Inbox Overload. It’s every email marketer’s biggest nightmare — the fear that all your best email marketing efforts are being ignored by people overwhelmed by the sheer amount of junk that ends up in their inbox every day. Well, I don’t mean to scare you but… you’ve got good reason to be worried!
With so many emails bombarding them on a daily basis, people are becoming increasingly picky about the ones they choose to read. They’re quicker to hit the "unsubscribe" button when an email or newsletter fails to interest them, and they’re spending less time reading the ones to which they do remain subscribed.
On top of that, in our increasingly Web-savvy world, most people have at least three different email addresses on the go — and when they sign up for a newsletter in order to get some exciting freebie (such as a free report or an eBook), they often arrange to have the newsletters sent to one of their back-up email addresses, where the newsletters can languish unseen for weeks or even months on end.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom! Email is still a highly effective marketing tool… if you use it right.
Here are three crucial steps you need to take to ensure YOUR emails remain on your subscribers’ "must-read" list… instead up ending up in their junk folder.
1. Make sure your content is VALUABLE
With so many newsletters to choose from these days, people are going to sign up only for the ones that promise the most useful and/or entertaining information — and then deliver on that promise.
Don’t think you can just sit back and offer your readers outdated information or the same useless stuff they can easily find simply by doing a search on Google. If you want them to open your newsletters, you have to make it worth their while!
2. Make sure your content is INTERESTING
Your newsletter could contain the formula for how to turn lead into gold… But if you write in a dry boring tone, and don’t put any effort into making your content engaging, then people are going to tune out long before they get to the really good stuff.
3. Make sure your content is WELL-WRITTEN
Another thing that will turn off your potential customers is poor writing that’s full of spelling mistakes and bad grammar. If your writing skills are shaky, run your newsletter content through a spell-check program that looks at grammar, too.
You may even decide to hire a professional writer to develop your content for you. You can find professional writers who don’t charge an arm and a leg for their services at online freelance sites such as elance.com.
4. Make sure your content is TIMELY
You want your readers eagerly open your emails as soon as they land in their inbox? Then make sure you include information that’s relevant RIGHT NOW.
Sign for Google Alerts on topics related to your industry, so you can keep on top of what’s currently hot with your readers — then address those hot topics in your newsletters. If you want your readers to see you as the ultimate "go-to" source for the latest tips and info, then you have to make sure you GIVE them what they want!
… And last, but absolutely not least…
5. Make sure your content GRABS THEIR ATTENTION
Believe it or not, the MOST important part of every email you send is NOT your headline… or your call to action… or the hottest late-breaking news you know your readers simply can’t live without.
Nope… The most important part of your email is your SUBJECT LINE.
If that short line of text doesn’t stand out from all the other subject lines in your subscribers’ inboxes and convince them they need to open your newsletter RIGHT THIS SECOND to see what it contains, then chances are good they are going to pass it by in favor of something more interesting — and possibly never get around to reading it at all.
So make sure you put a lot of careful thought and effort into crafting a subject line that really ignites your readers’ curiosity… because if they don’t bother to open your email, then it doesn’t matter how great your content is — they’ll probably never read it.
As you can see, these days you definitely have to put a little more effort into making sure your emails and newsletters remain a useful communication tool with your target audience. Gone are the days when people would happily overlook poor writing and shoddy grammar in an email or newsletter, in order to learn more about a topic that interests them.
