How to Address an Email: 12 Marketing Experts Share Their Best Tips

The art of the email is crucial for all industries, but it’s especially important to those in the marketing field. Emails are an essential step in the “sales funnel”—a process where marketers use email to guide their prospects to take the next step down the sales path. However, not every email is created equal. An effective email will have high open rates, high click-through rates, and low unsubscribe rates. Here are some tips from the marketing experts to help you craft an effective email campaign that your customers can’t resist!

Justin Herring, YEAH! Local

Identify the recipient

You may already know your addressee in most cases. If you need to send a professional email or question and don’t know the recipient’s name but know the department, visit the corporate website first to see if you can find a specific name to address your email. If you’re still having trouble finding a name, use a greeting like “Hello” instead of “To Whom It May Concern.”

Establish a tone

Consider your recipient if you’re unclear about the tone of your email. You’d use a casual and informal greeting if you’re contacting a close buddy. It’s best to use a more formal and professional greeting when emailing a manager, a client, or an executive.

Choose a greeting

Choose a greeting once you know who you’re writing to and the tone of the email you’re sending. If you’re sending a formal email, start with a salutation, their title, last name, and a comma or colon. For example, you can address them as “Dear Mr. Smith,” but if you don’t know their preferred gender, you can address them as “Hello, Smith.” Choose a more casual salutation, such as “Hi, Janet,” if you’re composing an informal email or want to sound informal.

Be as precise as possible

Look up your recipient’s contact name to address them specifically instead of using “sir,” “madam,” or “to whom it may concern.” This demonstrates that you took the time to choose the correct name, and using their full name in your email keeps it from feeling too stiff or official.

Miłosz Krasiński, Chilli Fruit Web Consulting

Spell recipient’s name correctly

I’m not a huge fan of casual or silly email greetings, as I think these tend to irritate many people. When sending cold emails – or emails to people I don’t yet know well, I’ll use Good morning or Good afternoon as I find this to be friendly but polite. For me, the most important thing when addressing an email is always to make sure that you spell the person’s name correctly – nothing turns somebody off more than a misspelling of their name.

Reflect the personality of the person you’re writing to

Consider the emails your recipient may have sent you previously. You’re more likely to get a positive reaction if you adopt a similar style to what they did in their emails. If they prefer formal welcomes, greet them in the same way.

Michael Batalha, Emercury

Use a subject line that pops

One of the most important aspects of an email is the subject line. Some marketers say that the subject line is 75% of the battle. You need to come up with a compelling headline that will get your prospect to open your email and read it.

It’s best to use a question in your subject line, as surveys have shown that people are more likely to click on an email if the subject line asks them a question than if it just announces information. It can be something simple like “Are you looking for marketing advice?” or “How much do you spend on marketing?”.

Another option is using urgency in your subject lines. If you’re looking to offer some sort of limited-time offer, then this would be an excellent time to incorporate it into your subject line–something like “Take advantage of our Black Friday sale before it ends!” or “Claim these exclusive holiday bonuses before they run out!”.

The last thing you want to do is use ‘unsubscribe’ words in your email’s subject line, as this will likely result in people marking your email as spam. Common words like ‘No,’ ‘Stop,’ and ‘Unsubscribe’ should be avoided at all costs.

Give them something to do

An effective email will have high open rates, high click-through rates, and low unsubscribe rates.

It’s also important to give your prospects something to do in the body of an email. This could be in the form of a link to a sales page or an offer for additional products. If the recipient doesn’t feel like they are getting any value out of the email, they can easily click away and unsubscribe from future emails.

Antonio Wells, NAMYNOT Inc.

Be genuine with your audience

If you’re not genuine with your customers, the risk of them unsubscribing or marking your email as spam is much, much higher. If there’s a disconnect between what you say and what you do, they will feel less likely to want to engage with you. When crafting a message for a campaign, make sure it sounds authentic and genuine. Make sure it has a purpose and provides something of value to your customer.

Consider your customer’s needs before sending an email

The more personalized the message is, the better. The more tailored the message is for their needs and interests, the higher chance of them reading it–and buying from you! Always consider who your target customer is and what they would want from an email before sending any messages out to an entire list of people.

Add value with content in every email

Adding content in every email will boost open rates and click-through rates–because people love useful information! Whether it’s helpful articles or blog posts, videos or downloads—make sure there’s always some type of valuable content in every email, so people know they’re getting something out of clicking on it! This way, even if they don’t purchase anything right away (yet), they know that engaging with your business will provide them with new knowledge that can benefit them in the future.

Vidyarthi Ram, Rank Care

Present the offer clearly

One of the most important aspects of any email is to make sure your offer is clear. You want to make sure that the content in the email does not get lost amid other information or links. That’s why it’s so important to present your offer clearly and concisely in the email subject line. Email subject lines should be short while still capturing attention.

Include a personal touch.

The first rule of personalizing emails is to include a personal touch. This means more than just including someone’s name, but instead connecting with them on a personal level. Make it clear that you’re talking to this individual, not just sending out the same template email.

Marketing experts recommend using their first name, even if it’s just in the email’s subject line. “Hey! It’s Brittany” or “Hi Brittany” are both examples of personalized subject lines that can help you stand out from your competition.

You can also use their name elsewhere in the body of the email if you have the opportunity to mention it naturally. For example, if your prospect recently had a baby or they are interested in some new product updates, mention these details within your email message.

Chris Castillo, Propel Digital Media Solutions

There are two fundamental concepts to keep at the forefront of all of your sales and outreach, whether that be email or some other channel:

1. People do business with other people.
2. People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Addressing an email with a robotic or canned response is a quick way to lose people’s attention and interest.

Showing personality in your email responses shows you’re a real person, and can also come across as more authentic and genuine. Getting someone to trust and like you is not something that happens in a single interaction. The cumulative experience with you and your company sells – so be yourself, don’t take yourself, your company, or your products/services too seriously, use humor, and be genuine and authentic. It goes a very long way!

Milos Obradovic, MA Team Agency

In today’s email marketing landscape, subscribers are looking for an individualized experience in their email communication. Marketers should be using information they know about customers to provide relevant content. That will increase open rates and click-throughs while also having a direct impact on ROI.

It’s important to make sure that your emails reach the right people. To do this, use an email verifying tool, so there is no room for error in building a following!

The best way to grow your list is by resending targeted emails. This means if someone doesn’t open a particular message right away, then don’t be discouraged! They will eventually come back around when something interests them enough. So hit that resend button!

However, you also need to make sure you are not wasting time on people who will never, ever get value from your emails. By proactively eliminating them, you will keep the list healthy with active subscribers.

Jeff Solomon, Markup Hero

Have you ever felt frustrated about not knowing the right way to address an email? As a marketing expert, I get this question all the time, and I want to share some simple tips that will help you start an email gracefully.

• Make sure to include both the name and title of the person you are addressing in your email. 
• Address your email politely by using “Dear” followed by their first name. 
• Add a subject line for your email at the top of the message. This is important because it will make it easier for them to read through emails when they have a lot on their plate.

Natalya Bucuy, LiveHelpNow

There is a lot of information on how to write the perfect email, but the truth is that one size does not fit all. The key to an effective email marketing campaign is to create content based on your goals and target audience. Here are some tips which you should keep in mind while writing emails: 

• Know your audience and what they need before you start.
• Write concisely and break down long paragraphs into smaller chunks.
• Keep it short and sweet (5 sentences or less) and use bullet points whenever possible. 
• Use active language like “ask” or “request” rather than a passive language like “suggest.” 
• Always include a call to action at the end of your email.

Michal Sadowski, Brand24

Unless you’re emailing your bank manager or solicitor, you don’t need to be extra formal when addressing an email. I find that a simple ‘Hi’ followed by the person’s name is perfectly acceptable to most people these days. Having said that, I would avoid being hugely informal – terms like ‘Greetings’ or ‘Hey there’ tend to come across as flippant and insincere.

Jack Zmudzinski, Future Processing

Firstly, do not, under any circumstances, address your email ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ – this is outdated and also hugely impersonal. I tend to begin my emails with Hi; however, if you really find this to be too casual, use Hello followed by the name as this is a happy medium between the formal and informal, as well as being pretty much universal.

Dima Suponau, Number For Live Person

This largely depends on who you are sending the email to – for most of my clients and other contacts, I find that ‘Hi Bob’ does the job; however, you may want to be a little more formal when emailing somebody for the first time. Dear is always safe in my books. Don’t try to be too clever – use a polite address and then focus on the significant bit – the content and subject line of your email.