Save your marketing emails from deletion
It’s as if 99% of the marketing emails I receive follow these instructions.
- Start with hello, but don’t worry about adding the recipient’s name
- If pushed for time, don’t worry about the hello either
- Mention that you’ve been reading the recipient’s website, and that you think it’s great
- Don’t mention the site by name, thus allowing the same email to be used extensively
- Talk about how interested the recipient’s readers will be in your product/service
- Offer a token gesture, such as a limited-period product trial, in return for a review
- Reiterate how brilliant your product is
- Send
Delete.
Here’s the format of the 1% I actually pay attention to.
Pre-email:
- Read recipient’s website, possibly join-in the chat on a relevant comment thread
Email:
- Address the recipient personally
- Provide a link to your product and briefly state how the benefits relate to the recipient
- Invite the recipient to reply if s/he is interested/has time
- Thank the recipient for reading
- Send
Post-email:
- Avoid the temptation to follow-up after 24 hours if no reply is received
Those few changes hugely increase the chance of me replying.
Sure, it’s a little more work, but it’s better than completely wasting your time.
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16 appreciated comments on “Save your marketing emails from deletion”
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Ultimately, it’s all about CARING a little bit more, isn’t it? Always remember to stay human.
David,
Email marketing is one of the easier communication methods to spam with.
It’s so easy to be impersonal because they can send out millions of messages at no extra cost!
I’ve not really thought about it before but I pretty much follow the same rules when paying attention to emails as you do David.
Just like a real life conversation I won’t start it with “Oi, you, can’t remember your name but…”, same rules apply via email too.
I couldn’t agree more, David. A quick scan of the ‘to’ line is also a dead giveaway for bulk (generally spam) emails, as are spaces before and after your website address, which shows that is has been added manually and badly.
My opinion is that if such people cannot show the recipient a certain amount of respect and courtesy, they should not expect any in return. As Ian says, it is about caring: caring about the people you contact and caring about how you wish to be perceived.
I say all this, but those I want to read it are probably too busy spamming others.
Spot on, Ian. As Richard goes on to say, it’s about caring for your business as much as those you’re contacting.
I could not agree more. Just put a blog up myself which says there is no excuse for ‘cold calling’ by phone, email or social media anymore….the wealth of information available means all contact can and should be for a genuine reason and a genuine connection.
Great post David.
Sometimes I’m not sure what happens to us when we are communicating online. It’s as if we forget everything we learned about how to interact.
Authenticity always shines through and a fake can be spotted a mile off, even in a few lines of text.
It’s not just marketing emails, it’s emails from students asking for interns that don’t address you by name and hve speling messtaks! Makes me laugh!
Good post, again.
I think the most important part is “briefly state how the benefits relate to the recipient”.
If you can’t describe the main benefit of your product in a few sentences, your product is not finished yet.
Agree. I am sick of the amount of the non-personal “junk” mail I receive on a daily basis. Most of them follow the not to list as described in your post. Does anyone honestly think that they will get any responses with a generic email that reads like a computer has just spat it out. If you want to market your business and or products then you should have the decency to at least research your recipients before you press send.
G’day everyone.
Great article David.
As a designer starting out in our own company it really is helpful to read and absorb what works. This is such a find right now for us.
For those of you who haven’t read Davids new book Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities I can highly recommend it. I downloaded the kindle version to my iPad last week, and to tell you the truth, I read it in one sitting. I was so ready for that book – and as the saying goes when the student is ready the teacher will appear.
Thanks mate
There is a thin line between assertiveness and aggressiveness.But one draws a totally different response from the other.
Thanks very much, Kerrilee. I’ve just been made aware of a few mistakes in the book, for which I apologise. My fault.
Nothing gets deleted fast from my email when the greeting is “Hello Paablo” or any other strange variation of my name. Obviously the company did not take enough time to spell my name right.
It’s crazy. I hate getting these messages as much as you do. A marketer can spend a few hours writing one email and mailing it to a thousand people. Maybe 1/1000 will actually respond. Or, he could spend just one hour and a) legitimately target someone who may actually be interested in what he has to say and b) talking like a real person.
I can’t imagine that these spammy tactics ever really result in anything. Stop wasting your time. If you have something to say, then be nice about it. Otherwise, yeah, you’re going to be deleted (if you even get opened in the first place).
I think a lot of people need to take a course in “interpersonal communication”. I took it in college and I can honestly say it was one of the most valuable courses I ever took in higher education. It paved the way for me to be able to communicate offline, online, in person and over the phone with much more care and respect.
A person would never cold call someone and not bother to include all relevant information so it still does amaze me that people think it’s ok to send a generic email that has little substance to it.