“Essential Rules” doesn’t sound like a very exciting topic, but it is a necessity that you learn these, if you expect to succeed in permission-based direct email marketing.
If you want an email marketing campaign to succeed, you don`t want to offend anyone when sending your messages. Turn off a prospect with your email and you can be sure they`ll tune out your message. Don`t let this happen to you!
Messages that earn trust and respect earn sales. That`s why our first topic for discussion is direct email marketing etiquette.
Train yourself to always — and I do mean ALWAYS — stick to the rules below when crafting your email messages.
=> RULE #1 – ALWAYS WRAP YOUR LINES AT 65 CHARACTERS OR LESS
Whenever you write an email, always format the lines so that they are no more than 65 characters or less across – some people use as few as 50 characters per line. To do this, you may need to do a “hard return” by hitting “Enter” at the end of the line.
Wondering why to limit your lines to just 65 characters? There are two reasons for this rule that “less is more”:
– The first thing to remember is that looking at a computer screen for a long time causes EYE FATIGUE for many readers. The shorter span of characters across the screen makes for easier reading, and more visual appeal to the recipient.
– The other reason to go short instead of long is this: some email clients still automatically enforce line-wrapping at around 60 to 65 characters on received messages. If your email is wrapped at a higher number, the content will arrive “chopped up.” This makes it unattractive, and unappealing.
– Tip: Email clients such as Outlook Express allow you to set the line-wrap to any character-width you choose. That means you won`t have to hit Enter each time after typing 65 characters. It makes life easier!
– Tip: You can type 65 asterisks, dashes or numbers into a Notepad file to create an email template. Then paste your email below it to see if any lines extend too far to the right.
=> RULE # 2 – BE CAREFUL USING ALL CAPS – DO SO SPARINGLY!
How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid having to listen to a screaming salesperson? No one likes a screaming salesperson … and no one likes a “screaming” email message, either.
Odds are, when someone has over-amped the volume of their message by using too many capital letters (not to mention too many exclamation points) – you`re going to be turned off.
On the Internet, messages written in all caps are considered yelling. It`s okay to write some sentences and some words in all caps, but don`t go overboard. (As you can see in this message, I only use capital letters to help break up sections of content)
– Tip: Consumers buy from sources they trust. Emails in all caps can lead to the perception that you are “pushy”, “shady” or uneducated, and have an appearance that damages the credibility of an offer.
=> RULE #3 – WATCH YOUR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR
Would you be influenced by an email that had noticeable spelling and grammar mistakes? Sure you would — and the influence would be negative, not positive!
When a consumer reads a sales message that`s filled with errors, they think to themselves, “Good grief, this person doesn`t even take the time to get his emails right. His product is probably the same quality as his emails.”
When you`re in business, YOUR IMAGE IS YOUR REPUTATION and your reputation is the reason that people either buy from you or from the guy down the block.
It`s essential that you create an image of integrity, honesty, and credibility in the minds of your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors doesn`t just hurt your professional image, it destroys it. (Ouch!)
Some grammatical rules can be broken — such as beginning a few sentences with “And” — or closing paragraphs with …
But use those sparingly, as I just did here. A few of those in an email are fine, but tons of awkward sentences and obvious or repeated “speeling misteaks” just don’t cut it!
There is lots more to learn, of course, if you want to be a successful email marketer, but these basics are the groundwork for everything else to come. Your first priority, even before you begin to develop your content, is to get in the habit of making your emails look sharp.
You only get one chance to make a first impression — make it a good one!
.
