Copy sells. Any direct marketer worth their salt knows this. And with traditional direct marketing it has been proven time and time again that long copy, contrary to popular belief, tends to drive greater returns. In fact a stalwart of the DM industry, Drayton Bird, often argues that the longer the copy the better.
However, while email marketing shares a lot in common with traditional direct marketing in terms of best practices, it is the impact of copy length on results that differs significantly. The interactive nature of email lends well to copy that looks to drive immediate response, and as such the scope of the content and the level of detail contained within the copy should look to address this.
When it comes to commercial emails, writers work hard to fight for readers' attention span with. Here are five tips to help drive responses to your email copy:
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The subject line should be clear, concise and to the point. If your email does not get opened the best email copy in the world does nothing! |
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Make sure the main message of your email is clearly visible within the preview pane. Test this with the main email clients for your list with images turned on and off. Having the main message of your email clearly visible within the preview pane will compliment the impact of the subject line and help to drive opens and response |
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Only have one clear call-to-action. Make it stand out, it shouldn’t be hidden within the copy or disguised within an image and make sure it's fully visible within the preview pane. If there is more than one call-to-action this can indicate multiple goals to the email and you should consider splitting it into multiple campaigns |
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Carry the call-to-action throughout the copy. Repeat your call-to-action at the beginning and the end of your copy. If you copy is long repeat it during the copy, ideally the call-to-action should always be visible as the email is read. Everything that looks clickable should be clickable. Even if you have nicely designed buttons within an image there is no reason why the rest of the image shouldn't be clickable as well |
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Look beyond the words and think about what a consumer will see or not see. If you place your call-to-action in an image make sure it is repeated in the copy text. Images can be blocked, and along with it your opportunity to increase transactions. Image that is to drive response must also include an alt-tag so that in most email clients the image message is legible even if your customers have images blocked. |
But it does not just stop at the email copy. Over the years we have seen many campaigns in the wider market place fail because little thought was given to the landing page and the very place where the transaction can be concluded. More often than not as customers click on a link in an email, only to discover that they have to navigate their way through a complex micro site, or worse still, a complete corporate website just to see the product or service that they are interested in.
Take time to analyze the path to conversion – you will be pleasantly surprised to see how this impacts your email creative and copy. |
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