Just like a newspaper sells on the strength of the copy in it, bulk email marketing becomes accepted in a person’s inbox only because of the nature of the subject line and copy. Of course, a big part is played by getting an opt-in from the prospect to receive emails. But this is important only in the beginning, after that, there is nothing that stops the prospect from getting bored of seeing boring emails and marking your mails as spam. This will immediately reflect on a metric that you should use as an online marketer called email open rates. This metric records the number of users who open bulk email by using an embedded tag in an email to call an image from a server. This image is called when a user opens the mail, and an open hit is registered.
To improve email open rates, it can therefore be said that you can either tweak your subject lines or tweak your copy to cater to existing, opted-in customers. These are some of the methods available to you when you create this copy.
Be professional. This is an art that is often forgotten in the online marketing world. Many email marketers use goofy lines and loudness to try and get attention. Unfortunately, just like you wouldn’t trust a banker who comes into work in his shorts, you wouldn’t want to trust your purchase money to an email that is unprofessionally created. A professional look added to a more professional style of writing can substantially increase email open rates.
Advertise and not sell. This might seem slightly antagonistic to what most internet gurus would tell you. It is the difference between carpet bombing and using a guided missile. When you advertise, you are fundamentally informing, subtly changing the mind of the customer. When you are selling, you are trying to force something down the user’s throat. Therefore, make this change to the style of copywriting and see your improved email open rates.
Less is more. The more text you put into your email, the more likely that your prospect will simply get fed up and delete your mail. Therefore, when making an email, keep it short and simple. Perhaps, not more than fifty words in a screen.
Sell information about the product and not the product itself. This little trick is using the concept of word of mouth to sell a product rather than go door to door. Notice how no memorable TV ad will show prices and discounts but would rather talk about the features of the product. Leave the rest to the customer.
These measures to improve email open rates can be quite effective and can have an immediate effect on email open rates. You should also remember to create copy that does not repeat phrases and keywords too many times as this can be a trigger for a spam filter to kick in and kick your mail into the spam folder.