Creating Email Messages That Hit The Mark

Subject Lines

It doesn't matter what your offer is or how well you sell it in the content, it all becomes irrelevant if the recipient doesn't open it in the first place! So it is of the utmost importance that your subject line grabs the attention of your customers and 'persuades' them that it is worth opening.

Below is a list of subject line tricks that, if used correctly, will help you in your quest to get higher open rates.

Ask a question. A subject line that ends with a question mark is far more likely to be opened. For example: "Would you like to know how to increase your efficiency in just one day?" Discounts and offers. Everyone loves a bargain. What better way to get people to open your email than a special deal or discount. For example: "25% off all our products for the next 7 days" or "Free audit for the first 25 people to reply to this email". Facts and figures. People love statistics, especially when they accentuate the positive. The better the figures, the more response. For example: "24,675 people have already enjoyed success with our new product range" or "95% of customers increased sales with our new software package". Free content. Offering your customers a free report or a link to a free video tutorial provides them with added value, which greatly increases the opening rate. Shock tactics. A perfect storm of statistics and shock factor can result in a huge increase in conversion rates. For example: "80% of all businesses that suffer an IT security failure go bust within 6 months". Deliver information. Emails that offer information in concise bite-sized pieces always seem to get high open rates. Just fill in the blanks to suit your offering. For example: "Top Ten __", "Five biggest secrets of __", "How to __ and __ in just 7 days". Negative tactics. Be careful with this route as it can backfire, but surprisingly a negative headline can often work better than a positive message. For example: "Your business is leaking £000s every year" or "You are about to miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime".

Timing

In this age of super-connectivity, you might be forgiven for thinking that it doesn't matter when you send out your email. The truth is that mail-out times can have a big impact on opening rates.

Most Effective Days

By far the best days to send out your email are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Monday is catch-up day, Friday everyone is winding down for the weekend and, as for Saturday and Sunday, any emails just pile up and add to Monday's list.

Most Effective Time Of Day

There is some debate over what is the best time, but it mostly centres on what is the best time in the morning. Some schools of thought believe it's best to send them out before the working day starts, so around 5am, while others aim for mid-morning in order to catch people while they are at their desk. It's well worth testing the time of day and seeing for yourself which works best for your business.

Content

Once the recipients have been enticed to open the email, thanks to your eye-catching subject line, the next step is to have content that appeals to the audience and convinces them to act.

Structure

The most important element is to create a solid coherent message that communicates quickly and easily. This can be achieved by including the following key elements:

Personalised greeting An opening sentence that reflects and even helps to explain the subject line A few paragraphs substantiating your proposition and backing up your offer with some important facts Use bullet points to avoid overly long text Include an image or video to keep people's attention A call to action, which should include a reason why they should click on the highlighted link(s) (this not only directs them through to your website, if you are using a software package you will also know if an email has been opened or if a link has been clicked on) P.S. Postscripts are a useful way to remind the recipient of a salient fact or reason why they shouldn't miss out on your offer

Measuring Success And Follow-up Messages

One of the great advantages of email marketing is that it offers you the ability to actively measure the success of your campaign:

Using email software you can see which emails have been opened and whether or not the recipient has clicked on the enclosed link You can follow up emails with additional messages reminding people of the offer or simply building on the relationship you have already started Create measured campaigns that send out messages at regular intervals and maintain a constant presence You can gauge which emails have been bounced or rejected by spam filters, enabling you to clean up your lists and ensure that only bona fide recipients receive them

Follow the steps outlined above and email marketing will deliver the returns on your investment in both time and money, making it one of the mainstays of your marketing communications programme for years to come.