Webinar Email Marketing Writing Tips
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
- 1.
- Writing Tips to Improve Email Results
Gary Halliwell NetProspex CEO [email_address] (888) 826-4877
www.twitter.com/netprospex www.netprospex.com/blog Craig Stouffer,
Pinpointe Email Marketing [email_address] (408) 834-7577 x125
www.twitter.com/pinpointe www.pinpointe.com/blog
- 2. Email Writing Tips
- Focus on B2B. Guidelines apply well to B2C too
- Where do these tips apply?
-
- Offer (e.g. download whitepaper)
-
- Event Invitation (e.g. Webinar, seminar, lunch-n-learn)
-
- Outreach (e.g. stay in touch campaigns)
-
- Business update (i.e., newsletter format)
- Sources: Pinpointe analysis of millions of emails / hundreds of
campaigns
- 3. Email Writing Tips: Break it Down
- Focus on Each part of the Email
- Introduction: Think Above the Fold
- 4. Importance of Email Subjects
- At least 40% of the readers decision to open or take action is
based on the email subject + send-from
- Tip : 69% of recipients decide whether to report email as spam
based on the subject line (source: ESPC)
-
- Spend 50% of your time on the subject + Intro
-
- 50% on everything else (including design)
- The 80/20 Rule of Email Subjects
-
- 8 of 10 people will skim/read your email subject line
-
- Less than 2 in 10 will read the rest / take action
- 5. 10 Best Performing Email Subjects
- MyCompany Sales & Marketing Monthly Newsletter
- MyCompany Newsletter - January 2009: Teaser Subject/Topic
- [Webinar]: N Tips to Improve Email Responses
- MyCompany Webinar: Case Studies - Join Us Feb 15
- Webinar Topic - Webinar Slides Available
- This Weeks Phone Call / Meeting (Personalized note from sales
rep)
- John - 8 Customer Service Tips that Work
- Exciting Update from MyCompany - IBM Approved Supplier
- Reminder: Storage Survey - Your Input
- Invitation - Breakfast on Specific Topic
- * Source: Pinpointe analysis of several million customer
emails
- 6. 9 Worst Performing Email Subjects
- Join Us for a FREE Webinar on April 2 2009!
- Register to Win Your FREE iPod!!
- Post-Trade Show Webinar: Expert Insights Into the Key Trends
and Observations from the Trade Show Floor Last Week
- European Lakefront Elegance
- (Company) Announces Partnership to Work with (Other
Company)
- Product Launch: New Widget Available
- Full Press Release Title (Company) Announces New Widgets
- 7. Email Subject Length Experiment
- Pinpointe Campaign webinar invite / split test / 2
versions
- Short : [Webinar] Split Test Case Studies (Feb 4)
- Long : [Pinpointe] Case Studies Webinar: Using Split Testing to
Improve HTML Email Response Rates (Feb 4th) - Please Join Us
- 8.
- Popular, specific and * relevant * keywords
- Length: 50 ~ 55 characters
- Clearly stated benefit(s)
- Lead-in with a teaser / Ask a question
- Pushy / salesy - Ask for an order
- Non-descript / vague / (sometimes meaningless)
Best / Worst Subjects: Observations
- 9.
- Keep it personal - Reinforce 1 to 1 relationship
- Usually better to use name+company vs. Company
- Legitimate / valid email address (!)
- Consider: person as send-from + Company in subject
- Craig Stouffer, Pinpointe < [email_address] >
The Email From Field
- 10. The Opening: Above the Fold
- FOLD : The First 3 lines / 300 pixels (Preview pane)
- You have email subject + 3 lines to get attention
- Can your opening sentence stand on its own?
- Think: The 5 + 30 approach:
-
- Tell the 5 second version of your story first
-
- Then tell the 30 second version
- 11. Above the Fold Good/Bad Examples WORKS: DOESNT WORK:
Company
- 12.
- The offer (or the main point / objective)
- Divide key message into sections
-
- Generally, short and concise works best
-
- Exception complicated offering / big ticket item
- Consider: Shorter paragraph with link to landing page(s) with
supporting details
The Body - Structure
- 13.
- Newsletters, quick updates, event invites, any outreach
-
- Always include a signature
-
- Dont forget physical address
- TIP : Try this: OK to advertize below the signature:
-
- Social links (eg: twitter, Facebook, Blog)
-
- Text + link to special offer
-
- Offer for free demo / trial / etc
The Signature
- 14. Images and Attachments
- Almost an inverse relationship between use and response in B2B
communications
- 50% of Email clients: Images disabled by default
- How will your email will look w/o images?
- 15.
- Tips for using images in B2B:
- Event/Asset Registration?
-
- Adding a Register Now button increased responses 22%
-
- (use ALT Text) (source: Pinpointe testing)
- Offering a whitepaper / webinar / report?
-
- Add thumbnail of report to increase responses by 25%
- Avoid attachments. Link to document
Images and Attachments
- 16.
- Do multiple links improve results?
- Compared 20 newsletter campaigns (*Mark Brownlow)
- Analyzed the teaser / intro text with 1, 2 links
- 2 Example newsletter intro paragraphs:
Using Links Effectively in Email
- Results (Average across 20 campaigns):
- Average CTR for campaigns with 1 link: 6.8%
- Average CTR for campaigns with 2 links: 8.57%
- Improvement: Extra link = +25%
-
- * Source: Mark Brownlow www.email-marketing-reports.com
- 17.
- Is there a correlation between:
-
- Distance between call-to-action links, and
- Test (20 different email newsletters)
-
- Teaser intro with 2 links: in-content link and end link
-
- Correlated distance between links in words and click rates
-
- 5-7 lines of text / 2 paragraphs for all variations
Using Links Effectively in Email
-
- * Source: Mark Brownlow www.email-marketing-reports.com
- 18.
-
- Optimal click-rate occurs with 10~22 words between links
Links: Correlation
-
- Try embedded in-context link + trainer link (e.g. Read
more)
-
- Test test test see what works in your environment
- 19. Top Performers - Examples
- 20. Poor Performers - Examples Company
- 21.
- Offer / invite attend educational training
- Goal: Get customer on phone with sales team
- Problem: Terrible response rates (