Entries Tagged 'email marketing' ↓

There are three things every email marketer wants to achieve:

• They want their message to be delivered
• They want to establish a relationship of trust with their mailing list
• They want their emails to be read

But, if you want to become known as an email spammer that won’t be important to you. You won’t care about your recipient. You’ll go out of your way to send annoying emails. You will want them to unsubscribe from or block your messages.

To help you become a spammer extraordinaire, just follow these tips:

1. Never use a real name

Don’t you just hate it when you get emails from real people? Wouldn’t it be better to conceal your true identity?

Who cares if your email shows it’s come from Sally Ormond or Briar Copywriting? It would be much better to use something like ‘Bulk’, ‘List’, ‘Blank’. The recipient will never guess it’s a spam email with a senders name like that.

2. Make sure your subject line rings alarm bells

Subject lines that make sense are so boring. It’s much better to use something nonsensical – Brodie tell freelancecopywriter.com – fab! That tells the reader absolutely nothing. Of course, if you really want to get their attention THERE’S NO BETTER WAY THAN USING CAPITAL LETTERS!!!

3. Don’t send it to real people

Do you really want to spend time making sure you have a real person’s name in your recipient’s email address? Of course not. Just sent them out to generic addresses. Yes, some might get stuck in spam filters but there’ll be some that get through.

4. Use catch phrases where possible

Why waste your time trying to come up with a strong subject line that is informative and eye catching? Go with the good old ‘free’, ‘cheap’, ‘GUARANTEED’, ‘no obligation’. It’s not as if your recipients are going to be bright enough to work out we only use those words to make them open our emails.

5. Don’t worry about the quality of your copy

People always bang on about making sure you proofread everything. What’s the harm in the odd spelling mistake, punctuation balls-up or grammatical error? They’ll be so busy they won’t even notice.

6. Don’t get cocky

If you’re confident in your writing you’ll make your reader think you know what you’re taking about.

Keep it vague. Use words like ‘I was wondering’, ‘perhaps you could’ – I mean, it’s not as if we want the reader to take action is it?

7. Send it to anyone

I’m not into all this sending information only to those who are interested. How do you know if someone is interested or not? I mean, it’s like those emails you get from SEO companies. It’s not like they’ve got time to check to see if the company they’re mailing out to is on the front page of Google or not is it? OK, so the copywriter we emailed was on the front page for the term ‘copywriter’ but I bet there are some terms they’re not on the front page for. That’s why it’s important to be vague in your email – specifics will only cause problems.

Why do you need to know this?

If you want to become known as a spammer, these 7 tips will help you.

But if you want to avoid that particular tag, remember:

• always use a real name in the sender field
• ensure your subject lines make sense, are informative and don’t use capital letters
• send your emails to a real address including a persons name
• avoid catch phrases and words like ‘free’ ‘cheap’ ‘GUARANTEED’
• make sure you proofread before sending out your email
• write with confidence, if you want your reader to take action, tell them
• make sure your email only goes to those who would be interested/or would benefit from your product/service

The advent of email marketing has revolutionised the way many businesses market themselves today.

Never before have you been able to market to so many people, so quickly and cheaply.

But as well as being one of the most efficient forms of marketing, it can also be one of the most damaging if you get it wrong.

How to get email marketing right

One of the most important aspects of email marketing is your list. Yes, you could take a short cut and go and buy yourself a mailing list, but will that really work?

By far the best mailing list you can have is your own in-house list. Yes, it will take time to build but its quality will be far superior to anything you can ‘buy off the shelf’.

Of course, to do this you have to get people to part with their email addresses which isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ll have to offer them something worthwhile – great information, fantastic tips, special offers.

How to generate sign ups and keep them

I have put together 7 simple steps to help you get your email marketing right. Follow these and you’ll increase your sign ups and keep them subscribed.

1. Make is easy

If you want someone to sign up for your newsletter/email marketing, you have to make it easy for them.

Just ask for their email address – at this stage you don’t need anything else. Long forms asking for loads of information will not be attractive. Remember at this stage you’re not looking at generating leads, all you want is an email address so you can add value to your relationship with them.

Also, make sure you reassure them you won’t spam or pass on their details to a third party.

2. Sign them up

A visitor to your website isn’t going to hunt round it for your sign up box. So, you have to make sure your sign up box is prominent. You could place it on every page of your website, but why not also have it on your order form or even in your comments section.

That way, whenever they interact with you, you are giving them the opportunity to opt in to your mailing list.

3. Use a reliable service

There’s nothing worse than collecting loads of email addresses and then using a service that is going to constantly let you down.

You need one you can rely on to produce attractive and robust email/newsletter templates that are delivered first time, every time. I would recommend the Aweber service.

4. Work on your subject lines

Your subject line has to grab your recipient’s interest if you want them to open it. Don’t use anything spammy – go for things like ‘Tips’, ‘How to’, ‘Discover’, ‘Learn’.

If your company’s brand is well known, use it in your subject line so it is instantly recognisable as something to be read.

5. Make an impact

Most people, when they open your email, will just quickly scan the first few lines to see if it’s worth spending time on. So make sure your important information comes first.

Hit them hard and fast – grab their attention and draw them into the rest of your message.

6. Test

The best way to hone your email marketing skills is to split test. Divide your mailing in two and send out the same email but with two different subject lines.

Monitor which has the best open rate – learn what generates the best response and continually develop it. Over time you’ll begin to create powerful emails that really sell.

7. Make sure you give value

If you want people to subscribe and stay subscribed, you have to give them great information.

Sending them constant sales messages will just turn them off. You need to listen to them, give them information that will be of use to them. If your customer service team are fielding the same questions over and over again, use this in your marketing. Answer their questions and show them you listen.

If you get your email marketing right, you’ll develop strong and loyal relationships with your customers and boost your sales. You’ll become a name they know and trust. But it is all too easy to get it wrong.

Test, reliable services, great offers, valuable information – these are the things that will make your marketing work.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

If, as a business, you have decided to enter the world of email marketing, there are a few things you should know.

• It is relatively cheap
• It is quick
• You can reach a wide audience in one go
• You can get information out quickly

But to get the full benefit of email marketing your approach has to be consistent. Your customers like consistency and reliability.

Follow up

Email marketing is ideal for communicating an offer to your customer base. It could be a discount or special offer or it could be in the form of information – a new report, case study or reference manual.

When your flood of responses arrive all wanting a copy, you must make sure every request is actioned. Being short handed isn’t an excuse. Your customers will expect you to have planned ahead – if it was a winning offer, they would assume you’d have enough staff on hand to deal with the enquiries. After all, a great offer isn’t any good if you don’t have the man power to deal with it.

Announcing…

Email marketing is also a great way to communicate new events, future offers, products or improved products. Why not survey your customers by using an online free service such as Survey Monkey. That way you’ll get feedback directly from your customers which you can use to enhance your products and services.

Keeping your customers informed in this way will show them you care; you have their best interests at heart and should you happen to get a few extra sales along the way, even better.

Reciprocity

That is one of my favourite words referring to good old fashioned ‘give and take’.

By sending out weekly, bi-weekly or monthly tips to your mailing list, you are building a relationship of trust. You are giving them something for nothing – a very powerful thing.

Of course, what goes around comes around, so if you are seen giving them extra information free of charge, they are more likely to come to you when they need your products and services.

Keeping regular

A monthly newsletter to your customers is always a great idea. They hear from you regularly. You can use it to give more general information they may find useful. In an earlier post I mentioned the importance of segmenting your mailing list. Your newsletter is your opportunity to pop up into your list’s inbox regularly with fantastic information.

But, if you are going to do a newsletter, make sure you do send it regularly (whether monthly or bi-monthly). People will begin to expect it and if it suddenly doesn’t show up, they could be left wondering what’s happened – perhaps you’ve gone out of business?

It takes time to put together a great newsletter, but the effort will be worth it. That regular contact will ensure your company is always in the back of their minds.

Announcing…

Finally, another great benefit of email marketing is that it allows you to shout about your new products, services and offers.

Your mailing list will be the first to know what is happening. Give them an early bird offer to make them feel valued and to encourage them to remain subscribed to your mailing list.

Why you need to know this

If email marketing is done badly, it could harm your business. Done well, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

Keeping in touch with new, prospective and existing customers has always been a headache. How much contact is too much? Should you contact them after they have purchased? Will it seem pushy if you continue to ‘pester’ them?

However, marketing to your existing customer base remains one of the most effective ways to promote your products and services.

After all, if they’ve bought from you once, they probably will again.

Be careful what you say

Although many more businesses today are turning to email marketing as a quick, effective, and relatively inexpensive method of promoting their products, they make one fatal mistake.

When an email campaign fails to deliver the expected return, it’s all too easy to blame:

• the copy of the email
• the subject line of the email
• the day it was sent out on
• the time it was sent
• the offer it contained.

Yes, some of these could have an effect if you don’t get them right, but there is a fundamental aspect of email marketing that is more likely to blame.

It is an error that is seen time and time again. What’s more, it occurs because the business doesn’t have the right tools for the job.

If you look at your mailing list, not everyone is going to be interested in the same information. For example if you run a pet supplies company, some of your customers will be interested in supplies for their cats, some for their dogs and some for their horses.

So if you have an offer on dog collars and you send that out to everyone on your list, it will only appeal to about a third of those people contacted.

If people on your list are constantly being sent information they don’t want or need, there is a good chance that your email will either be deleted (best case scenario) or they’ll unsubscribe.

Email marketing is great if you send the right information to the right people.

Divide and conquer

The key is to devise campaigns that are only sent to the customers who are likely to be interested in them. Now, not all software will allow you to do this and some of you will have vast mailing lists which makes it an impossible task to do manually. But, if you can do it, it will make a world of difference to your response rate.

So, your dog collar promotion will only go out to your dog owners. By tailoring your marketing to the direct needs of your customers, you are maximising your opportunities of making a sale. This will also have the effect of ensuring the information you send is relevant, of interest and therefore will enhance your relationship with them.

If you ignore this and simply bang out emails again and again to your entire list, you’ll start to alienate yourself. No one wants their inbox filled with ‘rubbish’.

A monthly general newsletter to your entire list will keep regular contact with everyone (just try to make sure there is something for everyone in it). This is great to keep the name of your business in their mind so when they are ready to make a purchase they will (hopefully) come to you. But special offers must be segmented.

Why do you need to know this?

Email marketing is a very efficient way of promotion and selling, but the blanket approach will do more harm than good.

If you consistently send information to people who don’t want it, they’ll unsubscribe. It will come across as though your organisation is remote and out of touch. Taking the effort to tailor your message to your recipients will enhance your chances of a sale and strengthen your relationship with them. You will come across as someone who cares, someone who doesn’t send them useless information and only sends things that you know are relevant to them.

So if your email campaign doesn’t perform as you expect, don’t immediately blame the copy, subject line or offer; take a look at who  you sent it to. That could be where the problem lies.

Email marketing is fast becoming the new black. It’s been around for a while but companies are now beginning to understand the potential it has.

In the past your mailings involved folding copious numbers of letters, sticking them in envelopes and slapping on stamps – today you simply spend a bit of time crafting your email and pressing send.

But how do you stop your email going directly into the delete file?

It’s all in the opening

The first thing your recipient will see is the sender’s name and subject line. So how do you make sure you pique his curiosity sufficiently to click on your email and open it?

Take Henry here for instance. He’s been tasked to come up with an email that will knock his customer’s socks off. 

He works for a washing power factory. His company has come up with a new detergent that will banish every stain known to man. To help him out, I have emailed him 10 little words that should him create something amazing.

———————————————–

Sender: sally@briarcopywriting.com

Subject: At last, the words you need to succeed

Hi Henry,

I thought you might find this list of words useful when putting together your sales email today. As a copywriter I find them invaluable when creating email campaigns for my clients. Try them out and see how you get on.

1. Advice – this indicates you’ll be sharing something really useful “Advice for getting your whites white”
2. Why – this indicates they’ll learn something new “Why stains will be a thing of the past”
3. At last – this indicates that it’s finally here “At last a washing powder you can trust”
4. Introducing – this gives you the opportunity to use your product name or company name “Introducing Magic White”
5. How to – everyone loves to learn things “How to get whites white first time”
6. How – very similar to the previous one but allows a more subtle introduction “How you can banish stains forever”
7. Announcing – this can be used as an effective teaser because you don’t have to include your products name “Announcing the latest laundry technology”
8. Which – this will get their interest because they’ll want to know if there is something new they need to know “Which powder banishes stains every time?”
9. New – This is an old one but a good one because everyone loves something that’s new “New advanced formula that banishes stains”
10. Now – this is one of the most powerful three letter words used by copywriters “Now you too can have whiter whites”

I’m sure you can come up with some better lines than the ones I’ve written above – they are just there to illustrate how the words work.

The other thing to remember is to keep your subject line to 40 characters or less so it doesn’t get truncated.

Remember Henry, the subject line is all that stands between your email and the delete file. It should be short, directed at your reader and instantly attention grabbing.

These 10 little words are tried and tested and get results again and again. Give them a go and let me know how you get on.

Warm regards,

Sally

Freelance copywriter

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Related posts:

Boost your email open rate

Email your way to success

Email marketing – when’s the best time to send

Work you way towards the perfect email body

Email marketing – why it doesn’t always work

Is email marketing right for you?