When you check your email, chances are there are plenty of messages you delete without ever opening. Why? Because you aren’t interested in what they contain. They’re junk mail or they’re trying to sell you something, or maybe you just know they’re going to be boring.
And then there are the ones you ALWAYS open—because you know they’ll either contain important information, they’ll give you instructions about something you need to take care of (online bill-pay, anyone?), or they’ll entertain you.
When you work on email campaigns for your business, one of your goals should be to compose emails that your list can’t wait to get—the ones that they open no matter what. Here are a few pointers for getting to that place with the emails you send.
Creating Killer Email Campaigns
- Let your personality show. Emails aren’t research papers—they shouldn’t bore your list. Let your voice come out, and you’ll be more likely to connect with your readers. If you aren’t inclined toward writing, open a blank document and just start typing your thoughts until you get into a rhythm that feels like comfortable speech. Once you hit that stride, start writing content that can be converted into an email. Remember that you can always edit—just let the juices flow on the first draft.
- Talk to your list. It’s human nature to be interested in yourself more than anyone else. Take advantage of this by speaking to your readers, about your readers in the mail you send them. Rather than focusing on how you fit into whatever you’re writing about, focus on how it affects them.
- Spend some time on your subject lines. Even if your email content is crisp, clear, and sparkling with wit, your list will never see it if they don’t open the message. Devote some time to developing subject lines that grab attention and communicate succinctly what you need to say. This takes some effort, but mastering it is well worth the investment.
- Entertain, inform, or inquire. Don’t feel like you have to send emails to your list just for the heck of it. If you send too many pointless messages, people will learn to discard your electronic letters without opening them. Each of your emails should achieve at least one of three things: entertain your readers, inform your readers (of something worth knowing), or inquire about something (that your readers would be eager to talk about). Ultimately, the goal of these emails will likely also be to sell something; doing at least one of the former will improve your odds of doing the latter.
- Be clear and direct. Respect your list by being as direct and informative as possible in as little space as possible. If you include links in your email, identify where those links will send readers and what they might see on that page.
Emails, of course, are one element of a larger marketing campaign , and as such should help establish and expand the know, like, and trust factor with your list.
Have you encountered any excellent (or sub-par) emails recently? Tell us about them!
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