How To Grow Your Business Through Email: 16 Irrefutable Laws

Welcome to our guide on how to grow your business through email. If you’re like most startups, you’re trying to figure out how to balance limited resources, the needs of your team and clients, and ways to effectively reach your target audience.

An email has proven itself as an effective marketing tool in the past decade (and much before that). It’s a channel that allows you to interact directly with leads and customers without competing with others for attention something increasingly difficult on social media and gives your brand a voice and personality that many people enjoy receiving.

In this post, we’ll walk you through the 16 laws of email marketing that will help you make the most of this powerful channel for growing your business. Let’s get started!

How To Write Effective Email Marketing That Encourage Action

Key Takeaways
1. Email Marketing Foundations: Understand the fundamental principles of email marketing as a powerful tool for business growth.
2. Focus on Value: Provide valuable content to your email subscribers, addressing their needs and interests to build engagement.
3. Personalization Matters: Tailor your email messages to individual recipients, increasing the relevance and impact of your communications.
4. Consistency is Key: Maintain a consistent email schedule to keep your audience engaged and ensure your brand remains top-of-mind.
5. Test and Optimize: Continuously test different email elements such as subject lines and CTAs to refine your strategies for better results.

Table of Contents

Law #1: First Impressions Matter

While it’s one of the oldest adages in the books, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” holds especially true for emails. If your first few sentences are boring, uninspired, or worse offensive your recipient will hit delete or unsubscribe before even reading the rest of your message.

This means that you should avoid starting your emails with boring, generic formal salutations like “Dear Sir or Madam” and “To whom it may concern.” Even though these phrases are technically correct and respectful, they don’t engage with your reader on an emotional level.

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Law #2: Quality Over Quantity

If you’re just getting started with email marketing, it can be tempting to send a mass of emails to every person on your list. After all, the more people you reach, the greater your potential impact seems.

However, that quantity-over-quality approach is an easy way to create low engagement and a high number of unsubscribes. It might make sense in theory, but if you keep sending emails out to people who aren’t interested in your content or click on them at all, there’s not much point in sending them in the first place.

The quality of your email list is much more important than its size so don’t worry about checking off a list of subscribers from any possible source (like purchased lists or even Cold Emailing) at the expense of being filtered as spam. Instead, focus on creating content that will hold someone’s attention long enough for them to click through it and become a customer or advocate for your brand.

Law #3: Keep The Right Balance

You need a balance of both content and selling in your emails. There are no hard and fast rules. The best way to find what works for you is to experiment by sending different types of emails and measuring them against each other.

If you don’t know where to start, send more content than sales. This will help you build a relationship with your contacts before asking them to buy something. It might sound counterintuitive, but people are more inclined to buy from people they like and trust.

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Law #4: Don’t Ask Too Much

When it comes to asking subscribers for information, most businesses are guilty of one of two things: either they don’t ask for enough information to build a relationship with the customer, or they ask for too much. Asking too much will turn people off and send them running in the opposite direction. You want your emails to be a valuable resource that helps people solve problems, not another chore on their to-do list.

Here’s an example to illustrate this point: you’re planning a birthday party and need to invite your closest friends. It would be silly if you asked your friends for their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts, birthdays (each of which is associated with a different platform), best recipes… Do you see how annoying that would be? Your friends might start thinking twice about attending your party because of all the work involved.

The problem here isn’t that you’re asking too many questions; it’s that you’re asking them at the same time and making it feel like work. To improve this situation, break up the questions into smaller chunks over time as part of completing transactions instead of asking for everything at once with no context.

Law #5: Connect With Your Audience

We’ve all heard the saying, “People don’t buy from people they like, they buy from those they know, like, and trust.” That’s why connecting with your audience through your email copy is so important.

What does this mean?

Be genuine. We live in an era where everyone seems to be a tough guy or gal on social media. People are looking for authenticity in every aspect of their lives. If you’re able to provide that through your email campaigns and landing page messages, you’ll be seen as an authority figure in no time at all!

Use a genuine, authentic voice. It’s important to find your voice when writing emails because it helps people connect with you. The more they feel connected to the author (you), the more likely they’ll be willing to buy whatever it is you’re selling even if it’s just a product on paper! So don’t just write about what’s happening with your company; instead, take some time each day to share stories from customers who have successfully used one of their products or services!

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – embrace them as part of life! The best way for anyone reading this article (or any other content) online today will probably never see an actual person typing out these words unless he or she happens upon my blog post about how much fun I had writing them 🙂 A great way to do that is by using first-person pronouns like “I,” “us” or even “our” when talking directly to readers rather than third-person constructions (“he,” “she”).

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Law #6: Focus On What You Know

Focus on what you know. Even if you’re a digital marketing agency trying to sell services to other agencies, find a particular niche or area of expertise, then build yourself into an authority in that field. This is the only way to stand out and get found. For example, instead of saying “we offer all types of marketing services,” say “we specialize in Facebook Ads for small businesses.”

If you try too hard to be something you’re not, people will see through it and ignore your message. Be real and honest about what you do best, and write from that place of expertise not just for the benefit of your reader but also for yourself and your business.

Law #7: Stay True To Who You Are

Staying true to who you are is a common theme in psychology, dating advice, entrepreneurship, and now email marketing. And for good reason: it’s hard to fake who you are over time (and pretty easy for your readers to see through it).

It’s important to be authentic, be yourself, be genuine, be transparent, be honest, and just generally be human. If you’re trying to pretend that you’re something or someone else, eventually your customers will catch on. Not only that but if they do catch on, they may feel misled by your brand which is never a great feeling for the customer!

Rather than pretending to be something or someone else, we suggest being open and approachable with your audience. Be accessible and honest in your emails. In short: don’t try so hard!

Law #8: Show Your Personality, But Avoid Sarcasm, Irony, And Negativity Whenever Possible

Try to be entertaining in your emails. You want to build a relationship with your audience, so you must show them who you are through your writing. Your personality should shine through just make sure it doesn’t come across as sarcasm or negativity. Humor is good; sarcasm is bad.

That said, stay away from irony and hyperbole: they can easily be misinterpreted as sarcasm or negativity when put into written words. If you’re going for humor, humor works best when it’s straightforward.

Law #9: Include A Call To Action

Businesses send emails to their customers for a variety of reasons, but at the end of the day, what they want is for those messages to get opened and read. Even if you’ve got a call to action in your email, it won’t do much good if no one sees it. The Ninth Law of Email Marketing is simple: Every email should include a call to action.

The real question is: what’s the best way to go about doing that?

To answer that, let’s start by defining our terms. What exactly is a “call to action”? One definition could be “any content in an email intended to provoke an immediate response.” That works but it doesn’t quite capture everything which goes into crafting an effective CTA.

Ultimately, CTAs are all about encouraging subscribers’ engagement with your brand and driving sales something that requires more than just throwing some words into an email and hoping they’ll make sense when combined with other images and text present in the message.

However, even though creating great CTAs can be challenging (and the devil really can be in the details), there are some basic principles you can apply which will help ensure you’re getting as much out of them as possible.

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Law #10: Keep It Short And Simple

Use short sentences. Shorter is better when it comes to email copywriting. If a sentence is too long, the reader may lose interest or get confused.

Use short paragraphs. Break up your content into digestible sections.

Use bullet points or numbered lists. This makes content easier to scan and faster to read.

Include images wherever possible while keeping in mind file size as it relates to load time on different devices (i.e., mobile).

Utilize headers, subheaders, and other visual elements that break up your copy into manageable chunks of information for readers who are just scanning your emails for the key points they need to know before moving on with their busy day.

Law #11: Be Specific About What You Offer And How You Can Help Your Readers

When you write your emails, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Be specific. Don’t try to be all things to all people. The more specific you can be about what you do and how you help others, the easier it will be for new readers to understand what they can expect from your emails. Many email marketers make this mistake and try to cover too much content in their emails or cover topics that are too broad. Make sure you focus on one topic per email and stay on track with that topic.

Be clear about what you do and don’t do. It helps clarify your purpose when writing an email so that everything you write is focused around educating or entertaining your readers about the topics they signed up for in the first place.

Law #12: Avoid Empty Promises Or Over-The-Top Statements.

To keep your readers happy and eager to read more, you need to be honest with them. Don’t make empty promises or over-the-top statements that you can’t deliver on. For instance, if you claim that a product or service will “completely change their lives” but it doesn’t live up to their expectations, your subscribers are likely to give up on you altogether.

The same goes for the offers you promise in your email newsletters. If you’re offering a free guide, make sure it’s easy for people to download it. If it’s an online course, don’t make them jump through hoops just to get access to the content they purchased from you.

Law #13 Show That You Care By Providing Value

While your emails should not be lengthy, they should give your readers something that makes it worth their time. Providing something of value to your readers is one of the best ways to do so. You can do this in several ways:

Try to be useful and helpful, not just interesting. Sure, you might have a funny story about how you screwed up with order fulfillment or an amusing anecdote that’s been passed down through generations about how your family got started in business, but if there’s no value for your reader whatsoever, then what’s the point? Always write with them in mind and always try to provide something that will help them in some way.

Offer something for free. While we’re on the subject of providing value, why not offer a tip sheet or report that readers can download? This not only gives them something they can take action on but also shows them you care (and hopefully gets them coming back for more).

Continue offering new information and suggestions consistently over time. Information becomes less valuable as time goes by because the things we find useful change as the needs of our audience evolve and mutates; it follows that those who want to stay top-of-mind will need to keep offering new material at regular intervals.

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Law #14 Write Like A Human Being

Write like a human being, not like a press release or marketing brochure or email sales letter or whatever else someone might have taught you that is wrong!

The first time a subscriber opens an email from you, they may have no idea what to expect. They’ll be looking for clues. Does this person sound like someone I should trust? Do they sound like a real person? Is their writing style similar to mine?

For your emails to be successful, the answer to all three questions should be YES. And that’s why you need to write like a human being not like a press release or marketing brochure or email sales letter or whatever else someone might have taught you that is wrong!

When you write like a human being, more people will relate to you and want to buy from you. You’ll also establish yourself as an expert because it shows confidence in what you’re selling.

There are many ways to write “like a human being,” but here are some of my favorites:

Use everyday language: It’s okay if your subscribers don’t understand everything about the technical aspects of your product or service; just explain things clearly and in terms that anyone can understand just as if you were talking with them face-to-face (and not trying to impress them with big words).

Use contractions: The difference between “can’t” and “cannot” isn’t huge, but it is noticeable at least consciously. Contractions read as more conversational than formalities do.

Write short sentences: It’s not only easier for others to read; it’s also easier for YOU to write! Plus, shorter sentences are more powerful because they quickly communicate what needs communicating without leaving anything out. So when in doubt, use the shortest sentence possible even if according to grammarians everywhere it looks incorrect!

Law#15 Always Be Honest And Transparent In Your Emails To Build Trust With

Email is a great way to provide added value, connect with your readers and promote yourself. But, it can also be easy for people to get caught up in the marketing hype and feel like they’re being sold something all the time. This is especially true when you’re promoting yourself or your business.

If you’ve done any networking events or conferences, you know that people are always handing out business cards left and right (or exchanging contact information on their phones). While this isn’t a bad thing, most of these contacts are often never followed upon. And if they are, it’s usually just by sending a generic email blast about their services without personalizing anything for that specific person.

This isn’t the case with all people or businesses but it’s common enough that people expect this type of behavior when they hear from someone new online or offline who wants to sell them something. So how do you counter this? By being open and honest with your subscribers!

Law#16 Make It Easy For People To Unsubscribe From Your Mailing List

Make it easy for people to unsubscribe from your mailing list if they want to do so (or set up different kinds of lists for different purposes). (But don’t go overboard either.). It’s much better to have a smaller list of engaged readers than a big list of unengaged readers. Allowing people who are unhappy with your emails to easily opt-out is a good way to keep those who remain more enthusiastic about what you’re offering.

Allowing people the option of opting in or out of certain types of emails is also appreciated, especially when you’re sending multiple kids per week. Let users decide how much frequency they want, and give them an out if they change their minds later on. Your stats will show you how many don’t want whatever kind(s) you’re sending, so don’t worry about keeping everyone happy you can’t!

Final Thoughts

So there you have it: 18 laws to guide your email marketing. They might not be the Ten Commandments, but when it comes to email marketing, they’ll do. What makes these principles so powerful is that they’re proven to work over and over again, bringing in demonstrable results for those who put them into action.

The best part? Now that you know what works and what doesn’t, putting these laws into effect won’t require years of trial and error or complicated guesswork on your part just some hard work and determination to improve your email marketing techniques! If you can devote yourself to them, I guarantee that your customers will see the difference (and so will your bank account).