When you open an email, do you want to feel like you’re being lectured to by a speaker at a podium or do you want to feel like you’re talking to your best friend?
Most of us want to feel like we’re talking to our best friend. I know I do.
Unfortunately, a lot of marketing emails tend to feel more like being lectured to by a speaker. That’s because a lot of marketers think they need to write as though they’re giving a speech, instead of sitting across from someone, having a conversation.
Can you guess which option is more effective at engaging subscribers and getting them to buy?
If you guessed feeling like you’re talking to your best friend, you are correct. A conversational writing style helps your readers feel like they’re having an intimate chat with you, even though you’re the only one doing the talking.
What is Conversational Writing Anyway?
Conversational writing is just what it sounds like. Writing as though you were having a conversation with someone, such as your email subscribers.
What conversational writing (in this case) is not, is dialogue. Meaning writing out a conversation between two people.
Though I must confess, I do that occasionally too.
“That’s weird.” I hear you say. “Why would you write the other person’s side of a conversation in an email?”
Sometimes, it’s because I know what you’re thinking and it’s a simple way to express it. It’s also an easy way to draw you in and keep you reading.
Sometimes it’s just because it amuses me.
Anyway…
I’ve written several blog posts that talk about conversational writing over the years, so I’ll sum things up quickly and include links to those posts.
- Talk to your customers, not at them. Use a friendly, easy-going tone and make your writing engaging.
- Use “you” and “your” when addressing your subscribers. (See, like that.) This makes it feel like you’re talking directly to someone.
- Write as though you’re talking to your best friend instead of to your “whole audience.” That’s how you avoid the whole “being lectured to” feeling.
- Use contractions like I’m, you’re, they’re, it’s, etc.
- Write in the active voice. “Harriet threw the ball” instead of “The ball was thrown by Harriet.”
- Use storytelling in your email marketing. We’re hardwired to listen to stories, and they draw us in right away.
- Keep your sentences short and words simple.
- Make your subscribers feel welcome and at ease with your words.
Okay, now that I’ve covered the basics of conversational writing, on to the main focus of this blog post…
Why You Should Use a Conversational Writing Style in Your Emails
We’re all more inclined to buy from someone we know, like and trust. Using a conversational writing style helps build all three of those trust factors, which are necessary components to customer conversion.
Part of your goal is to educate your subscribers on why your product or service is right for them.
Think about it from their point of view, as the consumer.
When you’re looking for a solution to a problem, do you want to listen to a sales rep drone on and on about how great the company thinks their product or service is? Or would you rather talk to a trusted friend about what’s going on and ask for their advice, because you know they have experience with this problem, and they’ll help you find a solution that will work?
I know which one I prefer.
When your subscribers feel more at ease with what they’re reading in your email, they’re more likely to follow the advice in your call to action and click on that button or link. That’s what gets them to your end-goal and ultimately results in the sale you want to make.
Additional Conversational Writing Tips
Write the Way You Talk
I don’t mean adding “Ahhh… Umm… Well…” to your emails. I mean add your own personality and quirks to your emails, so your subscribers get to know who you are and what you’re like.
If you use certain phrases or colloquialisms regularly, put them in your emails. Please note, I don’t recommend offending your subscribers. Please keep it appropriate to your audience and err on the side of family friendly. That being said, I have had clients who do swear a lot and have allowed me to include swear words in their email copy.
This leads me to…
Be Genuinely You
People may find you because they’re looking for a solution to a problem and they think you have the answer. They stay because they appreciate what you offer and the help you give.
Part of that is you being you.
Be your funny, goofy, weird, geeky, fantastic self. Or, if you’re a serious wonk who loves analyzing everything, be that.
People want to know who they’re dealing with before they buy. Show them who you are in your emails, so they can feel confident they’re buying from the “right person.”
Ask Rhetorical Questions
In a normal conversation, you expect some sort of reaction from the person you’re talking to. You ask questions like, “don’t you think so?” to get that reaction.
I did this earlier in the section on why you should use conversational writing in your emails. I asked a couple of rhetorical questions, then I gave an answer. This helps your writing flow more like it would if you were talking to the person reading your email.
Go Ahead, Forget Everything Your Fifth Grade English Teacher Taught You
We all learned “proper grammar and writing style” in school and were forced to use it when we wrote assignments and papers or took writing tests.
That’s great practice if you become an academic or if you spend your life doing research and reporting.
It’s a terrible way to communicate if you’re trying to engage your reader so you can get your message across.
Writing in a conversational style makes it easier for your subscribers to read your emails. When it’s easy to read a marketing message, it’s also easier to understand the message that email delivers, which makes it easier take action.
That is your goal with every email, to get your subscribers to act.
In the End, It’s All About Connecting with Your Subscribers
The point of sending regular nurturing emails to your subscribers is to connect with them. You’re building a long-term relationship, so you can get that first sale, and another, and another. Plus, these happy customers will recommend you to their friends and family, which results in more happy customers.
Using a conversational writing style makes that connection easier for both of you.
When that connection happens, you get happy customers, and your customers get the solution they’ve been searching for.
Everybody wins.
It’s up to you to make that connection and welcome your subscribers into that conversation.
Are You Connecting with Your Subscribers in Your Emails?
You probably are if you’re using a conversational writing style. In that case, go you!
If not, it may be because you don’t know what to say.
I get it. I hear this a lot from business owners who want to write to their subscribers regularly, but honestly have no idea what to write about, and feel like they wouldn’t know what to say even if they could come up with ideas.
Fortunately for you, writing emails in a conversational writing style can be as simple as starting a conversation with someone.
But sometimes it helps to have a little help. Like a list of conversation starters.
That’s why I created the 30-Minute Email Workshop. To help you get started with that conversation in every email.
I’ve created a simple formula, based on the 7 Email Types, that you can use to write engaging nurture email after engaging nurture email without ever feeling like you don’t have any ideas to write about or you don’t know what to say.
Plus, you’ll discover how easy it is to write an email in just 30 minutes, so you can get on with the rest of your day! (It is in the title of the workshop, after all.)
In the 30-Minute Email Workshop I’ll reveal…
- The 7 Nurture Email Types and how to use them, so you’re never stuck not knowing what to say and can always write awesome emails.
- 6 simple ways to grab your subscribers’ attention with an exciting subject line.
- How to use my Features and Benefits Formula to persuade your subscribers to keep reading and take action.
- How to add a Call to Action to every email and get your subscribers to click.
- Editing techniques to make your email copy even stronger, and more engaging, so your subscribers open your emails every time.
You are just moments away from solving the “I don’t know what to write” problem that’s been holding you back from having that wonderful conversation with your subscribers. Click on the button below to get immediate access to the 30-Minute Email Workshop now.