One of the biggest fears my clients face when writing emails to their list is the fear of saying the wrong thing.

“What if I upset someone and they unsubscribe?”

And I get it.

I truly do.

The good news is, when you understand why people subscribe to your email newsletter, the fear goes away, and writing emails becomes easy.

Why People Subscribe to Your Email List

(And no, it’s not because of your startling good looks — although, in your case I’m sure it helps)

The DISQUS blog conducted a 1,000 person survey.

And they found 72% (or 720 people of the 1,000 surveyed) subscribe to email lists for just two reasons:

1.     To learn more about what you do and …

2.     To stay up to date on the latest about a topic that interests them.

That’s it!

Shock Alert: They actually want to hear from you!

I could probably end the article right here and send you off to write emails based on those two discoveries.

But I won’t do that.

Instead, let me suggest three emails you can safely write that are perfectly instep with your subscribers’ reasons for being on your list. And then I’ll give you three email templates you can use immediately (and possibly make sales within the hour).

EMAIL ONE: Announce a sale (because a sale keeps subscribers updated on what you offer)

EMAIL TWO: Announce industry news (because industry news gives your subscribers information on a topic that interests them) and …

EMAIL THREE: Announce ‘insider or ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories about your business, products or services (because this type of information keeps subscribers updated on what you’re doing)

“But How do I Write the Actual Email?”

Okay, Okay. Hold your horses. I’m getting there.

The ‘HOW’ varies, depending on your market, positioning, products and services.

But …

For now …

Here are 3 simple email templates you can use to write your next broadcast email.

SIDE NOTE: If you don’t normally send emails with a direct pitch — or feel uncomfortable about sending a direct solicitation for business — write a content based email and use one of the templates below as an ‘insertion’ in your regular email. Use it to start your email, like writing a special letter from the editor then follow on with your usual content … or …. put one of the following email templates after your main message with its own headline.  Or place it right in the middle of your message with a border or shaded background around it (like I’m doing here) to make it stand out from your other content.

You can send any (or all) of these emails to your list without offending anyone – just make sure you adapt them to your business before pressing send:

1. Announce a sale.

Like this:

“Hi, I’m running a sale on my ABC product this week until Friday.

Thought you might be interested because you bought (similar product) and a lot of my customers buy them together.

The reason they buy them together is, the X in product A matches perfectly with the Y in product B.

It’s normally $127.

But because you’re a subscriber to my email list you get 40% off – so it’s only 76 bucks when you grab yours before the deadline.

More information here:

[Link to website]”

2. Announce industry news.

Like this:

“Hi, have you seen the news reports about XYZ?

Seems there’s a nationwide crackdown on (some topic or other).

Not sure how this is going to affect our business yet. We may have to stop producing our ABC widget. But I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, you can still order a month supply at the following link:

[Link to product page on website]”

3. Announce insider or behind the scenes news about your business.

Like this:

“Hi, last week my partner and I attended an industry awards nights for (awards category).

Frankly, we only went because a good friend invited us, and we thought it’d be a fun night out with free champagne and hors d’oeuvres.

We had no idea WE were going to win a prestigious industry award.

But we did.

It was totally unexpected.

And we’re overwhelmed with gratitude.

The award has thrown a spotlight on our business. And we’re already seeing opportunities for grants and access to people who can open new doors for us.

Anyway, to celebrate (and because you’re a valuable supporter of our business and we wouldn’t be here without you) we’re offering store wide discounts on everything in stock from today until the end of the week.

Check the details and grab a bargain here:

[Link to website with bargains]”

Pretty simple, right?

And non-offensive.

You can adapt these email templates to any type of business or profession.

You can send them without fear or risk of upsetting anyone on your email list.

And, they follow our two new email rules of sending emails that 1) keep people up to date on what you do and 2) help them learn more about a topic (your industry or product or service category) that interests them.

Want Me to Customise One of These Emails For Your Business?

If you want help customising one of these emails for your business, I offer a one-time service where you get your next marketing email written by me, at no cost to you. (It’s a great time-saving service if you’re trying to write an email right now but don’t know what to write.)

Click here and let me write your next email free of charge

You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

PLUS — stay up to date on the latest news and ideas shaping email marketing by subscribing here: