Few things frustrate me more than automated emails that leave me confused and feeling like the sender wasted my time. Here are a few points to make your emails feel less automated, more readable and more actionable which will increase the conversion rate of the email.
There’s nothing worse then “Hi allan” or “Hi AllanBranch”. The greeting is suppose to make the user feel like they know you. Automated emails are easily spotted because of this. Just cut to the point, drop the fake greeting, why are you emailing me?
Realize every letter you write, every sentence, every moment you use of your readers time is an opportunity to impress or to push them unsubscribe to your app, email or newsletter.
Matter? Yes we use extra words in LessAccounting for personality to breathe life into our app. You should be using each word to inform and bring action to the user or to make them smile.
If you want the user to click and take action from your email, remove all the other distracting links. Email readers have the mind of a child, don’t dangle other links in front of us. That means if you have a signature on the email, remove the links from it.
We use Litmus.com to track our emails and see what our users are reading our emails on. What did we find out?
That “other 17%” well 4% of those are the iPad. So we’re making damn sure our emails look nice and well formatted in these readers.
Be clear, if you want your user to do something tell them.
Example:
Step 1 – Log into the app
Step 2 – Navigate to “my account”
Step 3 – Add billing information
The other day Spreadable.com sent me an automated email.
Hi there,
Thanks again for being a part of the Spreadable beta! As we mentioned last week, we’re offering you 50% off of your first three months of Spreadable for helping us shape the app.
We know you’re busy with the holidays, so the offer is good until January 21st of 2011. To sign up on the discounted plan, simply log in into the app and enter your payment details into the My Account section. If you decide not to continue using Spreadable, not to worry – we’ll automatically shut off your account after 30 days.
Happy Holidays,
The Spreadable Team
p.s. We got some great news yesterday. ReadWriteWeb named us one of the Top Small Business Tools of 2010 (along with the iPad no less).
Here’s how I would have changed it:
Hello Friend!
Because you’ve been so helpful during our Spreadable beta, and because we love you!, we’re offering 50% off of your first three months!
Step 1 – Log into Spreadable
Step 2 – Navigate to “My Account”
Step 3 – Enter payment details and get 50% off for the the next 3 months
Step 4 – Start to see the power of word to mouth marketing!
Happy Holidays,
The Spreadable Team
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We were named one of Top Small Business Tools of 2010 along with the iPad!
Personally I love dashes
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They make the user feel like the content is sectional and they get less overwhelmed.
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Now go implement some improvements in your app.
Side note: if you’re apart of an e-commerce project your email shipping notification should at least contain the tracking number and a link to the mailing carrier’s website. I’m looking at you OtterBox.com!
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