Which wins? Great copy or great creative?

It’s a tale as old as time…

Well as old as email. Which, depending on who you ask, is ancient and dead. 

Does email perform better with copy (more text-based) or with creative (graphics, pictures, and designs)?

You’ll find this question in email marketing forums, Facebook groups, LinkedIn posts, and anywhere else you find people talking about email marketing.

Some people will swear on text-based emails as the ONLY way to go. And others will fall all over themselves to say that creative, image heavy emails perform the BEST.

My opinion… they are BOTH wrong.

My Bias as a Copywriter

Before I get into my argument, here is my bias…

I am a copywriter. My expertise is crafting messages that sell.

I have virtually NO design experience. Until I pay someone to update my website, it’s going to look like a 5-year-old put it together.

I even took a course on using Canva to design great emails… didn’t go well.

I can use and set up Klaviyo templates and choose images that support my copy. That’s about it.

And still, my copy has driven hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for my clients.

I’ve worked with clients who have great creative and graphic designers on staff who were able to mesh my copy with their designs to create awesome looking emails.

And I’ve worked with clients who insisted on creative emails that fell flat.

And I’ve worked with clients who wanted nothing more than story-based, text emails.

So that’s my bias, and why I’ll tell you that…

What YOU Want Is Not Important

As a business owner you’ve probably (hopefully?) studied the email campaigns from your competitors.

As an email marketer like myself, you probably have a huge swipe file of emails from other brands that you draw inspiration from.

And you’ve probably developed some preconceived notions about what’s going to work well for your brand or for your client’s brand.

If you see your competitors using highly creative emails, that’ll influence you to create the same for your brand.

Likewise, if your top competitors are using text-based emails, you’ll be inclined to do the same.

Word of caution… unless you KNOW that these emails are working well for you target market don’t assume that they’ll work for your audience.

And even then, what I’m going to say next is important…

Test First

The beauty of email lies in your ability to test everything.

Subject lines, calls to action, images, creative, sending time, you name it.

So the best thing you can do?

TEST!

Send emails that keep the essential body copy the same but one is plain text and the other is designed.

Do this multiple times at different points within the customer journey.

Test emails in the welcome flow, abandoned cart flow, post purchase flow.

Test campaign emails for your subscribers who haven’t purchased, those who have purchased once, customers who have purchased multiple times, and your VIP customers.

I’ll venture a guess that it won’t be a one size fits all approach.

I tested a client’s welcome flow using this approach and the results were… interesting.

The first email performed better in the highly designed format and the second email performed better as a text-based email.

But both tests were very close.

And because my client preferred text-based emails, we kept the first email in the welcome flow in the creative format and wrote the rest of the welcome flow using text-based emails.

My Personal Suggestions

A few of my personal suggestions…

Unless you are a massive brand with a huge audience and great brand awareness… copy is probably going to win out.

People prefer to purchase from brands that they know, like, and trust.

If you’re a smaller, lesser-known brand.. You’ll need to use some form of copy to tell your story, share features of your product, and convince subscribers that they should purchase your product.

It’s hard to do that effectively with highly creative emails. (In my opinion.)

Welcome flows, abandoned cart flows (first time buyers), and any campaigns sent to subscribers who haven’t purchased tend to do better with copy. (Text-based emails)

Flash sales, product highlight emails, and back in stock emails can do great with more creative

Other Things to Keep in Mind

• Price
• Turn around time
• Brand voice

A few other things to keep in mind…

Paying for an email copywriter (like myself) or agency to write text-based emails is going to be cheaper than paying for highly designed, creative emails.

Sometimes significantly.

Turn around time is another factor.

If you need something quick – copy heavy emails are going to be the way to go.

Creative takes time to get it right.

And lastly, making sure that your emails are “on-brand.”

It’s easier for a good copywriter to match your voice when writing emails. It can be more difficult for a designer to ensure that the color pallets are correct, the images are on brand, and the overall creative is on brand. 

Hence why pure copy is typically cheaper.

And if you’ve tested… found that copy converts well for your audience… why wouldn’t you go with the more cost effective opinion? 

Summary – TL;DR

What YOU Want Is Not Important

• You may love the highly designed, super creative emails that some big brands send out
• Or you may love plain text emails
• As the business owner, you need to set aside your own ego.

Test First

• The best way to find out… test!
• Send emails that keep the essential body copy the same but one is plain text and the other is designed.
• I did this for a client’s welcome – Email 1 – design won, Email 2 – text won

My Personal Suggestions

• Unless you are a massive brand with a huge audience and great brand awareness… copy is probably going to win out.
• Welcome flows, abandoned cart flows (first time buyers), and any campaigns sent to subscribers who haven’t purchased do better with copy
• Flash sales, product highlight emails, and back in stock emails do great with more creative

Other Things to Keep in Mind

• Price
• Turn around time
• Brand voice

What Should YOU do Next?

1. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily email tips and what’s working now
2. Leave a like or a comment on this post to let me know what you thought. What segments would you add?
3. If you need someone to build out a high-performing welcome flow for your brand or business, send me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com or fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.