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How to get your email newsletter read - make it personal
By Karen Skidmore | June 20, 2008
When inboxes are not only cluttered, but almost bursting at the seams, getting your email newsletter read by your subscribers can get tougher and tougher.
One of the toughest kind of subscribers you can have on your mailing list is the subscriber who loves you, knows you are great and recommends you to all their friends but never finds the time to open and read your emails. They never act on your special offers or actually get round to making a purchase.
A raving fan? Absolutely. But a customer? Mmm, no.
One way of making your email stand out and be read is to make it personal
First, you need to make sure you are requesting subscribers leave their first name (as a bare minimum) when they sign up on your website and then, secondly, use the code for their first name at key points of your email newsletter. If you have ever done a good old fashioned mail merge, it is exactly the same principles.
Where can you use their first name?
- In the greeting: Just think how more personal “Dear Jo”is to “Dear Valued Subscriber”
- In the subject heading: Don’t over use this one but can be very effective for key emails
- In the copy: Again be careful not to over use this one, but using someone’s first name at the start of a sentance that makes the compelling offer, for example, can be a useful eye grabbing trigger.
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Topics: Getting your emails opened |