Email Campaign Management

Eliminating Words That Serve No Purpose


Every word or phrase in the copy of a marketing email must serve a particular purpose, one that’s not covered by any other. Copywriting is that simple. If there’s no reason for it to be there, get rid of it. It’s unwanted weight.

The difficulty some people find when doing so is identifying superfluous words, the main problem being that they are accepted in common conversation and, I might add, in the media. Seeing with one’s eyes, true facts, and morning sunrise are all common. There’s a general release film that rejoiced in the title Safe Haven; what were they thinking?

You can only eliminate such errors by reading through the copy, or rather reading the copy, and checking each word. It’s a thankless task, which raises another problem. Surely ‘It’s thankless’ is adequate? Eliminating Words That Serve No PurposeIt is of course, but as the full phrase is in common usage, the brevity of the contraction might interrupt the flow of the marketing email. We don’t want that. 

It’s one thing to know that RSVP already contains ‘if you please’, quite another not to include Please as a prefix if you think the receiver might expect it. In the same, but opposite, way, we all know that in PIN the final character stands for Number, but when asked, ‘Enter your PIN’, many customers hesitate, at least at the supermarkets I frequent. 

It means that you should write your copy for the subscribers on the specific, probably segmented, email marketing list you’re sending the email to. When wondering whether to use (just?) pretense, or perhaps opt for false pretense, you should not look up pleonasm, or open a grammar reader, but rather put yourself in the place of the person opening the email.

Email marketing is controlled by the requirements of the subscribers, and if the rules of English grammar stand between you and a completion, there’s only one way to go. It is best not to try to be cutting edge and push for changes. Follow the flow. Accept that language, and especially usage, evolves over time (sorry) and write your email marketing copy in the way your subscribers will understand.

WizBot

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