Most business emails fail at the subject line and the rest is never seen. The ones that get past it usually fail by trying to say five things at once.
This guide covers writing one email that does one job. It applies whether you send monthly to five hundred people or occasionally to fifty.
- 1
Decide the one thing before you write
One email, one purpose, one action. Book a call, read the guide, claim the offer. Emails carrying three messages get none of them acted on, because a reader deciding between options usually decides to do nothing.
- 2
Get the sender name right
People open emails from people. "Richard at EDP" outperforms "EDP Marketing" consistently, and both outperform a no-reply address. The sender name is read before the subject line and does more work than most of the email.
- 3
Write the subject line last, and write six
You cannot write the subject until you know what the email says. Write six and pick the best. Aim for specific and slightly incomplete — enough to convey value, not so much that opening is unnecessary. Avoid anything that reads as clickbait; it costs trust once and permanently.
- 4
Use the preview text deliberately
The line of text shown after the subject in most inboxes is a second headline, and it defaults to whatever your first line happens to be — often "View this email in your browser". Most email platforms let you set it. Use it to extend the subject, not repeat it.
- 5
Open with the point, not a greeting
Skip "I hope this email finds you well". Lead with the reason for writing. On a phone, the first line is roughly all you get before someone decides. Everything before the point is spent attention.
- 6
Keep it short and make it scannable
Under two hundred words for most marketing emails. Short paragraphs, one idea each. If it needs more, that is what the linked page is for — the email’s job is to earn the click, not to contain everything.
- 7
One call to action, repeated
One action, stated once in the middle and once at the end. Two different actions halve the response to both. Make the link text describe what happens — "See the pricing guide" rather than "Click here".
On testing
If your list is large enough, test subject lines against each other. Below a few hundred subscribers the results are not statistically meaningful, so spend the effort on the offer and the timing instead.
Timing
Mid-morning midweek is the conventional advice and a reasonable default. It matters far less than relevance — a genuinely useful email gets opened on a Sunday night.
Frequently asked questions
Monthly suits most small businesses. Frequently enough to be remembered, rarely enough to stay welcome. Consistency matters more than the exact interval.
Would rather we did it?
These guides are here so you can do it yourself. If you would rather hand it over, that is what we do.
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