Tricks of the E-mail Trade, Part 1; Webinar Speaker’s Tips & Guidelines

In a recent webinar presentation, “Top Ten Things You Need to Know About E-mail Creative,” Jordan Ayan, CEO of e-mail service provider SubscriberMail, offered an assortment of tips for creating e-mail marketing campaigns. This week, we bring you part one of his presentation, which focused on subject lines, speaking to the customer and copywriting. Next week, we’ll bring you the second part in which Ayan addresses links and calls to action; type, images and rich media; and viral opportunities.

Subject lines are part of the creative process. Providing tips for the audience to avoid the “Oh no, I didn’t read that, I thought it was spam” consumer response, Ayan stressed the importance of relevant, concise subject lines. He listed the following tips in creating subject lines:

* Use no more than 45 characters or five words;

* Never use all caps;

* Use punctuation only when necessary;

* Avoid “cute” headlines, but be creative;

* Make it relevant to your recipient;

* Test it three times;

* Think like a filter;

* One subject line doesn’t fit all;

* Think relationship, not message; and

* Avoid spam words.

He also gave the audience four rules to live by with subject lines:

1. Provide a clear indication why it should be opened and what to expect;

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

3. Keep it simple; and

4. Ask a question of the recipient.

Relevancy to the consumer. Ayan rattled off six pointers to making e-mails relevant. He suggested they be

1. meaningful;

2. interesting;

3. rewarding;

4. timely;

5. nonintrusive; and

6. take into account the “What’s in it for me?” factor.

He then offered two examples of companies using relevant e-mail messages successfully. In an e-mail campaign by Brunswick Zone, the bowling company personalized its message down to the store level, providing the nearest Brunswick Zone to individual recipients. Further making the message relevant, it offered a promotion (99 cent bowling) focused around a relevant event (the 4th of July).