How to interject personality into your email copywriting and marketing efforts
What kind of email marketers would we be, if we didn’t want more people to read our emails and click through to our websites? Well, we wouldn’t be marketers at all, we’d be editors. In 2011 it’s more important than ever that editorial and marketing come together.
Fortunately, it doesn’t always have to be about the marketing. In fact, a well-told story or a simple recommendation from a person that reader trusts can be enough to encourage the sale. Here are three tips for being a little more personal in order to increase the response of your email efforts.
Develop a unique voice
Building a relationship with your consumer email audience is not just about your brand. For example, Sandi Wiseheart, former editor of Knitting Daily, has a dedicated audience that is hooked on her upbeat personality. In every email newsletter there’s a “Note from Sandi”. For example:
Note from Sandi: Liz Gipson, managing editor of Handwoven magazine and co-host of Knitting Daily TV, is back today to share more about her fiber “space”. But, this time it’s her backyard. Liz is the proud “mother” of cashmere goats. Truly a woman after my own heart!
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Chris Kimball from America’s Test Kitchen doesn’t sign his email newsletter but he does sign his email promotions. The email starts with something like “Dear Fellow Home Cook” includes a “From the desk of Christopher Kimball” stamp and ends with a “Thank you for your consideration, Sincerely, Christopher Kimball.”
Create a sense of continuity
When writing a series of emails, it’s personable to say to your readers that the email is part of a larger structure. To say “in the email we sent on Monday, we talked about XXXXX… now I want to talk about how XXXXX works with XXXXX”. By building this ongoing series of events, you’re likely to increase open rates on past emails and build a more evolved relationship with your readers.
Don’t tell them to “click here”
This is pretty much a universal best practice not to use these two words. However, there are some consumer-friendly alternatives in consumer email marketing: “read the full story”, “download this ebook”, “save 10% right now” are ways to express your benefit within the link and increase clicks.
