1. getting your foot in the doorA door-to-door salesman relies on a number of conditions to make a sale, none more crucial than the condition that someone will be at home to open the door. It doesn’t matter how well the vacuum cleaner cleans or how low the price – no warranty or money-back guarantee will entice the customer if the customer is not there to be enticed. Email marketing is much the same in that it depends on the customer to open the door – or, rather, the email.
Once your message has reached the recipient’s Inbox, there are two visual signals that will prompt the recipient to open your message: the sender and the subject line. If your email/newsletter subscriber ‘opted-in’ to receive email from you, then the sender will be your email account, or some pre-determined mailing list account. However, you are in complete control of the second visual signal: the subject line – the most powerful tool you have to convince your email/newsletter subscriber to open the email.
In the SURE way to email marketing success, I’m going to teach you how to compose compelling subject lines and optimize your message body using simple marketing principles that are easy to remember and designed to elicit maximum response.
2. crafting a SURE subject line
As someone who receives a lot of email from musicians each day, I can assure you that three paragraphs about your summer at Kinkos headed by the subject line, “Get My Tunes on iTunes”, does not get my attention. If and when I open such a message (usually a group email that I didn’t subscribe to in the first place), it is only to swiftly scroll to the bottom to unsubscribe. I’m a tough customer, I know, because my Inbox is always full, but I do open some messages and, more often than not, it is because of the subject line.
SURE is an acronym I composed to help you remember four basic principles that will help you craft a powerful subject line:
Short
Unique
Relevant
Exclusive
To illustrate, let’s presume that you want to send a newsletter to your subscribers about Paul McCartney signing with Starbucks’ music label which was a hot news item in March 2007:
Short
Keep your subject line under five words (e.g. Starbucks Signs Paul McCartney)
Unique
Try to say it differently (e.g. Let It Bean)
Relevant
Ensure that the subject directly relates to the message (e.g. Paul and Starbucks)
Exclusive
If you can, make it personal (e.g. Serving your coffee)
Your email subject line – using the four SURE principles – may look something like this:
Your Barista, Sir Paul
Why? First, it’s “Short”: four words that say a lot, but only four words. Secondly, I’m betting that, on the day that you send this, the recipient’s Inbox will not contain any other email with the words “Barista” and “Sir” (keep in mind that this was big news at the time and the internet was flooded with headlines containing the words “Starbucks” and “Paul McCartney”); this is the “Unique” aspect. Hopefully, “Your Barista, Sir Paul” stands out among a number of other email subject lines associated with the same story and lingering in the recipient’s Inbox that day. Third, the subject is “Relevant”: the email body really is about what the subject says it is. And fourth, I’m banking that the recipient is most interested in himself and, therefore, registers words like “your”, before subject detail; this is the “Exclusive” ingredient.
Note: “Starbucks Signs Paul McCartney” is an excellent subject line but, by using it, you run the risk of losing attention to more credible news sources using the same – or very similar – subject lines; it reduces the “Unique” quality of the subject line. In other words, don’t try to compete with The Washington Post when a healthy tongue-in-cheek email about the same story may win over readership! Paradoxically, the headline “Let It Bean” was used by The New York Times.
3. crafting a SURE message bodyAs a musician, why would you ever send your fanlist a newsletter about Paul McCartney and Starbucks when all you want to do is let them know that your album is out and available on iTunes? Perhaps you wouldn’t, but, as much as your fans adore your music and want to hear all about your day-to-day at Kinkos, you are facing a lot of competition from other artists who have also just released a new record and got it on iTunes… and who are also working day jobs they don’t care about. It’s simply not interesting news.
Try to find a hot, current news item and see if you can relate it to you and your music. To most people, including one or two of your fans, Paul McCartney – and his music, no less – is more interesting than you are. See if you can associate yourself with something that you know is already getting a lot of attention and weave your personal promotional message or news item into it. Again, sending an email out with the subject line, “Get My Tunes on iTunes”, and a paragraph or two about how great it feels to finally distribute your music digitally is not captivating at all!
Your email body – a combination of the four SURE principles – may look something like this:
Hello XXXXXX,
Starbucks is stirring six million coffee drinkers to the tune of the nicest guy in music, Sir Paul McCartney. When you get sick of the former Beatle and cross the street over to Dunkin’s, remember that you too can garnish your Donut hole with our latest album, now available on iTunes.
Wanna taste?
- The Band -
With any luck, the majority of people who only scan their email will pick up on the main items (Starbucks, Paul McCartney, Dunkin Donuts) and associate these items with you – all three of which are superb brands to be affiliated with in the prospect’s mind! The minority group who actually read the message will, hopefully, be intrigued enough by the unique angle of the message to click on the link below it. Although this email is about you and your music on iTunes, what’s truly pivotal to its success is actually Paul, coffee and donuts.
Here is how the SURE principles were applied:
Short
1 paragraph + 1 link
Unique
Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts theme
Relevant
“Our latest album.. on iTunes” as it relates to the Paul McCartney story
Exclusive
“…you too can garnish your Donut hole…”
4. a SURE campaign
If I was representing an advertising agency and pitching this email marketing campaign to a client, I would summarize it this way:
If you’re sick of hearing Paul McCartney every time you walk into Starbucks, get your coffee somewhere else and listen to me – I’m different. Not Paul.
Not convinced? Well, let me take Paul and coffee out of the equation and see how it sounds:
If you’re sick of hearing the same old, same old, then listen to me. I’m different. And I’m on iTunes.
Not quite as effective, is it? That’s because, now, the message fails to associate the sender’s promotional message with a hot news item that may pique the recipient’s interest. It’s completely self-centered and boring. Certainly not unique or relevant.
5. short and to the SEL’ing point
Nailing all four SURE principles into a great email/newsletter campaign may not come naturally to you. Like writing songs or putting on a great show, it takes practice. However, there is a simple ‘selling’ technique you can keep in the back of your mind that will ensure that your message at least covers two of the SURE principles: Short and Relevant. I call this principle SEL, hopefully a memorable acronym for Set-up, Elevate, Link and I find that it works across the board.
Here is how it relates to the Paul McCartney message:
Set-up
Begin with your offer (e.g. new album)
Elevate
Discuss the benefits (e.g. an alternative to Paul McCartney)
Link
Close with a call-for-action (e.g. “click here” or “reply to this email”)
As it happens, I received an email this morning which, I think, beautifully illustrates the SEL principle:
———————————
Your Print Requirements
———————————
Hi Lior, hope all is well.
Are you looking to reduce your print costs and lead times?
Just to let you know, we’ve recently upgraded our digital printing and finishing facility. This extra capacity has allowed us to reduce our costs and delivery times which we can then pass on to you.
We are able to provide both short Digital Print runs and High volume litho runs on: brochures, leaflets, booklets, presentation folders, posters as well as personalization and fulfillment.
Please let me know if you have anything coming up that I can quote on.
I hope your build up to Xmas goes well.
Best regards,
XXXXXX
Here is how it relates to the SEL principle:
Set-up
Reduced print costs and lead times
Elevate
More services, faster turnaround, and savings
Link
In this case, reply for a quote
If you can distill your message to the three SEL principles, you’re already half way to creating a Short, Unique, Relevant and Exclusive email marketing campaign.
Here is how I would optimize this message by applying all four SURE principles:
———————————
Your Xmas Print Requirements
———————————
Hi Lior, hope all is well.
Are you looking to reduce your print costs and lead times before the holidays?
We’ve upgraded our digital printing and finishing facility so you can save extra on your end-of-year print jobs.
That’s faster turnaround and lower prices on short digital print runs and high volume litho runs for brochures, leaflets, booklets, presentation folders, posters, as well as personalization and fulfillment.
I’d be delighted to discuss your needs and send you a quote before Christmas break.
Best regards,
XXXXXX
Here is how the SURE principles were applied:
Short
Word count down from 107 words to 85 words
Unique
Xmas theme: “holidays”, “end-of-year”, “Christmas break”
Relevant
Faster and cheaper print services as it relates to the Christmas holidays
Exclusive
“your print jobs”, “your needs”, “you can save” etc.
Very subtle yet pivotal changes.
The SURE principles will work for more than just your email/newsletter campaigns. There is no reason why you can’t develop eye-catching album artwork, t-shirt designs, merchandise, posters, website banners etc. around the same SURE principles and marketing theme, in this case, “I’m not Paul”. Like any marketer, you will have to react quickly as your theme must be current (or Relevant) but, as long as you step out of the “Get My Music on iTunes” mode, and associate yourself with something with much greater appeal, there is no reason why you can’t come up with a captivating marketing campaign that will drive more and more fans to iTunes to listen and buy your music.
6. getting startedHere is a handy checklist I’ve prepared to help you apply these simple principles to your email/newsletter campaigns.
1. What would you like to promote?
2. How can you relate this promotion to something with wide-spread appeal (a hot, current news item or event)?
3. Is your subject line short and does it communicate your message theme?
4. Is your email body short, personal and more than just about ‘you’
5. Not sure if you nailed all four SURE principles? Apply the SEL principle:
a. What are you offering?
b. What are the benefits to the recipient/customer?
c. How can he/she get it?
Don’t take my word for it, try the SURE way to email marketing for yourself. In order to truly test the success of your email marketing strategy – which every marketer should do – I suggest that you compose at least two variations of the same message, one as you would ‘normally’ write it and another using the SURE way. Send the first message to half of your subscribers and the second message to the other half of your subscribers and see which performs better. There are many web-based email clients that you can use that will provide you with detailed feedback about your recipients’ responses (i.e. opens, click-throughs, bounces).
Subscribe via email
Subscribe via RSS
Follow on Twitter