Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Effective email marketing
I was recently asked to present on what makes HTML messages effective. It didn't take me too long to come up with my top list, so I figured I'd share it with you. This list is based off my experiments and from industry standards.
- Provide a strong from and subject line
This is the first line your reader will see. As more and more email is being sent, it is going to take a lot to break through the clutter. This is your first impression, make it work. Oh, and do it with less than eight words. - Get to the point
As with web sites, you have 0.2 seconds to get a readers attention. They have opened your email, tell them why they should continue reading. Do this in a short amount of text. When I was asked what an appropriate amount of text is, I replied "about 1/3 what you would put in a paper letter." - Avoid gimmicky language
Refrain from the salesman-like approach. As email becomes more sophisticated, so do the readers. A quick turn-off is the obtrusive sale. - Present a call-to-action
Ask the reader to take the next step, whether it is clicking on a link or replying to the message. You can't expect any measurable analytics if you don't ask for some sort of action to take place. - When a user clicks on a link, take them to the link they clicked on.
This may sound natural, but too many times I have clicked a link and been required to search for more information. Give the user what they expect. - Write for readability
Writing on email and the web is different than print. On the web (and email), users scan content and very rarely read every word.
- Use bullet points and lists
- When necessary, use headings
- Single space at the end of sentences, hotmail, yahoo and gmail all add funky characters for the nbsp;
- Don't send attachments
For mass campaigns, emails with attachments will be blocked. Provide the attachment as a download on your website and put a link in the email. - Follow SPAM legislation
This is very important. Don't give email marketers a bad name.