Most business professionals would agree that email is the weapon du jour in their marketing arsenal. Can you think of a better way to reach millions of people for a reasonable price?
But here is the problem. The more emails people receive, the less attention they pay to each individual message. It means that marketers are facing the challenge of setting themselves apart in a highly-competitive marketplace.
From experience, I know that promotional emails usually generate a response rate between 1 and 20 percent. Some emails do better than others. The way you present information in your copy can determine whether your message ends up at the top or the bottom of that range. That’s why it is essential to maximize the number of email recipients who open your message and click-though to your website.
I hope a few simple strategies below will guide you in the right direction and help you connect with your readers on a deeper level.
1. First and foremost, never send any emails without including an opt-out option. Your recipients should have the option of unsubscribing from your messages. All you have to do is say: “If you no longer wish to receive our monthly correspondence, just click on the link below. Your name will be removed from our database.”
2. I recommend that you maintain a friendly, helpful and educational tone throughout your message. Avoid using promotional rhetoric or hard-sell techniques. Imagine you are having a friendly conversation with a friend. There is no need to use fancy expressions or complicated words. That’s not a place to impress people with your vocabulary or a strong command of the English language.
3. Come up with a short but powerful subject line that grabs attention and resonates with your target audience. For example: “Ten Proven Strategies to Land a Job in a Down Economy.” If you have a strong offer you can put in the subject line or the headline. You don’t have to bury it midway in the text. The headline should state the biggest benefit upfront.
4. In the first paragraph, deliver a mini-version of your complete message. State the offer and provide an immediate response mechanism, such as clicking on a link connected to your Web page. This appeals to Internet prospects with short attention spans.
5. Don’t forget about the value of viral marketing. Encourage your readers to forward your message to their friends, colleagues or loved ones who might benefit from your information, products or services.
6. Your emails should be well-written. Let me assure you that poor writing skills might preclude you from capturing and holding people’s attention. Therefore, you need strong copy in your emails. Make sure your writers have the training and aptitude to do a great job. Believe it or not, the way they write can determine the outcome of your marketing efforts.
7. I suggest you keep your sentence length to 60 characters. Make sure the whole line gets displayed on the screen without odd text breaks. Regardless of length, get the most important points across quickly.
8. As with printed direct mail, offers that contain some sort of a “bribe” are extremely effective (i.e. a discount, free gift, free shipping and handling, etc.). Despite the fact that “FREE” is a proven, powerful response-booster in traditional direct marketing, some e-marketers avoid using the word “FREE” in the subject line. Here is why. An overwhelming number of Internet users have the “spam filter” software set up on their computers. These filters carefully screen all incoming e-mails. Any messages with “FREE” in the subject line are categorized as promotional and get eliminated.
Concluding thoughts:
There is a raging battle going on for the attention of anyone who has an email box. If you target your emails more carefully, keep them focused, and clearly articulate your offer, your prospects will reward you by paying more attention to your messages and maybe even purchasing your products and services. Just make sure that your writing is of high-quality.
Good luck with your endeavors!
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Angela Kambarian is a President of Essential Communications in Long Beach NY. She provides marketing consulting and writes results-driven marketing materials for companies, organizations and entrepreneurs across the country.
Website address: www.kambarian.com
