E-Mail Confidential: Amy Africa Tells All

What factors determine whether your e-mails will get opened, read and clicked on? Consultant Amy Africa of Eight by Eight, who spoke at the recent Direct Marketing Association Catalog on the Road Day in Cambridge, MA has the answers.

“What’s important to a user?” asked Africa. “They want to communicate with you on a level they can control.”

All e-mails are not created equal, she noted. “Thrust” e-mails are those sent out in batches, while “trigger” or “good dog” e-mails are sent to individuals on a case-by-case basis, in response to actions such as cart abandonment. These have higher response rates and lead to an increased lifetime profit from the customer.

The majority of a marketers’ success in e-mail depends on just six things, Africa said: the ‘from’ address, the subject line, the intro copy, the ‘to’ address, deliverability and format.

Fifteen percent of recipients will throw out an e-mail if they don’t recognize the ‘from’ address, she said. And another 15% will only read it if they “really” know who it’s from.

“That means one-third of the people will decide whether or not they should read your e-mail before they’ve looked at the subject line,” said Africa.

The ‘to’ address should also not be underestimated. Things like “winners,” “subscribers,” and “listserve” doesn’t get the job done. What works? Not surprisingly, personalization.

When writing a subject line, marketers shouldn’t get hung up on the so called “golden rules,” she said. But they should keep in mind that they have 24-35 letters to get their message across.

When writing the body copy of the e-mail, consider that half of your readers will likely stop reading after the first two lines. If you’re making an offer, get it in quickly.

“The purpose of an e-mail is not to be read,” said Africa. “It is to be clicked upon.”

Deliverability is, of course, an issue for all e-mail marketers. Africa recommends collecting at least two e-mail addresses per user, just in case you get trapped in a spam filter for one of the ISPs.

Before or after lunch is often the time people will respond best, she said. As for the “magic” day of the week, “you need to figure that out” for yourself.

When judging the response to your e-mail campaigns, set a deadline, Africa notes, even if you don’t have a time sensitive offer in your communication.