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

8. Put the most important words first

Bad: New report shows there are over 2 million people affected by floods in Pakistan

Good: 2 million people hit by Pakistan floods

Bad: We need people to support us by running the London marathon

Good: Run the marathon, support disabled children

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

9. Be urgent

For example:

Only 5 conference places left – book today

Petition to save badgers closes at 5pm

Writing killer subject lines: top tips

10. Be timely

For example: Show your support for gay marriage: Email your MP now

Avoid spam No magic list of phrases to avoid!

• Talks about lots of money (.193 points)

• Describes some sort of breakthrough (.232 points)

• Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)

• Contains urgent matter (.288 points)

• Money back guarantee (2.051 points)

• Why Pay More? (1.249 points)

Personalisation

Positive or negative?

For example: Jennifer, our 10 top tips on fundraising are waiting

The jury’s out…

The ‘from’ line

• Should say exactly who you are as the sender

• Should stay the same

3. How to get people to click through

Scary statistic 2…

On average, only 3.32% of people click through from charity emails

Source: Email Benchmarking Report 2012, Sign Up

1. Make content useful, focus on the reader’s needs

2. Have good headlines, subheads and pull quotes and stats

3. Sentences shouldn’t be more than 30 words. Paragraphs shouldn’t be more than 3-4 lines

4. Repeat your call to action

Label your images well