Have you noticed similarities between emails that compel you to action versus all the others you send to the trash?

Some emails appear to have been written and sent on the fly without a second thought. Those probably don’t live too long in your inbox.

Then there are those emails that truly catch your interest or curiosity and, whatta ya know, you made the click and ended up on their landing page.

Good emails aren’t just thrown together. There’s actually a structure for creating the momentum that drives subscribers to open and click.

Let’s dissect and look at the anatomy of a winning email…

The From Line

Your From line is just as, if not more, important than the body copy of your email. If your subscriber doesn’t know who sent the email, or doesn’t care about them, then the chances of your email being opened take a big dive.

This is why I don’t promote using a company name - use your own name. It’s much more compelling to have “Allison Phillips, Realtor” send me an email versus “Red Brick Real Estate.”

Remember, email marketing is really about developing relationships. I can relate to Allison, I can’t relate to Red Brick Real Estate.

The Subject Line

Your subject line’s most important job is to get your email opened. Without this, your email fails.

There are a few ways to leverage your Subject to get your subscribers to make with the clicky:

Curiosity: enquiring minds want to know, right? give them a tease as to what they may find inside
Controversy: make a bold or contrarian statement
Questions: ask a questions that hints to the answers contained in the email
Big Benefit: promise a big benefit in your subject

The Salutation

Your salutation is the first thing your reader sees once they open your email. It also sets the tone and relationship for the remainder of the email.

Start out with a stuffy, business-sounding salutation and folks will continue read the rest of the email as if a business were talking to them (if they continue to read at all)… not a close, personal friend.

You want to approach your reader as if you know each other and have a personal relationship.

Avoid using “Dear {firstname}.”

For building relationships through email you need to use a salutation that’s more personal and approachable.

Some examples are:

“Say {firstname},” or “Hey {firstname},” or even just “{firstname}”

The Opening Hook

Your Subject is the bait to get your email opened, your Opening Hook is the bait to draw your reader into your message. This is the stage where your reader asks himself, “Do I want to continue to read this?”

If the answer is “no” then they’re gone. Bye-bye. But, if the answer is “yes” then they’ll stick with you throughout the entire email.

Obviously, you want to make your opening hook “interesting.”

• Make a mysterious statement
• Give your reader a hint
• Ask a question
• Make a contradiction
• Start with a story

The Body

You captured attention with your From and Subject lines. You established interest with your Opening Hook. Now it’s time to build desire in your email’s Body.

It’s time to promote benefits - what your reader has to gain by taking the NEXT action.

For example, let’s say you want your reader to visit a landing page where you’re selling the idea that they should pick up the phone and call you. On the landing page they’ll also learn some interesting statistics that would be helpful in their home buying decision.

In your email sell your reader on the benefit of knowing the statistics. Let your landing page sell them on making the call.

The Ending Hook

Your ending hook leverages all the desire or curiosity you built in your email’s body copy. It’s your closing trigger to get your reader to act and should be directly followed by a link.

At best, make it short and sweet. Even if they’ve skimmed the rest of your email, if you can make this jump out and irresistible then you can still get the click.

Here’s a few examples of ones I’ve used in the past:

“The results were… interesting, to say the least.”

“Fortunately for you, I have the key right here…”

“How could this happen?”

The Closing

Folks often miss using this key branding spot as you sign-off in your email.

You want to keep your sign-off consistent across your emails. Don’t say “Regards” one day and “Your Realtor” the next. Being consistent here creates trust and helps define your personality.

Making sure the email is kept on a personal level rather than something more formal, use a style that’s friendly and natural.

Here are some examples:

“Be awesome”

“Bringing you home”

“Keep it green”

The P.S.

Interestingly, everyone typically reads the p.s. even if they read nothing else. That being the case, what do you want here? Something tempting…

There’s a couple of things you can do in your p.s. You can allude to something previously mentioned (so those that skipped the message go back and read), provide a testimonial, another closing hook, or what I often like to do…

Prepare them for what they will see on the landing page once they click. This is how you merge the conversation between email and landing page: go to your landing page and pick out something interesting and refer to it in your p.s.

As you can tell, an effective email is more than just sitting down and typing away. Each piece of the email has a distinct purpose in drawing your reader in and getting them to act.

As in any aspect of business, success doesn’t just come willy-nilly. Crafting persuasive emails is the same way. Follow the structure outlined above, pay attention to the details, and you find more of your subscribers will click, buy and beg for you.