Following on from my last post, we were looking into how you can make sure you are getting the most from your email marketing campaigns. Last time, we looked at how you can get the best from your database. This time, I wanted to take a look at the content, and how you can make sure you don’t hit that junk box.
The content, can sometimes be the hardest part of sending an eshot to your customers. You know what you want to say, but don’t know how to say it. For example, you have an offer you think they would be interested in, but you are not sure how to make it sound interesting without it sounding too “salesy”. We all get tonnes of sales messages to our inboxes every day, so it’s important not to just be one more that they move straight to trash. Why not try mixing in some helpful tips and hints into your message, so that it makes it worthwhile for your recipient to read on.
Of course, there’s no point making your content really interesting, if your recipients are all deleting the message as soon as they see it in their inbox. The subject line is what most email programs see first, and is the first hint to what will be in the message. If you fill this with ‘spammy’ words, then they will likely automatically assume your message is junk, and hit delete. Think about it, how many emails do you open starting with the words ‘FREE’, ‘SALE’, ‘Last Chance!’.
The important thing to remember with email marketing is there is not a sure fire solution. Each of your recipients are different and will all react to different messages, so try to vary up the style to try and interest everyone at some point. Just try to follow these three simple rules and you will increase your chances of being read, and not marked as junk..
- Don’t write your subject lines like an advert
- The best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the worst sell what’s inside.
- Add something valuable into your content, like a tip, or helpful hint that would be of use to your recipient
You could also try an A/B Testing tool, where you can send an email with one subject or content to half of your database, and another version to the rest, allowing you to compare those all important open and click rates to see which worked best. This will help you get the most out of your future campaigns.
Next week, I will look at this a little further, and discuss how often you should be sending out eshots, and how to deal with customers when they no longer want to receive your messages.