I received a marketing email earlier, which contained a serious error. This error will have dramatically reduced its conversion rate. Here’s what happened, so you can avoid it from happening to you.
The email copy started with the following 4 words: “Sorry to disturb you”.
There’s a lot of information packed into those 4 words. Enough for the vast majority of those who received it, to form an opinion on the sender.
- The sender knew what they were doing was wrong, which is why they opened with an apology.
- The sender also knew that their email was a disturbance. An unrequested interruption from someone I’ve never heard of.
- Knowing all this, they still decided to send it anyway.
Like others who received that email, I stopped reading after the opening sentence. After all, a stranger had interrupted us, without our consent, to tell us that what we were about to read is just spam. It’s an instant delete.
What if the email had been valuable?
That email may have contained a useful message. It might have offered an outstanding deal. It could have provided details of a wonderful opportunity. But their email marketing let them down. So no one will know. The copy they used, the list they used and the tone of their opening line destroyed their email campaign.
Oblivious to this, the sender will be wondering why they received no positive response. Especially if they genuinely had something valuable to share. They’ll perhaps be pondering whether they need to lower their prices, or if email marketing is a waste of time, or if their great offer isn’t actually great.
If we consider this to be merely an example of ineffective email marketing, we totally miss the point!
It’s way, way bigger than that.
This example provides us with a powerful insight into how easy it is, for a business owner to offer an amazing product or service, only for ineffective marketing to let them down. It’s the difference between being inundated with sales and enquiries or being greeted with silence.
The great news
Thankfully, it also gives you an insight into how quickly you can massively increase your sales, when you decide to improve just one area of your marketing.
Now multiply that potential by every other marketing activity you’re doing, and 2024 can easily be your most successful year ever. This is true, no matter how challenging things have been for you.
The small business owners I work with enjoy far more sales, attract better clients and grow amazing businesses.
If you want the same, here’s exactly how it happens.