A successful email marketing campaign depends on three factors. All these three factors must be met before you can harvest the gold that can be found in your mailing list.
What are these three factors? How can you ensure their proper implementation?
Deliverability Rate
Before your messages can be read, they must first reach the inbox of the intended recipients. Whereas a few years ago, this was almost as automatic once you send your messages, the same cannot be said in this day and age. Most mailing systems have anti-spam filters which review incoming messages. If a message is perceived as spam, it will sorted into a different folder, away from the immediate view of the recipient and jumbled up with other messages that are considered as trash.
It is apparent that the deliver-ability rate of your follow-up messages depend on how well you will be able to avoid these spam filters. And this can be achieved through the manner by which you write your messages. Here are some tips on how to avoid those nasty spam filters:
- Avoid using red flag words anywhere in your message, be it the title or the body thereof. Spam filters are machines. They are not capable of human discernment. They categorize messages based on the words therein. Hence, words like “free,” “congratulations,” “dear friend,” “cash,” “prize,” “rewards,” and the likes should not be used. In the event that their usage is necessary, try to spell them differently. “Free” can be spelt as “free” for example.
- Try to include a date on the title of your message. This is to ensure that the spam filters won’t view your mails as messages that are automatically spawned.
- Try to include a note at the bottom of each message stating that the recipient is receiving the same because he/she has subscribed to your mailing list. This is also a great argument on your behalf in the event that a spam complaint is filed against your business.
Open Rate
Even if your messages manage to reach the intended recipients’ inboxes, there is no guarantee that they will open the same. Before your messages can be read, they must first be opened, after all.
This is the domain of the subject heading of your email.
You must come up with a subject heading that is engrossing by itself, one which will compel your readers to take notice and actually open and read your message. Such is easier said than done, of course, but there are proven headlines that can ensure a high open rate. Here are some tips:
* Tell a story. This is a challenging task given the allowable number of characters in the subject field. But it can be done. Headlines like “Something Happened Today That…” and “My Wife Left Me Because…” have been proven to be effective.
* Shock them. Nothing will win their interests more than a surprising statement that will jolt them. But do bear in mind to avoid the red flag words when conceptualizing such a headline.
* Lure them. A promise of something grand waiting for them within your message is likewise a great way to excite them enough to open your messages.
Readability Rate
Of course, your emails MUST be read before your business message can be conveyed. This, for many internet marketers, is the easiest part.
All you have to do is to study the elements of sound copy-writing. Creating a fear, magnifying the same, triggering an emotion, presenting a solution, subtly shooting down the competition and providing an effective call to action are tactics that copywriters usually employ, and are tactics that you can use for your follow-up sequences.
But do remember that successive offers sent to your mailing list can make your subscribers numb to your products or services. You have to give them something valuable in between offers, something that will assure them that you’re their friend, that you’re not just some shrewd businessman who is after their hard earned money.
Win their trust first, and once that’s done, everything will follow smoothly.
Comments
Post a Comment