Someone has to sound the alarm on this topic… It seems everywhere you look some email marketing guru is giving away email swipe files.

What may seem easy now will only cause your business to flounder in the very near future. Look at email swipe files like steroids, they may give you immediate results, but will only cause massive long-term damage.

Email marketing has changed drastically over the last several years. People want a relationship with whom they do business and learn from. What they don’t want is some generic run of the mill email. Those types of emails get sent straight to the round file (trash can).

For the newbie email writer they might find that swipe files initially get them response and maybe even a few sales, but long-term disaster is waiting. Your list (who are real people mind you) become accustom to a certain style of writing and personality. Think about your favorite radio show – if suddenly the host changed you would lose interest in the show or be disappointed. When the price is right lost Bob Barker they also lost a ton of fans, and that is what happens when you use email swipe files.

At some point you will run out of swipe files and have to start writing the emails yourself, and when you make the switch you will lose a large portion of your list. And it’s all because they are familiar with you, your style, and yes, your personality.

If you plan on using email marketing as a long-term strategy for your business, and you should, it is one of the most profitable strategies online, learn how to write email the right way from the beginning.

Follow 3 basic principles in your email structure and your emails will have a significant increase in conversions.

#1 – Make your email personal and write to a specific person. Think about writing to a friend and not to a group of people.

#2 – Use stories in your emails. People love to listen to stories, read stories and buy from stories. Plus they are easily remembered and shared often. If you use stories in your emails, your list will love you and more importantly want to buy from you!

#3 – Always use a call to action to a sales page. One of the most commonly misunderstood actions of emails is where to send your reader. Most are stuck in the “gotta send to content” mentality. The email marketers who send to blogs, podcasts, articles and videos are the ones missing out on massive sales. Content is used to build your list, once someone is on your list you should be sending them to your product or service, because that is the best way you can help solve their problem.

If you follow these 3 key components of effective emails you will see a drastic increase in sales and conversions. Plus you will begin to separate yourself from all the other noise that people see in their email inbox everyday.