SPECIAL REPORT: HOW TO GET YOUR E-MAILS OPENED AND READ INTRODUCTION – E-MAIL OVERLOAD
How many times do you go to your email inbox and find dozens of email messages that amount to nothing more than “junk mail”. That doesn’t include the many other kinds of email that require some type of an answer. Unfortunately it has become increasingly more difficult to get emails to be seen by the recipient, let alone to get the messages responded to by the intended receiver. The related email problems that we become victims of, from “spam” and filtering complaints, to the massive amount of messages that flood our email in-boxes every day, we still see email usage increasing at an unprecedented rate. The internet company, Double Click, recently released the results of some email studies they had commissioned. These studies provide some interesting “insights and observations” into how email recipients really feel about marketing related emails, and provides some great intelligence for direct marketers of email. According to Double Click’s studies, consumers increasingly value opt-in (permission-based) email marketing messages and prefer them over the more traditional forms of marketing. Some of Double Click’s findings included 54% of the respondents who said they would like email to replace telemarketing. 45% of the respondents said they would like email to replace in-person sales calls. 40% said they would like email to replace direct mail. While 33% would like to see email replace retail offers and coupons.
The Double Click study also showed that e-mail users have become a lot savvier in managing their email in-boxes and a lot more particular about what they open and respond to: “Email sender recognition and relevant content are the keys to successful e-mail marketing; both have a dramatic impact on likeliness to open and convert”
STYLE AND TONE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EMAILS
Don’t consider email as just an informal way to communicate.
In numerous court cases email has been considered a legally binding document.
Always use an appropriate greeting to start – for immediate
friends, more informal greetings are fine. For example, “Dear Elizabeth”, “Hi Elizabeth,” or just plain “Elizabeth” is O.k. In a formal relationship use “Mr, “ “Ms”, “Miss”, or “The Honorable”, or “Dr” just like you were writing a letter. People enjoy being addressed properly, and typing a polite salutation takes very little time and is appreciated by the recipient.
Be careful about emails you forward! Don’t forward emails
that can be considered libelous or obscene.
Be a warrior and obsessive about grammar and spelling. Don’t
look stupid or give the impression that you don’t care. Double and triple check your emails before you push the “send” button.
Don’t go overboard with using Capitalizations, excessive
punctuation marks, or emotion signaling graphics.
No excessively lengthy paragraphs. Remember: Internet users
skim the copy on the web; they don’t necessarily read every word. As a general rule of thumb, try keeping the paragraphs in your emails to no more than six lines.
Create emails that are conversational. Keep your message
short, and get to the point quickly.
Remember you must come across as a real person. The
conversational tenor of your email should come across like you are talking to a person in a lounge or a bar for an after work drink! The recipient wants to believe you. Your “believability” is the equity you create for yourself.
Stay focused with your email. Stay on point, and don’t deviate
from your central theme.
Write like you are familiar with your targeted audience, and
use everyday words and phrases.
Let’s examine some of the critical ways we can improve our email applications and conversation, and overcome the roadblocks and challenges that we face in using e-mail.
White Listing Information The recipient of your email message and the “spam filters” both use the “from line”. The “spam filters” use the “from” field to determine if the email address has been “white listed” or added to the approved contacts list. The recipients uses the “From” field to determine whether to delete the email.
I have seen many web pages that show full screen shots of every possible email program, along with every anti-spam program that has ever been listed
Somewhere on the internet. These sites only serve one purpose, and that is to confuse you.
The simplest and the clearest explanation I have seen in showing subscribers how to white list your emails, newsletters, opt-in offers, etc. is through a free service from http://www.cleanmymailbox.com. Go directly to their white listing information page at: http://cleanmymailbox.com/whitelist.html
White listing instructions are also provided for some of the filtering services such as: Spam Killer, Mail Washer, and spam assassin.cleanmymailbox.com also includes specific white listing instructions for Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
CARDINAL RULES ABOUT THE “FROM LINE”
Include your brand in your “From Line” – The dictionary defines brand as “a distinctive name or category, a trademark, a product line so identified”
Be sure that your “from Line” includes your name, address, and your product or service name. The point is to use the name that the intended recipient of the email is the most familiar with, whether it is the product name, a service you provide, or a unique line of products your company sells. Building name familiarity with your company is critically important in getting your emails opened.
A short tag line that is unique to your business would be helpful in the branding process. For example, Allstate Insurance uses the tag line, “good hands with Allstate”. UPS used to have the tag line, “x tightest ship in the shipping business”
Resonating a tag line, while branding your products, will help to build name recognition and name familiarity over time.
Try to use a name in the “FROM” line of your email message. For example, “from: Martin Drazek, Zenith Inc.” The more you can personalize any component part of the e-mail message where it is appropriate, please try to do so. The odds of you getting your emails read go way up when personalization is included in your message. Most people would delete an e-message like this: “FROM: a39df438@mybiz.com” Your email recipients perception when they see the “from line” must mean more than “buy this”, a “free offer” or some kind of “special deal”. The message you send must be personally meaningful and considered by the recipient to have valuable information attached to it. You are trying to build trust with your customer. Information messages that they consider valuable help build this bond.
Be creative and try using the word “team” in the “From Line” field. As you think of a team it conjures up the idea of people working together in a coordinated effort. For Example, “from: the e-mailer analysis team,” At http://www.emailersdirect .com
The importance of the “From Line” cannot be over emphasized. Sixtythree per cent of the respondents in the Double Click consumer email studies indicated that the “From Line” determines if they are going to open the mail or trash it.
Remember, the “From Line” should subscribe to the following tenants: It should be as short as possible.
It should include the organization brand name, as well as, the all important email address.
You need to show consistency from one mailing to the next.
Format, layout, wording and size should show a familiar pattern, or recognizable email presentation.
CARDINAL RULES ABOUT THE “SUBJECT LINE”
Email formatting, the email message, and the targeted audience selected are all important criteria in developing your email broadcasts. However, it is the “Subject Line” that usually determines whether or not your email gets opened. It usually takes a person about one second in determining whether or not to keep your message. A well thought out “subject line” can push your message from received to open status just as quickly. Weak, unimaginative, dull or uninspiring” subject lines” are headed for the junk mail without ever being opened. Remember, the recipient of your email doesn’t decide whether or not to keep your message in a vacuum. His or her decision is based on a number of considerations including the quantity of email they have received, their limited time constraints, the priority they give to other competing emails, and their personal preferences. Based on our experiences and observations we’ve identified a number of critical factors that can help to improve your subject lines effectiveness: Create curiosity about the subject line and engage the recipient’s natural “nosiness” about what’s on the inside.
Make your subject lines “blind” by not revealing up front what your content is about. One of the ways to accomplish this is by asking a question?
Keep it short and simple. Winston Churchill many times would tell aspiring candidates for a seat in parliament that they would never get in trouble “for saying to little.” Sixty-one per cent of respondents say that offering a specific benefit or offer of a discount motivates them to open permission-based email. Remember why most people visit the internet in the first place. They are seeking information. Providing a “subject line” in the body of your e-mail that leads them to free information will help you to begin building a relationship while at the same time they will they will consider you an expert.
Look at the following subject line examples:
“How to baby proof your house in ten easy steps.” “Where to find proven email sales letters” “How to reduce your electric bills by 20%” “Where you can find help in increasing your sex urge.” “Who else is lying to us about rising gas prices?” “If you read nothing else today, read this report on gas prices.” “Five essential elements for planting your garden.” Surround your headlines with quotes, and make them look different! Here are some subject line examples:
“No time for exercise?”
“Learn the secrets to renting e-mail lists”
“Need to finally lose weight?”
“Want to sell more of your green thumb secrets?”
“Are you ready for a better body?”
“Are you searching for a new mate?”
Using facts and figures in your “subject lines” is many times more effective. Look at the following examples:
Lose 13 pounds in 30 days.
Increase your productivity by 30%.
10 steps to financial freedom.
40% discount on new cell phones.
15 lessons toward learning Spanish.
If you are trying to appeal to specific segments of the population, or specific demographic groups you can use their names in the subject line. For example if you’re were trying to attract seniors, or moms who work from home, you may want to consider some of the following examples;
“Easily learned computer skills for seniors.”
“Calling all moms who work from home.”
“Seniors only - 40% lower car insurance rates!”
“Work from Home Mom’s who are under loved and under paid.”
Create a strong” call to action” in your “subject line”, by creating a sense of urgency with a time limited offer. Here are some examples:
“Limited time offer…..Act now and Save 60%.”
“Order now and save 40%. “
“The next 50 people to respond receive 50% off.”
Today, providing the customer with something of value is more important than ever. This may include an opt-in offer, a bonus, a special discount offer, free shipping and handling, free gift, a buy one get one free and many other types of offers where the prospect or customer perceives that they are getting something of value. Research shows that when you include a discount (an offer), in the “subject line” marketing success usually increases.
Stay away from Spam triggering words like free, guaranteed, or approved.
Run your email through a spam filter before launching your email campaign. If words get caught in the filter, replace them with alternatives that will pass the filters test. This easy to perform task will save you headaches down the line and will dramatically reduce the risk of your email being labeled as “spam”.
Make sure your subject line is not misleading. Your subject line should always reflect the content of your email. If your customers think they are being tricked or misled in opening your e-mail, they will exit quickly.
Avoid the overuse of capitalization! Capitalization in itself is hard to read, and chances are this extra punctuation will land your email in a junk folder.
Treat your subject line like a “headline “and have someone else edit or review the subject line. It is very important that someone other than the creator of the subject line give it a critical review,
Research has shown that subject lines of less than fifty characters achieve higher open-rates than those longer “subject lines” that exceed fifty characters.
Segment your lists. Capture as much information as possible about your customers and prospects. Whether
it is product preferences, sporting interests, technology curious, demographics or market purchasing. By creating databases with this information you can personalize your emails.
Simply adding a person’s name to the salutation of your e-mail or in your subject line is not considered personalization. Making the subject line relevant to the individual’s preferences is considered personalization.
Some e-mail marketing systems can assemble and broadcast emails with different, personalized subject lines. Personalization helps an organization build customer trust, in developing and creating profitable relationships. With personalization, you can plan, test, create, execute and track targeted personalized email communications.
Be sure to include a prominent privacy statement and an easy opt-out method to use.
Power Words
As you write your emails, you will want to use these power words. Power words are also known as “trigger words,” that can help you increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Here’s a short list of trigger words: Proven Discover How to Affordable Act Now Stunning
You Incredible Amazing Act Now Affordable Bonus Don’t Delay
Achieve Results fast In-minutes Half-Price Stunning Top Ranking Successful
Email Content – Are you tired of looking for new content for your emails or newsletters? Browse this huge database of FREE articles written by some of the internet’s top experts. Perfect if you need content for your website. Located at: http://www.FamilyContent.com Local web Marketing – Having a website means you can market to people throughout the world. But what if you don’t need to market all over the world, but would like to market in your local area. Check out this member’s only website which will teach you the ins and outs of getting local promotion. Http://www.geolocal.com/
HELPFUL ONLINE RESOURCES
Proven Discover Act Now How to Stunning Achieve Incredible Results Fast Timeless Low Price Valuable Affordable, Amazing In-Minutes Half-Price Bonus Top Ranking Don’t Delay Successful Effective Results Fast Fast Acting Wealth
Listed above is just a small sample of proven power words. There are many good books on the subject and I would highly recommend you pick one up and keep it on your bookshelf for those email writing sessions. For some great book ideas check out the list located at http://www.adanalysis.com/05help/books/books.html Ceravue - A competitor to white listing service Habeas has sprung up online. How many more will there be trying to profit from the spam problem we all face? Ceravue’s opt-in certificate tells spam filters which emails are genuine opt-in messages that should be delivered. Ceravue is located at; http://www.tinyurl.com/80cz Online Marketing Tools – A great site loaded with online marketing resources. Make popup windows, CSS, “tell a friend” scripts and so much more you’ll think you’ve died and gone to webmaster heaven. This nifty site is located at; http://www.dotfactor.com/
Helpful at; http://www.geolocal.com/ Running an online business – If you want to learn the ropes of running an online business consider joining Ibbit. This community will allow you to share information and join in the discussion on all topics related internet business. Located at; http://www.ibbit.com
Lyris Spam Checker – This is another helpful online tool for checking you e-mails or newsletters against Spam Assassin. With all of the email filtering going on these days, it’s hard to tell if your intended recipient is really getting your message. Cut and Paste your email or newsletter copy into this Form and Lyris Content Checker will run it through Spam Assassin’s rules to see if it will bypass the filter successfully. You will receive a detailed report that will tell you what red flags your message is triggering and how to correct it. It is not foolproof, but it will insure more subscribers are actually receiving you newsletter. A nifty tool located at: http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker/ Passing the spam filters – Read over these tips if you use AOL, Hotmail, or Yahoo to make sure you’re getting more of the mail
signed up for. And emailers and newsletter publishers will also find this information handy to tell subscribers how to white list their publications. Located at: http://www.sitesell.com/whitelisting.html Answer Tool – If you get as much email as I do, you can spend hours answering the same old emails over and over again. Download this software and save yourself a few keystrokes. A fully functional 15 day trial is available. Located at: http://www.answertool.com FREE e-books – Who says you can’t get anything for free anymore. Now you can search and download hundreds of ebooks broken down by category. This is great if you’re looking for an ebook you can give away as a bonus. Located at: http://www.free-ebooks.net/ McDonalds Goes Wireless –Many McDonald’s
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Federal filing Forms – Save yourself some time with this site that lists the top 100 most requested tax forms here in an easyto-download format. None of us like to think about paying taxes, it is something we just have to do. The site is located here: http://www.fedforms.gov/top100.cfm Open Office – If you are familiar with Microsoft Word you will want to try out this word processor, spreadsheet, and drawing program all rolled into one, without a heavy price. It’s Free! http://www.openoffice.org/