Email marketing & mail shots Archives

Sorry to disturb you

Image: Nick Morrison.

I received a marketing email earlier, which contained a dangerous error. This error will have dramatically reduced its open rate. Here’s what happened, so you can avoid it from happening to you.

It 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 let them down. So no one will know. The list they used. The copy 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 of 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 enquiries from eager prospective clients, or being greeted by crickets.

Content marketing: It’s all about pressing the publish button

Written by Jim Connolly

Image: Danielle MacInnes.

Hannah just emailed me with a question. She wants to know what’s the secret to publishing content marketing more frequently. Here’s my reply.

There are lots of reasons for not publishing more of our ideas, to more people, more often.

I just can’t think of anything useful to say right now.
Maybe no one will bother reading it.
I know what I want to say, but I can’t figure out how I want to say it.
This needs to be really, really good and I’m not sure I can write something of that quality today.
I don’t have enough time.

Those are totally valid reasons. I know because I’ve experienced all of them more than once over the years. However, I don’t think they address the primary reason why so few people, regularly create and publish their own content marketing.

In my experience, as someone who has mentored hundreds of people on content creation and delivery, the main barrier is pressing the publish button. Moreover, their concern regarding the response they might face, after publication. The fallout, criticism and possible confrontation.

It’s certainly true that if we choose to publish nothing, we don’t need to worry about unleashing a wall of potentially hostile responses.

It’s also true that we miss out on all the opportunities that could come our way, if we were to press publish and share our ideas or observations.

But tragically, by failing to press the publish button regularly, we never learn how other people manage to publish regularly.

Here’s the thing. By repeatedly pressing the publish button, we become perfectly, totally comfortable, publishing our original content whenever we have something useful to share.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

My first blog post took several days to write, edit, re-edit, format, re-edit… then publish.
This post was written on my phone and published on WordPress in around 15-20 minutes.

What was the difference between the two posts?

The experience I gained, from pressing the publish button several thousand times.

How to get lifelong, free access to the world’s top marketing writers

Written by Jim Connolly

Yes, you read the title of today’s post correctly. It’s not a play on words. I have lifelong, free access to the world’s best marketing writers, and you can have it too.

This post started off with an email from Deborah.

My associate Deborah has a seemingly limitless capacity to ask great questions. The kind of question’s I’ve never asked myself before. Earlier today, Deborah asked me for book recommendations, to help her improve her writing. She’s already a great writer, and it’s easy to see why when she’s always seeking out ways to further improve.

That wasn’t the question that prompted this post. It was only her starter question.

Her follow-up was the kicker!

Just one book?

I recommended a book by Roy Peter Clark, called “How to write short” and it’s a classic from a master of the craft. He shows you how to write compelling messages and engaging content, using as few words as required. I don’t do book reviews. I don’t do affiliate links. You can search for it or find it on his website, using the link above. If it sounds like something you want to improve on, grab a copy. In my eyes he’s the boss of writing short, highly effective copy.

Back to Deborah’s question.

She thanked me for the recommendation. Then she asked me the question that inspired this post. She wondered why I only recommended one book!

Here’s my answer.

More importantly, here’s where you’ll discover how to have unlimited, free access to the world’s best marketing writers and communicators.

I study and practice my craft, daily

When I started out in this business, I learned everything I knew about sales and marketing, by studying the work of others. Initially I studied the work of colleagues, who were older and more experienced than me. Then I widened it out to all my inputs.

So, whenever I read or heard a powerful message, I’d write it down. Then, I would unpack the message to figure out why it was so powerful or motivating. I wanted to learn from it.

And I still do the exact same thing today.

I gather inspiration and rather than just swipe it, I swipe it and study it. The wordplay, the rhythm of the syllables. The mental imagery generated. The degree of urgency created… anything I can learn and grow from.

Here are some examples I noted and studied today. They’re all from leading companies and brands – – those with the financial resources to hire the greatest marketing writers in the world.

I studied.

High converting text from website buttons and contact forms.
Powerful calls-to-action on store signs.
High yield headlines.
Motivating paragraphs from marketing emails and letters.
Memorable straplines.
Engaging tweets.
Powerful slogans.
The copy used on packaging and products.
Social media profile copy.
Instantly clickable email subject lines.
… and everything else that attracts my eye or my ear.

Rolls Royce, Apple, Rolex, Disney… international brands of that size and influence don’t hire $100 an hour marketing writers. They hire the very best and money is no object. Their wording (like the examples on that tiny list) is worth a fortune to you and your business.

You don’t have to wonder if their copy works. Yes, it works!

You don’t have to wonder if the copy writer knows what they’re doing. Yes, they REALLY do know what they’re doing!

My task and yours, if you’re interested, is to look for the lessons. Let these masters of the art teach you with their examples of excellence.

Then, use your version of it. Put it into play. Test what you’ve learned and measure the results. Refine it, and then test again. It’s a great way to improve. Because I publish information very regularly, I’m able to test what I learn just as regularly. I can quickly discover what’s effective and what’s less useful. This is one of the many reasons I believe every professional should write a blog and / or a newsletter. It’s perfect for developing your skills and style.

Making your work stand out

By not reading the same books (or subscribing to the same publications, podcasts and Youtube channels) as others in my profession, I’ve been able to develop my own style. It’s a style that’s often rough around the edges. It’s unorthodox. It’s certainly not perfect.

It can’t be perfect.

Here’s why.

The moment you’ve written something perfectly aligned with the style-guide, you’re camouflaged among the thousands who strive for that same version of perfection. Lost in an ocean of similar writing.

You’re no longer a voice. You’re an echo.

You’re no longer a signal. You’re a noise.

The way I write is imperfectly my style. And it constantly evolves, as the marketplace does.

Conclusion

You can learn a lot about written communication from the most effective and talented experts on the planet – – by way of non-obvious sources. The work of these genius writers is everywhere.

Seriously.

It’s on cereal boxes. It’s the book titles on the world’s best-selling books. It’s what catches your eye on magazine covers. It’s in movie trailers… it’s everywhere. And the people paid to write that material are among the best paid, most effective writers in the world. They’re really good. And worthy of our attention.

That’s not all.

By pulling from these priceless, non-obvious sources, different sources, you also give yourself the freedom to develop your own style and your own voice. Essential assets if you want your message, your work and your products or services to get the attention they need.

The world’s best are there for you to study and learn from. It’s free. And yours for life.

What an amazing opportunity.

Do lead magnets work?

Written by Jim Connolly

Photo: Shutterstock.

Business owners often ask me “do lead magnets work?“, as a way to grow their newsletter lists. If you’re considering using them, or you’re wondering why they’re not working for you, you should find the following useful.

Let’s go.

Lead magnets?

For those who don’t already know, the term lead magnets was made popular by internet marketing gurus / social media gurus (and pretty much every get-rich-quick guru). However, the concept has been around for decades.

It refers to a freebie, which is used to entice people to give you their contact details. The most common freebies include ‘special reports’, white papers, ‘exclusive’ audio / video content or some kind of information that’s only available via email. In return for the freebie, people are asked to provide their contact details.

Because of the negativity attached to lead magnets, many internet marketing gurus refer to them as ethical bribes. I’m not sure why they think a bribe sounds better.

Lead magnets and list building

Probably the most common use of lead magnets, is list building for newsletters. On the surface they seem like a no-brainer. You certainly can attract lots of contact details with them. That’s for sure.

However, there’s a major downside.

Lead magnets are notorious for attracting the lowest possible quality contact details. That’s because the use of free stuff as bait, is most attractive to so-called freebie hunters; who are attracted to freebies like moths to a flame.

Why does this result in such low quality?

Many / most freebie hunters use dedicated email addresses, just for getting their free offers. It’s used for nothing else. It’s only checked after they sign-up when they’re waiting for the freebie to arrive. As such, lists built from lead magnets can be really poor quality. Yes, you’ll probably attract some genuine contacts, too. But the overall quality will be massively lower than a normal list.

That said, there are some instances where lead magnets are worth considering.

Really?

Yes. Really.

Lead magnets can work

One example where lead magnets can work extremely well, is if you’re building a newsletter readership, where your business model is exclusively advertising.

Offering a freebie to people, who in return send you an email address, even a very low quality one, can be a pretty good fit. That’s because email advertising is still regularly sold, based on how big the advertising provider’s list is… which is absolutely nuts. The list size is close to worthless, without knowing all the relevant data.

Sigh.

Where lead magnets work least well

Without doubt, the area where lead magnets work least well is with service providers; lawyers, accountants, coaches, consultants, mentors and designers, etc., etc.

I regularly hear from service providers, who have built lists using lead magnets and seen terrible results. In fact, I was prompted to write about this after an email I received from a reader in Sydney, Australia. She’s a copywriter and has built a list of over 45,000 lead magnet contacts, which she’d mailed for 12-months. It didn’t generate one paying client. She showed me some of the emails she’d sent, and as you’d expect from a professional writer, they were superb. But the list itself just wasn’t worth mailing.

There are a couple of key reasons why lead magnets are so ineffective for service providers:

Freebie hunters and prospective clients are totally different people. The level of commitment or interest required to download a freebie, is close to zero. However, the commitment and interest required to hire the services of an expert is absolutely huge.
The service provider needs to somehow reposition themselves as a professional, who offers a high quality service. This, after showing they were fine offering ethical bribes / freebies, in an effort to get clients. At best, it looks a little needy. At worst it looks shoddy. Either way, that’s a considerable barrier to overcome.

Conclusion: So, do lead magnets work?

Yes. Yes, they absolutely have their uses.

My advice is to pause and think. Consider why you need lead magnets and what you hope to achieve. Unless you sell advertising based on list size, it’s usually a pretty poor strategy.

Tip: Here’s a massively better list building strategy: How to build a list that builds your business.

The most valuable lists, by far, are those that grow organically. No lead magnets required. Organic lists grow because people are genuinely interested in knowing more about what you do. These interested people are of enormous value to your business. They not only share your newsletter with their friends, they truly are prospective clients.

A selfish request from a stranger

Written by Jim Connolly

I receive important marketing emails every day. I know you do, too. Of course, none of these marketing messages are important to us.

They are not even of interest to us.

The vast majority are not even relevant to us.

They are only important to the people sending them.

I’m referring to the special offers that aren’t even remotely special. The poorly targeted offers, which are totally irrelevant to you and your needs. And the outright spam from strangers.

Whilst sending unwanted information via email requires a very small publishing investment, the cost to the sender’s reputation is far higher.

An unsustainable, short-sighted approach

There’s a limit to the number of times a business can pester their prospective customers, before it hurts the business commercially.

For example, if enough of their marketplace consider them pests, their reputation will take a damaging hit. That’s really bad for business. If enough people block their email addresses or report the emails as spam, the sender will find their emails start getting stuck in junk email filters, including legitimately important emails.

An effective and proven way forward

We know from the ongoing, outstanding results enjoyed by successful businesses, that there is a far better alternative.

It’s simply this: We should wait until we have something to say, which is worth listening to. Then share it with people who have given us permission to contact them. People who are interested. People who will have a potential requirement. The kind of people we had in mind, when we decided to offer the product or service in the first place.

Pestering people with unwanted email is cheap (in every sense of the word), easy and only takes a matter of minutes. However, an interesting message, sent to people who want to hear from us, is vastly more effective than a selfish request from a stranger.

11 Email marketing mistakes that destroy your open rates

Written by Jim Connolly

Image: Onlineprinters.

One area of marketing I often get asked about, is how to improve email marketing / newsletter open rates. So, I thought I’d share eleven of the most common reasons why emails remain unopened.

In no particular order:

The recipient of your email uses Gmail. Why? Because Gmail dumps valid emails into the recipient’s promotions folder. This means they get no notification when your emails arrive. As such, open rates plummet. I know from personal experience that my Gmail subscribers miss over 90% of my emails, unless they’ve added my blog to their Gmail contacts list. This happens, even though they used gmail to double opt-in to receive my stuff.
The email subject line didn’t motivate the recipient to open it. Getting this right is trickier than it sounds. That’s because many of the words used to inspire people to open an email, are also triggers for spam filters.
You sent the email at the wrong time of day or on the wrong day. This can have a huge impact. Despite what some people say, there’s no universally ideal day or perfect time to optimize email open rates. For example, different timing is required for when you target consumers, compared to when you target businesses. Different times also work better for different industries. For example, hotels work completely different hours than accountants. They also have totally different peak times, when they’re unavailable to check email and are least likely to see your message. One time doesn’t work for all. Test and measure until you find your email open rate sweet-spot.
The recipient’s email address is on a list you bought, so they have no idea who you are. And the people on these ‘sold lists’ get bombarded with tons of marketing emails, from all the others who bought their email address. This means they’re far more likely to have very, very aggressive email filters.
Your list is out of date, with lots of addresses that no longer exist or are no longer monitored. Non existent email addresses will register as ‘bounces’, and are easily cleaned with email marketing software. Unmonitored addresses (for example when someone’s left a company) will still be able to receive emails, so they don’t bounce. Depending on the software you use, you can either set things up so addresses are deleted after ‘X’ number go unopened (as I do), or remove unresponsive addresses.
The content of a previous email didn’t engage the reader, so they were less inclined to open subsequent emails. Remember: You never have ‘a list’. You need to earn and re-earn their permission. So stay useful.
You send marketing emails direct from your desktop software, rather than use a trusted email marketing provider (mailchimp, aweber, constant contact, etc). If you send large numbers of the same email from your own IP address, you can become blacklisted. When that happens, your emails won’t even reach the recipient’s spam folder.
Tip: You can check if your IP address is blocked, using Spamhaus. Simply paste the URL you email from into the box. For example, for my newsletter I pasted https://jimsmarketingblog.com. Spamhause is free to use and extremely reliable.
The email content (or body) contained certain words, which trigger email filters, so the email is wrongly identified as spam or junk. These range from swear words to words and phrases often used by spammers. Go easy on pushy calls-to-action.
The email contained too many links or images. These are also common spam filter triggers.
You included an email attachment. Attachments are major sources of malware, so are often blocked.
You built your list by offering a freebie in return for their email address. People seldom use their primary email addresses for give-aways.

Email is a spectacularly powerful marketing tool. And sometimes just a few improvements can lead to dramatically better results.