Spam is running rife in the inboxes of Cyberworld today. So in growing your business through email marketing,

how do you ensure your sincerest efforts are not negated in an instant by the 'delete' key?

Quite regularly, the subject and head lines of marketing emails are merely an afterthought to the average email marketer. These are in fact THE most critical selling points of an email. If you want to develop a successful marketing email, consider the following as we walk through a complete email transaction from a reader's point of view.

After sending your marketing email...

Interaction #1

The Email is received in your potential customer's inbox. They immediately read the Subject (subject title) and who it is From (sender title). At this point, the decision to click and read, ignore or delete is imminent.

For your email to be read your email header details needs to provide your reader not only with the incentive but also with the trust to click. Try to keep your email subject title professional and enticing, and your sender title credible.

Do:

√        Use your business name, personal name, or a reputable email address as your sender title.

√        Pose a question.  – ‘What do you think of this great deal from XYZ co.?’

√        Include their name in the subject  - ‘Hey Tom, try out this new product from XYZ co.’

√        State the deal or headline – ‘End of month special - 50% off for you and a friend’

Try to avoid:

X        Capitalised Subject and Sender Titles. ‘John Joe Painting’, not ‘JOHN JOE PAINTING’.

X        Excessive punctuation / unnecessary exclamation marks

X        Words that are associated with spam messages, such as ‘free’ or ‘money’. In many cases flagged words like these will trigger your reader’s spam filter

          and your email header will not even be seen. A quick Google Search on some reliable websites is key to determining what phrases to use and avoid.

X        Lacklustre Subject Titles such as, ‘Plumbing Newsletter #1948’

X        Sending from email addresses that appear computerised, such as, ‘ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ’.

Interaction #2

Your reader clicks the email. The top 4-5 of your email body appear in the email client’s preview window of their inbox.

This crucial part of your email should provide the reader with an overview of exactly what is contained in the email below and more importantly convey why they should continue to read on. Your goal here is to incite your reader to fully open the email.

Do:        

√        Include your logo if desired

√        Leave space for a heading

√        Provide a brief index with quick links (anchors) that transport your reader to a relevant section of the email. This works especially well for less regular, larger

         newsletters.

Interaction #3

Congratulations! If your email reaches this stage, your reader has decided your email is of interest and has opened it up – they are now reading about your business and what you can do for them.

Keep these simple tips in mind for your next campaign and be amazed by the results.

Happy marketing!