What do I write in this email?

Quite often, I don't know what to write when creating an email.

I'll stare at the blank screen, second-guess the subject line, rewrite the first sentence 4 times, and an hour later I've got... a draft I'm still not happy with.

It's no wonder my English teachers in high school hated me.

But now, I'm not writing five-paragraph essays to prove that I've actually read the book. I'm writing simple emails that serve as reminders to people going through a busy day.

They don't need to be profound — just entertaining, informative, uplifting, or helpful in some way.

Ideally, the email reminds, inspires, and motivates action. Maybe it makes the reader think, but more often, clarity with a bit of encouragement is enough.

For example, when writing a promotional email for a race, a clear reminder of what the race is, the logistical details about when and where, what the runner gets, and a reason to sign up now — usually an offer that's about to expire — gets the job done.

To simplify the process of writing future emails, we recently launched an AI email builder (beta) in Run The Day’s registration platform. Even better, I've included a prompt below that you can paste directly into the builder so that AI writes the email for you.

So instead of starting from a blank screen, you just describe what you want the email to include — the race details, the price deadline or coupon code — and let the AI design and write it for you.

You can still edit everything, of course, and since it's still new, don't expect it to be perfect. But it gets you 90% of the way there in a fraction of the time.

Better yet: take one hour, sit down with the AI, and knock out all your emails for a race at once — then schedule them to go out on their own. Set it and forget it.

For me, the real win is staying in a flow state. Whenever I get stuck, I just ask AI to give me a nudge, and then I'm off again — writing, or onto my next task.

I don't lose my afternoon to a single promotional email anymore.

The goal of our AI email builder is to take care of stuff that just needs to get done, so you can put more of your energy into the parts of organizing a race that actually need you.

— Ian

Ready to Paste Prompt for our AI Email Builder

Create a promotional email for [RACE NAME] with the theme "1 Month to Go!"
Goal: Drive registrations before a price increase.

Key messaging:

Build excitement that the race is just one month away
Create urgency: prices go up $5 in 1 week — register now to lock in the current rate
Reinforce why this race is worth doing (vibe, course, community, swag, finish-line experience)

Must include:

Hero image attached: [UPLOAD IMAGE DIRECTLY WITH PROMPT]
One clear, prominent CTA button: "Register Now & Save $5" linking to [REGISTRATION URL]
A urgency line near the CTA like "Price increases in 7 days"

Tone: Energetic, motivating, and friendly — like a coach hyping you up at the start line.

Structure:

Attention-grabbing subject line + preview text
Hero image
Headline: "Only 1 Month Left!"
Short body copy (excitement + price-increase urgency)
Bold CTA button
Closing reminder of the deadline

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