By Andrew Seel
Believe it or not, your customers aren't really that interested in your company or what you are up to – not when they're reading their email or surfing the web, anyway.
Online, they generally only want to know if you've got what they're looking for. This might sound harsh but it's a reality on the web – and your email marketing campaign should take account of this or it's not going to be as successful as you'd like.
Get immediate results
When your customers receive your email newsletter they immediately want to know if it has something to offer them.
If they need ideas for Christmas presents they might be tempted to open an email from Amazon with the subject line:
'12 days of xmas deals: 1GB MP3 + up to 70% off in Books - hurry, ends 1 Dec'
But imagine if they open that email and the main promotion is an article on the latest industry award Amazon has just won, followed by a feature titled 'Under wraps' about Christmas gifts and a rambling article on what the CEO thinks about Cumberland sausages.
Quickly scanning the newsletter, they can't see any of the things they're looking for. No promotions for 'Christmas Deals', no mention of MP3 players or book discounts.
How long does it take them to close the email and move on, feeling slightly worse about the brand than they did a moment ago?
Focus on the right words in the right place
Although they'll never know it, the newsletter above was actually promoting the Christmas Deals it had promised.
It had just used the wrong language in the wrong place to do so. They'd have found all of the deals promised in the subject line by clicking on the 'Under wraps' link – they just had no way of ever knowing it.
There is a simple lesson in this scenario – understand the language your customers expect to see, then use it everywhere they'll expect to see it.
You can transform the response to your email marketing campaign by focusing not only on the right words but by concentrating on where you put them.
It's no good having a great hook in your subject line if you don't follow through with it in the email and on your website.
Read our top tips for getting a better response to your email marketing campaign.
This piece was originally featured on the Email Marketing Manual.