Turning An Email Subscriber Into A Buyer
Whether you’re selling hair curlers, or gathering donations for a charity, you’ll probably run a one-off email campaign at some point with the objective of making direct sales. This kind of one-off campaign is quite straightforward & linear: similar to an exchange with a customer at an event. They’ve signed up to receive your emails, so you can be fairly sure they’re in the market for what you’re selling, your purpose now is to gain & keep their attention, maintain their interest, and elicit the desire to buy.
Overall, in this type of campaign, there are four key areas on which to focus your efforts:
1. The Subject Line
The average internet user gets 7 ‘wanted’ (non-spam) emails every day. On top of that, they are targetted by a further 77 spam emails (hopefully their server/software will block at least some of these). While you, as a marketer, like to think that your latest campaign is of high importance, your recipients probably have 10 or 15 things higher up their to do list. These facts combine mean your subject line has to do two things well: 1) Avoid sounding like spam - or you’ll be straight in the deleted items folder, & 2) Persuade your recipient to actually open & read the email.
2. The Headline
Whether this is the headline of the email body, or just of an individual section within the email, the main role of your headline is to draw the reader’s attention & persuade them to read the body copy. It’s important, however, not to oversell. Email is largely about trust, and if your reader feels you’re trying to trick them, they’re unlikely to continue reading & even less likely to reach your final conversion point.
3. The Body Copy
Your headline has drawn the reader in, the purpose of the body copy now is two-fold: 1) maintain your reader’s interest, and 2) elicit the desire to click through to your site for more information.
4. The Landing Page
The two main traps people fall into when putting together landing pages are 1) to repeat the exact same information as the email, or 2)to totally ignore the content & purpose of the email, and start the landing page at a tangent from the email content. The landing page is a continuation of the email reader’s experience, not a different experience altogether.
If the user has landed on your landing page, they are a good way through the journey. You’ve caught their attention, maintained their interest, elicited a desire to move forward and find out more. All that is left now is to move them toward your target action.
The Conversation
If you think of this email experience as a conversation between you & the reader, you can’t go far wrong. Your subject line is the equivalent of catching the reader’s eye across a room. If your subject line looks interesting enough, and you do manage to catch their eye, you have a chance to put in your opening (your headline). If they respond to your opening, you get to expand a little further &, if your body copy is good enough, your reader may say “oh really? tell me more” and click through to your landing page. At that point, all that’s left is to draw them toward action, and your campaign is a success.
