7 Email Copywriting Templates to Boost Your Marketing Efforts
- Willy Wood
Here’s a shocking revelation: email is now over 50 years old, having been invented in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson.
In the years following its invention, email quickly became one of the main methods of communication used by people around the world, for both personal and business uses.
Recently, a number of business “gurus” have proclaimed the coming demise of email as a major business medium (just Google “email is dead” to see for yourself).
But email is most definitely NOT dead as a marketing and sales medium. In fact, despite new communication methods coming on the market frequently, email remains the most used and most effective way for businesses to engage their audiences, nurture leads, and drive conversions.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can just throw together any old message, blast it out in an email, and have it convert. No, your emails still need to be well written. And finding the right words for your emails when you’re distracted by all the other business tasks you need to be doing can be a challenge.
That’s where good email copywriting templates come to the rescue. Having pre-designed templates handy for the most common types of emails you have to write can save you an enormous amount of time and stress.
In this article, we’ll share with you seven of the most common email copywriting templates used for marketing and other business purposes. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, these templates will help you communicate effectively, build relationships with your audience, and boost your marketing success.
7 Email Copywriting Templates for Marketing
There are many different kinds of emails that businesses have to send out regularly—far more than we could ever cover in a short blog post. So, we’ve focused on seven types of emails that are the real “workhorses” of most online businesses.
These include emails for reaching out to cold traffic, welcoming new leads to your business and nurturing them as you build a relationship, pitching your content to other audiences, and asking your raving fans to share their testimonials and case studies with others in your audience.
For each email type, we’ll provide a short explanation of its use and an example template you can modify for your own use.
Sound good? Let’s get started!
Cold Outreach Email Template
If your business is going to grow, you need to constantly be adding prospects into your funnels, and email is one great way to pull those prospects in. The basic approach is simple: introduce yourself, engage the prospect with a little information about them that shows you’ve done your research, and give them your pitch.
Here’s a basic template you can modify to fit your situation. This template is written to reach out to B2B prospects. You can modify it to fit B2C:
Follow Up Email Template
It’s quite common that your first outreach to a cold lead won’t lead to a response. People are busy and they don’t know you, so that email you sent might still be sitting in their inbox, unread.
But even if your cold prospect does open your email and respond, they often put you on hold. They might tell you they’re too busy or that they don’t currently have the budget to do what you’d like them to do. In such a case, they’ll often ask you to circle back to them in a few weeks, or next quarter, or after the holidays.
And while being put off can be annoying, it’s best to think of it as a door that’s been left open a crack. Hey, at least they didn’t say no immediately, right?
So, don’t get annoyed. Make a note to email them again on the date they’ve specified. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be ready to open that door the next time around.
Oh, it’s also a good idea to send your follow-up email as a reply to their initial response to remind the prospect about your previous conversation.
Below is a follow-up email template you can use in these situations:
Welcome Email Template
Another extremely important type of email that online business owners must send is the welcome email, which welcomes new opt-ins and customers to your business and sets the tone for your relationship with them. This type of email does several very important jobs:
- It welcomes the Prospect/Customer to your business “family.”
- It confirms that their subscription has been received.
- It delivers whatever deliverable the person signed up for (link to a lead magnet, product, etc.).
- It lets the Prospect/Customer know what to expect from future emails.
- It tells them what value they’ll receive from being on your list.
Here’s a basic template you can modify to fit your purposes:
Inbound Lead Email Template
When someone reaches out to you to show interest in your product or service, it’s crucial to nurture that lead. After all, they reached out to you, which means they’re half-way sold on you already.
Maybe they’re responding to one of your social media posts. Maybe they found your website and read one or more of your blog posts. Maybe one of your paid ads caught their attention.
Whatever the source, inbound leads are pure gold for your business—if you respond to them promptly and nurture them.
Here’s a simple template you can modify to respond to your inbound leads:
Guest Blog Post Pitch Email Template
Reaching out to other blogs or websites for guest posting opportunities can help you build your authority and expand your reach in your field. Below you’ll find a simple email template you can use to pitch your guest blog post ideas effectively. You can also modify this template to pitch an appearance on a relevant podcast.
New Testimonial Email Template
You can extoll the virtues of your products and services in your marketing messages all you want, but many people will remain skeptical. But when someone else who has actually used your product or service talks about how they benefited from it, that’s a different story entirely.
Testimonials offer powerful social proof that your product or service works, and they can strongly influence your prospect’s decision to buy, so you need to gather them from your best customers whenever possible.
Following is a simple email request template you can use to gather testimonials for your marketing:
Case Study Request Email Template
As great as testimonials are, there’s an even more powerful way to harness social proof to market your business: case studies.
A case study (sometimes called customer success stories) are simply longer, more detailed testimonials, usually written in narrative form and using first person (the customer speaking as “I”).
Case studies can be used on a separate Customer Success Stories page on your website, within long-form sales letters, and many other ways.
Here’s a simple case study participation request email you can send out to your best customers:
And there you have it—seven of the most common emails you’ll need to run your online business successfully, with ready-to-go templates you can modify to fit your needs. If you’re using a marketing automation software like Klaviyo, you can easily incorporate them to create exquisite Klaviyo email templates that appease your subscribers.
But, as we stated earlier, there are a lot of different types of emails you’ll need to send to prospects, customers/clients, partners, suppliers, etc., so these seven won’t begin to cover every possibility. So, before we let you go, we’d like to share a few basic guidelines that should serve you well in writing some of those other emails…
5 General Email Marketing Guidelines
The following guidelines are just that—guidelines. Don’t think of them as rules; think of them as basic principles. The more you can use these principles in all of your email communications, the more effective you’ll be.
An Attention-Grabbing Subject Line
Every email begins with a subject line, and in one way, those few words are the most important words in your entire email. After all, if the subject line doesn’t grab the reader’s attention and compel them to open the email, they’ll never see the rest of your communication. So, don’t just dash off any subject line; spend a little time on it.
Here are just few types of subject lines that have been proven to work extremely well:
- “To [first name]”—When you use someone’s name, it always grabs their attention. This subject line has built-in personalization, which makes it almost irresistible.
- “Quick question about [Prospect’s company name]”—This is simply the B2B version of the previous subject line. You just personalize it using the Prospect’s company name instead of first name. Both are very effective.
- The Bold Statement—The key to this type of subject line is that it reaches out and grabs the reader by the shoulders and gives them a shake. Nothing like a good shaking to get your attention, right? This could be a strong claim, an unbelievable statistic, something that goes against the norm, or anything else the reader doesn’t expect.
- The Value Proposition—If the email you’re sending is about a sale, a new product launch, or anything where you’re offering the reader a great deal, plop that value proposition right up front in the subject line. If the deal sounds too good to pass up, they’ll open your email.
The Story Hook
Most emails begin pretty “meh” with you introducing yourself or maybe some polite “small talk” before getting into the reason for the email. And that can be OK, depending on the purpose of the email.
But if you really want to reach out and grab your reader’s attention, nothing beats the story hook.
Here’s how it works: Come up with a story that relates to the pitch you’ll be making toward the end of your email. It might be directly related (as when you tell a customer success story) or indirectly related (as when you tell a personal story that you use as a metaphor for the point you’ll make about your product or service). Either way can work.
But here’s the trick. Don’t start at the beginning of the story; start in the middle, right at the climax of the action.
But don’t give away the ending. Leave the reader hanging and then go into the informational part of your email. Once you’ve introduced the main point of the email, go back and finish the story before giving your call to action.
Everyone likes a good story, and once they start reading one, they’ll stick around to see how it ends. Which means they’ll be hooked and almost forced to read your entire email.
The PAS Formula
This is a classic way to structure an email (or any marketing copy, really). It stands for:
- P—The pain point you’re addressing in the email.
- A—Agitate that pain point by describing the struggle the reader is having in vivid detail.
- S—Offer your solution to solve the pain point and how the reader will benefit from it.
It’s simple, and it’s extremely effective. Anytime you find yourself staring at a blank screen, simply whip out this formula and start filling in the blanks. You’ll be off and running in minutes.
Get Readers Saying “Yes!”
Do you sometimes struggle to get good engagement with your emails? Do you wish you’d get more replies from your email list when you ask for feedback? Would you like to know a little secret hack to make that happen?
If you’re like most business owners who write their own email copy, you most likely just replied (mentally), “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to the questions in the previous paragraph.
That’s because I used the simple trick of asking hyper-relevant questions that get the reader to mentally say “yes” as they read. The more they agree with what you’re saying, the more likely they’ll agree when it comes to your call to action.
This technique, called “trial closes” in sales, is super effective, so use it whenever you’re writing any type of transactional email.
Keep It Short and Sweet
Emails don’t have to be fancy to work. And they don’t have to be long, either. Certainly, some types of emails require laying more groundwork than others, but by and large, the rule is “use just as many words as it takes to get the point across, and not one more.”
As an exercise, try this. For the next week or two, every time you write an email, write the first draft as you normally would, not worrying about length.
Then, go back and try to cut the number of words by 25%. Does it make the email better or worse? If it makes it better, try cutting another 10% and see what happens.
Of course, there will be a point where making the email any more concise actually starts making it worse. But you may find through this exercise that cutting your initial drafts makes your writing tighter and more effective. And your reader (who’s probably as pressed for time as you) will thank you.
Email Copywriting Templates: A Game Changer for Business Owners
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, time is of the essence. As an online entrepreneur, coach, consultant, or small business owner, you wear many hats. Crafting compelling marketing emails from scratch for every campaign can be daunting and time-consuming. This is where email copywriting templates come to the rescue.
By having pre-written email templates at your fingertips, you can:
- Save Precious Time: Templates provide a structure that eliminates the need to start from scratch, allowing you to refine and personalize your message.
- Maintain Consistency: Consistency is key to building a strong brand. With templates, you ensure that your brand voice and messaging remain consistent across all your email communications.
- Increase Efficiency: Templates streamline your email marketing efforts, making it easier to nurture leads, follow up with clients, and engage with your audience effectively.
- Boost Conversions: These templates use proven copywriting techniques to make sure your emails are persuasive and resonate with your audience to drive the desired actions.
In the ever-evolving landscape of online business, having a set of email copywriting templates tailored to your needs is a godsend. It empowers you to communicate more efficiently, connect with your audience on a deeper level, and ultimately achieve better results.
As you explore and implement these seven copywriting templates, remember that they’re adaptable. Customize them to suit your business, industry, and unique selling propositions. Experiment, test, and tweak them to create the perfect communication tool.
We hope this post has provided you with valuable insights and practical tools to enhance your email marketing strategy. Here’s to your success!