In all of the different marketing fields a business owner can engage in, writing effectively is an important skill. This is certainly true when it comes to email marketing. Even though business owners can use fancy HTML, images, and multimedia to glitz up their emails today, the success or failure of a marketing email still comes down to the words its composer uses. Here are some tips for getting the most out of the marketing emails you write.

Adhere to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle at all times. Although it’s important to demonstrate your expertise in your business when you’re marketing, try not to do it with complex terminology and obscure references. Use the simplest vocabulary that will effectively convey your message. In email marketing, you’ll be lucky to get a small slice of attention from your audience; make the most of it by getting straight to the point.

Speaking of your audience, invest a little effort in learning how to please them. In order to make your marketing emails useful to you, you have to make them useful to their recipients. Provide information that you know will be interesting to your customers and deals that they’ll find hard to resist. If you’re having trouble figuring out what your audience wants, don’t be afraid to solicit feedback from them. If you tie your feedback request to a special offer, you’ll get plenty of responses.

Another place you need to spend some time is in organizing your marketing emails. You should have a well-thought-out structure for every message you send. Go back to those half-remembered English composition classes you attended in school and work on building a logical structure for your emails. Your conclusions should flow from the information you provide, leading your readers to agree with you – and to find your suggestions reasonable.

Balance is important in your emails. Strive to keep your paragraphs even. You shouldn’t pad your messages any more than is absolutely necessary, but ensuring that each of your paragraphs is of an equal length will encourage your readers to treat each point that you make as equally important. Short paragraphs might give emphasis to important ideas – but they might also be skipped over by a busy reader.

You may be able to tell from the preceding advice that being clear and direct is important when you compose marketing emails. It’s worth stating explicitly: You must be as precise and unambiguous as possible in your email messages. Because of the limited amount of reader attention you can expect, you don’t have the luxury of beating around the bush or meandering into your points after lots of digression. Respect your readers’ time and get right down to business.

Finally, do your best to stay focused when you compose marketing emails. Don’t stretch yourself to dummy up an email just because it’s been a while since you sent one out. You have to have something valuable to offer up your readers, and it needs to be consistent with your other email marketing. Don’t slip off-topic out of desperation. If you have to wait a little while to come up with something worth sending, be patient and let the good ideas accumulate.

As you progress in your email marketing efforts, you’ll discover that there are a lot of different skills you need to practice to become an effective marketer. Honing your writing talents is an under-appreciated part of email marketing work, but you’ll find it makes a big difference in the effectiveness of your messages. Stick with it and soon it will become second nature to compose meaningful, effective content for each email you send.