Thinking about hiring an email copywriter? This guide will help ensure you find a superstar.

No matter what kind of business you run — whether it’s eCommerce, SaaS, or a service-based company — email is an important channel for bringing in revenue and connecting with your customers.

If a potential (or current) customer shares their email address with you/your company, it’s like a friendly invitation to show up in their inbox and start building a relationship. An invitation you don’t want to muck up.

There are enormous opportunities to harness the power of the inbox — as long as you do it well.

Here’s the thing — not all emails are created equal. Noteworthy, the strategy behind what you send, when you send it, and who you send it to is at least as important as the emails themselves.

We’ll get into how to make sure you’re doing email well in a minute. But first, let’s look at the big picture.

A few key email marketing statistics

89% of marketers use email as the primary channel for generating leads.

It’s no wonder…

• 72% of customers prefer email as their primary channel of communication
• Email marketing ROI is 4200% (!)
• And email is 40% better at converting leads into customers (compared to Facebook and Twitter)

Further, 50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once a month.

Email revenue is expected to reach almost 11 billion by the end of 2023.

Don’t you want a piece of that revenue pie?

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Sure, those stats are great, but how do I get results that incredible in my business?!”

It’s not just about copy. Or beautiful images. Or design.

To fully realize the power of email, you must hire an email copywriter who thinks like a strategist. Someone who understands the customer journey and how to build email flows and campaigns to support a prospect or customer during every stage of the buyer’s cycle. An email strategist conducts tests, analyzes data, and optimizes emails to get better results in the future.

So… if you’re looking to hire an email copywriter, make sure they do more than simply write words on a page. Make sure your email copywriter is also an email strategist.

Hire an email copywriter who is also an email strategist

The best email marketing partners aren’t simply contractors you hire to deliver copy. They’re email partners who help you define your business goals using email and develop a plan for how to achieve them.

An ideal email marketing partner will develop an email strategy and write conversion email copy for your business that turns leads into customers and customers into lifetime fans of your brand.

A kickass email strategist will find out what works well with your customers and what doesn’t — and continually optimize the strategy and copy to help you get results.

If you’re not exactly sure what to look for when hiring an email copywriter/strategist, start with these questions:

1. Does your email copywriter align your goals and purposes with your marketing efforts?

Email strategists help you define your goals with email marketing. Then they help you achieve them. It doesn’t typically happen as a one-and-done project. Email strategists care about results and will help you find ways to achieve them.

Here are a few things to look for in an email copywriter who is a strategist: 

• They help you solve problems rather than simply write emails
• They build a comprehensive email strategy as a roadmap for your automations and campaigns
• They consider all aspects of email — from lead capture to design to conversion copy — as influencing the success of your email marketing program
  

2. Does your email copywriter pay attention to email metrics?

You might not think email copywriters care about metrics. And if they’re only focused on the “writing” portion of your emails, they may not be paying attention to the numbers that matter. (Red flag?)

When it comes to email marketing, metrics matter! 

And copywriters — especially conversion copywriters — are trained to write words that move readers to take action. So you have to measure whether or not the words are doing their job.

Your email copywriter should be digging deep to find what works with your audience.

From email deliverability to subject lines & preview text to body copy and CTAs — strategic email copywriters assess it all. Then they’ll take the initiative to optimize current and future flows and emails.  

3. Does your email copywriter believe in finding the right message(s) using research?

Without conducting ‘voice of customer’ research, copy is only a “guesstimate” of what might work.

Email strategists dig deep to find the right messages to move your audience to action. They’re looking for:

✓ Your unique value proposition

✓ The language you use in your business

✓  The benefits you provide

✓  Who your target market(s) are, and your customer’s pain points

✓  What matters most to your prospects

In research mode, they’ll review the competitive landscape. They’ll mine reviews, collect testimonials, and even interview your customers. They’re looking for customer pain points, language, attitudes, and what drives a sale.

Voice of customer research helps your email copywriter/email strategist write copy that resonates with your audience — it converts them to customers and lifetime fans of your brand. Because they feel like you understand them. And there’s no better way to do that than to pull the language straight from them.

4. Does your email copywriter conduct A/B testing?

Strategists always build testing into the email optimization process. ‘Cause we all know what happens when you “assume” you know what will work best… (insert lame joke about making an *ss out of U and Me).

You want an email copywriter who tests variations of subject lines. Known as A/B testing, you should always send (the first ~20% of emails with) Subject Line A to some prospects and Subject Line B to others. The goal is to determine which one results in more email opens. Then the remainder (~80%) of your emails get sent to your audience with the better-performing subject line.

It’s also important to test the body copy (and design/images) to determine what works best for your audience. 

A strategist looks at all parts of the email and makes recommendations to optimize and improve the performance — based on statistics and facts (not feelings).

5. Does your email copywriter talk about retention, reducing churn, and building authentic relationships with email?

When it comes to defining your email goals, there are a lot more things to think about than simply “driving revenue.” A strategic email marketer considers how you’re managing customer retention, reducing churn, and building long-term customer relationships through the inbox.

Don’t get distracted with open rate and click rate tunnel vision — there’s more to a winning email strategy than the percentage of people opening your emails.

Hiring an email strategist will set you up for long-term email success.

Hire an email copywriter who is an email strategist

Now that you know what to look for, if your business isn’t earning at least 30% of revenue from email marketing, it’s time to hire an email copywriter who is a strategist. You’ve got this!