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Dear Aunt May,
How come nobody’s taking up my special awesome amazing offer? I email them all the time and still no one clicks.
Signed,
Dazed & Confused
Dear Dazed,
I went Christmas shopping yesterday to spend too much money on my lousy relatives. To one of those “nicer” department stores, you know? Wasn’t terrible inside – not too filthy, not the ugliest displays I’d ever seen, staff that weren’t especially rude, and I found all the junk I was looking for pretty quickly. Things weren’t going too badly.
Then I started looking for the cash register…
You know what, Dazed? I walked around that dump for a good 10 or 15 minutes just trying to find someone to take my money so I could get out of there! I found my stuff – now let me leave! And just when I thought I found a cashier, it turned out to be closed, or some “courtesy desk”, or something else that wasn’t what I was expecting (or wanted!).
I finally gave up. Dropped all my stuff in the arms of a mannequin and walked outta there in a huff. If they don’t want my money, fine with me!
So why do you care about my shopping trip, Dazed? Because your customers are doing exactly what I did – getting frustrated because they don’t know where to go next, and leaving without making a purchase. And just like some well-placed Cashier signs, all you need to do is include an effective call to action in your emails and you’ll find your sales increase.
You’ve got to make things easy for your readers, Dazed; if you don’t, they’re just as happy to move on to the next person (or company) who will. Make the next step you want them to take absolutely crystal clear - so its easy for them to actually do it! Make your offer clear right from the get-go, and give them a reason to open your email message right there in the subject line.
Once they’re inside, give them multiple ways to take the action you’re calling them to – make both the text and images clickable links, and include the call to action right there in the title of the email. If you’ve got your heart set on having multiple offers (which your Aunt recommends against), make sure that one of them is obviously the main attraction; like I said before, you’ve gotta make it clear if you want them to take action!
I’m sure that there were cashiers around in that store I was in yesterday, but I sure wasn’t going to break my back looking for them, and neither are your customers. Clear, direct, imperative statements are going to make them act; you’ve gotta say what you mean, like “Download the demo software here.” or “Call 1-800-555-4321 to Order Now” or “Click here to send your Aunt May chocolates”.
Take it from your Aunt May: it won’t matter how much your customers want your product if they can’t figure out how to get it from you. Make your emails point the way!
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