EMAIL MARKETING UNLEASHED

By: Al Bredenberg

I've written a lot of direct mail copy, but I find that when I'm working with email I need to do some things differently.

Every piece of written communication has a "sound" or tone. Most direct mail letters are written with a "hard-sell" style -- pound away at the offer, the benefits, the call-to-action. And in direct mail, that style works.

Not so in email marketing. People feel differently about their email boxes than their post office boxes. The email inbox is much, much more a personal space. So the approach in your email marketing communications has to be more personal, friendly, low-key.

As with direct mail, you should focus on the recipient rather than yourself -- use the words "you," "your" and "yours" frequently. But avoid over-use of such words as "free," "save" and "money," -- and stay away completely from such hype-tinged words as "fantastic," "unbelievable," "first-ever," "indispensable" -- you get the picture.

Give your email message a more relaxed feel -- no pressure. This is not the time for the frantic, relentless cadence of hard-sell direct mail.

Whereas long copy works well in direct mail, email communications should be short -- initially, at least. Let your first message be brief -- two or three short paragraphs. Let the recipient request further information via a Web page or a follow-up email message. Use that second stage to do a more in-depth job of selling.

At all costs, avoid the look and feel of spam -- no screaming headlines, message in all capital letters, multiple exclamation points, or deceptive "gotcha" subject lines. Never try to hide your identity by forging or concealing message headers. Provide full contact information. And don't send commercial email to someone who has not given you permission to do so.

There are many issues to consider when putting graphics in your emails -- here's a brief outline.

If you have ever had occasion to subscribe to an email newsletter, you may have been offered the chance to choose between text and HTML as the format for delivery. For email marketers, the shoe is on the other foot, but the choice is essentially the same: pretty pictures or plain old text. HTML can do many things, but its most obvious asset is that it allows you to use images in your marketing materials.

Should images be part of your message or are good looks overrated?

Pros

Cons

With such a simple list, it may look like a resounding win for text, but the choice is much more complicated in light of the clear click-through advantage that images provide. Marketers always have the option to test their messages, sending a text version and an HTML version, so that they have some real-world feedback to rely on.

If your greatest concern is that users are in the habit of blocking images, there is a simple answer. Users block images because they have learned to distrust them. As is inevitably the case, give your readers a reason to trust and value what you send and they will respond, even if you fill their inboxes with a museum’s worth of images.