We’ve all experienced it. Sadly, we’ve all probably contributed to it at some point in our careers. I’m talking about email content that, while maybe not nausea-inducing, does nothing to promote any positive feelings or connection with the customers we’re communicating with.
As they say, step one to solving a problem is recognising it.
Here’s a quick test to help determine whether you’ve generated potentially nauseating email content:
- You created a single static email message, paired it with a list of 10,000-plus recipients and hit “Send.”
- You have numerous data fields for each recipient in your list, and you didn’t use a single one of them to segment or dynamically generate content unique to each recipient.
- After artfully crafting your email, properly segmenting your list and testing it relentlessly, you directed the call to action to your website’s home page so recipients could wander around aimlessly until they lost consciousness or closed the browser.
- Following a fantastic website experience and a transaction that generated revenue for your brand, you sent a beautiful [sic] text-only confirmation message that looks like it was written by a robot.
You get the point. And if you’re like me, at some point you’ve created this sort of email experience for your recipients.
In today’s world there’s no excuse for sickening your recipients. And we all know the results of doing so: decreased engagement, lowered conversion, increased opt-outs or complaints.
So, take a moment to think critically about the last email you sent to your database. In part two of this post, we’ll take a look at how data can help humanise your content, and part three will look at some top brands that are creating engaging, personalised email experiences for their customers.
Before we end this post, what are some nausea-inducing emails you’ve seen recently? I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Perfect example of decreased engagement> I bought a new bag online on a beautifully created website and expected to perhaps get a newsletter every now and then. I wasnt asked for preferences. When I checked my inbox later, I had an email from them. And the day later I had another. And the same the next day. Instead of being sick…I moved them into my Spam folder AND felt better!
@Fran — Nice. Bet that was a fun experience. Out of curiosity, were any of the emails related at all to the handbag purchase?
@Richard: Believe it or not, they weren´t ! The Email just contained info on ALL products. Great behavioural targeting….
Someone should take the initiative and create a site like “Shop a bad mailer” where people get to post examples of shocking / lazy email practices. Maybe public shaming will force these companies to take note if poor sales and low revenues don’t or have not convinced them
@Carl – Interesting idea. I call “not it”, but am certain I would regularly check that site out. Nice one.
Actual vomit inducing emails have bright neon colours as the background and large buttons that clash with the colour scheme. They also have the potential to hurt your eyes.
That’s a really good point, @Jarrod. Maybe we should look for an animated gif or two to add vertigo to the list of symptoms!
Stay tuned to the blog this week where we’ll offer up some content marketing tips to reduce email sickness.
[...] By Richard Evans (@rlevans), Several weeks back, we began looking at the queasy effects that poorly executed email programmes can have on recipients. Following that post, I proposed three forms of data that can be used to [...]