Posted by Gareth Cutter on 9th September 2009 to
Best Practice ...when in fact, it should be the softest. Unless you've already been sending direct mail to prospects and existing customers, it's unlikely that the first email of your campaign will be expected. Even if it's a new prospect who's signed up to your mailing list, a 'no-holds barred' marketing message probably won't go down well (unless you've set expectations that they're going to receive 'no-holds barred' marketing messages). Get the first email wrong and you could see the rest of your campaign underperform as a result
That's why the first email is often hardest – in both senses of the word. It's difficult to know what to write, and the temptation is to go for a 'batch and blast' approach, where you send as many special 'hard' offers as possible, hope you get a good response rate and future emails be damned.
In reality though, the first email is very simple. If it's the first time you've contacted them, tell them:
- Who you are
- Why you are writing
- What's in it for them
- How many emails they can expect to receive
- What they should do if they don't want to receive them
And if you have contacted them before, either by direct mail or by phone – tell them the same things. Just because they're familiar with you, doesn't mean they won't question the value of an email marketing campaign.
The role of the first email is to set expectations, so is 'soft' by its very nature. Establishing trust comes first while selling, generally speaking, comes later. That's not to say that you shouldn't aim to intrigue and entice with your first email – it's just that your primary focus should be to introduce yourself and prepare prospects for the valuable content and great offers that will come later on.
P.S. The first network email was sent by computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson in 1971. While today's marketers often fret over what wording of their next newsletter, Tomlinson was only sending a test email to himself, so went for the simple "QWERTYUIOP". That his email got a 100% open rate probably has little to do with this fact!
