Who Are You and Why Are You Sending Me Email?

I surf the web a lot and do a lot of research for myself and my clients. As a result I sign myself up for at least 2-3 email lists a week. Sometimes it’s because I’m genuinely interested in what they’re offering and other times it’s strictly for niche and competition research.

Here’s a major boo-boo that I see a lot of people make in their Email Auto Responder campaigns. In the “From” field they put their name (Dave or Bryan, etc…) rather than using their company name or key benefit.

Here’s the deal. I signed up for “Small Business Marketing Tips” not David’s email newsletter. I get hundreds of emails a day do you honestly expect me to remember or even care that your name is David? I mean I’m sure you’re a great guy and all but unless your name is Seth Godin then I’m probably not very likely to recognize and respond to your name in my email inbox.

I have nothing against David. His is just the latest email newsletter, that I signed up for, to do this. His content is actually very good. But, to be honest with you I still, even after reading his email, have no idea what his company name is or remember why exactly I signed up for his newsletter.

Oh wait… I just clicked a link in his email, saw his site and now I remember that I liked the use of video on his site and wanted to approach him about a JV opportunity. (Hopefully he’s not reading this post.)

The truth is it took a lot of effort (in Internet terms not real effort) for me to remember who this person is and why they’re sending me emails.

What if instead of putting his name in the “From” field he would have used his business name and/or key benefit? And what if, instead of one of those long plain text emails that all of the Internet Marketing “gurus” tell you to send out, he had sent me a professionally formatted HTML email with his company logo and / or a simple banner that matches his web site?

If he would have done that I would have instantly recognized his company and been excited to get his email. Instead I almost deleted his message without even reading it because I didn’t recognize his name.

Here’s a screen shot of my inbox so you can see what I’m talking about.

Now you may be asking, “What if my company name is my name?” For many people this is the case. Consultants, coaches and others use their name as their business name. If that’s the case then include a description of what you do or a key benefit that you provide in addition to, or instead of, your name. (i.e. Barry – Small Business Consultant, Generate More Leads – Sam Jones)

Hopefully you get the idea. Always try to put yourself in the readers shoes or eyeballs in this case. What would you click on?

As with most things don’t just take my word for it or anyone else’s for that matter. Test it for yourself. Experiment with different “From” and “Subject” lines and see which get the highest open rates. If you’re using an Email Auto Responder service like Aweber this is very easy to do.

And David, if you did test it and this is what gets the highest open rates for you then please except my sincerest apologies.

Got comments? Think I’m completely wrong on this issue? Well, there’s a place for people like you… and it’s right below this post.

Comment away, Barry O.