When someone asks us how to do a well-done mailing, we always answer the same thing: start with the subject. It is the first thing your audience will read, a phrase that will arrive directly in their mailbox and that can make them feel interested in what you offer.
The most difficult thing about email marketing is precisely getting them to open your email. Maybe not the most difficult, but the most important. If they don’t open it, they don’t read it, and your message is lost. Today, I do not want to go into what happens once that email has been opened, but rather what you have to do so that unread messages do not fall into oblivion. We will explain how to do mailing and write a good matter!
How to do mailing: the importance of the subject.
How do you get a user to open our email? With a good matter. No more, no less. The subject is the key factor that makes the difference between the success and the total and utter failure of your mailing campaign. It is true that other factors influence, of course. Acknowledgment of the person who sends the email is very important to build trust; getting the email to land in the “received” folder instead of spam is basic… There are many factors that can influence it, but in the end, what will make the email user decide to open, it is the matter.
Let’s start at the beginning, what characteristics should a good case have?
It has to be interesting to the recipient.
When we say for the recipient, it’s for the recipient. It doesn’t have to be interesting to you and your boss, no. Many times when we start with email marketing and ask ourselves how to do a well-done mailing, we forget the most important part. The segmentation.
If we have a good segmentation of our audience, we can do different things that appeal to all of them. In general, we do not have the same interests as our parents and, therefore, the same email should never reach us since that will mean that it is not well segmented.
It has to be a call to action in itself.
We are not saying that every subject should have a “do this” format, but it does have to prompt the user to click on it and see the rest of the content.
You have to get straight to the point.
We have very little space in which we have to say a lot. We have to explain to the reader what he will find inside the email if he clicks on it, why he should do it and why our email is so important to him. But, at the same time, the subject must be brief and concise and must be understood in a glance that, in the end, is what the recipient is going to dedicate to looking at the email.
It has to be sincere.
Enough with the misleading advertising! If a subject tells us that within the email we are going to find a “mega offer”, within the email there must be an incredible offer. It’s very simple, the subject is the claim, which will make a user open the email or not. But, if you open and don’t click, what use has our campaign been for us?
The 9 keys to an impact matter
1. Immediate language is the most effective
It is clear that your audience, as much as they love you, is not going to remember an email that you sent them a week ago. If, in addition, you tell him in the subject (“all this week get…”). Most likely, he will leave it for “later”, and that “later” will end up becoming “never”.
2. Generate anticipation
Generating expectation is probably one of the great pillars of how to do the mailing. If you succeed, your campaign will be almost 100% successful. Now, it’s not easy. Try to describe what you are going to talk about in your email, but in such a way that the reader wants to know more. Without cheating, of course.
3. Track your e-mailings
Obviously, you have to measure and all that stuff, but in this case, we don’t mean this. We mean generating an interesting and well-formed email chain. If you succeed, you will have recipients waiting for your next email, and your opening rate will skyrocket. Example:
First mail “How to build your own wardrobe”
Second email “Next steps: decorate the closet”.
4. Say thank you
Human beings too often forget our humanity… And there is nothing more human than saying thank you. Even if it seems silly to you, try to send emails thanking the user for what you consider appropriate (without going overboard, it is not worth thanking them for having entered the web for a second). These types of actions can greatly help you build trust with your audience.
5. Good and, if brief, twice as good
More specifically, more than 5 words are not usually recommended.
6. Don’t be overtly commercial
Do not sell directly in the subject of the email. For that you will have time later in the content. Limit yourself to explaining what is going to be discussed within the email. If it is a promotion, indicate it in the subject, but do not say what promotion it is.
50% discount on second unit if you buy now
[Spring Sales] Discover them!
Unless, of course, you have an online store, and your business model is based on offers. If your recipients are expecting promotions, it’s okay to say so in the subject line.
7. Try to be as personal and up-close as possible.
What we were saying at the beginning, if you segment your campaign well, it is much easier for you to know what each of your audiences wants and can, therefore, make the issue as personalized as possible. Email marketing platforms allow you to insert the name of the person who receives the email. Doesn’t “Hello Sara…” sound much better than “Hello friend…”?
8. Test
You can read a lot about it, train yourself, ask experts… And yet, how to do mailing is far from an exact science. It depends enormously on your audience, your company, your services/products… Try it. Most of the sending platforms allow you to carry out A/B tests to test different subjects on the same email. As you get to know your audience more and more, your email marketing campaigns will give you better results.
9. Do not use…
- Formats such as : “Free!, Open now!, Gift!, The bla-bla of your dreams!”… All those marketing formulas that are already older than anything and that have been shown not to convert.
- You can talk? It has become fashionable to include this little phrase in mailing campaigns, however, it is not recommended. Keep in mind that you are asking for an effort from the reader that they are unlikely to be willing to make.
- Don’t go overboard with the emojis. They are very nice and cool when used well, but a subject loaded with them can be heavy and difficult to understand. When you use them, make sure they look good on all operating systems.
- “This may interest you“. If you really believe that your email can interest your audience, show it to them, don’t tell them.