Nine Essential Tips for Effective Emails
Regardless of all the endless fun stuff that software coders seem to be churning out for the web–Google Earth, Talkr, Twitter, del.icio.us, Reddit–emails are still the workhorse of online prospecting.
Yet inboxes are growing more cluttered by the hour, and more and more people are checking their e-mail on cell phones or smart phones…that’s why it’s wise to keep grooming your emails so their readable and relevant.
- What’s your compelling reason to send the email? Is it urgent, interesting, funny, sad? Would you forward the message to a friend or family member? If there’s no good reason for it, consider taking the day off.
- Does it have an effective “From” line? The “From” line and subject line work in tandem. And an effective “From” line starts with name recognition.
- Does it have an effective subject line? Something that stands out in their inbox. Use this tool to test your subject lines AND “From” lines.
- Does it make the point in the first vertical inch or two? Many people won’t see images—your header, wrapper, or photos—because their e-mail software turns them off. Or they may be getting your message on a BlackBerry or Treo or cell phone.
- Is it easy to scan the message (since very few people read it all the way through)? Can recipients get the idea at a glance?
- Does the headline make the offer? Does the first or second paragraph make the point and provide a link for action? Is the call to action simple and clear, making a single point and with no more than a sentence or two at the most?
- Is it as short as possible? Edit out the useless words and clichés that just slow down reading or turn people off.
- Does the call to action feel compelling? Will somebody abandon what he is doing and take action now? Will the person feel like he’s losing big if he decides to sit this one out?
- Does it feel like one person writing to another? As impersonal as e-mail can be, you still want it to feel like one person’s message to another.
So what about you: are you still using email to prospect? If so, how effective have you become?
Or has spam and the crowd noise chased you out? Is email dead and anybody who uses it wasting their time and money?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
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