Tag Archives: Email Marketing

Which Email Subject Lines are the Best?

Posted on by

The Presidents Cup golf trophyThe subject line of your email is your entry (or quick exit) to someone’s time and attention.  After the list, it’s the most important part of the email.

A good subject line will get your email opened.  A poor one will send it straight to the trash bin (or worse, the spam folder).

Which subject line is the best?

There are quite a few factors to consider when crafting your subject line. How long should it be?  Is shorter better?  Should you personalize it by putting the recipient’s name in each email? Should you be formal? Or write more casually?

Best subject line length

Conventional wisdom says that shorter subject lines are better since they don’t get cut off in phones and tablets. However, Marketing Sherpa recently reported on a Return Path study that analyzed the length of subject lines and compared the subject length to the rate at which the emails were read.

It turned out that longer subject lines had a higher read rate (meaning more people marked it read in their email clients)

Even so, the difference wasn’t big enough to be statistically significant. The takeaway here is not so much to count letters as it is to try to tweak your subject line to get the best response from your own list.

To personalize or not?

As you can see in this more recent Marketing Sherpa article, some industries, such as consumer products, showed a marked increase in both open rates and transactions. For others, such as entertainment, the impact was negligible. Personalization used to work well overall, then it dropped off, now it seems to work well again (at least in some cases). The best approach is to try it and see whether it works for you.

Best email subject lines

As a general rule, show your readers a clear benefit in the first two words. Stay away from hard sales pitches, and include something that invites action or curiosity:

  • Simple Email Change Boosts Sales 55%
  • Text or HTML:  Which Gets More Clicks?
  • Your Copy of Email Open Rate Study Enclosed
  • A simple email marketing formula
  • The Google slap is coming

Try a casual approach

With the latest political season in full swing in the U.S., candidates from both parties are frantically trying to raise money. One side is doing much better than the other.  They test and retest everything, and often find that a simple, “[candidate/celebrity] wants to meet you” or invitation asking readers to join them for an event outperforms more conventional subject lines.

Use emotions and hot button issues

Try a subject line that reacts or references recent news or events, or expresses outrage at something they’ll also find objectionable, “media says I’m to blame.”  Use a call to action to encourage your readers to do something (take advantage of a special offer, buy a new product, pass along something to a friend).

Keep it short (generally)

Top performers are usually short (30-40 characters) and this is usually seen as the ideal length for an email subject line.  However, longer subject lines can work better with a download, such as an ebook or a report.

Worst performing email subject lines

Anything that sounds too pushy, talks about the sender (rather than the recipient), or asks for an action before gaining trust

  • Uh oh
  • Forward this to your friends
  • Big Riches, Small Investment
  • ENDS TONIGHT! Training expires AT MIDNIGHT

The first one is negative and so vague that it’s discouraging. The second one asks you to spam your friends (no thanks).  The third is just plain spammy. The last one looks like it’s shouting at you.

Compare performance

Look at your own data. See which subject lines got the most opens and click-throughs to your sales page.  Also check to see which emails had the highest conversion rate (signups or sales).

If your list is large enough, try a sample of a few thousand names.  Test two subject lines against each other and see which one performs better. Then roll out the winner to everyone else.

How to Engage Your Customers With Email

Posted on by

Direct magazine reported today (2/24/09) that “[e]-mail and social media marketing boosts customer loyafour star toiletlty and has a positive influence on purchasing decisions.”The magazine says that according to two recently published studies, recipients of permission-based email are 56% more likely to buy something in a store and 48% feel more loyal towards retailers.

87% of the people who have opted-in to receive marketing email use it to learn about new products, and like receiving personalized offers based on previous purchases.

Approximately 77% of consumers take online reviews and ratings from other consumers into consideration when making purchases.

What does this mean for your business?

Engage your customers

It means that it’s critical that you interact with your customers. Allow them to rate and review your products online. Have someone answer questions and respond to complaints (if any) in public. Don’t hide behind a wall of FAQ’s. Make it easy for your customers to contact you if they have a question or problem, and respond quickly when they do.

Segment your list

Don’t send the same offer to your entire database. Review customer behavior and break up your list into smaller pieces. Use past purchase history, inquiries, and areas of interest. Suggest new purchases based on older ones, and adjust your message and product offers to fit each segment. Personalized, relevant messages will get better response rates, and increase loyalty to your brand.

Don’t abuse the privilege

Tell your customers upfront how often you will contact them. Don’t automatically sign them up for new offerings or communications. Ask first.

Photo: MK Media Productions

Is Your Email Marketing Personal?

Posted on by

Seth Godin had a post yesterday about sending personal email. His post lists 14 ways to do that. I want to focus on the last one: “Just because you have someone’s email address doesn’t mean you have the right to email them.”

As Seth often says, people want personal, relevant email (and messages) not spam. I was talking to someone recently who said, “I’ve got several hundred email addresses and I’d like to send messages to those people. I got the email addresses because I was bcc’d on messages they received from other people. Can I email to them?”

In a word, NO.

They don’t know you, they haven’t given you permission and you will be seen as a spammer. Same thing applies to email lists you “inherit” from a company that went out of business. They are not your customers, and they are not your subscribers, unless you bought the company, and its list. In that case, the readers ought to be informed of what happened in advance.

Without permission, you’re a spammer. Plain and simple.

The penalties are severe too; up to $11,000 per violation.

Similarly, you cannot email people whose names you scrape from web sites, or from a list you bought, unless that list includes specific permission to be emailed. Even then, it’s probably dodgy; few people want email from businesses they’ve never heard of. While the CAN-SPAM act sadly doesn’t include penalties for unwanted mass emails, it’s still not a good idea. You may end up labeled a spammer by your email provider or web host, and lose your site and your emailing privileges.

Conversation, not shouting

Permission is only part of it.  Treat your readers as if you’re having a conversation.  Talk to them personally (try inserting their names in your newsletter salutation, as a friend or colleague would).  Ask them questions.  Find out what topics they’re most interested in reading about.

Don’t just talk, listen

Invite feedback on how well you’re serving their needs.  Ask them if there’s something you haven’t covered that they’d like to hear more about (or something that they would prefer you cut back on discussing).  It’s not just good manners, it’s fodder for more emails, blog posts, or even new products.

Email Marketing Campaign Dos and Don’ts

Posted on by

Are you doing email right? Or making some elementary mistakes?  I was reminded of some basic dos and don’ts of email marketing recently when I tried to remove myself from a large organization’s email list.

This should have been easy: one click and done.  Instead it become a long, drawn-out exercise requiring going to their website, searching for a contact page, writing two emails (the website hiccuped while I was writing the first email and I wasn’t sure if it went through), and eventually getting someone to remove me manually.

Email marketing campaign “dos”

1) Send a follow-up email thanking new registrants or subscribers for signing up.

2) Require a double opt-in. This means both asking for the initial email address (and whatever additional information you need), and then sending an email to that address requiring that the person confirm their subscription. This can be done automatically.

3) Send an email within thirty days of the initial signup, with the first installment, issue, etc. If you wait longer, people will forget they signed up.

4) Include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email, as well as your physical address (this can be a P.O. box). Removal from your list should require only sending an email and visiting a single web page.

5) Create both HTML and text versions of your message.

Many people read messages on their phones or tablets while on the go.  Images (especially large ones) take longer to download and eat up data plans. Also, some have images turned off by default.  Add “alt text” tags describing the image to any graphics you use.  That way they’ll still be understandable, even if the image itself doesn’t show.

Email marketing campaign don’ts

1) Don’t make it difficult to opt-out.  Don’t require a login, a fee, or anything else other than a single click or a single reply email.  The penalties for violating these rules are severe: up to $16,000 per email!

2) Don’t skip testing! Send a test email to yourself to make sure it looks the way you want it to.  If you can, test it on different email clients (Mac Mail, Gmail, Outlook) and on more than one device (Windows desktop, Apple desktop, and phones).  Each will display your email slightly differently. Also make sure your links all work properly.

3) Never skip proofreading.  Try to have someone else look at it before you hit “send.” Or, take a break and go do something else.  It’s a good way to catch mistakes.

4) Don’t forget the rest of the CAN-SPAM rules.  You must include a real address (a P.O. box is fine) at the end of every email.

5) Don’t remove landing pages or links after a campaign is over.  People may be on vacation, or go back to your email weeks after you sent it). If it was a limited offer, add a message to the page with a link to a new relevant offer, or redirect it to the new page.

6) Don’t ignore frequency options.  Many people unsubscribe because they receive too many emails.  Offer them the chance to receive emails less frequently, or only on certain topics.  You can add the form for this directly to your unsubscribe link.

7) Never automatically subscribe existing readers to a new list.  It’s technically legal, but it will make your customers and subscribers mad.  If  you start something new, add information about the new publication to the old one and ask people to sign up.  Just don’t do it without permission.

How to Build Your Mailing List

Posted on by

A few quick tips (mostly free!)

1) Put a sign-up box (just name and email) at the top of the home page. Offer a special report or newsletter sample.
2) Add a forwarding call to action to the emails you already send out. For example, “Did a friend send this to you? Claim your own copy here (it’s free).” Or, “Know someone else who would like this newsletter? Send it to them here.”

3) Advertise in other newsletters aimed at your target market.