First Impressions: The Way To Win At Email Marketing
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Wed, Dec 21, 2011
Let’s face it; email marketing is an essential part of engaging and targeting prospects and clients online. Over 97% of small businesses use email marketing to connect with their customers… but how effective is this method, and how can we improve it? Specifically, email marketing is a waste unless we can get the recipients to actually open the mailer. First impressions are everything.
Increasing open rates is essential if you’re going to expose recipients to that valuable email content. This starts with understanding your own customer base and their needs for proper personalization.
How can I make a good first impression in email marketing?
Think logically: before opening an email, what are the first two things recipients see? The sender, and the subject line. These are the only persuasive tools at your disposal in order to get this email opened. Adding a personalized feel to these areas has been proven to increase open rates. Instead of sending the email from “sales”, why not use the first and last name of a company employee? Designing an email that sends a message on behalf of a real person or the CEO has a huge impact on open rates.
*Note: don’t send email messages using a female first name and no last name. This is a trademark move from spammers.
The subject line is your chance to hook that fish. If there was any kind of chance that your audience will open the email, then this is it. The subject line again needs to be personalized, and also needs to avoid common spam words like “free”, “reminder” and “percent off”. Always keep the subject line to 50 characters or less. One good method to try is to ask a question, because this kind of activity brings out natural curiosity.
Remember, the best thing to do is experiment again and again with your subject lines. If in doubt, call SiliconCloud for some expert advice.
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