E-mail: A low cost solution or an annoyance and obstacle to productivity?
February 26, 2009 by Mary Ellen
Policing e-mails gets to be a job, especially when the in-box exceeds 200. (My goal is to make it through the list.) As more and more businesses use e-mail communications, the need to grow our effectiveness becomes critical.
According to Forrester Research, eight out of 10 broadband users delete most commercial e-mail without reading it. Six out of 10 say most e-mail offers nothing of interest.
Sid Liebenson, Executive Vice President and director of marketing for Draftfcb, offered basic e-mail guidelines in an op-ed piece in DMNews:
To make it work effectively, use your company name and/or a real name in the “from” field. Personalize and customize content as much as possible. Segment e-mail content so that recipients get information that most interests them – if you don’t know what interests them, ask. Include interaction, like polls or quizzes. Offer reports and whitepapers. Keep messages short, simple, and focused. A text-heavy appearance is deadly. Read the complete article.
I continue to recommend e-mail to clients. In addition, I continue working to improve my own. Post your good e-mail hints (or your worst e-mail examples) here in the comments.
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Oh, now there you go again. You knew I couldn’t resist this one.
How to get your email deleted unread: Sending out emails with no text in the body, with the attachment containing all the info. Delete, delete.
How to get reported as spam: Beginning the email with faux friendly: “Dear Mary, I KNOW YOU think…” No, you don’t. I’ve never met you. You don’t know what I think. And, it’s obvious from the email you’ve never met me, talked to me or read my blog.
Two sanity checkpoints:
Would you like to receive the email you’re getting ready to send – if it wasn’t your service, product or group?
Are you constantly looking for ways to “get around” spam filters? (Then you don’t need to send it…or you need to totally rewrite the email.)