When I transitioned from my marketing manager role to freelancing in, I took on pretty much every client I could:
I wrote copy for landing pages, sales pages, VSLs, Meta ads, emails, LinkedIn posts… you name it.
I did that for two reasons:
- To learn everything I could about copywriting
- To find my niche (and find out what I enjoy doing)
After about 10-15 projects, I realized that being a full-time freelance copywriter these days is incredibly difficult.
The market is so saturated, and AI is lurking in the corner.
Eventually, I learned other skills such as email marketing, building funnels, design, etc.
Was my copywriting phase a waste of time?
Not at all!
Although I may not be a full-time copywriter, copywriting is still an immensely valuable skill.
For example, the other day, I had a glance at my newsletter performance:
I was pleasantly surprised!
Point being… I wouldn’t have been able to achieve a 6.32% click-through rate had I not spent all those days studying and practicing copywriting.
If you’re currently struggling with your own newsletter engagement, here are 13 sneaky email copywriting tips that will help you get more clicks.
These apply if you’re selling D2C physical products, info products, or if you just have your own newsletter.
Let’s jump right in:
1. Write to one person
I’ve seen so many brands/personal newsletters start their emails with “Hey y’all” or “What’s up, everyone?”
Not only is it corny, it’s also impersonal.
You should make each person on your email list feel like you’re JUST talking to them.
Even better, think of one real person you want to read your email. Then write it as if you were only talking to them.
2. Send your emails from an actual human
People don’t follow brands. They follow other people.
This is true for social media, and it’s also true for email newsletters.
I highly recommend you give your newsletter a personality. Send it from your name or someone from your company, but not from the brand itself.
3. Use curiosity-based, lowercase subject lines
Subject lines… ahhh, my favorite topic!
How much do subject lines matter these days?
I’ll be honest with you, not as much as you probably think.
What matters more is the quality of your email content. If you consistently deliver great emails, your audience will open them anyway. At least that’s my experience.
That said… there are some “rules” to writing subject lines which I follow:
The first one is using lowercase letters.
And the reason is simple:
Most brands that send promotional, discount-heavy emails use capital letters.
Just take a look at this example:
I know immediately that the first email is coming from a corporation trying to sell me something.
And then there is Matteo (an actual human – see tip 2) from Eight Sleep, giving me some pointers about sleep temperature regulation.
One email is salesy.
The other promises valuable information (which allows them to sell more effectively).
4. Spice up your subject lines with these words
One more tip on writing better subject lines, which I learned from Alin Dragu:
Using words like tiny, bad, rare, simple, unusual, life-changing makes your hooks more engaging.
I just did it in this email, for example.
14 (sneaky) email copywriting tips to get more clicks.
You could also say…
5 (unusual) signs your LinkedIn content is good.
Or share some (life-changing) advice.
Notice the difference?
5. Lead with a story
How you start your emails matters a lot more than subject lines.
People are busy, so you only have about a second or two to grab their attention, or they’ll move on with their day.
One of my favorite ways to begin an email is to lead with a story.
Stories make complex ideas stick.
Here’s another example. Which one do you think is better?
“Are you struggling to get promoted at work?”
versus
“I read a crazy article yesterday about a guy who closed more business just by dressing better.”
One sounds like the start of an amateur sales pitch.
The other one is a story that makes me want to read more.
6. Add links before the end
Don’t assume someone will read your entire email.
This is something I learned from my mentor, Chris Orzechowski.
Instead of adding one CTA link at the end of the email, try linking to your CTA in the beginning or in the middle. That’s why sometimes I throw in a TL;DR for my newsletters.
7. One email = one big idea
This doesn’t apply as much to my newsletter. But if you’re someone who emails their list more than once a week, I recommend sending short (200-500-word) emails where you just focus on one idea.
For example, if you’re writing a welcome sequence for your brand, instead of sending one long email talking about your brand story, best-selling product, USP, etc., you’re much better off sending 3-4 separate emails over a week.
8. Ignore Grammarly
If you copy-pasted my text into Grammarly, I’m pretty sure the score would come out terrible. Does it matter? I don’t think so…
I didn’t know I was a perfectionist until I started using Grammarly. I’ll admit, though, accepting those suggestions does give you a dopamine hit.
That said, I realized pretty quickly that having a perfect Grammarly score doesn’t mean your text is engaging.
I just throw in a comma or a period whenever I want to these days. I write in slang. I try to be conversational…
The truth is… there’s enough corporate fluff out there.
For most people, email marketing is already a boring subject.
Why would I make it even more boring by talking about it like a university professor?
A good rule of thumb is… if you read your text out loud, does it sound natural? If yes, then you’re good to go!
9. Be funny*
This tip includes an asterisk because using humor isn’t always as straightforward.
Point being … if you sell luxury handbags to a sophisticated audience, then cracking jokes in your emails might not be the best move.
And some of us just aren’t born with a sense of humor.
That said, some of the best DTC emails I’ve read and analyzed are funny (like this one). Or at the very least, they use memes and GIFs.
10. Always give value first
When I say the word “value,” most people think of giving tips, best practices, or information. But that’s just one form of value.
Another major form of value is entertainment. You don’t go to the cinema and expect to learn new stuff. You go there to be entertained.
When you look at the most successful personal newsletters these days, a lot of them actually lean towards entertainment over education. And I think it’s because there’s already enough “best practice” advice out there.
11. Ask for the sale
I once had a client with an email list of 20,000+ subscribers. Every week, he’d send out an educational newsletter, and while it got decent engagement, he made ZERO money. Why?
Because he was so scared to sell anything. He thought that if he promoted anything via his newsletter, people would unsubscribe.
While I don’t sell anything in my newsletter (yet), here’s what my experience has been working with eCommerce brands:
If people like you, they will buy from you.
And those who don’t like you enough will unsubscribe. But that’s okay, because those people were never going to buy from you in the first place.
12. Use the PS section
PS sections get read… it’s just a fact.
Whenever you’re writing plain-text emails and want to increase click rates, I recommend you use the PS section strategically to add extra value, share a thought, or include a call to action.
13. Stay away from AI
It’s October 2025, and I can confidently say that relying on ChatGPT to write your emails is a terrible idea.
Will things change in a couple of years?
Maybe… probably… I don’t know.
All I know is that right now, I can detect AI text from a mile away. It lacks character, substance, and voice.
I still use AI for many things, just not for writing my emails.
That’s it!
Want to see me write an e-commerce email campaign from start to finish?
I just posted a live walkthrough.
