The message! The Does and Don'ts

Article from April, 2nd, 2003.

The message is the most important part of your bulk email marketing campaign. And the most difficult one, too. Occasionally, you will stumble upon articles called "10 tips for writing good e-mails", "5 ways to write effective e-mails", etc. Just exercise common sense folks. There are no ready solutions, and you will have to try different things to find out what works for you.

First, the subject. When thinking about your subject line, think about your target audience. If you are selling plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and your target audience consists of photographers and designers, the best subject for your promotional email is something like "New Plug-ins for Photoshop". Surely you can try something like, "MAKE $10000 A WEEK WITH OUR NEW PHOTOSHOP PLUG-INS", but I doubt it will work. Do not use "aggressive" subjects - people have been getting spam for years now, and they distinguish it now by just reading the subject line. Your job is to get them interested. One of the most effective email fundraising campaign for a charity had a subject line that read "Show me the money!" That's pretty smart, isn't it? And certainly don't lie to your reader's. Don't say "Naked pictures of Britney Spears", if you are selling lawnmower parts. The only rule for writing a good subject line is "Write a subject line that will prompt the user to open your email without cheating them." The rest is up to you.

Ok, now the body of email. First, think about the layout of your email, especially if you are using HTML. The first paragraph should say exactly what the purpose of your email is. Use capital letters or different colors for highlighting the most important parts of your message. Use precise wording - tell your readers exactly what you want from them. Here is an example of a good first paragraph - "GET YOUR FAVORITE DVDs AT A 50% DISCOUNT". It's not perfect, but it works. Also, identify yourself clearly and give them a link to your website, so that they can find out more about your, your company, your products or services. DO try to be humorous and somewhat emotional. DO NOT try to hype the readers into buying your products - IT DOES NOT WORK. Your readers are just as intelligent as you are. And most importantly, don't send your message immediately - wait for some time, at least an hour. Then read your e-mail. Then read it again ALOUD.

Make necessary changes, and now you are ready to make money from e-mails. Good luck!

Next Week: How to use email address extractors
Prev Week: The Message!

Relevant links:

  • Bulk mailer with built-in HTML capabilities
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Email address extractor

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