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Boost Email Marketing Open Rates by Sounding Like Grandma in Your Direct Email AdvertisingTip! The Message – This component of direct marketing is what you are saying to your market; to your audience; to your list. This is also where you develop and communicate the offer that you are seeking a response to. The secret to persuading your customers to open
and read your direct email marketing messages is to
make them sound like a note from grandma. Your customers receive three kinds of email: 1. Email from family and friends—personal.
2. Email from colleagues and suppliers—work.
3. Email from advertisers—legitimate and
spam. The least important of these emails, in the mind of
your customers, are the promotional messages from
you and me. Most customers say granny comes first,
the boss second, and purported wives of deposed
Nigerian leaders last. That's because your customers and prospects read
newspapers and magazines, and watch television, for
the news and entertainment, not the
advertisements. Your sales pitch is an intrusion.
Same goes for the phone. They use it to talk with
people they care about, which does not include
telemarketers. Same goes for email. Your customers
and prospects read it primarily to learn stuff and to
do stuff, not to buy stuff.
Which is why I recently unsubscribed from a popular
email newsletter. All it seemed to do was pitch
products. Just about every issue tried to sell me
something instead of teach me something. The
author is a well-known and well-liked consultant and
author. I like him. I signed up to learn from him. But
just about all that he did was pitch me his products
week after week. So I said sayonara. Start with your subject line. "Grandpa is in hospital"
will arrest the attention or your reader sooner than a
subject line that says "Our furniture sale has many
bargains for you." So think of how you would grab
the attention of a loved one in a letter or phone call,
then write your email subject line using that same
visceral power (while telling the truth, of
course). Tip! Plan properly: The best direct marketing campaigns work along with PR, traditional advertising, brand strategy and efforts by your sales force. Ultimately, each piece is part of a larger total company campaign and should work together. Next comes your salutation. Don't use "Dear
Customer" or any of its lame cousins. Address your
reader by name. Say "Dear Alan," or "Dear Mr.
Sharpe." You address family members, colleagues and
vendors by name because you have a relationship
with them. Extend the same familiarity to your
customers and opt-in email prospects and they will
immediately feel more inclined to read your
offer. Then, write only about things that are of the
greatest concern to your readers. Appeal to their
self-interest. You mail birthday cards to your friends
and family. You phone mum and dad on their wedding
anniversary. Do the same in your promotional emails,
sort of, by putting your readers first, making them
the star of every email, and making them feel
important to you and appreciated. Tip! Be conscious of details: Find the name of your primary contacts, and make sure you spell them right in the items you send to them. Even the best direct marketing piece is useless in the trash. They'll love you for it. ----
About the author
Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com. © 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
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