This is my way and the best way to email
Do you know the rules about emailing? Follow my way email to learn the rules.
The rules of the land
Before you start on any campaign you should check the local laws on emailing.
Why? Because the penalties can be very big for bucking the system.
Many of the Email generators have a double opt-in process when you send an email and this cuts down the success rate dramatically.
Of recent times this has been cut back a bit to allow more discretion on your part.
The important issue is that you are responsible so don’t treat it lightly.
OK, lets get to the meat of the subject and give you some ideas.
Who to email?
The very best way is when shoppers subscribe to your online offer and they provide an email address.
Go for it, they want information and put them into an Autoresponder and follow their activities.
More on that soon.
The next way is to obtain properly assessed email addresses from a reputed supplier and start from there.
Even then I generally fly off an initial email as an introduction saying where I got the mail from, what I intend to send them and an opportunity to unsubscribe.
My results in this see very few unsubscribes but a few wrong addresses that I can delete or correct before putting them in a responder.
The third guaranteed way is to call and ask for an email address. This is a good authority and excellent good open rates particularly if you get a contact name.
I did that today with a product I wanted to launch in a particular area to a specific and targeted audience.
I had no refusals and the opportunity to really market these people to a result.
An introduction
My first email is an introduction about myself and a bit on why I contacted them. What they could expect and that I would follow up in a near future time.
The next email was posted as a press release announcing a new product that they had been briefed on but telling just a bit more.
The next mail had some benefits and a hint of scarcity because the product was not available to everyone. I put a link in to gauge a level of interest and a trial close and then finished with a whats next teaser.
On each mail
on every mail, there is a soft close
A link
plus a teaser
Include a graphic of some kind.
Eyes are drawn to pictures as long as it is appropriate to the subject.
Why a soft close?
We are not in the entertainment business our purpose is to lead the readers to a specific action.
To this end, you must ask them to do something. Remember the old adage that states
“if you don’t ask you don’t get”. The reason for a soft close is that they may not yet be ready, not enough information, wrong time of the day all the normal reasons we procrastinate.
Why a link in the email?
The reason for a link is to find out more about their interests. If you ran a link to ladies shoes and men’s’ shoes and they chose one over the other you can then segregate them to a new focus.
Therefore if you have a singular focus perhaps it could be a time of day issue, colour, fabric etc
What is a teaser
You need to keep your audience engaged and not hitting the Unsubscribe button and losing them forever. Keep them excited and keep them coming.
The two absolutely most important issues to confront and use effectively in your mail
The number two issue in emails is your header or call to action
No, I am not interested in shoes today, delete, gone. 30% discount today on selected shoes, OK let’s have a look at this.
The number one issue in emails
Who the email is from, it is a trust thing and If you don’t know the sender you may just delete it.
I know each morning I skim my emails and delete by name because I don’t want to do anything with them at the moment.
This is why an initial introduction is necessary and to tell them to expect a further mail from you.
Try it your self. Skim your emails and see what grabs your attention first I am willing to bet that name comes first.
Furthermore, you only get an open after establishing trust in your name. This may be the answer but the question is how do you establish trust and the answer is read again from the start and follow the basic rules
Introduction
Tell them what they can expect from you
Re-state benefits
Open curiosity
Links to click
Pictures
Trial Closes
More benefits
More benefits
Saying goodbye
I like to say goodbye after about 10-15 emails.
My goodbye will include a call to action and then I put them into a general newsletter.
I clear my wrong numbers, my unsubscribes and my non-opens from my list as they hurt your performance and you won’t sell to them anyway. I have a disclaimer that sometimes opens don’t register and on some services, mobile opens don’t show so consider this carefully.
Do emails work?
A definite yes and a positive no. It’s a numbers thing and you need to consider this carefully.
Review your stats to see what you are doing right or wrong.
Too many rejects then your email source is bad.
Not enough opens consider your subject
No clicks then make it more worthwhile
No sales, start making changes to the whole structure and improve one item at a time
In conclusion, you won’t sell to everyone it is a numbers game at the best.
My Way Email
Enjoy the experience.
Peter Hanley
