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Guidelines II



4. State facts rather than promises. You can earn your reader's trust by providing facts and results, rather than empty pledges. Cite qualified sources and satisfied customers to back up your points.

Rather than, "Our in-house inventory and reliable delivery are guaranteed to save you time and money," write "Our customers save as much as $1,000 per year when they switch to our service. Here's what they have to say..."

Your readers are savvy. Don't tell them you are not trying to sell them something. They know you are.

Replace, "I am not trying to sell you something, but I would like to meet with you to discuss the possibility of working together," with "Let's meet to discuss how our service/offer can save you money."

Avoid words and phrases like, "no obligation," "guarantee," and "free trial." Instead of, "You are under no obligation to continue after our free trial," or "This product is fully guaranteed," write, "We have a 90-day return policy," or, "We will not charge your account until after you've had 30 days of service."

5. Be concise. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." George Orwell advised, "If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out."

And Dr. Seuss put it this way: "So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads."

With all the information your readers are bombarded with on a daily basis, less is definitely more.

After your reader has opened your e-mail, you have only three to five seconds to grab his or her attention. Use short sentences and bullet points to get your message across.

There is no need to cram tons of details into every e-mail. Save them for your landing page, or include more thorough explanations in the blog articles on your website, or other sales materials.

Instead of: "Our customers engage us to help them fight rising healthcare costs and the decreased productivity that results from staff absenteeism."

Try: "With our easy-to-use software and our on-call health practitioners, you can reduce your company's healthcare expenses."

Write: "Our software and specialists will help lower absenteeism and poor performance from employee health problems."

6. Have a call to action. What's the point? What's the bottom line? What do you want your reader to do? A successful marketing e-mail has a clear call to action.

Do you want your reader to make an appointment? Give them the contact details.

Do you want them to visit your website? Have a clear clickable link.

Do you have a remarkable sale ending soon? Tell them the deadline.

Use active language and strong verbs such as:


7. Use a clean, uncluttered design. Even with the best subject line, you can lose your readers soon after they open your message by overwhelming them with content.

Too many graphics -- headers, sidebars, images and multiple columns -- can spoil the effect you are trying to achieve with your words.

Your main message and your call to action need to be near the top of your message. Be sure to avoid totally image-based e-mails. If your call to action includes a graphic element, such as a "click here" button, make sure that the link is also accessible as regular text for your mobile recipients, who cannot see the images.

A one-column approach increases legibility on mobile devices. Consider keeping your e-mails to be between 320 px and 550 px wide.

Also, the typical e-mail reader will quickly click out of a message with heavy blocks of text. In addition to writing short paragraphs of two to three sentences, plan to break up your text with bullet points and with plenty of white space around images.



8. Use a P.S. A postscript can be an e-mail marketer's best friend. Here is where you can repeat your offer or emphasize a deadline. This added sentence can help you create a sense of urgency.

Here is an example:
P.S. Act now. Last summer's response was so great, we ran out of inventory in 48 hours.
A P.S. has a personal feel to it. Here you can address any concerns your readers may have. Here's how:
P.S. We have a no-questions-asked, no-hassle returns policy. You have nothing to lose, if you change your mind.
A postscript can offer an additional bonus. If your readers have made it all the way through your e-mail, reward them with a free product or a discount.

Here's an example:
P.S. Here's a bonus to our e-mail subscribers. Place this code ____ on your order form and you will get an additional 15 percent discount.
You also can use a postscript to offer a valuable third-party endorsement. Include a testimonial here from a new customer, or place a link to your ratings on an industry site.

9. Proofread. The importance of proofreading your marketing message cannot be overstated.

Use the techniques we outlined in previous lessons (including reading it aloud, reading it from end to beginning, or changing the type size) to make sure you don't close the door on a new sale as soon as you have opened it.

Errors take the reader out of the message and bring your credibility into question.

10. Test. Send your marketing email to yourself and to some of your colleagues. Read it on different types of devices and with different browsers to help you spot any potential trouble spots.

Does it make it through spam filters? Is the copy readable? What about the images? Is your font size readable in any format? Use a body copy minimum of 12 pt. and headlines of 16 pt., so that your words are legible on a mobile device.

Keep track of your engagement metrics. Some e-mail services use metrics to determine whether your subscribers have opened your e-mails during in a certain period of time. By following these numbers, you will see if your messages are ending up in spam for certain accounts and what modifications you may need to make.

If there are inconsistencies in the "from" address and the "reply to" address in your messages, your e-mails may be being filtered as spam, for example. Also, if you are on a shared server, your e-mail may be sent to the spam filter, because of a kind of guilt by association.

Here's one last tip. Make an effort not to waste people's time. When it comes to e-mails, there definitely can be too much of a good thing. Even well-written, personal e-mails can be annoying if they are constantly showing up in your inbox. Only e-mail when you have something fresh and valuable to say.

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