Some years ago, when history was my main pastime, I belonged to a group which rented a rather well-known TV historian for a talk on the British Civil Wars. It was fascinating. However, the most memorable part was the post wine and finger buffet Q&A where, loosened by the rather decent vintage, the speaker wandered into anecdotes.
He was asked why he found history fascinating. The answer gives us in email marketing a pointer to how we should target our campaigns. He said, with a complete lack of shame, what made history not only fascinating but a good source of income for him was that, no matter what your predilections, there were history books to support your point of view.
He’d worked out that most people enjoyed reading material that was, engineered is the most accurate word, precisely for them. We all find it comforting and reassuring.
All your copy and images, not only in your email marketing campaign, but on e-newsletters, your website and any other public matter, should be written for your subscribers’ beliefs. Tell them what they want to read. If they want to know how easy it is to return goods, perhaps fit the ink cartridge into the printer, how quickly an engineer will attend, then this is what you should emphasise.
Our historian, who by now was bordering on inebriated, was told by one of our number that they deliberately read books which contradict their beliefs. She was asked, told really, “And I wonder just how many times you allow your beliefs to be changed.” It was a little vicious, but more than a little true.
You should know what subscribers to your email marketing list require for massaging, to be told how clever they are, and that’s what your copy and images should do. Praise them for their perspicacity if that’s the type of phrase they will respond to.
In other words, don’t only go by the metrics of open rates, click throughs and completions. If you want to do better than your immediate competitors, you need to cultivate an edge. Go beyond the stats; tell them exactly what they want to know.
