Email Marketing - Will They Read What You Say?

In amongst the hoards of email messages your customers and prospects receive on a daily basis, there are those that stand out as ones that are very likely to be read.

What are they?

They're the ones that are personal to the recipient. If I am your friend, or your colleague, your parent or your boss and I send you an email that is a direct one on one communication, how likely are you to open it? Unless you delete it by mistake, I'd say you're almost certain to open it.

You'll be slightly less likely to read an email from someone you know, that has been sent to numerous people such as a chain email or one that has obviously been forwarded by a number of people before it reaches you. Further down the list of email priorities are those from people you know of, but have not met, such as companies you've asked to receive communications from, and lists that you've subscribed to, such as a headline roundup sent by a newspaper.

Of course, right at the bottom of the list is spam, which most savvy computer users can now recognise without opening. They see that it's from someone they don't know, and has a subject title that is completely irrelevant to them. Of course the spammers have long since been wise to this and that's why you'll receive something that says "Just one more thing..." in its subject header only to try to sell you cheap Viagra when you click onto it.

Familiarity

The more familiar we are with the person who has sent us an email, the more likely we are to open it. We human beings take comfort in familiarity. Things and people that are familiar to us make us feel safe; McDonalds, soap operas, brands, and favourite items of clothing - are some such examples. A successful email marketing campaign creates an air of familiarity between you, your customers and prospects, so how do you go about achieving this status?

Personalising Emails

People are getting wise to their name being used in a subject header, so it's important to make the rest of the subject line both interesting and relevant to them.

The best way to achieve this is to ask yourself what it is that they would want to read, and tailor your communication around the answer to this one question. Once you've mastered this and people have opened your email, don't disappoint them. Deliver. Work on building rapport with the people on your list. Remember that they are individuals who, if you give them something that they value, will trust you and grow to like you/your brand/your communications -but this takes time to establish and has to be done skillfully.

Remember that relevance and persistence are vital: the longer someone stays on your mailing list, the more likely they are to come to you when they are ready to buy.

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