Ten years ago, I’d get about
50 to 100 voice mails a day. That message
volume has now moved into e-mail--and
exploded as e-mail has become the dominant
method of business communication. And just
like we took our phones to go, now we’re
taking our e-mail along, too, moving out of
the office and onto home computers, laptops
and handheld devices like BlackBerries and
Treos. And we mix business and personal
e-mail together more than ever.
The increase in the sheer
volume and diversity of e-mail has
significantly changed the ways we interact
with our inboxes. First, we’ve become
experts at quick, visual sorting. We have to
be! Otherwise, we risk falling into a
perpetual state of e-mail backlog.
Technology is also changing how we digest
our daily e-mail intake. Here’s how:
-
Sneak peek:
Programs like Outlook give users the
option to read a portion of e-mail
message contents in a preview pane,
without actually opening the e-mail.
-
See no evil:
E-mail software now includes “block
images” as a default setting. This is an
anti-porn measure that blocks all
images--including your advertising
graphics. Users who want to receive
images need to manually turn the images
setting back on.
-
Handheld nation:
Busy professionals, parents, students
and consumers are reading their e-mail
on the run. E-mails viewed on PDAs and
even cell phones leave no room for
anything but the basics. Thumbs up to
e-mail portability. Thumbs down to HTML
formatting.
Are these changes
challenging to marketers? You bet. But don’t
get discouraged. These trends and
innovations are opportunities for smart
e-mail marketers to be seen. So how do you
win?
1. Identify your
business’s brand, and spell out your
subject.
People are far more likely to open an e-mail
when they know who it’s from and what
they’ll get if they click. Put your business
name in the “From” line--not the name of the
employee who distributes the e-mail
campaign. Make sure the “Subject” line is
specific and spells out the e-mail’s
contents. Don’t make readers guess at the
who or what of your message (because they
won’t). Give them a good reason to click.
2. Put newsletter
contents and promotional offers up top and
on the left.
You want readers to see this portion of your
e-mail in the preview pane. Now how do you
entice them to read more and take action?
Reduce your newsletter’s header space by
putting the content links at the top of the
screen and moving other, less-critical
information, like administrative details,
further down. Put a promotional campaign’s
main product, benefit, offer and promise up
top along with your call to action. You have
just a few precious inches to entice readers
to open your e-mail to full-screen size and
click through on your offer. Use it to your
best advantage.
3. Create text-only
versions of your e-mail communications.
Send subscribers using handheld devices
text-only versions of your e-mails. Use a
professional e-mail marketing service that
sends HTML and text versions so the right
version shows up in the right place. Keep
text-only readers in mind when you write,
and ask yourself, “Does this campaign work
when it’s stripped down to bare-bones text?”
Remember, your subject line and first few
lines of copy are more powerful than any
snazzy graphics.
4. Don’t let your
pictures do all the talking.
Sure, a picture’s worth a thousand words,
but these days, those images could be
blocked. Make sure your HTML version still
looks good and makes your point even without
the images.
5. Get to the point.
Well-chosen words can cut through any
medium--even the small spaces of preview
panes and BlackBerry screens. Think about
your campaigns, and choose your words
wisely. Don’t make your readers work to
figure out what your e-mail’s about. Do make
it fun and useful. The goal of any e-mail
marketing campaign is to get customers
clicking through to your world. That’s where
your relationships can grow big.
Gail F. Goodman is the"E-Mail
Marketing" coach at
Entrepreneur.com and is CEO of Constant
Contact, a web-based
e-mail marketing service for small
businesses. She's also a recognized
small-business expert and speaker.