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More companies
are sending out more emails, but less customers are responding to their
communications. The days of the novelty of email advertising are long gone, and
unless you have an approach that is much better than your competitors (and there
are many out there!), your emails will end up in the “deleted items” box.
How much is too much? A recent survey of those online showed that most people
believe that they receive too many email offers in their mailbox. The average
number of email offers they received? 110 per week.
Source: Forrester Research
The first point of contact with potential clients is the subject line of your
emails. This subject line is vital for several reasons:
-It has to get past Spam filters (see lesson five for details)
-It has to reach an audience that is literally bombarded with email advertising
(65% of the data sent through most ISPs are advertising according to one recent
study) and convince them to open your email
-It creates an initial impression about your business
You have 40-60 letters (roughly eight to ten words) to accomplish all of the
above. This is why the art of writing excellent subject lines is one that takes
time and practice. But don’t feel that it’s impossible; by following some of the
tips here, yours will be better than your competition’s from the start, and your
response rates will be higher than average. Rule number one: offer them
something they actually want.
If you’ve read our previous lessons, then you’re way ahead of the crowd of other
people marketing their products out there. You’ve done your homework, targeted
your audience, and created an opt-in list. You’ve already won the most important
battle of all, because simply put, people don’t want to receive emails that
offer something they aren’t interested in. This concept should be engraved
in stone, and memorized by every serious marketer, because ignoring this rule
creates annoyance, anger, and a negative perception of your firm that will
linger long after the email is gone.
You could create the most powerful marketing message on earth, create a killer
subject line, and your email will be instantly deleted if the reader isn’t
interested in the topic it addresses. If it’s wintertime in Minnesota, you’ll
have a poor response rate if you are trying to sell suntan lotion! And you won’t
sell car insurance to someone who can’t drive.
Conversely, people are interested in learning about topics that address their
needs, and if you’ve done your research, and your emails and subject lines
reflect those needs, your response rates will be much higher than the average.
Know your customers, and write subject lines that demonstrate that you do. Use
their language. Are you selling software to IT firms? Then sit down, and think
about how your software solves their specific problems. Write your email body
with compelling copy (see lesson four for tips). Now, take the longest time of
all, and create a subject line that summarizes the main solution to their
problem. “Great software promotion” will have a much lower response rate than
“Decrease your server downtime with monitoring software…”
Don’t over-generalize your subject lines. Hone them to a fine point.
Instead of saying, “A Software Solution That Gets Results!” (What results? What
type of solution?) try to be as specific as possible. A better subject line
would be: “Our Server Monitoring Software Decreases Downtime by 15%”. This
headline will get the attention of anyone in the software industry interested in
saving time and preventing their server going down. They will click to see how
it does this, and what features it contains.
Or, you may sell craft supplies. Instead of saying, “Great yarns at special
prices!”, why not be a bit more specific? “Over 450 specialty yarns at a 10%
discount over store prices” would tweak the interest of a knitter, and encourage
her to learn more. Or better yet, offer information: “Ten Knitting Tips from
Experts.” What knitter could resist opening that one?
Rule number two: personalize your subject lines.
In marketing test after marketing test, it has been found that personalized
subject lines generate higher response rates than unpersonalized ones. While you
won’t want to personalize every email you send out, it can be one method of
increasing the chances that your emails will be opened.
I’m not suggesting dishonest Spam techniques (see rule three below) that imply
that you are replying to a message they sent you, such as “Mary, here’s the
information that you requested” (unless you want to anger Mary and ensure that
your address is put on her ‘blocked’ list).
But to say, “Mary, Did You Know That Mortgage Rates Dropped to 2.5% This Week?”
is likely to have a higher response rate that an unpersonalized subject line.
Another hugely successful method of personalization that is underused is
addressing the reader’s role. “Information that IT managers need to know about
server performance…” This subject line just got the attention of every IT
manager on your list, since they aren’t used to getting emails addressed to them
(and they feel slightly flattered that you singled them out), and targets your
message to those most likely to use your service.
Rule three: pique their curiosity.
People are by nature highly curious, and a good subject line can play on this
trait. “How to Increase Your Marketing List” is a subject line that will perk
the interest of those who want and need to know this information. Maybe, just
maybe, you will have information that they haven’t heard before, information
that could be useful. Just be sure to deliver on your promise (see rule four) by
offering them some useful tips or a great article along with your ad.
Another example of a classic use of curiosity is the famous headline, “Health
Secrets Your Doctor Won’t Tell You.” What secrets? What is he keeping from me?
These questions are all raised, and people will click to see the answer.
You can even use a targeted question to generate curiosity: “Do You Know How to
Lower Your Monthly Car Payments?” or “Do You Know the Five Secrets to Finding a
Life Partner?” will certainly interest people in those target markets, and they
will be likely to click to find the answers.
Rule four: Be honest.
This rule goes hand-in-glove with rule number five (don’t Spam, or look like
Spam). Honesty really is the best policy, both online and offline, and while
guerrilla techniques may work for a short period of time, customers catch on
fairly fast, and the same technique won’t work the second time.
Don’t create emails with dishonest subject lines (“Susie, about the conversation
we had the other day…”, or “You’ve Just Received Payment…” or even blank subject
lines). These are cheap tricks, and outrage customers. If you trick them with
your subject line, how honest a firm can you be? Always use your true address;
don’t hide or use fraudulent ones.
Finally, never promise something in the subject line that you don’t deliver. If
you promise information on mortgage rates, give it in the email. If you promise
a white paper, have a link to download it. If you ask a question in the subject
line, answer it in your email.
If your subject lines are honest, and reflect what your email is really about,
you will create a positive impression in customer’s minds, and they will be more
interested in doing business with you. Reliability and concern about scams is
one of the greatest issues identified as blocking customer willingness to buy
online. Why destroy that from the start? Instead, be honest, clear, and target
clients who want/need your product and service, and they will see you as honest,
reliable, and someone they might be willing to do business with.
Rule five: Don’t look like Spam.
Spam is often mentioned by the increasingly sophisticated online consumer in the
same tone of voice reserved for cockroaches and disease-carrying rats. It
creates a very negative perception of a business, and many people automatically
delete emails with Spammy subject lines (you know, the ones that scream, “MAKE
$10,000 A WEEK WORKING FROM HOME!!!” , “Free Discount if you order today!” or
“We Have an Offer For You”. Subject lines like this are guaranteed to cause
instant deletion, and blocking of your email address.
Don’t let your email get unfairly lumped into the “Spam” box. Instead, try your
utmost to avoid Spam words in your subject lines (see lesson five for more
details), and be sure to only send out to a targeted, opt-in list. By creating
targeted subject lines that address concerns that your audience has, you’ll
avoid creating a headline that sounds like Spam, and increase the chances that
your email will be opened.
Rule six: put the most important words first.
People can often vary how wide the subject lines in their mailboxes are, and
sometimes only the first five or six words will be seen. Place the most crucial
parts of your message at the beginning of the subject line, and chances are
greater that people will see it and open it.
Instead of “We have a great promotion on software products”, you should write
”Monitoring Software Decreases Server Downtime in Recent Study.” Even if “recent
study” gets cut off, you communicated in the first five words what your product
is, and what it does.
Rule seven: test your results.
While we often test our emails, we forget to try different subject lines, and
test them against one another. Often, simply changing a subject line can improve
results dramatically-but will you know this if you don’t test them? There are
many, many methods of tracking email response rates (hyperTracker and
GetResponse! are just a few of the companies that offer this feature). Your bulk
mailer company can also do this for you if you’ve hired one (and if you plan to
do serious email marketing, this is highly recommended).
Researching what works, and what doesn’t, can help you increase the
effectiveness of your marketing efforts, and save you a lot of wasted time.
You’ll learn which subject lines cause customers to open your emails and read
further. You should test any of your marketing online, because in the long run,
it will save you money. You can stop and delete ineffective campaigns, and focus
on those that work.
This was lesson two in our series, “Email Marketing Techniques.”
Be sure to look for lesson three, in which we discuss “Email
Marketing Strategies That Work”.
Email Marketing Tutorial Contents: 1
Basic Rules of Email Marketing
2
Building Your Email Mailing List
3
Email Marketing Strategies That Work
4
How To Write Irresistible Emails
5
Avoiding SPAM Traps: Trigger Words That Filter Emails
6
The Real Truth About Direct Email and Email Lists
7
Creating Compelling Subject Lines (That Will Ensure Your Emails Get Opened) |
