By: ActiveTrail's Postmaster Dept.
The best offer in the world isn’t worth a penny if your e-mail offer doesn’t get read. With SPAM levels at an all-time high, and e-mail sales letters hammering every mailbox every day, you’ve got a better chance of getting hit by lightning than getting your e-mail offer read unless….
You’re smart enough to raise your message’s visibility in an already crowded inbox.
Here are the Top Two Tips for making that happen:
1. It’s all in the headline.
Have you ever noticed that most of the direct-mail offers that get delivered via snail-mail have a short sales message printed right on the outside of the envelope? That’s called an “envelope teaser” in the direct-mail marketing business. The teaser is used because experienced business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers know that they only have 2 seconds to differentiate their letter from the rest of the stack of “junk mail.” That’s more time than you have for your e-mail message to get noticed. |
Most people scan two fields in their inbox: “From” and “Subject.” If they recognize the “From” address, the mail will usually get read. Otherwise, the “Subject” line better be enticing enough to grab the reader’s attention or
your message is headed for the bit bucket.
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Most people scan two fields in their inbox: “From” and “Subject.” If they recognize the “From” address, the mail will usually get read. Otherwise, the “Subject” line better be enticing enough to grab the reader’s attention or your message is headed for the bit bucket.
The subject line is your one and only chance to get your electronic foot in the door. Make it count.
Avoid hype and false promises.
Don’t lead off with grandiose claims.
Don’t use misleading headlines that may get the e-mail read but are sure to end up angering the reader.
What’s a misleading headline: “Notice of payment received” is one that I see a lot. The sender tries to mimic a PayPal payment notice. If you start out lying to a prospect, how to you intend to build trust later?
Good headlines? That depends upon who you are reaching and what you’re selling. Here are two that I used for years. They pulled great.
“I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
“You owe me lunch.”
One you establish the headline, repeat it right at the top of your actual message in order to re-establish its power and create continuity.
Headline; “You owe me lunch…”
Inside:
You owe me lunch…
Well, not yet maybe, but you’re going to want to find some way to thank me once you discover (blah, blah).
2. Make your e-mail readable
Not everyone uses HTML-enabled e-mail clients, and of those who do, not every e-mail client renders HTML the same way.
Your best bet is to use simple HTML structure. Code it by hand. Avoid using tools like FrontPage or Dreamweaver which introduce tags and structures that can throw even the best e-mail clients for a loop. Avoid nested and overlapping tables.
You may also want to check the validity and quality of your HTML against the 3WC standards. Such checking tools are offered within the ActiveTrail system. Once checked, make the necessary corrections and re-check.
Save the FLASH for the web site, and limit the amount of graphics that you use. Not only do they slow down the rendering of the message, costing you eyeballs with impatient prospects, but many e-mail clients block image delivery anyway. Also, a high image content to text ratio will trigger SPAM filters.
It’s not about the design, it’s about the message. Put your efforts on the sales pitch and you’ll make more money.
Always include a link to a web-based version of your sales letter so people who are using HTML-challenged readers can visit the web page if they’re interested. This is done automatically within the ActiveTrail system. If you are using your own home-grown system make sure this link is always included.
Always build your email to be readable without images. Many modern email clients block images and therefore many of your users will view it in the preview-pane without
downloading the images prior to making the decision to allow them. If your email is built correctly your message will get across whether images are allowed or not.
Following these two tips will give your e-mail a better chance of being seen by interested prospects than 99% of the e-mail that hits their box every day. Try it.