Finding the right words and design

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on March 31, 2008

Email marketing has always had a technocratic hint to it. But as time passes, we can redirect more of our energy away from technological issues and into the more creative side of things.

After all, nearly all marketing emails seek to build relationships and/or drive action. Technology gets the message in front of the recipient, but it's the words and packaging (design) that do the influencing and persuading.

A 100% delivery rate won't help if the message is as impactful as a sheep on sedatives.

This whole skills area grows in importance as email overload forces subscribers to devote less time to each email. You must grab your moment or face the wrath of the delete button.

Unfortunately for us, it's not always obvious which words and design elements resonate best with various audiences. Email has its own rules and subscribers can be a diverse lot. (Those interested in the basics of email psychology might enjoy the email chapter in John Suler's The Psychology of Cyberspace.)

On top of that,we have new trends in how (and where) people use email. The challenge of mobile email use, for example, is one troubling many marketers. And Stefan Pollard has a few tips on how to optimize your messages for that particular audience.

So how do you set about building an email that influences?

There are no "paint by numbers" instructions, but David Baker outlines the process his team uses to develop an email's design and identify the alternatives they want to test.

His follow-up article applies the same concept to the words you use: identifying the different aspects of the copy you can test, including tone, offer, structure and audience empathy.

Of course, when you hit on a winning combination, there's no need to keep reinventing the wheel with each new email. Though subscribers quickly tire of repeat emails, Wendy Roth has some ideas on how you can recycle and reuse old campaigns and email material.

More on design and copywriting | Tags: email marketing, email design, email copywriting, email testing, email creative

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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