Email Campaign Blunders to Avoid

You've spent weeks pouring your heart and soul into creating your new information product, new program or new coaching group. You're excited to get it out to the world and all that's left to do is send out your email announcement.

But if you send the typical, "Announcing my new...whatever" email you'll likely be disappointed with the results.

The reason my email campaigns get such great response (typically resulting in sales that add up to tens of thousands of dollars) is because I've learned that the only way to get someone's attention is to be compelling, emotional, authentic and personal.

Email isn't just bits and bytes. It's a relationship that is being created, cultivated and deepened with every message. Once you learn how to make your email campaign messages personal and fun to read you'll find more people want to open your emails, resulting in more sales and more connection with you.

So here are four email campaign blunders that you can easily avoid. Follow my advice on each one and your next email promotion will be authentic, powerful and will succeed at its job, which is to connect your readers to their longing for your products or services, then inspire them to click through to your sales letter page and purchase.

Email Marketing Blunder #1 Subject Lines That Are As Dated As Skinny Ties And Leg Warmers

Your subject line must get your reader to open the email. To accomplish this, I recommend being "proactive" in your writing.

For example: "Dave, have you seen this yet?" or "Sue, I can't believe I did this again!"

Yes, these subject lines are slightly hokey but they ask a question that the reader can't help but want to find out the answer to.

If you're marketing to a more conservative audience you can try subject lines that play on a sense of competitiveness, such as:

"Nora, did this sneak by you?" or "Julie, if your competitors knew this, they would crow!"

Email Marketing Blunder #2 Boring Messages That "Announce" Your New Product Or Program

I know this may sound harsh but honestly, most folks just don't care. What they DO care about is how well you know what's in their hearts and minds.

For example, one of my Platinum Plus clients, Helen Graves (www.HelenGraves.com), recently crafted an email offer that started with a eye-catching subject line of "What do you and Tony Robbins have in common?". Then, in the body of the email, Helen wrote:

"Ever feel just a teensy bit jealous of the "big names" like MichaelPort, Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield, who get to rake in the bucks with all those passive streams of income?"

Who wouldn't keep reading after seeing an opening line like that?! It also uses my favorite technique which is to start with a question.

Email Marketing Blunder #3 Telling People To Buy What You Are Selling

The role of your email is to get your reader to click through to your sales letter page where the "heavy lifting" can take place. In your email, stick to telling a story that creates an emotional connection to YOU and the results you deliver.

I often include a sentence or two about something personal happening in my life. Then I tie that topic into the offer I'm giving.

For example, in the emails I'm sending out about my "7 Mo-ney Mindset and Pricing Strategy Secrets" teleseminar series, I'm talking about my new custom home that's almost complete. The tie in? How building this new home completely shifted my mindset around mo-ney and deservability, and how that helped me break through the 7 figure mark this year.

Email Marketing Blunder #4 Leaving Your Heart Out Of The Message

Email campaigns that succeed are miniature pieces of emotional art.

They must be written with your passion fully engaged as you type out the words.

If you don't "feel the love" for your reader and for your product/service as you draft your emails, then neither will anyone else.

When I write my promotional emails, I'm feeling an urgency that is palpable. I am dearly, deeply and utterly passionate about my reader getting what she wants and I let those emotions guide what I write.

You must speak to their heart and not be afraid of going to an extreme with the comparisons you sketch out upon the page. It's as if every sentence has an underlying sub-text that says, "I care about you; I understand who you are, what drives you and what you want; follow my lead and I'll show you the way."

Putting your heart into your email message isn't about telling them how happy you are to announce your newfangled whatchamacallit; it's about connecting deeply with the soul of your reader and being willing to put what you see as possible for them into words that sell.