Why exactly does this happen? The people who sign up for such mailing lists should be the most interested and engaged of any customers. Yet time and again, they’re left frustrated and bored. Time and again, they either unsubscribe or hit ‘ignore.’ The problem, I think, is twofold. First, the modern web is positively choked with marketing messages. Everywhere consumers turn, they’re bombarded with brands that are desperately trying to grab their attention through multiple channels. It gets exhausting, and eventually, they tune out all but the most interesting, attention-grabbing messages. Everything else becomes little more than white noise. Assuming you’ve spent even a small amount of time on the web, I’ll wager you fall into this camp, as well. When’s the last time you actually clicked on a banner ad? Found something genuinely interesting in a marketing email? Engaged with branded content on social? You get the idea. We’re inundated with ads. The Internet has become the digital equivalent of a busy farmer’s market where every single stall is manned by a screaming boor. That’s not the only issue, of course. Far worse is the fact that the vast majority of email marketing is downright awful. It’s irrelevant and impersonal at best, obnoxious and over designed at worst. Brands, even those that should know their customers intimately, send out cookie-cutter messaging en-masse. Some send emails far too often, flooding inboxes with advertisement after advertisement. Others reach out so infrequently that most people forget they exist. Here’s what you can do to avoid falling into either camp. To actually create email copy your customers care about.
Email marketing can be difficult to get right. To cut through the noise of the modern web requires dedication, understanding, and personalization. But it can be done. The first step is understanding what your audience wants. From there, everything else should fall readily into place.