Your social media accounts are blasted with friend requests or invites to connect every day.
You accept them because you want to expand your network.
As a result, you’re inundated with massive amounts of spam emails. Of course, I’m not talking about the scam email (which should automatically go to the junk folder).
Not exactly what you want.
And these emails don’t even come close to what you need or are offering the same services you do for a living.
So, you delete them.
We all have email lists. And we add to them constantly.
But many of the emails you send to your prospects don’t get opened, either.
They end up just like the spam you get.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
I’ll show you the “don’ts” and “do’s” that will get your email opened consistently.
The Frustration is Real
Spam seems to be the norm these days.
I receive so many spam emails from people I’ve connected with – and more from those I don’t even know.
I’m sure you have, too.
And every time I sign up for something online, I know my email address was sold to someone else.
Here comes more spam.
You know that little number that hovers over the email icon on your phone? The one that tells you how many unopened emails you have?
I happened to see it on a friend’s phone. I only noticed it because it was a 5-digit number!
“You really have that many unopened emails?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I would say around 95% is spam. Not sure how I got on their list. I would never buy stuff like that. But I don’t want to blanket delete because I know some are ‘real,’ and I want to keep those.”
“But that many would go back years!” I exclaimed.
“I know, but I don’t have time to go through them all,” she replied.
“Why don’t you start from the bottom and do a mass delete of everything for a year and older?” I asked.
“I want to try to unsubscribe, so I stop receiving them,” she said. “I tried a few, and they returned “undeliverable.’ So, I put them in my spam folder and blocked them.”
“That’s frustrating!” I exclaimed.
“Very,” she replied. “A complete waste of time. I would never buy from them.”
I would never buy from them.
Is this the response you want from your emails?
Because this is what happens when your prospects are frustrated with what you’ve sent them.
Look at That Spam
Have you ever analyzed those spam emails?
I have.
As a professional copywriter, I analyze them all the time.
It gives me a very long list of what not to do, and I pass this along to my clients.
Email has a preview – you don’t even have to open the message to see the first few lines or the entire email body.
You can see right away the email is bulk mail from someone grasping at straws.
You can usually tell from the Subject line.
Here are the top four (4) items I look for (there are more):
- My name – Dear {name} – someone needs to learn the art of merge – or my name is misspelled. Every time I receive an email with either of these (first, last, it doesn’t matter), it goes into the spam folder without being read. Obviously, you don’t pay attention, or you just didn’t bother to look.
Not only will I unsubscribe (if possible), but you may be blocked on many levels. Why would anyone want to do business with someone who didn’t take the time to look at their website or get the name right?
- You Lie – You tell me straight up you tried to get a hold of me. I know if you tried to get a hold of me, you would have. Contact information isn’t stealth … it’s in plain sight. And every form of social media has some type of messenger.
- Subject Line – If it’s vague or you’re trying to sell me the same exact services I do for a living, it won’t get opened. This tells me you didn’t bother looking at my profiles or website. Why would I open your email when your Subject line is obscure or not relevant to me? Believe it or not, attention to detail is important.
- It’s Unreadable – Your email has run-on sentences, large paragraphs, and an 8-point font. And don’t forget the large amounts of flashing graphics. If it’s not easy to read, it gets deleted.
Look at the emails you get. See what I mean?
You need your recipient to open, read, and respond to what you send them. So, don’t make these same mistakes.
How to Get Your Emails Opened
Getting your emails opened is not that difficult. Just follow these simple steps:
- Make it trustworthy – they need to be credible. Since emails are your ambassador, they need to show, at least, that you know who your target market is. This includes:
- The Subject line is relevant and grabs their attention.
- You know who they are and what they do.
- You spell their name correctly.
- Don’t lie to them.
- It’s about them, not you – the purpose of the email is to let them know you have something to offer that can help them – and what you have can fix the problem they have (this right here is gold!).
- Short sentences and short paragraphs – keep the sentences and the paragraphs short. And to keep their attention, the length of the entire email should be short as well. Also, more people are reading their emails on their phones. So, white space is your friend (and it makes it easier to read).
- It’s relevant and conversational – the email must promise what the Subject line says, and it must be important to them. Keep the language conversational and not formal. And keep it simple – below an 8th-grade reading level. This is not an insult. It keeps the message very easy to read, which will keep your prospect reading.
- Call to Action – you should always have a call to action at the end of your message. Give your reader the opportunity to do “what’s next.” Don’t leave them hanging.
- Proofread – even though mistakes do happen, always proofread before sending. I know quite a few people who will discount anything if there’s a typo.
Keep adding to your email list. It needs to grow and grow.
Just make sure you know your target market. Don’t be random.
Nothing says, “I really don’t care” or “I don’t know who you are,” like sending an email to someone without doing your research first.
Even if you’re sending out a million bulk emails to your target market hoping to get a hit, you’ll want to try this approach.
Your prospects are more likely to become your customers if they like what they see, and it offers a solution to the problem they have.
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If you’d like help writing conversational emails that get opened and read, contact me at 512.917.2109 or Kellie@FrogCommunications.com