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E-Marketing Tips From the Front Lines
The subject line is everything. Your rep gives you the edge. Don’t get overly familiar.
from AICPA Custom Media Solutions

E-mail Subject Line Says It All

You can read “Best Practices” guides till you’re blue in the face, but as many of you know by now, there’s one practice that’s an absolute must-do every time you send out an e-mail — identifying yourself clearly and ethically in the subject line of your e-mail. If the subject line of your e-mail doesn’t have your brand or company name clearly visible, recipients are 12 percent more likely to delete your message, according to Silverpop, a leading e-mail marketing deployer.

A recent Silverpop survey of 612 commercial e-mail messages sent by 430 companies advised not to overdo it however. Subject lines containing both company name and product name got eight percent fewer opens than those that included only the company name or the product name.

Average open rate for B2B marketing e-mail by subject line:

Build Reputation and Trust

When it comes to e-mail marketing, what you say is not as important as who’s saying it. The marketing firm of Merkel/Quris recently set out to find out how much staying in touch with customers online influences their buying habits. The top factors influencing recipients to respond to business e-mail: the sender’s brand image, trust level and relevance.

Can you incorporate brand image, trust and relevance into a single e-mail or banner ad? Here are some suggestions from the experts:

Reputation of the sender — 68 percent of surveyed respondents said they judge e-mail based on this. Make sure your name and logo are prominent when they sign up and consistent in all your e-mails.

Assurance of security — 65 percent of surveyed respondents said they judge e-mail based on this. They still want to be reminded and guaranteed that you won’t share their privacy information with anyone outside your own organization.

Forwarded from a friend/colleague — 53 percent of surveyed respondents said they judge e-mail based on this. Yet another reason to include the “send-to-a-colleague” link.

Now that you’ve got the “trust” elements in place, Internet Marketing Report says the next step is to line up your e-mail relevancy. Customers want to be in control. Ask customers what they want and when they want to receive it: According to Merkel/Quris:

— 53 percent said customized content (based on their preferences) increases the chance
     they’ll respond

— 51 percent said the timeliness of the message drives response

— 37 percent said they like content that is based on their previous response history

But don’t get cheesy:

— 68 percent of respondents said that being greeted by name in an e-mail DOES NOT affect
     their response.

Source: Silverpop 2006.