Entries Tagged 'email copywriting' ↓

Email marketing provides businesses with a quick and inexpensive way to reach hundreds of customers instantly. It has revolutionised marketing – but its impact has also been lessened by the spammers out there.

Spammers are email marketers who fill millions of inboxes with unsolicited messages. The problem is their abuse of the system has made in increasingly difficult for genuine businesses to use this method.

You used to only have to worry about having a strong message to make sure your email got read. Now you have to prove it’s not spam.

What is a spam email?

Spam is unwanted email that is delivered to thousands of recipient simultaneously. Obviously you could argue what constitutes ‘unwanted’ email until the cows come home but as a general rule if the email comes from someone you don’t know it is perceived as spam.

When you should use email…

• To tell your customers about new offers
• When sending advice, useful information to enhance your customer service
• Keeping leads warm by staying in touch
• Following up contacts in a sales campaign (e.g. to encourage sign-ups etc).

All of these have one thing in common – they are concerned with building relationships with your customers and keeping them up to date.

…and when you shouldn’t

• Prospecting – this can be seen as an annoying and impersonal method of initial contact
• Generating leads  – again this is impersonal and your email will be deleted
• Using rented lists – you have no relationship with these contacts so you’ll be seen as a spammer

If you want to market through email your best bet would be to develop your own opt-in list – if you have the recipient’s agreement for you to send information to them they are more likely to buy from you at some point.

Build your own list

Building your own opt-in list is fairly straightforward but it can take time. Therefore you should start immediately rather than wait until you have a campaign in mind.

You can attract opt-ins through your website (give away a free report in exchange for their details), your reply devices and your order forms.

Your request doesn’t have to be complicated, simply:

• Ask for their email address
• Ask for permission to send emails to them
• Tell them exactly what kind of emails you will send them
• Assure them you won’t share their contact details with anyone else

Of course, one thing to remember is that you must create an opt-out. This should consist of a reminder of why they are receiving the emails (i.e. they requested updates) and an opt-out link which will take them through to a webpage which automatically removes them from your mailing list.

Before you know it, you’ll have an in-house marketing list.

Further reading:

Email Marketing – It’s All In The Subject Line

Work You Way Towards The Perfect Email Body

Sally Ormond – Freelance Copywriter

Email is a quick and easy way to get your message out to thousands of people in one hit.

So what do you need?

Well a copywriter is always a good start, but well written sales copy will only get you so far. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if they get a copywriter on board their email marketing campaign will be a sure success.

But come on, this is the murky world of marketing – nothing is that simple. For a campaign to have the highest possible chance of success (there are no guarantees here) there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration.

• Content

Yes, this is a biggy but it’s not the be all and end all by any means. Your copy needs to be strong, compelling and sales orientated (hence the need for a freelance copywriter) with a strong headline and call to action, but it also has to have a ‘human side’. No one likes to think they are being sold something. The content has to be interesting, personable and engaging to give it the best possible chance of getting your message across.

• Offer

Possibly even more important than the writing (did I really say that?) is the offer you are making. If it’s not irresistible it won’t work. And don’t forget it’s your readers that have to find the offer amazing – your opinion doesn’t count. Let’s face it we all think our products and services are the best, but that obviously can’t be true. It doesn’t matter how great you think your offer is, if your reader doesn’t get excited about it your email will end up in the deleted folder.

• List

You can send out the best offer ever written by the world’s top copywriter, but if you are sending it to a ‘bad’ list it won’t work. You have to carefully research your target market to make sure your message is reaching the correct audience.

• HTML

If you are sending an HTML email, have you tested it? Now I’m not an expert in HTML but I do know that not all browsers/email clients view it in the same way. What might look like a stunning email to one recipient may look like a pile of garbage to another. Test your email to make sure it works otherwise your hard work could either end up in a spam filter or deleted file.

• Timing

Timing is everything. Avoid sending out your mailing on a Monday or Friday. The best time to send is mid morning on a Tuesday or Thursday. Also don’t forget that your recipient has a life too. The reason why your email failed to get their attention may be due to factors beyond your control – too busy, having a bad day, going to the wrong person or simply that you’ve contacted a company at a time when they don’t want or need your product.

I’m sure you can think of many more reasons why an email campaign may not work. But I want to get across the fact that you can’t blame one aspect for failure as there may be multiple reasons.

When embarking on a campaign it should be exactly that – a campaign. One email won’t do it. To be highly effective you need to send a series of emails over a time period. Use them to give information as well as sell. By constantly appearing in your reader’s inbox over a period of time increases your chances of being called when they need your particular product or service.

People will only buy if they need your service. It doesn’t matter how attractive your offer is, if they don’t have a need, they won’t buy.

When you think of copywriting services, what springs to mind?

Web copy – newsletters – direct mail – brochures – press releases – articles – blogs – white papers…

Some businesses spend a lot of money hiring freelance copywriters, but they don’t consider doing the same for their email copywriting needs.

Why?

The customers won’t want those emails unless they’re well written. And if they don’t want them, they’ll just unsubscribe and then they’ll be gone – forever.

Having good email copywriting will help your business in the long run, so here are a few tips.

Tell them what to do next

This is vital no matter what form your copywriting takes, but rather than a strong request for a direct action, you require something a bit more gentle. The more information you reveal in your email, the less response you’re going to get. You want your readers to get just a taste of what you’re offering, so they’ll click on your link instead of the delete key. But it still has to be specific enough so the recipient will take action.

Avoid the Spam

You may not be writing Pulitzer Prize novels but you must still pay attention to spelling and punctuation because nothing turns off a reader more than silly typos. You also need to avoid spam filters so watch out for phrases like “risk free” and “order now.”

Don’t go it alone

These very simple steps will help you have more success with your email marketing, but don’t consider getting your freelance copywriter to do the work for you. Your business is well worth the investment, particularly when it comes to excellent email copywriting. Besides, using the services of the same copywriter for your marketing materials will also generate a consistant voice which will help generate a feeling of trust and credibility in the eyes of your customers.