Secrets to Great Email Marketing

How much response do you get to your email marketing efforts?

E-mail marketing efforts are not the same as a traditional marketing effort. DON’T try to use traditional direct mail copy in your email marketing efforts. Even if your direct mail effort was successful.

Keep in mind that the Internet is a different kind of “place.” The marketing copy that pulled a high response and was profitable when mailed might not even get read when it is put in an email.

Your print headline must become a subject line in an email, and you only have three to twelve words to hook your prospect into opening your message. Write a short, emotion driven subject “headline.”

The persuasiveness of the “subject line” determines whether or not your email will get read. Tricky or deceiving headlines that use items that are not related to your message rarely work. Internet users are smart, and their index finger is always aimed at the DELETE key. They resent being tricked. It’s a tough way to start a relationship.

Make your e-mail message personal and compelling. People on the Internet want to be talked to one-on-one, just like the readers of your off-line marketing messages. Use a common conversational tone, and avoid “English Professor” language.

“It is the responsibility of the sender to make sure the receiver understands the message.”
-Joseph Batten

Get to your point quickly, keeping your message short and simple. Put your offer in the top of your email message. Don’t drone on and on for several paragraphs or pages. Most people on the Internet want to read information quickly, so keep it clear and concise. Paragraphs should be no more than 4 - 6 sentences long. Keep the total length under 300 words.

Each email you send should give your prospects a strong offer, and an incentive to act NOW. I’ll say it again: provide a reason to buy or act NOW.

People on the Internet are always in a hurry, and once they close your message they may not ever come back to it again.

You absolutely have to give them a compelling reason to visit your site or buy NOW (limited-time offer, free trial, free shipping, contest, discount, etc.). At a bare minimum, you want them to ask to be sent more educational information, because then you can contact them again and lead them to a sales decision.

What all of this means is that you must always include a call to action. You must tell people what you want them to do and how you want them to do it.

Don’t leave them wondering what to do next. Direct them to what you want them to do. Otherwise they may just surf around and forget about what you’re trying to get them to accomplish. If you don’t give them a strong compelling reason to come back, they may leave your Web site and never come back to buy your products/services.

“Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.”
-Isaac Newton

Use the information on your Web site to close the sale. Your e-mail marketing efforts should be designed only to drive people to your Web site. Don’t try to close the sale in the email. You want people to have more questions. Those questions require answers, and the answers will come with interaction at your Web site. Interaction on your site will promote stronger relationships, and will hopefully lead to future sales.

Your e-mail marketing effort should help build business relationships. Customers are probably not worth having if they are interested in only one visit to your Web site.

Having the objective of a long-term relationship in mind, you can design your “initial contact” emails, and your Web site content in a way that will lead to ongoing sales and profits in the future. Listen to your customers. Treat them like you’d like to be treated, and they will return and buy your products/services.

What can you do to get your e-mail messages opened?