{"id":18778,"date":"2024-04-29T01:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T01:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newblog.siteground.com\/en\/?p=18778"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:01:25","slug":"how-to-write-marketing-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/how-to-write-marketing-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"How to write a marketing email: the structure that gets it opened, read, and clicked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/what-is-email-marketing-how-to-get-started\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"18714\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marketing email<\/a> succeeds or fails on three decisions: the subject line, the opening line, and the call to action. Get any one of those wrong and the other two rarely save it. Here&#8217;s the structure that gets all three right, plus the mistakes that quietly sink otherwise good emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-page__colored-blocks post-page__colored-blocks--update\"><h3 class=\"title title--regular title--size-medium title--weight-bold color-darkest\">Key takeaways:<\/h3><ul class=\"text text--size-medium color-darkest\" style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li>A subject line only has to do one job: earn the open. Save the persuading for the body.<\/li><li>The first line of the body has to work whether or not anyone read the subject line closely, since preview panes show it before the email is even opened.<\/li><li>One CTA outperforms two. A second link doesn&#8217;t add a second chance, it splits the reader&#8217;s attention and cuts the click rate on both.<\/li><li>A\/B testing your own subject lines beats following anyone&#8217;s universal best practice, because your list&#8217;s behavior is the only data that actually applies to your list.<\/li><li>Open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate each measure a different part of the email. A weak number in one doesn&#8217;t mean the whole email failed, it tells you which part to fix.<\/li><li>Bounce rate and spam complaints aren&#8217;t performance metrics, but ignoring them will eventually tank every metric that is.<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-actually-makes-an-email-a-marketing-email\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-actually-makes-an-email-a-%e2%80%9cmarketing%e2%80%9d-email\"><\/span>What actually makes an email a &#8220;marketing&#8221; email<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A marketing email is <strong>any message sent with a commercial goal behind it<\/strong>: driving a sale, pulling traffic to new content, keeping a customer engaged, or announcing something new. The label isn&#8217;t about tone or format, a plain-text note and a fully designed newsletter can both qualify, it&#8217;s about intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What separates a good one from a forgettable one isn&#8217;t the design budget behind it. It&#8217;s whether the email hits a specific, measurable goal: an open, a click, a reply, a purchase. An email that reads beautifully but doesn&#8217;t move the reader toward that goal hasn&#8217;t done its job, no matter how polished the layout looks. That&#8217;s the standard every section below is built around, starting with the four parts every marketing email needs to have in place before you touch tone or design. Learn more about how email marketing works as a channel before optimizing individual sends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-four-parts-every-marketing-email-needs\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"the-four-parts-every-marketing-email-needs\"><\/span>The four parts every marketing email needs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every marketing email, regardless of topic or industry, is built from four working parts. Skip one and the email underperforms even if the other three are excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1601\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/inline_marketing_email_01.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram of a marketing email labeling the subject line, email body, visual elements, and call to action button\" class=\"wp-image-18807\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let\u2019s dive into each one and explore strategies that will encourage your recipients to open, read, and interact with your marketing emails, ultimately driving conversions and customer engagement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-subject-line\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subject line<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first thing your readers see when your email lands is the <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-subject-lines\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"21295\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subject line<\/a>, and it&#8217;s often the deciding factor between an email that gets opened and one that gets scrolled past. A half-hearted line can undo hours of work on a genuinely good email underneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aim for a subject line that teases what&#8217;s inside rather than trying to say everything at once. A verb and a concrete payoff, &#8220;Get 20% off your next order,&#8221; tends to work better than a vague tease, and keeping it under about 40 characters means the point lands before it gets cut off on a phone lock screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-email-body-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Email body&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-body\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"25695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email body<\/a> is where the actual substance lives, the offer, the update, the story you&#8217;re telling. A well-crafted one states its point early and keeps the momentum going rather than building up to a reveal a few paragraphs in, and every element, from the greeting to the closing line, should point toward the action you want the reader to take.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-copywriting-examples\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"24878\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email copywriting guide<\/a> is a good place to see that kind of tightening done well, line by line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-visual-elements\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Visual elements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bullet points, images, and graphics aren&#8217;t decoration, they&#8217;re what makes an email easy to skim rather than a wall of text to wade through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullet points<\/strong> break information into digestible pieces, ideal for listing benefits, summarizing features, or laying out anything with more than a couple of comparable items.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Images<\/strong> do work words alone can&#8217;t, showing the offer itself rather than just describing it, and tend to stick in a reader&#8217;s memory longer than plain text does.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Graphics<\/strong>, like infographics and simple charts, make data or multi-step processes easier to take in at a glance. The <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-marketing-design\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"21059\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email marketing design guide<\/a> walks through building a layout that balances all three well.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Preview<\/strong> by sending yourself a test copy before the real one goes out. Images are blocked by default in a lot of inboxes, so check that your email still makes sense with them switched off.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-call-to-action-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Call to action&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-cta\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"23733\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">call to action<\/a> tells the reader exactly what to do next, whether that&#8217;s completing a purchase, signing up, downloading something, or visiting a page. It&#8217;s the moment your email&#8217;s whole purpose comes together, and it works best when it&#8217;s clear, compelling, and easy to spot, usually a button or a hyperlink built around direct, action-first phrasing rather than something passive. Keep the wording tight: a verb and the payoff is usually all it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that you know what each part is supposed to do, there&#8217;s a way to skip straight to a working draft. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/blog\/email-marketing-ai-email-generator-announcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SiteGround Email Marketing&#8217;s Generate with AI<\/a> feature builds all four for you at once, just pick a campaign type like promotional, newsletter, announcement, welcome, or event invitation, and it hands back a subject line, preheader, and body ready to edit in the builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/email-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Write your emails with ease with SiteGround Email Marketing<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-do-you-write-subject-lines-that-get-opened\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-you-write-subject-lines-that-get-opened\"><\/span>How do you write subject lines that get opened?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four things make the biggest difference in whether a subject line gets opened, and you don&#8217;t have to guess at any of them if you&#8217;re willing to test against your own list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-lead-with-a-verb-and-a-clear-promise\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lead with a verb and a clear promise.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A subject line built around a specific benefit tells the reader exactly what they&#8217;ll get before they even open it, something like &#8220;Boost your productivity: 5 proven time-management techniques inside.&#8221; Vague curiosity-bait (&#8220;You won&#8217;t believe this&#8230;&#8221;) gets opened once and then ignored forever once the reader learns it never delivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-page__colored-blocks post-page__colored-blocks--update\"><p class=\"text text--size-medium color-darkest\"><strong>Example:<\/strong><br>Your cart expires at midnight, save 20% before it does<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-personalize-where-it-s-genuine\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personalize where it&#8217;s genuine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A first name or a reference to a past interaction works because it signals the email wasn&#8217;t blasted to everyone, even when, technically, it was. &#8220;Julia, your opinion matters&#8221; reads differently than &#8220;We want your feedback.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-page__colored-blocks post-page__colored-blocks--update\"><p class=\"text text--size-medium color-darkest\"><strong>Example:<\/strong><br>Maria, your usual order is 10% off this week only<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-avoid-spam-trigger-language\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Avoid spam-trigger language<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Words like &#8220;risk-free,&#8221; &#8220;urgent,&#8221; and &#8220;make money,&#8221; plus excessive punctuation or all-caps, are the kind of pattern spam filters are built to catch. Straightforward, specific language clears filters more reliably than clever wording does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-page__colored-blocks post-page__colored-blocks--update\"><p class=\"text text--size-medium color-darkest\"><strong>Skip:<\/strong> FREE MONEY!!! Act NOW, 100% risk-free<br><strong>Try instead:<\/strong> Your first month&#8217;s on us, no catch<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-test-instead-of-guessing\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Test instead of guessing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two versions of the same email, sent to two segments of the same list, will tell you more about what your specific audience responds to than any general subject-line formula. Run this consistently and you&#8217;ll build a pattern of what actually works for your readers, not readers in general. Pull the exact wording that performs into future sends, and check it against your <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-open-rate\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"25638\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">open rate<\/a> and click-through data before calling a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-page__colored-blocks post-page__colored-blocks--update\"><p class=\"text text--size-medium color-darkest\"><strong>Version A:<\/strong> Boost your productivity: 5 time-saving tricks inside<br><strong>Version B:<\/strong> Maria, here&#8217;s what&#8217;s eating your afternoon<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-do-you-structure-the-body-so-people-keep-reading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-you-structure-the-body-so-people-keep-reading\"><\/span>How do you structure the body so people keep reading?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting the email opened is half the job. Keeping the reader in it past the first line is the other half, and it depends on how the body is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-open-with-the-payoff-not-the-setup-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open with the payoff, not the setup&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first line has to work whether or not the reader paid close attention to the subject line, since most email clients show a preview of that first line before the email is even opened. A friendly greeting followed by a question, a surprising fact, or a direct value statement gets read further than a slow warm-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few ways this looks depending on what you&#8217;re sending:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Product update:<\/strong> Ready for the update you&#8217;ve been asking about? Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s new.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Newsletter:<\/strong> This month&#8217;s roundup is here, and it&#8217;s mostly good news.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Win-back:<\/strong> It&#8217;s been a while. Here&#8217;s 15% off to come back and see what changed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Event invite:<\/strong> Save your spot, the webinar&#8217;s Thursday and space is limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-write-like-you-re-talking-to-one-person-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Write like you&#8217;re talking to one person&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contractions, direct address, and a conversational rhythm read as human. Formal, corporate phrasing reads as automated, even when a person wrote every word of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-use-storytelling-and-social-proof-sparingly-but-specifically-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use storytelling and social proof sparingly but specifically&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A short customer story does more to build trust than a list of features, because it shows the product working rather than describing it in the abstract, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/blog\/category\/success-stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SiteGround&#8217;s success stories<\/a>, which pair one clear result with a real customer&#8217;s name attached. A one-line testimonial with a name on it outperforms an unattributed claim every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-do-you-structure-the-body-so-people-keep-reading-0\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-you-structure-the-body-so-people-keep-reading-2\"><\/span>How do you structure the body so people keep reading?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting the email opened is half the job. Keeping the reader in it past the first line is the other half, and it depends on how the body is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-open-with-the-payoff-not-the-setup-nbsp-0\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open with the payoff, not the setup&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first line has to work whether or not the reader paid close attention to the subject line, since most email clients show a preview of that first line before the email is even opened. A friendly greeting followed by a question, a surprising fact, or a direct value statement gets read further than a slow warm-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few ways this looks depending on what you&#8217;re sending:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Product update:<\/strong> Ready for the update you&#8217;ve been asking about? Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s new.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Newsletter:<\/strong> This month&#8217;s roundup is here, and it&#8217;s mostly good news.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Win-back:<\/strong> It&#8217;s been a while. Here&#8217;s 15% off to come back and see what changed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Event invite:<\/strong> Save your spot, the webinar&#8217;s Thursday and space is limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-write-like-you-re-talking-to-one-person-nbsp-0\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Write like you&#8217;re talking to one person&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contractions, direct address, and a conversational rhythm read as human. Formal, corporate phrasing reads as automated, even when a person wrote every word of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-use-storytelling-and-social-proof-sparingly-but-specifically-nbsp-0\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use storytelling and social proof sparingly but specifically&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A short customer story does more to build trust than a list of features, because it shows the product working rather than describing it in the abstract, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/blog\/category\/success-stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SiteGround&#8217;s success stories<\/a>, which pair one clear result with a real customer&#8217;s name attached. A one-line testimonial with a name on it outperforms an unattributed claim every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/blog\/category\/success-stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1242\" height=\"596\" src=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2026-08-18-at-17.43.48.jpeg\" alt=\"Success Stories page listing showing three client testimonial cards for Coderick AI, Storm Design, and Marketing Directo, each with a headshot, quote, and website preview\" class=\"wp-image-28251\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pro tip:<\/strong> &#8220;Swap the adjectives for a number and a name:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCustomers love us!&#8221; convinces nobody, not even the person who wrote it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Maria cut her onboarding time from three weeks to four days&#8221; does more work in one sentence than a whole paragraph of enthusiasm ever will. If your testimonial could be pasted into any email for any brand and still make sense, it&#8217;s not specific enough to trust yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1467\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/inline_marketing_email_02-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Example marketing email featuring a leather goods maker in her workshop with a customer testimonial about productivity gains\" class=\"wp-image-18796\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-cut-anything-that-isn-t-earning-its-place-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cut anything that isn&#8217;t earning its place&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every sentence should inform, entertain, or move the reader toward the CTA. If a sentence does none of those three, it&#8217;s filler, and filler is the fastest way to lose a reader mid-email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-give-every-send-a-reason-to-exist\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Give every send a reason to exist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A discount code, a genuinely useful how-to, an industry update they&#8217;d have missed otherwise, a first look at something new before anyone else gets it, the specific form matters less than whether it&#8217;s actually worth the five seconds it takes to open. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Readers run a quick cost-benefit calculation on every subject line whether they realize it or not, and &#8220;another email from this brand&#8221; is not, on its own, a good enough reason to click. Do this consistently and you buy yourself patience on the sends that undersell themselves. Skip it too often and no clever subject line brings people back, they just get faster at deleting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1442\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/inline_marketing_email_03-1-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"Example email newsletter for a gardening brand showing tips, a subscriber discount code, and a seasonal trends section\" class=\"wp-image-18811\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-do-you-make-one-cta-do-all-the-work\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-you-make-one-cta-do-all-the-work\"><\/span>How do you make one CTA do all the work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A call to action needs to be unambiguous and visually easy to spot, using action-oriented phrasing like &#8220;Buy now&#8221; or &#8220;Register today&#8221; rather than something passive like &#8220;Learn more.&#8221; Place it where a reader naturally lands after finishing the body, typically at the end, though a second placement near the top works for time-sensitive offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The single-CTA rule matters more than most senders expect: two competing links don&#8217;t double the chances of a click, they split attention and often lower the click rate on both. If an email genuinely needs to offer two paths (say, &#8220;shop men&#8217;s&#8221; and &#8220;shop women&#8217;s&#8221;), frame them as one decision with two options rather than two separate asks. Building a full <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/create-email-marketing-strategy\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"19330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email marketing strategy<\/a> around a single, consistent CTA style across a campaign makes each individual email&#8217;s ask feel familiar rather than another thing to figure out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-do-you-measure-whether-an-email-actually-worked\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-you-measure-whether-an-email-actually-worked\"><\/span>How do you measure whether an email actually worked?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-marketing-metrics\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"20138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">metrics<\/a> tell four different parts of the story, and none of them substitute for the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Metric<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>What it measures<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>What a weak number is telling you<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>What to aim for<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Open rate<\/strong><\/td><td>Percentage of delivered emails that got opened<\/td><td>The subject line, and only the subject line, needs work<\/td><td>Around 36% for small businesses&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Click-to-open rate<\/strong><\/td><td>Percentage of openers who then clicked a link<\/td><td>The body or the CTA didn&#8217;t earn the action once the email was actually opened<\/td><td>Around 6.4% for small businesses<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Conversion rate<\/strong><\/td><td>Percentage of recipients who completed the goal action after clicking, a purchase, a signup, a download<\/td><td>The click happened but the landing page didn&#8217;t deliver on what the email promised<\/td><td>Around 3%, though this varies more by industry than the other rows<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Bounce rate<\/strong><\/td><td>Percentage of emails rejected outright by the recipient&#8217;s server<\/td><td>List quality has slipped, or something&#8217;s off with your sending setup<\/td><td>Under 2%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Spam complaint rate<\/strong><\/td><td>Percentage of delivered emails marked as spam by recipients<\/td><td>Not a quality signal for one send, but a rising number here will quietly drag down every metric above it over time<\/td><td>Under 0.1%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want to go a step further, A\/B testing can tie all four numbers together, and you don&#8217;t need a dedicated split-testing feature to try it. Split your list into two groups, send each one a version that differs in a single element, subject line, CTA, or body structure, then compare the results side by side in your analytics. That one-variable-at-a-time approach is what isolates which change actually moved which number.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And keep an eye on the <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-reputation\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"28175\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sender reputation<\/a> either way. That&#8217;s how trustworthy mailbox providers consider your sending domain, and it&#8217;s not just bounces and spam complaints they&#8217;re watching. Replies and forwards count in your favor too, so a real reply-to address that someone actually checks does more for your reputation than it looks like it should. A quick check of your bounce, spam, and reply numbers each month is enough to track it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-mistakes-kill-otherwise-good-emails\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-mistakes-kill-otherwise-good-emails\"><\/span><strong>What mistakes kill otherwise good emails?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few problems show up often enough to call out directly, because each one is easy to miss from the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Misleading subject lines.<\/strong> A subject line that overpromises earns one open and loses trust for every send after it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Two CTAs competing for the same click.<\/strong> Covered above, but worth repeating: it&#8217;s one of the most common self-inflicted drops in click-through rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Skipping the proofread pass.<\/strong> Spelling errors and broken links are the fastest way to undercut an otherwise well-written email, and they&#8217;re avoidable with a second set of eyes or a test send to a few different email clients before the real send goes out.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ignoring sender reputation until it&#8217;s a problem.<\/strong> A domain or IP address that ends up on an <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/email-blacklist\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"28171\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email blacklist<\/a> will see every metric on this page collapse at once, regardless of how good the individual email is. Reputation is a background factor worth checking before assuming a bad send is a copywriting problem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overlooking the legal basics.<\/strong> Consent, unsubscribe links, and honest subject lines aren&#8217;t just good practice, they&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/legal-requirements-for-email-marketing\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"28146\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legal requirements under laws like CAN-SPAM<\/a>, and getting them wrong carries real financial risk on top of the reputational one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-put-it-into-practice\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"put-it-into-practice\"><\/span><strong>Put it into practice<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of this requires a copywriting background, it requires a structure, and the structure above is repeatable for every send. Start with a clear subject line promise, open the body with the payoff, keep one CTA, and check your metrics against what actually happened rather than what you expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If writing every subject line and body from scratch is the bottleneck, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siteground.com\/email-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SiteGround Email Marketing<\/a> includes a built-in AI email writer that can draft a first pass in your brand&#8217;s tone, so you&#8217;re editing rather than starting from a blank page.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[58]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-frequently-asked-questions-about-writing-marketing-emails\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"frequently-asked-questions-about-writing-marketing-emails\"><\/span>Frequently asked questions about writing marketing emails<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787301087358\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>How long should a marketing email be?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Long enough to make the point and no longer. A promotional email with a single offer often works in three to five short paragraphs, while a newsletter with multiple stories needs more room. The test isn&#8217;t a word count, it&#8217;s whether every paragraph earns its place.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787301102861\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>How often should you send marketing emails?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Frequency depends on the list and the offer, but the more useful question is consistency: readers who know roughly when to expect an email from you open more reliably than readers getting sends on no predictable schedule.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787301121028\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>What&#8217;s a good open rate for a marketing email?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Open rates vary widely by industry and list quality, which is why comparing your own email against your own past sends is more useful than chasing an industry benchmark. A steady upward trend from your own baseline matters more than hitting someone else&#8217;s number.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787301136553\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>Should you use emojis in subject lines?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Used sparingly and where they fit the brand voice, an emoji can help a subject line stand out in a crowded inbox. Used in every send, they lose the novelty that made them work in the first place.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787301158548\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>What&#8217;s the difference between a marketing email and a transactional email?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">A marketing email has a commercial goal behind it, a sale, a click, engagement. A transactional email confirms something the recipient already did, like an order or a password reset, and typically isn&#8217;t subject to the same opt-in rules<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article was originally published in April 2024, and then updated in August 2026.<\/em><br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A marketing email succeeds or fails on three decisions: the subject line, the opening line, and the call to action. Get any one of those wrong and the other two rarely save it. Here&#8217;s the structure that gets all three right, plus the mistakes that quietly sink otherwise good emails. Key takeaways: A subject line &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/academy.siteground.com\/en\/how-to-write-marketing-emails\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to write a marketing email: the structure that gets it opened, read, and clicked&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":18809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-email-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Write a Marketing Email: The Structure That Works<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grab expert tips and examples on how to write a marketing email that gets opened, read, and clicked. 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