About a year ago, I wrote a post asking the question: How often should you email your subscribers? It’s a question that almost every company involved in email marketing asks themselves on a regular basis. In that post and after discussions with other marketers I respect, the general consensus was that anything more often than every 4 or 5 days will likely be seen as an annoyance and as spam.
In fact, there was a study done by DoubleClick that found 49% of consumers say spam is “email from a company I have done business with but that comes too often.” So, just because someone subscribes to your list doesn’t mean they won’t think you’re a spammer.
The reason I’m bringing this up is because my inbox has been going crazy the past couple of weeks. Why? Because Mother’s Day is just around the corner. We all know that billions of dollars are spent by consumers each Mothers Day. So, it makes sense that companies are frantically trying to outdo one another so they can get their grubby little hands on my hard-earned dollars, but things have gone way too far.
Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, and From You Flowers are 3 email lists that I’m on because I bought various gifts for my girlfriend and my mom several months ago. The first 2 companies already email way too often as it is, regardless if there’s a holiday coming up or not. Not a day goes by that I don’t get an email from at least one of them…usually both. The only reasons I haven’t unsubscribed yet are because I always just delete the message without opening it and I’m also interested in email marketing, so it’s fun to see how some companies approach it.
But now that Mother’s Day is almost here all 3 companies have stepped up the frequency of their emails. I agree that it’s a good tactic to do this when you have a time-sensitive message, but there’s a thin line between urging me to get my mom something nice and pestering me every hour with another “last minute sale” that I need to take advantage of before it’s too late.
That’s the danger of emailing too often. What motivation does someone have to take action if they know you’re going to be emailing them with another offer (usually a better offer) the next day? It’s like the story of the boy who cried wolf. Sooner or later, people just stop paying attention to you when you’re constantly screaming at them.
By the way, I didn’t make a Mother’s Day purchase from any of these companies. Instead, I’m taking my mom out to dinner, and I’m making a donation to her favorite charity under her name.
A Few Reasons I Delete Emails Without Opening Them
Every day, I get emails from companies I’ve done business with in the past or businesses whose email lists I signed up on for one reason or another. And every day, I end up deleting a number of these emails without ever opening them and reading a word of what’s inside.
Today, I asked myself “Why do I delete so many emails without opening them?” As I sat back and thought of the answer, a few reasons came to mind. I thought I’d share them with you as these are things you should be aware of when emailing your customers. By understanding these reasons and avoiding common mistakes, you can increase your email open rates and get a higher ROI on your email marketing campaign.
* The company emails too often—There are some companies that send me emails literally every single day. Every day, there’s a new sale. This sale is bigger than the last, and I have to act now if I want to get a good deal. Needless to say, after a few days of being on this email list, I stopped opening any of the messages. They were all the same, and no sale seemed any better or different from all the other ones. Don’t be a pest by emailing your subscribers too often. You’ll annoy them, and they’ll stop reading your messages.
* The subject line doesn’t offer a reason to open it—My inbox is constantly working. I get a lot of emails, so if you want me to pay attention to your marketing, you’d better have a strong subject line that grabs my attention and reels me in. Check out these 5 tips for improving your email subject lines.
* I’m too busy to read it—It seems like a lot of companies send me emails during the middle of the work day when I’m at my very busiest. If I’m in the middle of working and answering work-related emails, the chances of me stopping to read an email about a sale on shoes is pretty slim. And it looks like I’m not alone. According to these statistics, emails sent on the weekends and at 8:00AM during the week have the highest open rates. You have to get to your subscribers before they get caught up in their busy days.
* It’s from a company I don’t recognize—Gmail does a pretty good job of separating spam, but occasionally, I’ll still get emails from companies I know I didn’t sign up for. Never spam people. It’s a surefire way to kill your email marketing campaign. Instead, follow these email marketing best practice rules.
5 Tips for Improving Your Email Subject Lines
The subject line is the most important piece of your email marketing message. If it isn’t strong and interesting, your readers will never open the message. And if it contains the wrong words, it could get flagged as spam, meaning your emails won’t get delivered and you could get permanently blocked.
So, what can you do to improve your email subject lines? Here are 5 easy tips to get you started.
1. Keep it short—According to research from MailerMailer, emails with shorter subject lines significantly outperformed those with longer subject lines. There are a couple reasons for that. First, the average email carrier only displays 38 to 47 characters in the subject line. So, if your subject line is too long, some of it won’t even show up. Second, your readers are in a hurry. You need to give them as much information as possible in the fewest words as possible. Always edit your subject lines for brevity.
2. Brand it—A lot of people used to think that including the brand name in the subject line wasted too much precious real estate. Turns out they were wrong. According to a Silverpop study, subject lines with brand names in them were shared more often than those with just offers. And Marketing Sherpa’s study says that branded subject lines are among the most opened emails.
3. Make an offer—Discount offers and free product offers are 2 of the top 3 most-opened email subject lines. Subscribers love a good deal. Your offer needs to be strong enough to grab their attention and clear and concise enough to easily fit into the subject line. Like they say in The Godfather, “make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Just make sure you don’t include spammy words in your offer as this will cause your message to get blocked.
4. Don’t personalize—Another myth is that personalizing emails causes them to get opened more often. Turns out the opposite is true. Here’s another stat to consider:
3 Steps for Building a Successful Social Email Campaign
2010 is poised to be the year that email marketing and social networking become inextricably linked to each other. Savvy marketers know that leveraging social media can help spread their messages further than ever before, creating a viral effect that results in increased brand awareness and more sales.
Don’t believe that social email marketing is important or useful? Here are a few stats from Email Stat Center to consider:
* 20% of Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter users have posted or shared something from permission email to their social account(s) via a “share” option. – Merkle , “View from the Social Inbox” (2010)
* 32% say they’d share promotional email offers with members inside a social network and open emails from others. – PMN and Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’(IDM) Lab (2009)
* 51% of respondents report having clicked “forward to a friend” links in marketing email, but 38% have never seen these links. – Epsilon (2007)
I could go on, but you get the point. So, if you’re creating a social email campaign, what do you need to do to guarantee success?
1. Make email content easy to share—Include one-click share buttons for all the major social networks right there in your email. This allows readers to quickly share your message with their entire community.
2. Let the community know about your newsletters—Any time you send out a new email, post about it on your social networks. Include a tease about what’s in the email, and offer opt-in links so followers can sign up.
3. Know who’s on your list—Your email list is more than a bunch of random email addresses. Each address represents a person with a certain amount of influence and the potential to spread your message. Get to know your subscribers.
23 Email Marketing Rules to Follow
In this installment of my “23 Rules…” series, I’m tackling email marketing. Below, you’ll find what I believe to be 23 essential rules to effective email marketing. Please add to the list by leaving a comment in the replies.
1. Never, under any circumstances, spam others (learn about the CAN-SPAM Act)
2. Give your readers options for unsubscribing
3. Have a plan. Don’t just randomly send email blasts.
4. Focus on creating benefit-driven subject lines
5. Keep subject lines under 50 characters so they aren’t cut off
6. Avoid using spammy words in your subject lines
7. Tailor your message to the preview pane by placing the most important info up top
8. Track your results (delivery rates, open rates, click throughs, conversions, etc.)
9. Don’t try to do too much within a single email
10. Link to highly-targeted landing pages
11. Don’t email too often as it can upset customers and cause them to ignore you
12. Always deliver on the promise of your subject line
13. Let subscribers update their contact info quickly and easily
14. Use clear, powerful calls to action throughout the email copy
15. Test different subject lines, copy length, and calls to action to find the winning formula
16. Make sure your email copy is easy to scan
17. Keep any images small for fast loading
18. Try to build relationships with your subscribers
19. Don’t buy your email list
20. Don’t sell your email list to others
21. Send confirmation messages when someone subscribes to your email list
22. Your success depends on the quality of your email list
23. Never stop building your email list
Thanks,
Senthilkc
