Cara McDonald and Sarah Norden of the Copywriting team at DEG Digital will give a presentation called "Get it Write." We're excited to hear their tips and best practices gained from working on top brands such as Timberland, Lee Jeans, Three Dog Bakery, The Salvation Army and more!
3. Open
• From Line
• Subject Line
• Preheader Text
• Email Body
Engage
• CTA Button
Act
4. Consumers receive an
average of 44 emails a day,
25% of which are
permission-based
commercial messages.
Source: ExactTarget, http://www.in.gov/visitindiana/techcorner/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/SFF2_EmailXFactor.pdf
12. Your subject line’s purpose is to
attract their attention (without
abusing their trust) and entice them
to open the email.
You aren’t selling anything (yet).
13. Subject Line Best Practices:
Short (<35 characters)
First two words optimized
Descriptive
Give reason to explore message further
Be clear over creative
18. The first two words are crucial
Get answers for your tax questions.
(Commerce Bank)
Repin to win (Copious)
Three ways to make their heart pitter patter
(Three Dog Bakery)
You + Boots… a classic love story (Country Outfitter)
19. The first two words are crucial
Get answers for your tax questions.
(Commerce Bank)
Repin to win (Copious)
Three ways to make their heart pitter patter
(Three Dog Bakery)
You + Boots… a classic love story (Country Outfitter)
25. Make Them Want to Explore
NO NEED TO EXPLORE
– BRGR celebrates 3 Years with $3 Burgers on
Sunday 2-5 pm (BRGR)
– 4 Days Only: 25% Off NESPRESSO Machines
(Fab)
– SALE: 20% off EVERYTHING. 3 Days Left!
(+$25 Credit for Orders $150+) (Fab)
26. Make Them Want to Explore
Urgency
– 25% off. 48 hours. Go. (Madewell)
– Last Chance: Break Up or Make Up? (scrapbook.com)
Curiosity
– At work? Don't open this email. (J. Crew Factory)
– Going… going… (Lee Jeans)
27. Make Them Want to Explore
Question
– What’s in your nature? Join the discussion. (Cabela’s)
– Can you keep a secret? (Lee Jeans)
News
– A New Blog from The Land of Nod (Land of Nod)
– BIG. NEWS. (REALLY.) (Madewell)
How to
– How to keep your social fresh and flowing with
templates (Wildfire)
29. Words that Trigger
Spam Filters:
Free
Percent off / % off
Closeout
Help
Reminder
Tactics that Trigger
Spam Filters:
SHOUTY CAPITALS
Extensive use of
punctuation!!!
→ Excessive use of
special ♥ characters
49. Email Body Copywriting Checklist
Does it provide value to the recipient?
– Is it going to add more knowledge to my
subscriber?
– Is it going to solve their most pressing problems?
– It is worth the time reading?
Can I scan it in 3-4 seconds?
Do I understand benefits, rather than just
features?
79. Email Copywriting Checklist
From Line
Is it a company or a company department?
(i.e. DEG Support, DEG Rewards, etc.)
Subject Line
Is it fewer than 35 characters?
Are the first two words optimized?
Is it descriptive?
Preheader Text
Is it fewer than 100 characters?
Does it support the Subject Line and primary call-to-action?
Could it stand alone?
Is it cute? (It shouldn’t be.)
80. Email Copywriting Checklist
Email Body
Does it provide value to the recipient?
– Is it going to add more knowledge to my subscriber?
– Is it going to solve their most pressing problems?
– It is worth the time reading?
Can I scan it in 3-4 seconds?
Do I understand benefits, rather than just features?
Does each image have an alt tag?
Do the alt tags convey the primary message?
CTA Buttons
Does it answer “what?” “why?” and “when?” in seconds?
Is it generic? (It shouldn’t be.)
84. Resources
Resources
•
Email Client Market Share: http://emailclientmarketshare.com/
•
Litmus Email + Mobile: https://litmus.com/blog/webinar-email-mobile
•
Email on Mobile Devices: http://mailchimp.com/resources/guides/email-on-mobile-devices/
•
Responsive & Scalable Email Design: https://litmus.com/blog/responsive-scalable-email-designwhats-the-difference
•
Responsive Email Design Guide: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/guides/mobile/
•
Responsive Email Patterns: http://briangraves.github.com/ResponsiveEmailPatterns/
•
Connections 2012 Design for All Inboxes: https://litmus.com/blog/connections-2012-keytakeaway-design-for-all-inboxes
•
Guide to CSS in Email: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/
•
Is responsive email design really worth it?: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/3856/isresponsive-email-design-really-worth-it
Notes de l'éditeur
Before we start talking about specific tactics to attract attention in their inbox, it’s important to understand where they are looking. As we move from Open to Engage to Act, there are other mini conversions. For open, there are three: From line, subject line and preview pane.
Almost 50% of the people who read your last email read it from a mobile device.
Before we start talking about specific tactics to attract attention in their inbox, it’s important to understand where they are looking. As we move from Open to Engage to Act, there are other mini conversions. For open, there are three: From line, subject line and preview pane.
Sometimes, brands are sneaky and try to use an individual’s name as the From name. This is against best practices.Don’t be deceptive. Unless you’re having a one-on-one customer service interaction (that truly is one-on-one), your from name should be Cabela’s. They know you and trust you.Some things you can test: Brand Specific vs. Brand DEG vs. DEG Deals vs. DEG NewsConsistency is important
Sometimes, brands are sneaky and try to use an individual’s name as the From name. This is against best practices.Don’t be deceptive. Unless you’re having a one-on-one customer service interaction (that truly is one-on-one), your from name should be your company name. They know you and trust you.
You want to stand out on those cluttered screens we saw earlier. But you wouldn’t want to stand out with a subject line that read, “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE” if you weren’t actually going out of business. It is a constant challenge for marketers. So, how do we attract their attention if we can’t lie?
Check to make sure the first 2 words of your subject lines are most compelling. Good way to do this is to use action words. Ex: “Take Mom to lunch”
Jakob Nielson study – heat map tracking human eye scanning (F-shaped).Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. A conventional layout is thus more likely to make sites profitable.
Click through
Aweber ran a test across 20 subject lines, sent to a list of over 45,000 subscribers. Subject lines written creatively included:AWeber’sAWesome Anthony A.Getting Earth-Friendly Beyond EmailThreadless’ Frequency Alert: Hot or Not?Subject lines written with clarity included:Grow Your Email List 99% Faster: How One Site Did It43 Free Animated GIFs For Your Email CampaignEmail Timing: A Look At 6 MarketersThe clear, straightforward subject lines gathered far more response than their creative counterparts, surpassing them by: On average, 541% more response from the clear subject lines.
Sometimes, brands are sneaky and try to use an individual’s name as the From name. This is against best practices.Don’t be deceptive. Unless you’re having a one-on-one customer service interaction (that truly is one-on-one), your from name should be Cabela’s. They know you and trust you.
Before we start talking about specific tactics to attract attention in their inbox, it’s important to understand where they are looking. As we move from Open to Engage to Act, there are other mini conversions. For open, there are three: From line, subject line and preview pane.
In a September survey of The Intevation Report readers by Lyris:More than 9 of 10 email users have access to a preview pane, and 7 of 10 say they frequently or always use it.Appears in preview pane (third place looked)Image blocking (preheader text might be all they see)Huge role in mobile
Sometimes, brands are sneaky and try to use an individual’s name as the From name. This is against best practices.Don’t be deceptive. Unless you’re having a one-on-one customer service interaction (that truly is one-on-one), your from name should be Cabela’s. They know you and trust you.
Before we start talking about specific tactics to attract attention in their inbox, it’s important to understand where they are looking. As we move from Open to Engage to Act, there are other mini conversions. For open, there are three: From line, subject line and preview pane.
We want to say “BUY OUR THINGS.” They are interested in going camping. The relevance is the sweet spot where we can touch on their passion and get our message across.
throws a 30% off discount in your face, but doesn't explain the value behind it. What does 30% off a GoDaddy product do for my goals? Will it let me adjust a small business' expenditures on infrastructure costs, freeing up money for a new hire? That benefit is far more tangible than 30% off an undisclosed cost.Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32606/The-9-Must-Have-Components-of-Compelling-Email-Copy.aspx#ixzz2NCHo6RRc
The goal of the email is to sell shorts, but the copy isn't just shoving shorts down the recipient's throat. Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32606/The-9-Must-Have-Components-of-Compelling-Email-Copy.aspx#ixzz2NCKGeQp8
According to Litmus, readers spend 3-4 seconds scanning your email.
According to Litmus, readers spend 3-4 seconds scanning your email. Does this look like you could read it in 3-4 seconds?
Sometimes, brands are sneaky and try to use an individual’s name as the From name. This is against best practices.Don’t be deceptive. Unless you’re having a one-on-one customer service interaction (that truly is one-on-one), your from name should be Cabela’s. They know you and trust you.
Michael Aagaard, Copywriter, ContentVerve, spoke about how the very delicate tipping point between bounce and conversion, and the call-to-action copy is critical in leaning the scales in marketer’s favor. The more value and relevance that copy conveys, the more clicks it will receive.When composing a call-to-action, he said, focus on what the prospect gets by clicking the call-to-action, rather than what the prospect has to part with. Aagaard used the example of "Buy Membership" being negative, because it focuses on losing money, where "Get Your Membership" adds value and the copy "Find Gym & Get Membership" adds needed relevance.
Before we start talking about specific tactics to attract attention in their inbox, it’s important to understand where they are looking. As we move from Open to Engage to Act, there are other mini conversions. For open, there are three: From line, subject line and preview pane.
The mystery sale has grown popular and is driving serious sales to ecom. This one’s from Banana Republic and it includes helpful, instructive copy.
This one from Three Dog Bakery is more simple, yet enticing.
Special characters and symbols draw attention. We are also seeing “Emoji” icons being used in SMS and phone application updates.
These onomatopoeias and exclamations are being used because they are short and demand the user’s attention.
Text-only is concise and right to the point. It usually is a great place for compelling, short copy that leads to an obvious CTA.
“Because you’re on our Nice List….” this is something they have signed up for, but it still feels like only a select few are receiving this message.
Email, Facebook and Instagram all have similar messaging. The consistency really drills in the message.
Email & text both drive to mobile for deal in this case, corresponding messaging. This creates a consistent experience for the user and makes it easier and easier for them to shop.
Many retailers are doing a great job leading to a different call to action that involves social media – a great way to generate buzz.
Though the sale is talked about in the top banner area of the email, it is not the primary focus. We have the deal, but we also have good reasons to wear ballet flats. J. Crew adds valuable content to its email by discussing three ways ballet flats can be worn, from “designer Gayle.”
Staff picks --- social proof from authority figure + makes brand super personal
Not just “buy the shorts” but shows/tells you how to style them
Much like value-added content, this give the consumer a reason to shop the product, while still being concise.
Much like value-added content, this give the consumer a reason to shop the product, while still being concise.
Using pop-culture references to make your content relevant. When content is top-of-mind, it is clickable!