by Jessica Best, emfluence Community Director
Raise your hand if you remember the KISS rule? Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Every day, I see dozens of email marketing campaigns from clients that spend hours tweaking and perfecting their email marketing messages. I’m all for sending out quality product, but are we sweating too much over details our readers skip over?
Here’s my argument for simplicity in email marketing.
Don’t let cleverness cloud your message.
Flint McGlaughlin told a tweet-ready audience at Marketing Sherpa’s 2010 Email Summit, “Clarity trumps persuasion.” I don’t think I’d agree with trumping persuasion – don’t be afraid to call your prospects to action – but I do think clarity beats cleverness, especially in email marketing. The truth is, if readers don’t get it, they won’t buy it. How easy is it for your readers to figure out what action they can take from your email and what the benefit to them is? (More fun with acronyms, WIIFM? What’s in it for me?)
We marketers loooove clever. We love the chuckle we get when we test our ideas out on each other. Not so fun is the sound of a bomb… specifically, your email bombing. Don’t just vet with your marketing team. Test the waters with someone outside your company or at least outside your department.
Which leads me to my next thought…
Leave the inside jokes out.
I worked in radio for 2 years and the ultimate, never-to-be-broken rule on air? No inside jokes. No one tunes in to hear DJs laughing at an off-air prank. A radio station’s on-air content is for its listeners. Email marketing is the same. The content you’re putting out is for the benefit and enjoyment of your readers. Your marketing messaging should be useful, helpful, entertaining or informative for your target demographic, not for you and the marketing team.
Quit before the point of diminishing returns.
Can you create an email in 12 minutes? Before you answer that, I’ll just tell you: Yes, you can. Will it use nested tables and meticulously arranged copy that wraps at exactly the right point in the sentence? No. Will it be clever and catchy? See above. Will it communicate your marketing offer? Yes. Will it show off your brand and your brand’s voice? Yes. Will you wish you had more time to tweak it? Always.
Can it still be an attractive, eye-catching email? Yes. Will your subscribers read it? That one’s up to you, but it doesn’t relate directly to how many revisions you make or how complicated you make your email.
Remember that there are many factors that determine your return on investment for this email:
- delivery time and day
- offer or value
- deliverability
- seasonality
- the age of your list or audience
- how you collected your email list
- how often you send or post
- whether your readers trust that you share valuable and relevant content
- the other 4 P’s of marketing: product, placement, price, your people
- and a dozen more
At what point do the changes you make to your email only cost you more than they can pay you back?
That’s not to say that complex campaigns don’t kick ass. Segmentation, split testing, variable and dynamic content, rich media integration… they can all make delicious emails with great return on investment. Just be sure that every minute you spend on your email campaign pays you back at that whopping $40 for every dollar spent that email marketing is renowned for.
So go ahead and tell your boss I gave you permission to stop sweating the small stuff. (NOTE: I’m not telling you that spelling and grammar errors are ok.) Email marketing is an incredibly efficient tool in your digital marketing toolbox. Don’t drag it down with extra coats of paint it may not need.
YES! Thanks for permission. The inner email blaster within this sole proprietor is very glad to end the value prop war of time invested in design versus blasting.