Email Microcopy: The Tiny Words That Make A Big Impact
Do you feel you spend too much time worrying about writing emails than you do about the little pieces of text that accompany your emails?
Those little pieces of text are known as “microcopy.” They include the text you use on call to action buttons, preheader text and your unsubscribe message.
In this post, we share tips on how to optimize this copy so that it has a bigger impact on your marketing strategy.
What is email microcopy?
“Microcopy” is a term that refers to small bits of text that accompany your marketing messages, such as the call to action (CTA) you use on a landing page.
In email, this definition expands to include every bit of text that is not the main body of your email copy.
While most of your readers will focus on the main portion of your email, the tiny areas of text that make up the rest of your emails are what can truly have an impact on the way your readers interact with your emails and how they perceive your brand.
Why is microcopy worth optimizing?
If emails are an important part of your marketing strategy, you need to optimize their design in every way you can.
Optimizing microcopy in emails improves the user experience (UX) of your emails. By using concise copy in strategic places, you reduce the decision fatigue your readers experience and help guide them to buttons that contain the information they’re looking for.
Compelling microcopy also increases engagement when you apply it to preheader text and the button text you use for CTAs.
Microcopy elements to optimize
- Subject line – The bold text your reader sees in their inbox that acts as a headline for the email before they open it
- Preheader – The preview text your reader sees before they open the email
- Opening – The greeting you use in your emails
- Call to action – The element you want your reader to interact with
- Sign-off phrase – The farewell you use to close your emails
- Confirmation – The text you use to confirm specific actions readers take with your email list
- Unsubscribe message – The text you use in your footer that lets readers know they can unsubscribe
- Footer – The element at the bottom of your email that contains additional CTAs and information about your company
Subject line
The subject line is one of the most important elements of a marketing email. This is because it’s the first element your reader will see when they open their inbox.
Here are ways you can optimize your subject line:
- Use the analytics in your email marketing app to monitor your open rates.
- Use power words, and style them in all caps.
- Add CTAs at the beginning of subject lines, and include brackets around them to emphasize them, such as [Invite].
- Trigger an emotion in your reader by playing on the FOMO (fear of missing out) phenomenon in your subject line.
- Example: Time’s running out! We only have 50 t-shirt’s left
- Add emojis to draw your reader’s attention to your email.
- Keep your subject lines short and concise, preferably less than 70 characters.
- Make sure your subject copy accurately portrays the copy in your email. Avoid using clickbait.
Preheader
Preheader text is the text to the right of the subject line, or underneath it if you’re viewing the email in your notifications on your phone.
Normally, preheader text acts as a preview for your email, only containing your very first sentence followed by an ellipsis.
However, most email marketing apps allow you to edit your preheader text so that it acts as a secondary subject line.
Think of it like this: if your subject line is the title of your email, your preheader text is the summary.
Preheader text should be different from the text you use in your subject line. Not only is it a waste of design space to have the same exact text side by side, you lose out on an opportunity to pull your reader in after you’ve grabbed their attention with your subject line if your preheader text is identical to your subject line.
Try to keep your preheader text under 100 characters.
Here are real-world examples of subject lines and their accompanying preheader text from my own inbox:
- Semrush
- Subject Line: Is SEO dead?
- Preheader Text: Nah, it’s just getting more complicated.
- Credit Karma
- Subject Line: Want the royal tax treatment this year, Lyn?
- Preheader Text: Get the most out of tax season by filing on Credit Karma, powered by TurboTax.
- PetSmart
- Subject Line: Tell us more & we’ll fetch you the right deals
- Preheader Text: A quick profile update = your chance to unlock deals your pet will love
- Sprout Social
- Subject Line: The truth about influencers & brand growth
- Preheader Text: See for yourself
Opening
Your email opener is the first sentence you use in your email body or the greeting you use to welcome your subscriber to your email.
Your email marketing software should have a way to insert your subscriber’s name in your email, so feel free to keep things simple yet personable by starting your email off with “Hi [subscriber name],”.
Alternatively, begin your email with a question, and then greet your subscriber:
Are you struggling to land a trick no matter how hard you try?
Hi [subscriber name],”Consider naming your audience so you can use your audience name instead:
“How’s it going, Rocket Nation!
Do you struggle to keep your work and personal life separate and well organized?”
No matter what kind of greeting you choose, make sure it’s short, concise and personable.
Button text (call to action)
Insert the button that contains your CTA at the end of your email, right after your closing phrase.
Use very short and concise copy here. The text you use should be actionable, and it should accurately describe the action you want your reader to take.
Here are examples of CTA phrases you can use in emails:
- Read now
- Learn more
- Enroll now
- Sign up now
- Buy now
- Unlock
- Watch now
- Download
- See pricing
- Shop now
Here’s a bonus tip: make your button the same color as the rest of the styles on your site. This allows you to use an integrated design your readers can experience wherever they consume content from you.
Sign-off phrases
Optimize your closing phrase as well. Steer clear of generic sign-off phrases, like “sincerely” and “in conclusion.”
The copy you use for your closing phrase should introduce your CTA.
Example:
- Sign-off Phrase: Our membership program contains 12 courses and one-on-one coaching. Hope to see you there!
- Call to Action: Enroll now
Confirmation text
This microcopy element is dependent on your email marketing app.
It depends on whether or not your app allows you to implement double opt-in emails, a technique that requires your audience to confirm their subscription. This ensures your inbox is filled with high-quality leads who jumped through barriers to get on your email list.
Use your marketing app’s native features to edit your confirmation text, and make sure your email sequences and campaigns use text that confirms whether or not your reader has fully signed up to your email list.
Also, include a short CTA of what you want your audience to do next. Do you want them to shop? Read a specific article? Check something out?
Make sure this is depicted at the bottom of your confirmation text email.
Unsubscribe message
While it’s unfortunate when a subscriber leaves, you should not make them jump through hoops in order to leave your email list.
In fact, it’s illegal. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the CAN-SPAM Act states that recipients must have an easy way to opt-out of receiving your emails.
You shouldn’t have too much trouble with this since your email marketing app should insert an Unsubscribe button in your footer automatically.
Include a button that allows your subscriber to edit their email preferences as well if your email marketing app allows it. This will allow them to choose what type of emails to receive from you instead of outright unsubscribing.
Footer
If your email marketing app allows you to create email styles, add a fully-styled footer that contains additional CTAs.
Most companies use this section to insert links to their social media accounts, which is pretty smart.
Instagram, on the other hand, is a little more creative with their footer.
They use their footer to insert an image/icon-based button that lets you know how many notifications you have on the app.
How to measure the impact of microcopy
There are a few different ways you can measure the impact the changes you make to your microcopy are having.
Refer to the analytics section of your email marketing software for this.
Use open rates to measure the effectiveness of your subject lines and preheader text.
Use click-through rates to measure the effectiveness of your CTAs.
And you could use A/B testing to help you further optimize these parts of your emails. This is easy with MailerLite, for example.
All other forms of microcopy are difficult to measure the effectiveness of, but you can try by measuring your click-through rates and unsubscribe rates before and after you optimize the text.