The Art of the Email Blast

Most business owners and entrepreneurs understand the power of sending out an email blast.

Those of us who do use email marketing want to know how to write the best email, craft an enticing subject, and how to get the email opened, read and acted upon.

If you’ve used email for a long time, you may remember when getting an email was exciting.  I didn’t get many emails in 1999, so when I did, I was ready to act on each and every one of them!

Fast forward to today, we are all inundated with way too much information.  If you have shiny object syndrome (unlike the writer of this post…ahem, lol) then you have a constant stream of emails that you have saved, you want to do more with and stuff you’ll never get to.

If you are the quick deleter, then there are chances to miss important information (and I know you’re thinking…if it’s that important, I’ll get the information again!)

But these are two behaviors that business owners should be aware of when creating their email blasts.

If your email is long and wordy, people may not finish reading it before they have to move on to something else.  They will either archive it (save it for later) or simply delete it, especially if they don’t feel any urgency to do anything.

You’ll need to be careful when overdoing urgency in business email, because you don’t want to come across as full of hype, which will most likely just get your email deleted.

One of my favorite examples of a good email blast is one that’s done by Real Age.

They create their information on their website (like you could do with blog posts or website content) then send out “teaser” email blasts to their subscribers.

There are other examples of people who send out “teaser type” emails to entice people to click on a link and read the rest of story, watch a video or otherwise take some form of action, but the Real Age people have caused me to stop, click and read more than anyone else.

During PubCon South, Dave Evans spoke about “interruptive media” (blog post) When you are watching television, a commercial comes on that interrupts what you were intending to do with that media.  They have to create something that will make you change from one mode (watching a movie) to another mode (receiving advertising).

Even though people may be receptive to receiving your email, if their mind is on something else while they are going through their emails, then you have to create something that causes people to stop, click and take action.

Let’s take a look at my most recent copy of the Real Age newsletter:

The main body of the email gives you three choices marked by orange dots.  One of these choices (if not all) may be enough of a hook to get you to click and “read more”.

The first gives you an enticing headline – “Try this” for a desired result.  The hook text goes on to ask a question, then gives a statement that leaves you wanting more…so you “read more”.

The second gives you a “How to”, with more how-to teaser text that leaves you wanting more…so you “read more”.

The third asks a question in the headline, then the hook text again, leaves you wanting more.

They go on to give more options in the blue & green colored boxes, a way to share the newsletter, a complimentary banner ad, a sidebar “spotlight” ad and finally at the bottom, easy to understand instructions for interacting with the newsletter subscription.

Since Real Age offers a broad range of information, it would be easy to come across confusing or cluttered.   However, they have refined the art of sending an attractive email blast that gives you a lot of enticing options without being overwhelming or full of hype.