We recently looked at how poor subject lines could potentially kill your email marketing campaign’s chances of success. While your subject line is often cited as the most important component of your email marketing campaign — it is certainly the first line of defense between your opportunity and your subscriber’s delete button — you’ve got to make sure it’s backed up with solid text in the body of the content. Sometimes, just one or two words can damage your engagement rates and future success.
Here are five words and phrases you might want to remove from your next email marketing campaign.
- Sorry: Never start a sales pitch with an apology. Always assume that your subscriber will welcome your email and be interested in your offer. If you have carefully built and segmented your email list, this assumption should be pretty accurate.
- Just: I shudder every time I see an email opening with the statement: “I just wanted to follow up …” The word “just” weakens your proposition. It’s almost as if you are apologizing (see point #1).
- Allow Me to Introduce Myself: If you have to introduce yourself or your organization to a subscriber, you have to question how they actually became a subscriber. Because email marketing is a retention marketing channel, meaning your subscribers should already have a relationship with you, I would suggest the need for introductions is redundant. Unless, of course, you’re not playing the game correctly.
- Last Chance to Save: Too many sales organizations send campaigns (normally toward the end of a financial quarter) offering opportunities to save money if you buy before the end of the month. This simply tells your subscribers you can be flexible on pricing, and once an email has been sent, this information is in the public domain. It also lets them know that you are struggling to hit your targets – this is never a good thing to share outside of your organiz Set your price points, stick to them and stop devaluing your product or service. If you need to offer a little extra to sweeten the deal, try offering extra value instead, such as additional training, support, upgrades, etc.
- I Hope You Are Well: OK, this might sound cynical, but this touchy-feely approach to email marketing just gets in the way of your promotion. Get to the point (this is far more polite than waffling on and wasting people’s time), allow your subscribers to make a quick decision and save your good manners for the end of the transaction. Thank you.
Final Thought — Email Marketing That Tells the Whole Story Quickly
While we are on the subject of writing killer copy, I would urge you to take a look at the opening paragraph of your campaign in isolation. If after reading this paragraph you are unable to tell what your campaign is about, it’s time for a rewrite.
Check out Email Marketing Shouldn’t Be a Waste of Words for more advice on getting to and staying on the point.