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Writing and sending email messages is easy; crafting
effective messages, on the other hand, can be a challenge. You need to make
sure your message not only says what you want it to say, but that it also
conveys the right impression.
An email full of misspelled words or typos can give a
client the impression that you're careless, and an angry message sent in haste
can jeopardize a relationship that took years to build. Knowing the limitations
of email can help prevent these kinds of disasters.
Grammar. All kinds of rules are broken in
email. Capitalization disappears. Fragments run rampant. Don't forget that the
recipient evaluates you and your company based on your message. Try to remember
to dot your i's and cross your t's.
Spelling. Most email programs offer some type
of spell-check function. Use it. In business correspondence, you want your
words to carry weight, not to highlight your inattention to detail.
Tone. It's much harder to gauge tone in email
than in conversation. Remember that your recipient won't have the benefit of
the cues they would have in conversation. They can't see you wink or hear you
laugh, and the ironic sentiment you mean to convey might be misconstrued. This
doesn't mean you need to write form letters, but be careful.
Emoticons. Although "smileys" or "emoticons"
have become hallmarks of online communication, they're usually inappropriate in
business correspondence. Once you have a solid working relationship, and you
and the client are familiar with each other's style, you can judge whether or
not emoticons are appropriate.
Signature. If you use a preformatted email
signature with your business's contact information, be sure to type your name
at the end of your message as well. Relying on the signature in lieu of your
name can be construed as cold and impersonal.
Subject headers. Providing an accurate subject
header is essential. Many people choose what to open based on the subject line;
blank subject lines or subjects that have little to do with the message
contents are frustrating for the reader.
Think twice. Always reread your outgoing
messages before you send them � especially if you're angry. Email makes it easy
to fire off a message you might regret later. Take a deep breath and reread the
message; if you're still not sure that it's appropriate, save it and return to
it later when your emotions have settled.
12
Common Email Marketing Mistakes Launching an email campaign is like trying get your car rolling from a dead stop. You believe you can manage it all in one push? Nope. It takes time to work up some momentum. Before you achieve a decent speed, you're will start wondering if you are even up to the task. Be patient! Studies have proved the only variable that influences the success of any campaign is the power of your message. So make sure you are saying the right thing. "Uncover the story that is uniquely yours; focus your campaign; commit to your message." And be prepared to give it time. Once you get your momentum, it will be hard to stop it! Sure, along the way you're will have to give the occasional push, but with the momentum established, the job becomes much easier. 2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget will allow This is the reach versus frequency issue. Let's say you are going to buy inventory or place an ad in an email newsletter. You can afford to make 100,000 impressions. Do you go for 10 placements in one newsletter that goes out to 10,000 people, or do you opt for one placement that goes out to 100,000 people? Same number of impressions, but the first option exposes fewer viewers to multiple impressions. Think about it this way: Would you rather reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way of them, or reach 10% of the people and convince all of them all the way? When it comes to maximizing your email marketing efforts, this is a useful analogy: Your message is the nail, repetition is the hammer, and a block of wood is the customer. If the nail is sharp and you hammer effectively, you will pierce through the wood and clinch the customer. Remember this: "Retention fades with sleep." Repetition has its rewards. 3. Assuming the business owner knows best When it comes to stuff in which we you have a huge personal investment (your kids, your homes, your businesses), you risk losing your objectivity. Hey, it's a human thing. Too much knowledge about your company and what you offer leads you to answer questions nobody is asking. When you're inside the bottle, it's hard to read the label. But that's also when you risk pushing your own interests at the expense of your customers' interests. Sometimes it helps to bring in an objective outsider to give you some perspective. 4. Unsubstantiated claims Folks make claims all the time that miss targeting their customers' needs and simply wind up turning them off. Specifics about yourself, your way of doing business and your products are far more persuasive and cut to the chase far more effectively than generalities. So get credibly specific!! 5. Improper use of passive media Passive media are sight-based media - newspapers, magazines, billboards, direct mail, and yes, even email - that require the user to sustain focused attention in order to process the message. Intrusive media are sound-based - radio and television. Sound is heads above sight in its ability to get your message lodged into your customers' brains. The best use of passive media is as a follow-up to intrusive media. This is a toughie, and there's not much you can do about it at this stage of the technological game. It is largely one of those obstacles you have to factor into your marketing equation. Trust me, now is not the time to go lining your emails with .wav files - and that misses the point anyway. The huge advantage of email marketing, passive though it may be, is its relative low cost. It's worth the effort, but be aware of the limitations. Passive media is an effective way to reach those customers who are actively in the market for your product or service. You'll improve the effectiveness of your emails if you can use this to your advantage. Exactness is the key attribute of passive media - you can give a lot of specifics that your potential customers can check as many times as they want, simply by revisiting their online mail boxes. 6. Creating individual emails instead of campaigns. Remember the hammer analogy from last time? Good. Now add this: No single ad constitutes a campaign, Rome wasn't built in a day, and friendship isn't a first-sight phenomenon. You have more to say and more to accomplish than can be said and accomplished in a single email. A very important thing to do as you develop your campaign is build upon your previous (successful) efforts. Your individual emails have to be interconnected, with a logical flow and a united presentation - after all, they are all pieces of that big �puzzle� that is your company. In a way, it's like the old Burma Shave signpost campaign � you want to keep your customers eager and on the lookout for more of what you have to offer. 7. Obedience to unwritten rules. Do you really want to be like everyone else? Do you want to communicate the same message as your competitors? No, of course not. You want to be unique, you want to stand out from the crowd. So don't follow it! Dare to be different in a believable way. That's how you get noticed. I'm not suggesting you go overboard (commercial relationship-building requires tact and tends toward the conservative end of the spectrum), but if your emails sound, act and look like everybody else's emails, what's the value in doing business with you rather than them? 8. Ignoring timing. It should come as no surprise that you've got to think about timing your message. Who is your audience and when are they most likely to read your email? Rebecca Leib presents some very useful information on timing in her article Does Anybody Know What Time It Is? Does Anybody Care? Your goal is to give your customers the right message and send it when they are apt to take the time to read it. This isn't the same as suggesting you should time your message to exactly when you think your customer is going to act on it. Seasonal situations aside, an important tenet of advertising is this: "Tell the customer WHY and wait for WHEN. Quit trying to predict the moment of need." 9. Over-targeting Be careful to avoid over-segmenting your data base in your efforts to reach your target audience. It's a myth that you only need to get your message to the decision-makers. Truth is, decisions are seldom made in a vacuum. Don't neglect the influencers! 10. Event-driven marketing It's best to steer clear of designing an email campaign around a single event (unless it's a major, well-branded event that strengthens your Unique Selling Proposition). When an event is over, folks will immediately forget the marketing pitch behind it, and besides, 99.5% of the people you've spent the effort to reach won't be coming to The Event anyway. Where does your message go when this happens? Up in tendrils of smoke. 11. Great production without great copy "Slick, clever, funny, creative and different are very poor substitutes for informative, believable, memorable and persuasive." The name of the e-business game is persuasion; getting people to take the action you want them to take. Don't even dream of neglecting those magical words that are going to help you craft your brilliant, perfect message. 12. Confusing "response" with "results" "Slick, clever, funny, creative
and different ads are most likely to generate comment, or response." Buzz
doesn't feed the bulldog and excitement alone won't bring in the cash. See the
problem?
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Send
mail to dean@directmailmkt.com
with your questions or comments.
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