The anatomy of effective emails
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from PexelsEmails are powerful tools.
For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42.
But that $42 only comes with email content that gets clicked.
The anatomy of a good email is more complicated than you’d think. There are various elements visible at different points in time that all need to work together to tell a compelling story someone wants to act on.
I broke down the different elements of an email with my best advice on how to write each component, optimized for conversion.
Subject lines
Subject lines are a big deal — they make or break whether an email gets opened or is marked as spam.
That’s because 47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line, and 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line.
There’s a science to writing email subject lines, though.
To write email subject lines that get opened, implement the following:
Keep it short: Subject lines with 6-10 words get the most opens.
Make it personal: Personalized email subject lines increase open rates by 50%.
Avoid spam giveaways: Remove words like ‘free’, coupon', 'urgent', '100%', don’t use numbers as the first characters, don’t capitalize entire words, and use exclamation marks sparingly.
Use emojis, but sparingly: Studies have found that 78% of people agree that using emojis makes you seem more likable. Don’t use more than 2 emojis per subject line.
Lead with an action: Using action words, like ‘become’, ‘take’, ‘discover’, or ‘earn’, inspire desire and make it clear how the email recipient should feel.
Create urgency: If your message is time-sensitive, put it in the subject line. Only do this if an offer is expiring in 24 hours, for example. Don’t pull tricks.
For example, when I consulted for Chime, I worked to create a follow-up email someone would receive to finish setting up their direct deposit. The email is triggered when someone requests their direct deposit form in the app.
Take a look at the subject line for that email:
It’s clear, informational, and actionable. It’s important to stay aware of the time and place to have fun and use emojis. When working with a transactional action, it’s time to cut the fluff and guide someone clearly and quickly.
Preheaders
Don’t just stop at the subject line — preheader text connects the dots to add more context around the value inside the email.
Great preheaders:
Are between 30 and 55 characters long
Don’t repeat the subject line
Build on the subject line to tell a story
Don’t summarize the subject line
Have a call to action
Continuing with the Chime example, the email’s preheader builds on the subject line to share the desired action the email is centered around (download) and the end result (set up direct deposit).
Above the fold
So, you’ve led someone to believe your email is valuable and relevant with your subject line and preheader text — now you have a few seconds to convince them they were right.
The critical content of an email comes above the fold, or everything you can see in an email without having to scroll down.
The content you use above the fold determines:
If someone thinks your email is *actually* valuable and relevant
If someone is convinced to click and take action
If someone is curious to scroll and keep learning more
You need to address all of those points with three key elements:
Headline
Subheadline
Call-to-action
Here’s how to tackle each element:
Headline
Great email headlines hit the following notes:
They’re short, not spanning more than two lines (one line preferably)
They convey the purpose of the email and why someone should care
They can be read alone with the call-to-action and give someone a clear sense of what to do
You also want to make sure your headlines aren’t all brand and no substance — it’s good to have fun and be playful, but the best converting email headlines will also be clear and informational.
Subheadline
This is your chance to give more information and what exactly you’re offering in an email.
You can use the subheadline to:
Explain the action one should take in relation to the promise in the headline
Give context on the key offering and value proposition
Tell a story
Effective subheadlines:
Are short (one or two lines)
In some cases, utilize bullet points to break up the copy
Use brief, compelling, and strong language
Take advantage of statistics and other information that shows credibility concisely
Don’t leave someone guessing what they email is about
Call-to-action
The call-to-action, or button, is the most important component above the fold of your email, together with the headline. Most people will only read the headline and the call-to-action and make their decision to stay or go.
You should only have one primary call-to-action in your email, above the fold, and elsewhere. Having a singular focus makes it easy for someone to understand the action they need to take.
Effective calls-to-action above the fold are:
Visually distinctive
Action-oriented, starting with strong verbs like ‘download’, ‘register’, ‘shop’, ‘join’, etc.
Concise — calls-to-action should be fragments, not sentences
Include urgent words, like ‘now’ and ‘today’, when appropriate
Tell a compelling story together with the headline
Don’t use negative language to guilt someone into taking action
In the same Chime example, you can see how an effective headline, subheadline, and call-to-action work together:
The headline and subheadline are short, concise, and share the purpose of the email and how to interact with it. You can read the headline and call-to-action (button) and know exactly what to do.
Below the fold
It’s likely your email recipient won’t be completely convinced with the content above the fold, so you need to offer them more below the fold.
Below the fold isn’t a place to repeat what you said above the fold — it’s an opportunity to build on it to convince someone with additional value the desired action is right for them.
Because of that, your content below the fold should:
Continue the story in a logical and compelling way
Share new and important value propositions
Continue to be concise, informational, and utilize bullet points when appropriate
Continue to make it clear what the primary action of the email is
There’s no set way an email has to look below the fold, but it could take advantage of:
Subheadlines
Body copy
Calls-to-action
Continuing with the Chime example, the content below the fold builds on what’s above the fold to give someone more context and information on how to act.
Feel free to check out the the full Chime email in the Chime case study.
Writing effective emails is both an art and a science. The first step is to understand the different components of an email and build a mental model of effective email anatomy.
