Summary

This guide helps you craft effective, engaging emails that inspire action and reflect Tearfund’s visionary, advocate, and servant-hearted brand voice. Key best practices include:

• Define your purpose and audience: clarify the email’s goal and segment your audience for relevance.
• Write concise, reader-centric copy: keep emails under 100 words, start with “you,” and use clear, vivid language.
• Create engaging subject lines and preview text: keep them short (under 40 and 45 characters), personal, and compelling.
• Use one clear call to action (CTA): make it obvious with bold text or buttons, including “please.”
• Ensure scannability: use short paragraphs, subheadings, and lists.
• Polish with editing and formatting: follow Tearfund’s signatory style and credit images.

Introduction

Your emails can inspire action and change lives. At Tearfund, our emails reflect our visionary, advocate, and servant-hearted brand voice, connecting with supporters to drive meaningful impact.

This guide provides clear, actionable steps to craft concise, engaging, and user-centric emails. Whether promoting a resource or rallying support, these best practices will help you cut through the noise and connect with your audience effectively.

Before you write

Before drafting your email, clarify your purpose, audience, and structure to ensure your message resonates.

Define your purpose (“Why”)

Every email needs a clear reason to be sent. Ask:

• What’s the main goal? (e.g., encourage donations, promote an event)
• Why will the audience care? (e.g., their action helps communities)
• Can you summarise the purpose in one sentence? (e.g., “This email invites supporters to donate to our Christmas appeal.”)

Clear thinking leads to clear writing. A muddled purpose results in confusing copy.

Know your audience (“Who”)

Tailor your email to the right people. Segment your audience to increase engagement:

• Identify specific groups (e.g., church leaders who signed up for similar resources).
• Example: Send a resource promotion to supporters who engaged with related content in the past two years. Focusing on a smaller, relevant audience boosts click-through rates.

Plan your structure

Organise content logically

• Prioritise the information most readers need first.
• Use a content hierarchy: main message, supporting details, specific instructions.
• Sketch headings and key points before writing to ensure clarity.
• For guides, use a sequential order (e.g., step 1, step 2).

When you write

Craft emails that are concise, scannable, and reader-centric to maximise impact.

Subject line and Preview text

The subject line and preview text are your hook for readers to open the email.

• Keep it short: Subject lines under 40 characters; preview text under 45 characters.
• Make it engaging: Personalise (e.g., “Kate, join us!”), ask questions, or convey urgency (e.g., “Only 2 days left!”).
• Work together: Preview text adds context to the subject line.
• Use sentence case: Avoid Title Case or ALL CAPS for accessibility.

Body Copy

Make your email easy to scan and user-focused.

1. Start with “you”

Address the reader directly (e.g., “Your support helped Brigita afford school fees”).

2. Avoid “we” or vague phrases

Don’t use “people like you” or “faithful supporters.” Be specific and personal.

3. Keep it concise

Aim for under 100 words (except newsletters). Remove redundant words (e.g. “very,” “really”).

4. Use clear language

Choose familiar words over jargon or complex terms.

• Do: “Criticise government policy”
• Don’t: “Lambast government policy”
• Do: “Equip local churches to help people in poverty”
• Don’t: “Build capacity in our institutional partners”

5. Make it scannable

• Use short paragraphs (2-3 sentences).
• Include subheadings for each topic.
• Use bulleted or numbered lists for key points or steps.
• Bold sparingly for emphasis (e.g. key phrases, not entire paragraphs).
• Avoid italics (harder for dyslexic readers).

6. Links

Do

• Disable Google Analytics tracking if you’re using a referral link with a UTM (Urchin tracking module). Otherwise, the referral link will not work.

Don’t

• Use “click here”; describe the action (e.g., “Get your ticket”). Place links after providing context.
• Add too many links.
• Put links above your call to action.

7. Sentences

• Keep sentences short (under 30 words).
• Use active voice (e.g., “Tearfund provided 30,000 people with aid” vs. “30,000 people were assisted”).
• Start with familiar information, then introduce new details.

8. Words

Do

• Use contractions (e.g., “you’re” vs. “you are”).
• Use vivid imagery (e.g., “Your donation builds schools” vs. “Your support makes a difference”).
• Define acronyms the first time (e.g., Nigerian Centre for Sustainable Development Treaty Organization (NCSD)).

Don’t

• Use clichés, idioms, or “Christian-ese” (e.g., “God placed a burden on my heart”).

9. Dashes

Use “to” instead of hyphens for ranges (e.g., “9am to 10am” vs. “9am-10am”).

Call to Action (CTA)

Make your CTA clear and compelling.

• One clear CTA: avoid multiple actions to prevent confusion.
• Make it obvious: use buttons
• Offer multiple opportunities: place the CTA  throughout the email
• Keep it short: button text under 20 characters

Examples

• Please donate
• Download your Lent devotional
• Access your free resources
• Sign up

Signatory format

Follow Tearfund’s house style:

• Bold the name
• Italicize the role
• Include “Tearfund”
• Add a handwritten signature.

Example

Emma Lawson
Email Editor, Tearfund

Note: The role does not have to be the person’s actual job title – try to use something that will make sense to our supporters.

3. After you write

Edit your copy

Before sending your draft for stakeholder feedback, it’s worth editing your copy with fresh eyes. Give it breathing space so that you can see for yourself where you could make the message clearer and stronger and tighten the flow of the content.