Tuesday, June 17, 2008
How to get your emails opened
Getting your emails opened can be a real problem. We are being drowned in a sea of email messages, texts, RSS feeds, Twitters and all sorts of instant messages. Is it any wonder that people fail to open emails?
I was in a client's office the other day and she told me that she needed time to sort through her emails - her inbox had 720 unread emails dating back weeks on end...! Yet she is not alone; people sift through their emails and only open the most important ones, saving the "maybes" until later - when they just delete them without reading them...! Many people just can't be bothered to deal with the messages; they reason that if the message was important the sender will get back in touch anyway.
So how can you get your emails opened? The trick is to make your email message completely relevant to the specific needs of the individual. Tap into their real interests and your email will be opened. A recent study from Marketing Sherpa shows that people do open emails when they contain relevant information, such as details of an online transaction. They want to read about things like shipping information, or check the receipt you have sent.
So the question is, how often do you use such emails for marketing messages? Clearly your customers are opening these transaction emails, but are less likely to open general emails from you, or subsequent marketing messages. It makes sense, therefore, to include marketing messages in those transactional emails.
Labels: internet, internet marketing, shopping
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Readers' Comments:
At
June 18, 2008 4:03 PM 
said…
At
June 18, 2008 4:25 PM 
Graham Jones said…
Paul, thanks for your comment. I think a lot of people use email in the way you suggest - which is why Internet Marketers need to battle hard to gain attention via email. However, out of all the available Internet marketing methods - web sites, emails, social networks - emails produce the greatest conversion rates (twice as high as a web page generally). So, even though it's tough getting attention via email, it is worth it.
Things are changing, though. There is definitely a generational difference. Younger groups tend to only use email for "official" things, like receipts. They use Instant Messaging for work and Text Messaging for friends. In other words younger people tend to use different communication methods for different purposes. Older people still struggle - indeed I was recently told of one Chief Executive who has all his emails sent to his PA who then prints them out for him...! Oh dear...!
Interesting article as always Graham.
I was wondering though whether you thought emails as a mode of communication overall were in some regards in "decline" - in other words being superseded by new, quicker and more engaging technologies/mechanisms, such as social networking, RSS Feeds and so forth?
I barely know anyone who doesn’t have their email filter set to maximum - hence removing all corporate/business emails to the rarely visited junk folder. I also know plenty of people who use their email accounts almost like a rarely visited desk draw, shoving in online receipts and unread clippings they never read. I personally rarely send personal emails from my account as the web provides frankly better ways of communicating with friends and organisations.
My comments may apply more to new communication with customers, marketing ventures or just personal interaction on the webt, but if people don’t read their emails as much as they used too – business/other organisations need to maximise the other potential the web offers asap.