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We all love email. Email is great! Email is fast. Email goes right to the desk of our targeted customer. Email is easy – or is it?
For email marketing to generate the results you want, there’s a bit more work involved than you may think. There are courtesies and rules to be respected, lists to maintain, and always, the dreaded spam filters that keep your important marketing messages from reaching your target.
Marketing Sherpa, a highly respected marketing research firm in Warren, Rhode Island, (http://www.marketingsherpa.com) recently published their Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008.
The Guide is the result of surveys of email marketers and agency pros, consumer surveys, lab tests, and case studies. They conclude that email marketing is still hot, but facing increasing competition for reader attention.
Email has proven so effective, everybody wants a piece of it, and when that works, they try for more. As a result, effectiveness has decreased in the past 12 months.
One of the reasons they noted for the decrease in effectiveness of email marketing is in-box overload. This is becoming a serious problem for some readers.
Some mailers did so well sending once a week, they increased to every day, and in some cases, two and three times a day!
This type of in-box assault is soon viewed by readers as spam. They lose respect for the mailer, and hit “delete.” The old saying, “Don’t wear out your welcome,” is certainly applicable here.
This is just one of the courtesies to remember when using email.
If you’re running a special campaign, you can mail the same content two or even three times. Just mail six to eight weeks apart.
If you do re-mail the same content, re-arrange it somewhat. Eye-tracking heat tests show that on the second and third mailings, the reader’s attention fades until they’re barely scanning the page. When the content is rearranged, they’ll process it as if it’s entirely new to them.
Your recipient will probably remember the first one, but will likely read the second one again. They may have been thinking about the product since your first contact. The second, and even the third email will jog their memory, and they’ll be ready to make a decision.
There are a few essentials you must have in any email for it to pass spam filters, and tell your reader who you are:
- Verifiable IP address.
- An identifiable name, not a nickname or “user name.”
- Directions and a working link for the reader to opt-out of your list.
- Accurate and complete contact information.
- A really good subject line (never mail without a subject line.)
- Avoid using disclaimers: “This email is not spam.” Spammers do this all the time, and it’s a red flag.
Everyone we know is in a hurry. Too much to do. Too much to read. Deadlines. And not enough time to do it all. Consequently, many people who open your email will “preview” it in the small preview pane. This little window is only 2 to 4 inches deep, so not much content shows there.
In that preview, they’ll decide if it’s worth their time to read the whole thing. This is why email marketers need to put a strong lead “above the fold.”
If you’re having a sale, say so right there. If it’s a new product announcement, say that and make it sound exciting.
Be sure the content that follows is rich and worth the reader’s time. Focus on you-oriented benefits, supported by features.
Keep it short. An email is not a place for long copy. Long copy is great for sales letters and web sites, but emails need to be fast. If you have more to say, give them a link to the full text of a well-crafted sales letter, or to your web site where more information is available.
Remember to close with a call to action. People want you to tell them what is expected as a response. If you’re not asking for a response, they’ll wonder why you wrote the email.
Keep all sentences and paragraphs short. They’re easier to read and assimilate quickly. A paragraph should never be more than 3 or 4 lines long.
© Copyright 2008 Pam Magnuson Copywriting
“Email Marketing Essentials for 2008”
-- Published in Natural Products Insider Magazine, Vol. 13, No.2 February, 2008
Everybody loves email marketing. It’s fast, it doesn’t cost much at all, and you can write a really heart-felt message. You can write a message you hope every one on your list will read. But, will they?
It can be a major problem. How do you get recipients to open your important message?
Look at your own in-box in the morning. Ping, ping, ping, ping...here they all come—six eight, ten, and more! Plus the phone is already ringing; you have a meeting at 10:00, and unfinished projects sitting on your desk. So, you quickly scan the subject lines. You probably check first for replies to your mail, and then look for any fires that need to be put out. Then you check the others, with your finger over the delete button, ready to make that split second decision to open or delete.
How the subject line is written will be the key to whether or not you hit the delete button or choose to open an email.
What words will persuade you to open that email? If the subject line appeals to human nature, by using the psychology of emotions, you probably will open.
Good subject lines utilize emotions:
- Curiosity
- Ego
- Greed
There are a whole host of others, of course, but these are some of the most powerful.
People are insatiably curious. They are compelled to find out what the secret is, what the new discovery is, what 20 million people know that they don’t know. They want to learn why things happen. If everyone on the street is looking up at the sky wouldn’t you look up, too?
Here are two subject lines. Which one do you think will get opened?
Internet marketing study
How one company increased their ROI by 167% in just one week!
Or try these two:
New product announcement
Test results are in. Find out who the big winner is.
Here’s another example:
Pam, I didn’t want you to miss this one.
That perks my interest! Miss what? What’s he talking about? Of course I’ll open it. Wouldn’t you? Down inside, I know he’s sending me another sales letter, but what might I be missing out on? Click. Open.
Try using curiosity in your subject lines, and see how your open rates soar.
Every one likes to feel they’re important to someone. We like to feel we’re special in some way. You can use this very effectively in your subject lines. The caution would be, however, to not overdo it. If you use it every time, your reader will feel betrayed. He’ll quickly feel you don’t really mean it.
Here’s a couple of examples:
Teleseminar announcement
Pam, only a select group is invited.
The first one sounds boring. But, the second one is designed to make me feel special. Well, we know the “select group” is everyone on his mailing list, but it still intrigues me. Click. Open.
Or, how about this approach?
Marketing seminar
Pam, your marketing skills put you in a special category.
That’s almost blatant, but even so, someone noticed my marketing skills? I’m flattered. Click. Open.
Which email are your going to open? Even when you recognize the technique, you’ll open the one that appeals to your vanity.
It sounds like a dirty word, but it isn’t. Greed is a survival instinct. We want from the minute we’re born. It’s perfectly acceptable to want more than you have today. This can also be called ambition, and that’s a good thing.
Here’s a couple of ways this could work:
Free Marketing Seminar with Jay Abraham
Jay Abraham will show you how to move up the corporate ladder fast.
Everybody knows Jay Abraham is the final word in successful marketing -- the “Big Name” guy.The first example is interesting because it’s free. But, hold on a minute. I’d like to move up the corporate ladder, more money, more prestige, more perks. Yes, I’ll look at that one. Click. Open.
Try these two:
Free Marketing Seminar with Jay Abraham
Your boss will think you’re brilliant when you use these marketing secrets.
This one is a bit subtler, but greed is still the hook. If my boss will think I’m brilliant, that’s going to look really good at the next salary review. I’d better open this one
Click. Open.
There’s another great way to tantalize readers into opening your email message. Ask a question. This could fall into the curiosity category, but it’s so powerful, it deserves its own space.
Here are a couple of examples:
Free Marketing Seminar with Jay Abraham
What’s the easiest way to increase trade show booth attendance?
Or this one:
Free Marketing Seminar with Jay Abraham
What secret marketing skill will triple your responses?
© Copyright 2008 Pam Magnuson Copywriting
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