Email copy write or copy wrong?
The folks at Marketing Experiments have been up to quite a bit lately; including a recently released study on what exactly makes email marketing effective. This study is certainly warranted, as U.S. firms alone spent more than $400 million on email marketing in 2006. In comparison to direct mail, the cost of email marketing campaigns is minuscule, coupled with data that arrives nearly immediately. While being cost-effective is great, the greatest benefit to email marketing is the continual testing that you’re able to parlay.The study has narrowed down 5 factors which determine the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. Among these, copy writing is said to have the greatest impact, thus receiving the focus of their studies.
Familiarity and Trust – Your structure must be influenced by how familiar list members are with you. Build credibility where needed, otherwise present new information.
Specificity – Specific copy eliminates guess work for your readers, adding credibility to your message
Paragraph Length – Using long paragraphs intimidates users. In most cases, this intimidation is to the point that users don’t even begin to read the paragraphs. Keep it short and get to the point.
Unfavorable Connotations – The idea here is to build your product, solidifying it in the minds of your readers. Negative connotations or scare tactics may actually serve to increase anxiety and undermine your readers trust in you.
Urgency – Don’t be afraid to emphasize urgency in offers, as this works to shorten the buying cycle among your audience.
The first portion of the copy writing study worked through a case study of promotional mailings. A promotional email was delivered to a Marketing Experiments subscriber list with two severely different versions of copy. One of the versions instilled user trust, while the other spotlighted financial gain to be had by taking action on the email. The email’s click through data proved that appealing to trust ideals rather than financial gain most effectively drives users to action, producing a 50% higher click through rate than a profit-driven email.
A second case study sent invitations to a Web-based clinic hosted by Marketing Experiments. One version of this email presented the standard copy at the top of the email, with the special participation invitation below it, while the other version placed the special invitation above the standard copy. Results found that placing the special copy at the top of the email will double your participation.
In this instance, subscribers are more than familiar with Market Experiments as a company, and credibility has long been established. Thus, placing new offers that you’d like to get in front of users must be at the forefront of the email. While this may not seem cutting-edge, it reinforces the point that the targeting of your list will ultimately determine the structure of your email. These two forces must work together to ensure optimal success from your blast.
