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Basic Rules For Effective Email Marketing
by Ronald Gibson
If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don`t want to offend anyone
when sending your messages. Turn off a consumer with your email and you
can be sure they`ll tune out your message. Don`t let that happen to you
A message that earns respect has a better chance to make sales. That`s why
our topic for discussion is email etiquette.
Train yourself to always -- and I 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`re 65
characters, or less, across. To do this, you may need to do a "hard
return" by hitting "Enter" at the end of the line.
Wondering why you should limit your lines to just 65 characters? Good
question! There are two reasons why "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 reading easier and more appealing to
the recipient of your email message.
The other reason to go short instead of long is this: some email clients
automatically enforce line-wrapping at 60-65 characters on received
messages. If your email is wrapped at 70, the content will arrive all
"chopped up." This makes it unattractive...and worse -- unappealing.
How do you get your lines to wrap at 65 characters? Some email clients,
such as Outlook Express, allow you to set the line-wrap to any
character-width that you choose. That means you won`t have to hit Enter
each time after typing 65 characters. Makes life easier. You can also type
65 asterisks or dashes in a Notepad file to create a 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
How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid listening to a
screaming car salesperson? No one likes ascreaming 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 and other punctuation)
- you`re going to be turned off.
On the Internet, email 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`ve tried to use
capital letters to help break up sections of the content from time to
time).
Remember that consumers buy from a source they trust. Emails in all caps
are perceived as "shady" or uneducated, and have an appearance that
damages the credibility of an offer.
RULE #3 - WATCH YOUR Ps & Qs (Spelling and Grammar)
Would you be influenced by an email selling you something 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 people buy from you or the guy down the block. It`s
essential that you create an image of integrity, credibility, and honesty
in the mind of your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors doesn`t
hurt your professional image...it destroys it.
Follow these basic email marketing rules and you will dramatically improve
your chances of being a successful email marketer.
Copyright 2005 Ronald Gibson
About The Author: Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Web Marketer.
He is the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers information about
some of the best money making opportunities on the Web. For more
information, visit: http://www.affiliateutopia.com/
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