The heading on a just published magazine, ‘How to Save Money Now!’ was identical to the Subject Line of a newsletter that dropped into my inbox. It’s as if they are trying to tell me something.
There’s been little in the way of a counter-argument to the accepted premise that we are dropping into a recession; the only disagreement being on how deep and long it will be. It’s concerning. It’s almost certainly concerning the subscribers to your email marketing list, as well as the vast majority of those we are trying to sell to. Although it’s depressing, it does suggest there is an opening there for us to exploit.
The subject-matter for the newsletter was carefully crafted around the products sold by the company producing it. It was subtle. It was done in a way that was almost impossible to resent and it came nowhere near risking becoming a marketing email.
The intent was, probably, to make the subscribers feel that the company had their interests in the forefront of their marketing strategy, and the newsletter contained ways of increasing the operational life of their products. Their suggestions were unlikely to save a company that was failing, but those beginning to struggle might well be thankful for the advice.
We have all seen newspaper and magazine articles advising us on various methods of saving money. They must get them out of a bin marked, ‘For Patronising Purposes’. The shallowness is likely to make the Subject Line less effective, although, in my case at least, I skim-read the article in the expectation it would be useless.
If you are planning an email marketing campaign designed to save your subscribers money, then you are working from a strong base. A more specific Subject Line, such as, ‘How to save 16% on the servicing costs’ is more likely to be opened, although it obviously requires testing. If what you say is true, and it has to be, balance loyalty generated against ROI. I’d open it.
Another way of saving your subscribers money, and lowering the likelihood of unsubscribes, is to vary your forms of payment. Have you considered splitting a product? I’ve seen an item for sale that is normally marketed with an additional accessory, one that increases its effectiveness. If bought separately, the price is increased by around 12% over the cost of buying both together.
If your subscribers are husbanding their resources, they might well be convinced by the offer of a reduction to the normal joint price if they buy the accessory within a set period. Subscribers to email marketing lists are normally after reduced prices. If we offer varied routes for them to save, we are fulfilling the expectations which increases the chances of purchasing and lowers the chances of unsubscribes.
Open rates for newsletters are normally considerably higher than that for marketing emails. I reckon to open about 70% of the mine on average.
