Sweat the subtle stuff

Without her smile, the portrait of Lisa Gherardini is just another painting hanging on a French wall.

And so it is with email marketing. Small and subtle differences can have far-reaching consequences.

As more and more people catch on to best practices, so more and more messages get the broad basics of email marketing right.

Which means the little things become increasingly important in differentiating one company's email from the next.

But with our noses thrust painfully against fast-moving grindstones, few of us take the time to reflect on the subtle changes that can add up to a whole lot more marketing success.

And yet there is so much opportunity out there.

The shining example of recent weeks is the snippet text that appears religiously and rigidly at the top of many emails. Stefan Pollard highlighted the missed marketing opportunity and others have since commented on how a little more snippet text thought can boost responses (see this post by DJ Waldow, for example.)

So-called administrative content offers ample opportunity for meaningful improvement. Justin Premick, for example, reminds us of the impact of your footer. And this blog has seen detailed discussion over the role and value of such things as permission reminders.

I chose the word subtle, rather than small, in the post header because often it's just a question of a gentle shift in perspective that reveals the opportunity.

For example, we worry about the words in our calls to action. But have you thought about the impact of color?

This shift in perspective applies equally to big picture stuff. Dylan Boyd points us to one example where a little lateral thinking turned losers into winners.

And Kevin Hillstrom demonstrates what happens if you take a longer term perspective when analyzing your results: you suddenly find value in email addresses you might otherwise have ignored.

Let's hope some of the thoughts and links above bring a smile to your face come the next campaign report.

Permalink | February 21, 2008 | 0 comment(s)
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