Think Your Emails Don't Work? Think Again. Effective Email Marketing

I hear this all the time. "Keith, email marketing doesn't work. I'll send out a ton of emails to my prospects and never get a return email or response from them."

Slow down one second. Before you arrive at the faulty conclusion that this doesn´t work, lets look at this from a different perspective for a moment that would make your emails ineffective.

First there's what you are writing in the body of the email. If this is your first attempt to get in touch with a prospect, what are you putting in the email? A dissertation? If it's longer than one or two paragraphs, it's too long. Look at your emails like an initial cold call. You need to laser in and deliver a compelling opening statement that's going to grab their interest and stimulate a conversation. Because there's no one to cut you off in an email or stop you from persistent pontification, people have tendency to ramble on and on in an email, giving the prospect the life story of the product or service they want them to consider. Keep it short and focus on the one or two benefits, opening up the opportunity to have a dialogue. That's it.

Second, are you sending attachments in the first email? C'mon. Email 101. No attachments! It's hard enough sending an unsolicited email to a prospect. Now you´re adding more barriers and increasing the chances of your email winding up in their spam box or junk email folder. Some people have filters on their email that if an attachment is sent it automatically gets deleted. No attachments until that information in the attachment is solicited by the person.

Third, html or text? Once again, with all the email filters people use today, you will increase your odds by sending a text message only rather than trying to get fancy with formatting, graphics and pictures. The prospect really doesn´t care about how beautiful your email looks; they care about the core message. Besides, they will never even get a chance to see your beautiful masterpiece in an html email if it's winding up in the trash.

Finally, you are using way too many spam words. As mentioned, the biggest enemy to email marketing or selling via email is the additional security that companies and individuals have on their network or computer. As such, the specific words you are using in the body of the email can be the culprit which is sending your email directly into the trash or spam box. In other words, you are using words that are often identified is spam and in turn, you email is getting flagged and deleted. Not even eye contact! The prospect is not getting a chance to, at the very least, see your email let alone read it and have a chance to respond accordingly.

Bottom line, your prospects aren't even getting your communication. Below are some Words to Avoid That Can Be Flagged as Spam:
Marketing
Market
Free
Bonus
Click
Click here
Advertising
Advertise
Ads
Sales
Sell
Selling
Shop
Shopping
Package
Buy
Purchase
Mortgage
Finance
Refinance
Free Trial

These Words Aren't As Bad But If The Prospect's Filter is Up, These Words Can Also Be Flagged:

Client
Clients
Customer
Customers
Audience