Are You Talkin’ to ME? Are YOU…Talkin’ to ME?
One the biggest flags for me when it comes to email spam is how an email addresses me in the first paragraph of the message. I got an email a few days ago from a company I know is run by a single person. The very first line I saw started with “We are pleased to announce…”
…
We?
I’m pretty sure this individual doesn’t suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder so it has to be something else. Some people believe that in order to be big you have to sound big. They’re convinced that if they speak as if their company is a large organization people will be more likely to listen. While this may work well for a well-branded company such as McDonald’s or WalMart who people instantly recognize, this may end up backfiring on you. It’s likely, if you’re reading this, your company isn’t big enough to speak to your customers from such a high podium.
When I consult with a client regarding their email newsletters or any email message sent to their customers, I absolutely insist that they address the recipient by name if possible. Just seeing one’s name in an email may give a recipient just enough incentive to read a paragraph or two more where you can start the process of getting the recipient to engage.
Which would you rather see in an email?
“XYZ Enterprises is pleased to announce that clients can now pay their invoices online using our sophisticated and secure online bill-payment system”
or…
“Hi Michael. I’m Ted from the IT department of XYZ Enterprises. Since you’re one of our valued customers, I wanted to let you know that we’ve just launched this new, convenient way to pay your invoices online…”
Try to make your messages a little more personal and less corporate. Why do you suppose blogs are so popular these days? My bit of advice for today. I hope you take it into consideration.
