As email recipients quickly scan their inboxes, seeing the right offer or incentive can lead them to pause just long enough to give your message a chance at being successful. It may seem strange to think about, but that split-second pause is a tremendous victory for your campaign.
The content most likely to catch recipients’ interests is the subject line, which is obviously why marketers place so much emphasis on trying to craft the most appealing subject lines possible. However, emails I’ve recently received from Horchow illustrated what can happen when a sender falls in to a “subject line rut.”
Over a span of less than 10 days, I saw the following Horchow subject lines in my inbox:
10/19: FURNITURE & RUG SALE with FREE SHIPPING
10/20: LAST DAY: for FREE SHIPPING on FURNITURE and Rug Sale…
10/22: FREE SHIPPING TODAY ONLY + save on Marcus bed & bath
10/22: Time’s almost up for FREE SHIPPING
10/26: FREE SHIPPING on almost everything, 2 days only
10/27: LAST DAY FOR FREE SHIPPING
There are a few things about this strategy that I don’t like. For one, that’s a lot of email over 10 days. But beyond that, how much incentive is FREE SHIPPING at this point? Horchow tries to make the recipient think that free shipping is for a limited time, but it’s obvious that the offer is nearly always on the table. So, by consistently recycling this same offer in their subject lines, Horchow is doing nothing more than limiting the amount of characters they can use in their subject lines to promote actual products.
A great subject line can cause your subscribers to take that split-second pause where they consider whether or not to engage further with your message; re-hashing the same subject lines and tired offers is a good way to make that decision for them.
While scanning through my daily emails a few weeks ago, I came across an enticing offer from Hotwire.com: “For you: $15.95 car rental in Chicago found by Hotwire”. Being a frequent business traveler to the Windy City, this deal seemed like a no-brainer, but in the back of my mind I was thinking: “Too good to be true.”
Upon opening the email, I saw the offer visible in my preview pane:
Naturally, I clicked on the “Show me” link to learn more about this great offer and possibly make a purchase. Instead, I was redirected to this page that asked for my travel dates:
Although I was a tad disappointed that I wasn’t able to learn the details behind the Hotwire offer, I still believed my $15.95 rental car was just a click away. Unfortunately, after clicking “Search for cars”, I found the least expensive rental car for my travel dates was $66.95 – $51.00 more than their email offer.
At this point I was finished with Hotwire and their false promises. Out of sheer curiosity I searched multiple dates and finally found my $15.95 rental car, but the price was a weekend rate – not what I was looking for.
How can Email Marketers avoid landing page letdown? Here are three easy ways:
1. Make the specifics of your email offer highly visible and easy to understand. Had Hotwire made a visible effort in their email (not buried in small, light gray text in the footer) to explain the specifics of the offer, it would have created a far better user experience.
2. Ensure that your landing page is consistent with your offer. If you are promoting $15.95/day rental car’s in Chicago, then your landing page needs to use the same style, design, verbiage, etc. Not doing so might give Customers the impression that they clicked incorrectly, or that the link simply isn’t working.
3. Make the process of accessing your offer easy. Customers click because they are interested. Don’t bog down the process with additional steps – make it easy for them to get what they want. If you must use additional steps (like Hotwire did with choosing travel dates), it helps to inform Customers the purpose behind it.
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If you’re like me, your inbox seems to be overflowing with subject lines of promotions much like these pictured here (an actual snapshot of my emails received from Overstock.com). It has now become a daunting task to keep track of what the offer is, who is offering it and for how long.
Many companies in today’s economy seem determined to keep hammering these offers home on a regular basis with subject lines that use similar style and verbiage – or what I like to call “Over-Offering”. By using this approach, marketers are hoping to grab that one small fish in the ever-deepening email inbox pond.
Overstock.com has been on my Over-Offering radar for a few months now. They send out about 4 emails a week ranging in promotions from free shipping, X% off deals and (insert department here) Blowout/Closeout/Clearance sales. Are these good offers? Definitely. But that’s far from the point. Over time, that good offer that drove opens, clicks and conversions at the beginning of the email relationship, has now lost its luster.
If you get the vibe that your long-timers are feeling underwhelmed (looking closely at unsubscribes, opens and clicks will tell the tale), it’s time to try something new. Here is a possible scenario using your subject line – one of the easiest changes you can make:
• Group 1 (opted in 90 days or less)
Subject Line: “Free Shipping through Sunday”
• Group 2 (opted in over 90 days)
Subject Line: “Don’t stress about shipping – this weekend it’s on us!”
By using style and verbiage that older customers aren’t familiar with, you may spark a significant increase in opens. This can be applied to other areas as well (verbiage in your message, email design elements, etc.).
The bottom line: Have a customized approach for your customers during their different lifecycle phases. From those that just opted in, to your loyal subscribers of over 2 years, having a plan based on original optin date is a key aspect to a successful email marketing program.
So the next time you feel compelled to send that “10% Off Everything!” exclusive, once in a lifetime special email – think for a moment if you are Over-Offering. Your loyal, long-time customers will appreciate it.
As email recipients quickly scan their inboxes, seeing the right offer or incentive can lead them to pause just long enough to give your message a chance at being successful. It may seem strange to think about, but that split-second pause is a tremendous victory for your campaign.
While scanning through my daily emails a few weeks ago, I came across an enticing offer from Hotwire.com: “For you: $15.95 car rental in Chicago found by Hotwire”. Being a frequent business traveler to the Windy City, this deal seemed like a no-brainer, but in the back of my mind I was thinking: “Too good to be true.”
If you’re like me, your inbox seems to be overflowing with subject lines of promotions much like these pictured here (an actual snapshot of my emails received from 
