Picture
this - you have everything in place - a good marketing campaign, you’ve
built up a subscriber list, formed the perfect subject line with
irresistible content and you even have the click tracking software in
place to monitor results. You’ve tested it to a small group of people
and received a positive response. These efforts however, will be wasted
if you don’t successfully deliver it to the recipient. Email
deliverability refers to the success of actually getting your emails
delivered to the right person. In the world of email marketing, ‘almost’
is just not enough. Unless your email gets to the recipient, then your
job is not done.
If
you’re new to the world of email marketing, then you might wonder what
the problem of email deliverability might be. You make an email and
enter an email address and expect it to be delivered successfully.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in email marketing; you send to
hundreds, even thousands of recipients but not everyone will get your
email. In fact, 10% will most likely not.
There
are various reasons why your emails are not reaching the intended
destinations. The email boxes of the people you’re sending are first
assessing your emails and then classifying if it will be sent to your
inbox, marked as spam, or automatically deleted.
In
order to ensure a high rate of email deliverability you should not try
to beat spam filters but rather learn how to work with them.
If
you’re hiring the services of a company to manage your email marketing
solution, then they must be able to monitor the number of emails that
went out and the ones that bounced back due to issues such as full
inboxes or bad email addresses.
Aside
from these, there are organisations that follow blocking policies and
all emails from blocked IP addresses are automatically deleted. Some use
blacklist software to identify emails that need to be blocked. There is
nothing you can do when your emails are blocked or deleted,. However,
there are methods to improve your email marketing campaign in order to
reach a far greater number of targeted readers. This is where an email
tracking service comes in handy.
This
can tremendously help improve your email marketing campaign and can
identify other issues that affect email deliverability - such as Content
Filters where certain phrases must be avoided so as not to be tagged as
spam - and Permission Filters where all emails that didn’t originate
from an authorised source are blocked immediately.
All your hard
work creating an email marketing campaign and establishing your contact
list will be wasted if you don’t track and monitor the deliverability of
your email.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Choosing a Good Email Subject Line
Labels:
advice
,
Best Practice
,
delivery
,
email marketing
,
first steps
,
how to email market
,
targeting
Along
with concise content and good timing, choosing a good subject line for
your email is one of the most crucial things to consider. Email
marketing is a convenient, yet problematic way of promoting your website
or product.
The
email subject line must grab the reader’s attention and keep retain it -
meaning it has to be catchy and interesting enough for the recipient to
take time to open and read your mail. On the basis that ‘You only have
one chance to make a first impression’, the subject line is very often
the only impression an email makes upon a customer - so mastering the
magical one-liner is essential.
Some of the important points you should consider when writing your email subject line for a marketing campaign are:
Use the Recipient’s Name
Try to observe your own reactions when you’re reading the subject lines of emails that you’ve received, the ones that are sure to grab your attention are the ones with your name in the subject line. Adding the recipient’s name gives conveys the impression that the email was sent personally to the reader. It’s important to note, however, that appending names on every email that has nothing else personalised in it, is a little too gimmicky. So be sure to include something personalised for the customer in the body of the email, otherwise don’t use their names to personalise the subject line.
Solution-Oriented Subject
Rather than using a brand or product name on the subject line, consider writing your subject to propose a solution. For instance, a website that sells and is promoting, antivirus software could have the following subject line; “How to get your computer protected from all viruses” rather than a product oriented subject such as “Brand New Antivirus software released”.
Keep it Intriguing
Leave the customers hanging by putting ellipsis on the subject line(...). This suggests that there is a continuation on the topic, thereby arousing curiosity.
Restrict information to Top ten lists
There
is something interesting and attention grabbing about a top ten list
because readers tend to like to see valuable information in scannable,
bite-size chunks. A concise, informative list delivers more value than
endless paragraphs - even if they contain the same amount of
information.
KISS – Keep it Short and Simple
The ‘KISS Principle’ is well known in the field of marketing but seems harder to achieve in email marketing. Try to get your message across in two words rather than half-a-dozen as this will allow it to stand out from the rest of the content in the customer’s inbox.
The above points are just some of the basic guidelines you need to follow to create an email marketing campaign that is effective and won’t end up on the recipient’s trash folder. Try to keep in mind that choosing and using the right combination of words is vital in creating that all important, attention-grabbing, email subject line.
GraphicMail is now a member of the Return Path Certification program
Labels:
Best Practice
,
bulk
,
delivery
,
email marketing
,
email marketing industry
,
email metrics
,
graphicmail features
,
new
Our email practices have been audited and approved by Return Path.
We are part of the largest, most respected whitelist program in the industry.
As a program member, we are part of a network of trust that covers more than 1.3 billion mailboxes!
We are part of the largest, most respected whitelist program in the industry.
As a program member, we are part of a network of trust that covers more than 1.3 billion mailboxes!
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