Addressing your target audience is one of the hardest parts of writing marketing emails. We talk a lot about email design and subject lines, but really, how you initially address your target audience in the body of your email determines whether they’ll read it. The reason this is so hard is because you have to be terse with your writing. Most people are just looking to quickly scan their emails. If they’re viewing them from their phones, then they may just want to look for one or two seconds before closing it. And in addition to not being wordy, you also have to pique your subscribers’ interest. You have to give them a reason to keep reading your email, and you only have a couple of words to do it. In a recent article in The Guardian, expert Susan Silver explains how you should address your target audience in emails. She offers a writing template that she’s had success with:

“To

[target audience] that has [unmet need], our company is the [competitive set] that has [unique point of difference] because it [evidence 1, 2 and 3].”

In just one short sentence, this message covers five important topics. It starts with the most important issues – your target market and their unmet need – and then moves onto less pressing topics. Although you may not want to use this template specifically, it provides good insight as to how to address your target market. Wait to talk about your product or service until after you single out your audience and their unmet need. We’ve seen many businesses struggle to write marketing emails that resonate with their subscribers. Oftentimes, the problem comes at the very beginning of the emails. It’s important to use terse writing to capture your target audience’s attention and give them a reason to read your email. To talk more about addressing your target audience, or anything else, please contact us. Thanks.