Last week we talked about the first step toward becoming the Sally Field of B2B email marketing. Other than not letting sales people write email, the primary take-away was to think about how and where the message is being consumed, whether it’s a newsletter, solicitation or webinar invitation. That’s Sally Step One.
Today, step two, is about actually getting to the point. Dr. Flint from MECLabs tells us that we should be able to read a good email message in less than 30 seconds. I’m not sure I’d give you even that long, but let’s assume you’ve written a decent subject line and I’ve found my glasses and I’m ready to read, and let’s accept that I’m not your target market anyway. You have an obligation to get to the point. Not at the end of the message, not someplace buried in the middle, but right up front.
You need to tell your victim the following things in the first couple of lines:
- what you are selling or offering or doing
- why you think is remotely relevant to the reader
- what they should do next
You know that stuff we keep reading about how important it is for your brand to tell a story? Ignore that. It doesn’t apply in email marketing. No room for stories. Save your stories for your content.
Getting to the point needs to start with the subject line. Good subject lines, like good pick up lines, should be moderately intriguing but should not conjure walk-of-shame images or create any kind of visceral need to leave the room.
Here are some good lines I’ve seen lately to get you started:
- How to plan your 2012 content budget
- Learn the fundamentals origami (I’m not that busy at work just now)
- Five ways to find budget for demand generation in 2012
- One of your employees wants you dead. I know which one. Call me.
- Save 20% on printing this month
- Don’t forget to Book your space at GnomeWorld Expo 2012
These work because they are ten words or so, which means they should display easily on a mobile device. They also give the victims enough information to decide whether or not you’re relevant. If you’re not relevant, they will flush you and that’s fine. If you are, they have a small preview of what might lie within the body of the email.
Here are some others that don’t really work:
- Business for Technology Users
- Guaranteed Success
- New MIT SMR Research Report out Today
- Exclusive invitation to participate in executive research project
- ExpoPass Extras with Bonus Workshop Access by 11/13
These all fail on the point of vagueness. Without context beyond the name of the sender, the victim has no idea what’s going to happen when they open these emails. The P-Cube loathes surprises, which is why they buy so few pop-up books.
It’s important to remember the secondary goal of the subject line, which is to weed out the recipients as much as they are weeding out their senders. We don’t want bored, angry, irrelevant people tromping about in our websites getting their greasy, time-wasting hands on our content. We want engaged, interested people with budget.
At the other end of the spectrum are the subject lines that no only get to the point but invade, subjugate, occupy and level it. This gem from Marketo (still one of the best content marketers on the planet) is a good example:
Now that you’ve dragged them into the body of the email, it’s time to keep getting to the point. And what is the point? The point is to sell the action you want them to take. Usually a click or a reply. Your corporate history, your CEO’s credentials, your CMO’s opinions on Norwegian football are not the point, unless they somehow drive the click, which is doubtful.
Your job is to sell the click or reply. You’re not selling your solution. You’re not selling your credibility. You’re selling the little blue link or giant red button that will take your victim to something better than the horrific reality of their Inbox on a Tuesday morning. This email does that rather well.
So does this one.
This one, not so much since it makes us wade through three long paragraphs before we get to click. Though it does have a great subject line:
Selling the click, like selling anything, is about establishing a clear benefit for the clicker. And that means telling the truth about what’s on the other side. P-Cubers not only hate surprises, they view clicking a link as if they were accepting a drink, so don’t be creepy.
Let’s talk about the click. Before you sit down to write your email message or brief your agency, you need to figure out exactly what you want your recipient to do. Hint: They should have only one option. Emails like this with a bunch of things to click are not helpful:
Erik, why not just send me the link to the webcast? You’re making me work way too hard.
Another way of not getting to the point is to blast too much information into a tiny place. It’s not spray foam insulation, folks. Check out this sales-pitch-on-a-page:
Assuming I’m bored enough to reply, what could Jared and I possibly have left to talk about?
Then there’s this mess which not only has an epically bad subject line, but also about eight screens worth of the entire conference agenda.
If you ‘re worried you’ve messed up Sally Step Two, try sending a draft to a friend or spouse who doesn’t really care about your company. Ask them to name the one thing they were supposed to do in the email. If they don’t know or if they list multiple things, try again.
Next Time: Sally Step Three –Be Consistent
Do you have any criminally bad email messages to share? I’m building a SharePoint deck with more examples so please send them along.
BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams
I help organizations build their brands through great conversations with employees and customers
Drop me a line at ewilliams(at)candlerchase.com
Follow me @bizmkter
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