Where do you put your brand name?

If 2007 was the year that email marketers recognized reputation as a key component of their efforts, then 2008 might see a shift to the more general concept of trust.

The dark side of email (spam and phishing) undermines trust. Best practices and solid brands do the opposite.

The issue of trust is important at a macro, industry level, since mistrust of commercial email leads to regulatory interference and demand for new technologies, an issue Chad White and Charles Stiles touch on. Key quote (from a state official):

This whole email system is based on trust and...
if there's no way to maintain that trust, then you're
going to lose that as a marketing channel

It's equally important at the micro or email level. One element determining whether a recipient opens and reads your email is how much they trust you. And they can't decide they trust you unless they recognize you.

Which is why experts always say you should stick a recognizable name or brand in your headers. But where?

A few days ago I posed this question:

If your "from" or "sender" line is a brand, business or
name that recipients will easily recognize, do you need to mention
your brand/business/name again in the subject line?

The consensus among the brave souls who answered was "no," an answer I've seen elsewhere from the likes of Janine Popick.

But here's the rub...if your name is in the sender line it doesn't always show up as such. Some email clients just display the sender email address rather than the name. A point made by recent articles at EmailLabs and the Return on Subscriber blog.

So, the answer is perhaps this:

Simply test to see which approach works best for your list and emails. Or try this:

1. Put your recognizable brand / company / name in the from line.
2. Make sure your sender email address is also recognizable (often it's an anonymous address provided by your email marketing service)
3. Use the subject line to "sell" the content of your email without repeating what you already communicated in the from line.

Which brings me to a new question...

What if (like me) you've had the newsletter name in the subject line for two years now. Can you risk removing this name now that everyone expects it?

Answers on a postcard (or in a comment) please.

More on subject lines | Tags: email marketing, email subject lines, from lines

Permalink | December 13, 2007 | 0 comment(s)
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