With the economy in flux, securing more customers and conversions are a prime goal for many businesses – but with so many businesses eyeing the same number of customers, customers can quickly get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of marketing. With the help of spam filters and daily drilling, customers have gotten incredibly proficient at identifying which emails to ignore and which are worth opening… often from just the subject line alone! As marketers with profit margins on the line, how can we ensure that our emails make it pass the junk filters and into the laps of interested customers? Join Wordsmith and let’s find out!
Establish one topic per email and stick to it
If you’re a person who likes to multi-task, no doubt you’ve considered (or have already sent) emails with more than one topic. From an efficiency standpoint, why send two emails when one email can fit everything? Our bosses and clients do it all the time, so why shouldn’t we do this for our customers as well? Modern emails have also significantly increased size limits, so it definitely allows for multiple graphics and attachments!
Unfortunately, efficiency in our eyes is not taken the same way from the customer’s perspective – doing so can appear deceptive and disingenuous.
Firstly, you can only fit so many characters onto a subject line at once (Mailchimp recommends keeping it under 9 words and/or 60 characters). It’s hard enough trying to keep subject lines informative, descriptive and enticing, but how are you supposed to fit in more than 2 topics? You could only establish one topic in the subject line and then deviate to another topic in the main body of the email… but then customers would feel that you might be sidewinding them with content that they didn’t consent to before opening the email! So the smarter thing to do would be to establish one topic and stick with it.
Even for business settings, addressing multiple topics at a time can be a frowned upon practice. “Many people reply to email as they read it; thus it is easier for them (the recipients) to respond if you only discuss one topic per message,” explains Maryann V. Piotrowski in her book Effective Business Writing: A Guide for Those Who Write on the Job. “If you introduce several topics, they may postpone responding until they can address all the topics covered.” This can be rather aggravating if you need a swift response, so it definitely makes sense to split topics into separate emails!
Precision subject lines
We all love a good hook, but vague hooks will rarely outperform subject lines that are direct – in particular, Mailchimp notes that seasonal slogans are very popular (e.g. Summer sales are here), but because there isn’t a specific hook, the contents of the email aren’t immediately clear. Consider the following:
· 🔥🔥 BIG SALES 🔥 🔥
· 30% off on select shirts and dresses from Flim-Flom
The first option is certainly attention grabbing with the all-caps and emojis, but if this were a cold-call marketing email and we had no idea who the sender was, we wouldn’t know what was being placed on sale – we would have to either look at the sender’s email address or open the email, in either case, it’s a step that often dissuades recipients from continuing!
That said, the second option isn’t perfect either. When dealing with the topic of sales, we can create a fear of missing out (FOMO) by highlighting that the sales are time-limited (which they better be, because having something permanently on sale or other forms of fictitious pricing are illegal).
· Don’t miss out on our 30% off sale on select Flim-Flom clothes
· Stocks are running out on select Flim-Flom attire – 30% off until end of week!
Do account for subject priority, context and screen length
Although emails can technically go on for thousands and thousands of words, no one wants to sift through an essay to find the key points. Like with business writing, Piotrowski recommends that all important points are kept easily accessible at the top of the email, such as in the opening sentences (or in bullet points for more business-centric messages). Make sure the following is established early on:
· What’s going on? (Is there a special sale? Has shipping been delayed due to bad weather?)
o If timing or scheduling is involved, when will it end or when do you expect the delays to end?
· If applicable, what will you or your business do for the customer?
· What do you want the recipient to do? (call-to-action)
Following your main points, you should also consider if context is required. For example, you and your colleagues may know why the shipment is delayed, but you can’t expect your customers to know that. Provided the reason(s) for the delay are genuine, customers are going to be more forgiving as opposed to receiving a message without any reasons at all.
Having your details sorted out not only makes it easier for readers, but it also helps them decide if the rest of the email is worth reading. It also makes it easier for them to respond, as some people opt to reply to an email as they read it – this point is incredibly relevant today, as many people manage their emails on their phone – it’s annoying enough to have to scroll back and forth to reply to an email, but imagine doing so when the email is needlessly long!
Tonality checks
We all know how important it is to proofread, spellcheck, revise drafts and so on, but a lesser known trick to nailing your message’s voice is to read it out aloud using various tones and inflections. Since everyone’s minds work differently, how you intend for your message to be read may not be how some audiences perceive it – by vocally reading your email, Piotrowski points out that you can prevent any avoidable misunderstandings. She gives the following example:
“Your proposal was everything we expected.”
For the optimist, it’s perfect news… but for the cynic, it might sound sarcastic. We need to ensure that there are no misunderstandings across both business and marketing copywriting, so we should definitely use precise wording whenever possible.
· Good news: “Your proposal was wonderful and we are excited to discuss next steps.”
· Bad news: “Your proposal was rejected for…, but there were some solid points made. If you are able to send a revised proposal before the pitching period closes, it would still be open for consideration.”
With customers constantly on guard, it takes more than just pretty words to win over our audiences. Although emails can never replicate the vigour of a salesperson in the flesh, clever email etiquette can and will make the difference between a conversion and the bin!