How to Get Your Email Messages Read and Not Deleted
April 20th, 2008 Dina at Wordfeeder.comAs a copywriter, sometimes I’m asked to write email messages for my clients. You know the ones I’m talking about; those mailings that you hate to love or love to hate.
You get on someone’s list because you ordered a free report or signed up for their ezine. You figured you’d get one ezine a month, not 2-3 emails per week.
I know they seem like a pain, but successful Internet marketers swear by these messages that they program through an auto responder to go out in a series. And if all the successful marketers send them, they must work.
Ah, but there are some tricks to getting your email messages read and we can learn from these marketers. So here are some tips and tricks I’ve compiled that will have your list looking forward to and reading your emails before they jump on the delete key!
1. Subject Line.
If your subject line doesn’t say “read me” you’ll lose a large percentage of your audience. One trick is to use the recipient’s name in the subject line for a pretty sure bet that they’ll read on. They know it’s from someone they gave permission to and they expect something of value—if that’s the impression you’ve left in the past. Keep the subject line under 10 words and make it intriguing, like: “Dina, would you like to earn $10,000 this month?” This is a question that most people would say “YES” to, so they will read on.
2. Provide Value.
A lot of these marketers seem to sell, sell, sell, and to me that’s a big turnoff. The ones who provide value can sell a lot more easily, because they’re not cramming their products down your throat. What this amounts to is some piece of information, news, tip, quote, something your target market would find interesting. You can subscribe to Google news alerts and get the latest articles on any topic you want. See, the key here is when you provide value, you’re building a relationship of trust, and then people are more likely to buy what you’re selling.
3. Keep It Short and Simple.
Don’t go on and on in your emails telling your life story. A few short personal notes can bring people up to date and warm them up. Then go right into your value piece and keep it to no more than around 300 words. You want to capture their attention, feed them some good stuff, then say “If you want more of this good stuff go to my website.” Not exactly like that, but you get the idea. Keep your words simple, your sentences and paragraphs short, and use bullets and sub-heads where appropriate.
4. Make it Timely.
Make your message timely, current, urgent, limited, something that lets your reader know they should read this NOW! Because you know what’s going to happen if they don’t? They won’t. You know the drill—you say to yourself, Oh, I’ll just catch up on my emails later, and later never comes!
Writing email messages is not rocket science. Like anything, it’s a learned art form. Do a few, gauge your responses, and pretty soon you’ll be the expert. Of course, if you need some help, you can always call your favorite copywriter!
Copyright 2008 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved.
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April 25th, 2008 at 8:46 am
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