Determining what your e-mail messages should say

E-mail is a great marketing tool, but you can’t simply communicate any e-mail message multiple times and expect the messages to result in sales.
Make your e-mail messages as concise as possible; people usually scan e-mails rather than take the time to read every word. Clear and concise messages are by far the best choice for e-mail content, but your messages should include the following content at a minimum:

Your value proposition:

A value proposition is a statement that tells consumers why your products or services are worth paying for. A good value proposition shows consumers that your products or services solve a problem or fulfill a want or need better than anyone else can. Here are some examples of value propositions:

• Want it tomorrow? Our free shipping is the fastest available.

• Just because a diamond is forever doesn’t mean your payments have to be. Our home equity loans can help you pay off high interest debt and our service is more personal than the big banks.

Information to support your value proposition:

Value propositions rarely entice someone to make an immediate purchase all by themselves. Most of the time, you’ll need to support your value proposition with additional information to convince buyers to take action. You can include this supportive information along with your value proposition in one e-mail message, or you might need multiple support messages delivered over periods of time.

Examples include:

• Testimonials and facts
• Directions to your office, store, or Web site
• Incentives to help someone justify taking action
• Images and other design elements to reinforce the text

One or more calls to action:

A call to action is a statement that asks someone to take a specific type of action in a specific way. Calling for action is important because people tend to delete e-mails after they read them if they aren’t told what to do next. For example, just because your phone number appears at the bottom of an e-mail doesn’t mean that people will automatically pick up the phone and dial the number. You’ll get better results if you ask your audience to phone you for a specific reason; of course, provide the phone number.

However, an effective call to action doesn’t necessarily entail asking for an immediate purchase decision. Sometimes, your prospective customers have to take many steps to end up with a store receipt their hand.

Examples of calls to action could include:

• Call now and ask for a free consultation.
• Click this link to add this item to your shopping cart.
• Click this link to download the informational video.
• Save this message to your inbox today.
• Print this e-card and bring it with you for a free cup of coffee.

Determining the most effective wording for your e-mails usually entails some testing combined with educated assumptions based on how your customer perceives your business and your products or services. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help determine what your e-mail
messages should say. As you answer each question, think in terms of what your customers find beneficial about your business instead of simply stating your own interests.

•   What are the features of your products or services?
•   How will the features of what you sell benefit your consumers?
•   How you are different from your competition?
•   Why are your differences worth paying for?
•   Can you summarize your answers to the previous four questions in a paragraph? Try to use two lines of text or ten words or fewer.

If you aren’t sure how your customers would answer these questions, rewrite the questions and ask a few of your customers to respond. You might be surprised by their answers!