3 Email Marketing Secrets I Learned From Spammers

PushSend · May 24, 2011

Been parusing several sites, blogs, pages and just about anything remotely email related today...it's been "one of those" days. Came across this and thought it was pretty interesting. I think something can be learned about damn near anything if you look at both the good AND the bad examples of how it's done. So to that, here's what this guy learned from SPAM:

Spammers suck.

Theyâ€™re awful at what they do (the last stat I saw of their conversion rates was in the neighborhood of 1 in 12,000,000) so what in the world can we learn from them?
TONS.

Even though Iâ€™m a professional email marketer â€“ someone who should know better â€“ I still find myself compelled to open a spam email once in a while.

Wouldnâ€™t you want to harness the spammerâ€™s (very occasional) brilliance and have your list completely helpless when staring at your email in their inbox. . . totally. . . compelled . . . to click?

YESSSS.

Here are the 3 secrets Iâ€™ve discovered from studying spam messages:

1.) Make me feel guilty!

I feel a little bad deleting an email from â€œMaria Sandersâ€ even if I know itâ€™s a spam email. . .because there is a slight chance that a real person, Maria, actually took time out of her life to write to me.
Why do I feel guilty for deleting an obvious spam email from â€œMariaâ€ and feel nothing at all for deleting a legitimate email from Adobe or Microsoft?

Companies are faceless entities, itâ€™s no problem (and even FUN!) to ignore them and foil their marketing efforts. A personal name is so different though, itâ€™s rude to ignore a real person. I wouldnâ€™t want to be ignored, so I try not to ignore others (do unto others, and all that).
The from name matters, I wonâ€™t open an email from XYZ Co. but that exact same email from Robert Wilson. . .

2.) Weâ€™re not pals.

Adding a personal touch to your email is nice. . . unless you think â€œDearest Friendâ€ or â€œValued Customerâ€ is a personal touch.

If there is anything that makes my spam radar go crazy itâ€™s â€œDearest Friend,â€ and if there is anything that makes me dislike and distrust a company itâ€™s being addressed as â€œValued Customer.â€
If I really am your dearest friend or valued customer, chances are youâ€™d know my name.

You donâ€™t, and Iâ€™m not.

When you want to have a good response to your email, youâ€™ll lose the stilted phony talk and write like you speak. Nobody would ever really say â€œdearest friendâ€ to my face. So why would they write it? It doesnâ€™t make sense and it doesnâ€™t make me want to read your email or do business with you.
Donâ€™t know my name? Thatâ€™s fine, donâ€™t pretend weâ€™re pals, just say â€œheyâ€ and get on with it.

3.) â€œWait. . .What?â€

The subject line of your email is usually the single most important factor of your success in email marketing. Doesnâ€™t matter how mind-blowingly rad your offer is, or how beautiful your design is, if the email is never opened.

Spammers are great for creating a headline every once in a while that just grabs my attention and I HAVE to click on it, even though I know itâ€™s spam :\

â€œEvan, can you make a difference?â€ This one strikes a nerve because OF COURSE I want to make a difference. Who doesnâ€™t? There is just enough information to pique my curiosity, and no more.

â€œYour new credit card is inside. You deserve it.â€ Ignore the first part, focus on the brilliance that is the second sentence. . . Thatâ€™s RIGHT I deserve it. Thank you for acknowledging the fact. I deserve something and there is nothing you can do to stop me.

â€œtalk to you soonâ€ This sounds. . .human. No period at the end of the sentence, no capitalization at the beginning. Looks like someone was in a hurry and didnâ€™t care to correct those things. Businesses donâ€™t do that, robots donâ€™t do that, people do that. I empathize and connect with this personâ€™s situation, and with just 4 simple words we have a rapport already. Brilliant.

Just because spam is the bane of the email marketerâ€™s existence doesnâ€™t mean we canâ€™t learn anything from it. Next time you have a peek in your spam bin, take a moment and see what gems you discover!

What have you discovered from spam?
Click to expand...

source: EmailCritic.com

roundabout · May 24, 2011

Subject: Someone is searching for you

always struck me as a powerful one and kicked ass conversion wise awhile back. It may have been for Zoosk, I forgot.. but damn, if people just arent curious and demand to know who is searching for them.. had amazing CTRs.

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3 Email Marketing Secrets I Learned From Spammers

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