To get a direct response from an email it requires direct response copy. And this sometimes means those grammar rules we learnt at school may need to be broken during its creation. I’m not saying, spell things wrong or take your eye off the use of ‘effect’ vs ‘affect,’ but an email’s job is to entice prospects to make a purchase. And to do that we need to write the way we talk!

At ActionRocket, breaking the rules is not necessarily what we do, but copywriting for email is. So here are our top 5 grammar rules that can be challenged to be able to create an ‘I just have to have that’ marketing email.

Grammar Rule 1:

“A sentence should not start with a conjunction like ‘but’, ‘and’ or ‘because’.”

Why you should break it:

This grammar rule implies that starting a sentence with a conjunction starts it off with an incomplete thought. But leading with an ‘and’ or ‘but’ (😊) can be an effective attention grabbing technique in direct marketing copy.

It compels the reader to proceed to the next thought, breaks up long sentences and can emphasise an important idea. As most people skim online copy, it’s a way to keep them reading. It’s not something to overdo though.

Good example: “Action Rocket has been in the email marketing industry for over 10 years. And they have never missed a deadline.”

Grammar Rule 2:

“Sentences must have a complete thought that comprises of a subject and a verb.”

Why you should break it:

Intentional sentence fragments, instead of full sentences, convey meaning and emotion as they are more conversational. They can be composed next to each other to communicate complete thoughts, even without a subject or a verb, to achieve the same objective as the grammar rule. The use of fragments also allows for a pause from one idea to another and for highlighting a certain part over another. Particularly important for email, sentence fragments must be used for ‘calls to action.’

Good example: “As a copywriter for email I know what I’m doing. From punchy titles to compelling introductions. See more of my work to get the idea. View more.”

Grammar Rule 3:

“Sentences must not end with prepositions.”

Why you should break it:

A preposition is a word, or group of words, typically combined with a noun phrase, like, ‘the sharp pencil,’ used to show a relationship between two things. Typical preposition words are: ‘with’ ‘among,’ ‘behind,’ ‘from,’ ‘in,’ ‘at,’ ‘on,’ ‘of’ and ‘to.’

It does make sense that a sentence shouldn’t end with one of these. But in our increasingly informal language, it’s often very necessary to break this rule for the sentence to feel like it’s not been twisted out of proportion to fit a rule.

Good example: “I have an idea about where these grammar rules came from.”

Grammar Rule 4:

“Infinitives can’t be split.”

Why you should break it:

This grammar rule insists that another word cannot come between an adverb, like ‘to’ and its verb, ‘run.’ The problem with this, when writing creatively, is it means the emphasis can then only be put on the verb. A valuable tool for any marketing copywriter is to be able to add emotion to how actions are done rather than what is done.

Good example: To creatively write, we need to break free from ancient rules of grammar that no longer fit with modern life.

Grammar Rule 5:

“Do not use contractions.”

Why you should break it: A contraction is a way to mesh two words together to make them shorter, with an apostrophe representing the missing letters. For example, ‘We will’ into ‘we’ll’ or ‘do not’ into ‘don’t.’

Within the B2C online world it’s more common to use contractions than not, but in formal writing it’s practically unheard of and slightly frowned on. Using them is another argument towards speaking to our customers in a way they’re used to being spoken to. So, the bottom line on when and where to use contractions lies in knowing your audience.

For further copywriting tips for email, take a look at some of our previous blog posts on the topic here and here.