Ready—Set—Deliver

Published on October 23, 2009  

Your offer could be good—heck, your offer could be great—but still not compel your email subscribers to take action. Why? What is the magic that leads to great email conversion results? Managing expectations and hand-holding, says Scott Hardigree in a recent Marketing Tech Blog post. "Tell your subscriber exactly what you expect of them … exactly what they can expect of you … and do exactly what you said you were going to do."

Here's the idea:

Your subscribers are hurried, says Hardigree, so while they're reading your email you're in competition for their attention with a host of other near-term tasks. If you want your subscriber to take a specific action, you need to "spell it out with painful clarity," he says. "Use highly specific language with concrete details in every communication."

Hardigree gives an example of email content that illustrates his point:

"Hi Sue. The custom demo that you requested is now ready and waiting for you here. Once you visit (http://exampleurl.com/sue) we'll ask if you want to test the silver, gold, or platinum plan. Select the platinum; it's really the best value. The demo will take only a half hour but you'll be able to clearly make a purchasing decision at that point.

If for some reason you're unable to view your customized demo today, we will attempt to reschedule every two weeks from this date unless you tell us otherwise…"

The Po!nt: By setting—and meeting—email subscriber expectations, you can both build trust with your prospects and create more successful email programs.

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