Want your email opened? Avoid saying “Learn…”
Bob Bly’s monthly collection of marketing tidbits arrived this morning – and of course contained items worth sharing.
For instance:
***Words to use and avoid in subject lines***
A recent British research report tells copywriters which words in
subject lines increase or reduce open rates compared with email
averages:
--Emails with the word "alert" in their subject lines have 38%
higher open rates.
--The keywords "free delivery" have a 50% higher open rate.
--The keyword "bulletin" has a 16% higher open rate.
--On the other hand "report" has a 24% lower open rate.
--And the keyword "learn" has a 35% lower open rate
Source: The Levison Letter
So, even though you’d love for your sellers to learn how to get their homes ready for a photo shoot or how to tactfully avoid answering intrusive questions if they can’t leave home during a showing, don’t use an email subject line to suggest that they “learn.”
This goes along with the whole premise that we humans are lazy. We want things to be effortless. Learning generally involves study – and who wants to do THAT? (Well yes, some of us do, but we’re not talking about some of us.)
A better word might be “discover.” Any other suggestions?
And speaking of suggestions, what might you say in place of “report?” And why don’t people like that word anyway?
- Is it because they’ve been offered too many reports?
- Is it because reports are quite often dry – and way too long?
Your thoughts?
Next – I’d equate this one to Myth Busters, but… how do they know? How do you measure ROI (return on investment) of email as compared to social media marketing?
***Which has better ROI: email marketing or social media?***
According to a ClickZ article (6/14/17), email continues to have
the highest ROI of any marketing channel. So when some smartass
tells you email marketing is on its way out, and that you should
be doing SnapChat, don't you believe them: Email -- not social or
SEO -- is still the "killer marketing app" on the internet.
Perhaps they’re talking about the cost of placing ads in social media, but how do you measure the financial cost of email marketing? Both have a time involvement, which in my eyes is a “cost,” but not too many systems charge you on a “per email sent” basis, so …?
I believe this conclusion to be true, probably because marketing on social media doesn’t even create a blip in my awareness, but I still want to know – how do they know?
These marketing snippets appear courtesy of Bob Bly's
Direct Response Letter. www.bly.com/reports
I'm really beginning to believe that all marketers should invest a little time and effort into taking a class or two in basic psychology. (I wonder if there's a class on marketing psychology?)
So many factors affect the success or failure of any marketing effort - from the words we choose to the delivery medium, to the places we choose to advertise. And what does that all come down to? Psychology - how our message "hits" our audience.
Image courtesy of tiniroma at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Still, you do deserve accolades for your effort to educate us; Thanks!
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