If you are introduced to a stranger, you will probably have made some basic decisions about them before they talk with you. People give off messages even when they are silent. It’s called non-verbal communication and, given that a marketing email is not verbal, it is what we do every day, or at least every time we press Send.
We need to connect positively in an instant. The actual amount of time you have to create an impression is in dispute, with anything from 0.05 of a second to a bit longer, but they are all right in one aspect; it’s all but instant. There are no second chances.
Email marketing can learn a great deal from web design; the two crafts have much in common. Designers are warned against clutter as it confuses readers. They need to be controlled. We don’t want them pleasing themselves where they look as that would defeat the whole purpose of the page. In any case, readers are happier when it is obvious where you want them to look.
Whatever is the main feature of your product should be highlighted in some way on your marketing email, and you must ensure that the readers’ eyes are directed that way. There are many simple tricks. An obvious method is to have an arrow, and another is what was described to me as the ‘Is it a plane?’ method. If you see a person in the street looking to the sky, you look up as well. The urge is all but impossible to resist. An image of a person looking at what’s important will pull the attention of your subscriber.
It’s not quite that simple of course. You need to ensure the whole email is focused on control of the readers’ attention, and this starts from the beginning. You’ll be offered a range of free email marketing templates, and it’s easy enough to be so captivated that you’ll pick the one that looks the nicest. That’s not what you should go for.
Uncluttered includes the design. It should not be noticeable, and function more as a wallpaper in a corridor, there merely to walk past without it catching the attention. To the question, ‘What did you think about the design of the email?’ a reader should take time to reply; it must not stick in the mind.
There is a lot online covering the psychology of the way you can encourage those who view your marketing email or website to focus on a certain aspect of it. Much of it is exhaustively researched. More of it is fascinating. However, the simple method can give identical results due, some suggest, to the brief time our subscribers take to make their minds up. Why not do what you would do in a one-to-one conversation with a friend; point.
It sounds too crude to work, but it has a high success rate, as do most simple options. Sophistication is great where you have lots of time to encourage, but basic is good as it has little to go wrong.
