In an email-to-print or cross channel campaign using print, the first step is to get those emails opened. Here are 5 email mistakes printers and marketers make…
In an email-to-print or other cross channel campaign – if you want to get to the stage of your campaign where you are mailing glorious samples or creating custom print items for prospects – you need to get your door-opening emails actually opened.
A few years ago you could get brand traction and name recognition merely by appearing in your prospect’s inbox, whether they opened your message or not.
That’s not true anymore.
Today, people often receive both business and personal messages, so their inboxes are overflowing. Many use an inbox manager that filters promotional email. Unless recipients regularly open your emails, you’ll be relegated to the “read later/never” folder.
If a contact has opted in to receive your email newsletter or communications, what are the top reasons that person would not open or stop opening your emails?
Here are 5 reasons why your email-to-print campaign is underperforming:
- YOU ASSUME EMAIL READERS WILL DOWNLOAD GRAPHICS
Don’t make the entire email a graphic. If you do use graphics, be sure they load quickly. Don’t reuse designs from print or mail that are overly detailed. Don’t put pictures inside pictures or rely on boxes and backgrounds. Keep it simple.
- YOU DON’T HAVE A CLEAR PURPOSE
Figure out why you’re sending the email. Make it clear to the recipient. Don’t tell too much or ask for too much. Don’t fill the email with obvious information that could be gotten anywhere. Don’t waste the reader’s time.
- YOUR EMAIL IS ANNOYING OR IMPOSSIBLE TO READ ON A PHONE
Design for mobile readers. Make sure everything loads quickly. Make sure type, links and buttons are big enough. Test your emails on mobile.
- YOUR EMAIL LOOKS LlKE SPAM
Don’t use spammy subject lines. Use a name in your “from” address. Sending from info@email address is impersonal and likely to end up in the spam folder. it’s helpful if the “from” address is someone the recipient actually knows. If you don’t know your contacts well enough for them to recognize your name, you need to work on that.
- YOU DON’T HAVE A COMPELLING REASON FOR THE READER TO TAKE ACTION
It’s one thing to know your email’s purpose and ask the recipient to do something — click, download, request more information, watch a video. It’s another to make them WANT to do it. You can’t just say, “Watch this video from our company president!” Using rewards as bait has short term rewards. Ultimately, you want to cultivate readers who crave to know everything about you and can’t wait to interact with you on the channels of their choosing.
You can see how you might be unwittingly closing the door with email, rather than opening it. Plan your email-to-print or cross channel campaign with these items in mind and you will benefit from the highest response!
Sandy Hubbard is a marketing strategist. She specializes in printing companies that are in transition or extreme growth mode. She knows how to help printers build marketing programs that can be sustained over the long haul…without stress. Find Sandy on Twitter at @sandyhubbard every Wednesday at 4 pm Eastern time, assisting #PrintChat host Deborah Corn @PrintMediaCentr with liveliest and most entertaining printing chat on social media!
“Doh” Image by hobvias sudoneighm
