Sending e-mail that works

Now that you've learned what not to do in an e-mail campaign, like sending thousands of unsolicited junk mail messages, here are a few things you can do to get prospects to read your message and even visit your Web site for more information. The key to creating an effective e-mailing campaign, besides correctly identifying your target audience, is in the message itself.

Think about the e-mail you receive daily. Which ones do you open for more information and which ones do you skip or delete. You make the open or delete decision based on three pieces of information that are immediately visible when you get e-mail in your in-box: the sender's e-mail address; the subject or tag line; and the date that the message was sent. You probably read mail from individuals, companies and organizations when you recognize the sender's address. For instance, if the sender's address is yourmother@aol.com, there is a good possibility that you will read the message!

If you don't recognize the sender's address, then you might open the e-mail if the message captures your interest. For instance, if you were an avid golfer and you received an e-mail with a subject line that stated "Free golf newsletter -- Lower your score," then you might at least open the message for more information.

Finally, e-mail dates are important because older e-mails are more likely to be deleted than newer ones. For example, if you don't know who the e-mail came from, and the subject is not of interest, then you'll probably delete it just to clear our your in-box.

Once you recognize how you sift through your own e-mail, then you should apply this knowledge to your own e-mailing campaign. Your only hope of getting people to read your e-mail is to develop a subject that will be of interest to your target audience. Therefore, your e-mail message must contain a subject line that will make your prospects open the message for more information. Keep in mind that your prospects are looking for benefits, like: golfers want lower scores; investors want hot stocks; teenagers want the latest super cool stuff; and parents want good education for their children.