Spruce up Email blasts

Jordan Ayan, CEO of e-mail service provider SubscriberMail gave a webinar presentation, “Top Ten Things You Need to Know About E-mail Creative,” offering insider tips for creating more effective E-mails. Ayan underlined the importance of relevant, concise subject lines:

* Use no more than 45 characters or five words

* Never use all caps

* Avoid punctuation

* Stay away from “cute” headlines, but be creative

* Make it relevant to your target audience

* Test subject lines three times

* Think like a filter

* Target your audience with different subject lines

* Think relationship, not message

* Avoid spam words

He mentioned four key rules for subject lines:

1. Be clear why your recipient should open the message and what to expect

2. Make them content-focused vs. entity-focused;

3. Keep it simple

4. Ask a question

Ayan suggested six ways to making e-mails relevant to your audience. He suggested they be

1. meaningful

2. interesting

3. rewarding

4. timely

5. not intrusive

6. answer the “What’s in it for me?” question

He gave an example of a successful e-mail campaign by Brunswick Zone, the bowling company. They personalized their message down to the store level, providing the nearest Brunswick Zone to each recipient. An attractive promotion (99 cent bowling) focused around an event (the 4th of July) demonstrated relevancy and value.

The e-mail coupon generated an outstanding 40 percent redemption rate.

Ayan gave the following copywriting-related tips:

* Direct consumers’ focus to the main message of the e-mail, whether it be price, availability or a sale

* Add a click to view in browser message for those having trouble accessing the e-mail

* Use free shipping or other offers with high perceived value to boost response

* Entice customers to add you to their address book

* Include an invitation to upcoming special events

* Send time-sensitive E-mails for special sales and promotions

* Provide tips, tactics and how-to articles

* Test color vs. an e-mail without color

* Use contests

* Segment your market

Need help creating successful E-mail blasts? Visit www.promowriting.com