Business List Mailing - Getting Your Email Opened
These days whatever your business, as well as your online presence, capturing names and emails of potential customers and customers should be high on your list of priorities. It doesnt matter what business youre in, theres likely to be a very good reason to build your business list.
Take for example a hairdressing salon. Probably not much requirement for an online presence is there? By capturing all of their customers names and email addresses over a period of time and sending a regular email newsletter the salon can dramatically improve its bottom line. How? If there were only a few bookings the following week, one quick personalised email through an autoresponder with a special discount to all their customers should get the phone ringing.
When conducting mailings to your email or business list its important to plan the email that you send meticulously. Each part of the email should have a specific goal. The goal of the subject line is to get the email opened. The goal of the first paragraph is to get the next one read and so on. The goal of the last paragraph is to get the email acted upon and get your click, call or whatever it is you want to achieve.
So what can you do to get your email opened? Quite simply this is completely dependent on your subject line. Thats it! Thats all youve got to help someone make the correct decision to open your email.
Some of you from big companies may be a little put off by what Im about to say as it can go against your marketing training but Ill draw a quick analogy to snail mail marketing. When you pick up your post can you tell which is junk mail and which looks like a personal letter? Of course you can and junk mail normally gets filed in the bin doesnt it? Never even opened! (If companies could handwrite every letter and put a stamp on it theyd get a much better response!)
So what can you do with the subject line? Quite a lot really.
1. Use the persons name in the subject line. Were all interested in our name, whether its spoken or written. Your name seems to leap off the page and shout for your attention. Use this to your advantage, use their name.
2. Use lowercase. Thats how friends write to each other. Theres much more chance of them opening your email if it might be from someone they know!
3. Use the words you, your or youll. This speaks directly to the person and focuses their attention on your email!
4. Use three dots as in at the end of the subject line. This invites the person to read more.
5. Be controversial. If you know your lists demographic and what theyre interested in you can play on this. Put a twist on a subject you know theyll be interested in and watch your open rates skyrocket.
