Writing Results-Oriented Letters (Sales and Marketing and other Media Relations)

There is no question about it. E-mail marketing gets results.

In a 2015 survey of more than 5,000 marketers, Salesforce Marketing Cloud found e-mail is the key marketing medium for 73 percent of respondents. The report also demonstrated that e-mail, as a marketing tool, continues to grow. Sixty percent of the marketers reported that e-mail is a "critical enabler of products and services." This response is up from 42 percent in 2014.

How does e-mail usage continue to increase? The growth is fueled by smart phone usage. More than 72 percent of online adults in the U.S. send or receive personal e-mails via smart phone at least weekly, according to a current study by Forrester Research.

The top metrics used to measure an e-mail's success, according to Salesforce, are click-through rates (47 percent), conversion rates (43 percent), and click-to-open rates (38 percent). The best and most clever e-mail cannot do its job if your intended recipient does not open it.

So how can you create more compelling marketing e-mails? Here are 10 guidelines for sales-oriented e-mail messages.

1. Write an exciting subject line. It doesn't matter how great an offer your e-mail has, if your potential customer doesn't get to your copy.

The best subject lines are short and precise. If your readers are using mobile devices, they will only see the first 15 characters. And, according to Mail Chimp, they will make a decision whether to open your message or not in three seconds or less.

Make the message relevant, and make your point fast. If you are selling a product, your subject line should include brand, discount, and expiration date. If your message is B2B, this formula can translate to challenge, solution, and deadline.

It's not only your reader's attention you are trying to capture with your subject line. You are also trying to avoid the dreaded spam filter. According to Mail Chimp research, the four worst words to trigger spam filters are "free," "help," "percent off" and "reminder."

The best subject lines are straightforward and simple. They do not scream at the reader with all caps or exclamation points. They don't promise things that seem too good to be true. They can be as simple as "Your July newsletter" or "BOGO ends Friday" or "Invitation to (your company's) annual party."

2. Use pre-header space effectively. Some e-mail providers display a snippet of text beside the subject line. This text--called a pre-header-- is about 100 characters and is pulled from the first few lines of your e-mail.

Depending on the messaging platform you use, the pre-header may include a "Having trouble? View as a web page" link that provides readers with the option to view the message in a browser. Although this link can be helpful if you have images in your message, it does not serve as much of an enticement for getting your readers to open your message.

You can make good use of this pre-header space, by putting your call to action here.

3. Get personal. In a study of open rates for over 200 million e-mails, Mail Chimp found that the factors that affect how a reader views an e-mail include frequency, sender, and the nature of the message itself. The study found that personal messages top the list, followed by affiliations and timely news.

Stale newsletters, requests for money, and offers that are too good to be true are at the bottom of the barrel.

These results are not surprising – all us would rather read an e-mail from someone we know than from a stranger. However, you can learn from them. The main lesson is that you should aim to give your marketing emails a personal touch.

A Harris Interactive study of American online shoppers found that 81 percent of survey respondents were at least somewhat likely to purchase additional items at a physical store, or online, after receiving personalized e-mails.

Eighty-two percent said they were at least somewhat willing to receive promotional e-mails from retailers if the messages were personalized with past shopping habits. And almost 70 percent of the respondents said they would share personal preferences with retailers if the information would improve the relevancy of the e-mail messages.

Here are some ways to personalize e-mails:

• Use recipients' first names in the subject line.


• Use recipients' names in the salutation.


• Use your name in the closing