Do you find this irritating? Or is it just me?…
IMPORTANT ALERT…(please respond)
Re: ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT . . . <your email address>
Those are just two of the subject lines that have made it into my inbox the past few days.
Have you seen them too?
It begs the question:
Are your subject lines sending the right message?
As a marketer that uses email messages to send content and generate income it’s very possible that you may have fallen into the trap of your subject lines sending the absolute wrong message.
This is a disturbing trend that started a while ago and has progressively gotten worse.
You see, in today’s economic climate there are literally hundreds of people that are exploring ways to add some additional income to their bottom line each month. Maybe it’s just to pay a few bills or it’s to pay for a vacation or the kids college tuition. Whatever the reason is, they are searching for ways to make up for what inflation and the lack of pay raises at the day job are taking away.
And they come online to do it. Why? Because it’s the ‘thing’ to do.
They search…
and they find a ‘guru’ or someone who claims that they can teach them how to generate the extra income through some fancy-dancee, graphics hopped up sales page that claims they can make thousands each and every day.
Right.
Whatever.
Or… they ‘discover’ (get told) that they need to be building a list and sending emails to create that income and they get sucked into someone’s promise to help them build that list by doing incessant & incestuous email swaps.
However it happens, they get on someone’s ‘list’ so that they can learn how to build their own online business a reap the benefits. The profits.
What they don’t get taught is the fact that they need to develop a relationship with the people that sign up for their own information.
Once that relationship is established through a very defined process, find out what those people need to advance their online business and create products to solve that problem. In a nutshell, that’s the ‘secret’ to building a profitable online business.
Part of what’s not understood is that in order to create that relationship they must have some basic copywriting skills which includes the ability to craft a subject line.
A subject line that, instead of deceiving the reader into opening the email with a promise it can’t deliver, creates curiosity and then gently leads the reader to click on a link to get to the information that they want.
Does that make sense?
So, here’s the question again: Are your subject lines sending the right message?
If you are you on the same lists I am you know what I mean.
Here’s a sampling of subject lines (and my commentary about the use of ‘it’) from the past couple of days that have slithered their way into my inbox:
Thanks <insert name here> – Here Is Your F’REE DOWNLOAD
duuuude, I’m already on your list and your freebie sucked. Why would I want to open up your email and get sent to ANOTHER squeeze page?
IMPORTANT ALERT…(please respond)
What??? What important alert? That you’re sending me to another ‘marketers’ list and I SHOULD be on HIGH alert? I’d like to respond to you personally, but you probably don’t monitor that email address!
{free video} If you “bought” this, I feel sorry for you…
yea, I’d feel sorry for myself if I bought that crap too, so why are YOU promoting it? OH, that’s right, you’re trying to put more subscribers on your list. How’s that working for you?
Re: ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT . . . <your email address>
Activate my account??? WTH? When did I request an ‘account’ with you?
Or how about:
Re: Bank Depost #4733
Say who?? So you’re sending me a message to tell me you’re depositing money in MY account? Saweeeeet!
That one goes to a over hyped sales page with pictures of a brand new sports car, a house that even I wouldn’t want to live in (nice, but no thanks) and some jimmied up clickbank images.
INCOMING BANK DEPOSIT For <your email address>…
I’m not even going to add anything there.
Now, I must admit that these subject lines, while all real and all have come from my inbox within the past few days, are also being used by ‘marketers’ who have just come online recently (within the past year or so) and are being ‘taught’ that email swaps are a good business model and can create income for yourself.
I beg to differ. I’ve been down that road. It don’t work. It might work IF you are swapping with the right people at the right time.
But the way ‘these’ people are doing it. NO!
So… What does work?
I’ll get to that in my next post…
In the mean time
Is it just me?
Or is this irritating to you too?
Leave a comment to explain…
(p.s. there’s a bonus in it for you)
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tagged with: Email Marketing • email subject lines • List Building • list building secrets
Filed under: Rants
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I hate to tell you this, but the email that got me here definitely used the same tactic, afaic. How did you not see that? It’s not one I appreciate either, which is why I usually unsubscribe immediately from those mailing lists, as I describe here: http://bit.ly/bV4myM
Hi Patricia… thanks for leaving a comment. We will have to agree to disagree about this. There was nothing deceptive about the email… there was a subject line that invoked curiosity (not promising a free download or something in your paypal account) and one line of text with a link that added to the curiosity. It led you here to read a post and (thank you) leave a comment. If you see otherwise, leave an explanation. Ron
Hi Ron, Merry Christmas!
I get these subject lines all the time. It gets a little old, like what’s the point of the subject line?
None, If you are going to send this type of notice out.
Don’t get it.
Thanks for leaving a comment Jeff. Their point in the subject line is to get you to ‘think’ there is something special in the email when in reality, most of them go to another persons’ squeeze page.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are marketers out there that don’t use this practice. That provide very good content and good, thought provoking blog posts. I hope that is what you are finding with me.
Let me know. Ron
Merry Christmas!
Thank-you for saying it out loud. I agree 100% with you. It also screams “scam artist” or “amature marketer” in my opinion.
Where’s the quality in that? So many people are just looking for a way to make some extra cash online to pay some bills.
I also hate those subjectlines that claim to make a boat load of cash overnight without doing any work. Although most people know that’s a load of crap, quite a few with fall for it just out of curiosity. The only one making that boat load of cash is the person who sent the email.
Thanks for keepng it real! Keep up the “refreshing” work you do and sharing it with us.
Thanks Karen! Unfortunately, there is work to do in making money online. It’s not unlike the ‘real’ world, you just need the discipline and self motivation to make it work.
Hi Ron, I just delete any that arrive in my incox with any of the subject lines you mention. Unsubscribing takes up too much of my time.
Cheers
Rob
Yea, I hear you Robert. I do that mostly too, but I also want to stay on top of the game to make sure that I am not missing anything. Have a great day! Ron
Hi Ron, brilliant post. I have fits of unsubscribing when the headlines get too bizarre for me, then I subscribe to other lists that then start doing the same thing….and it goes on and on. Good luck for 2011.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Hey Mandy! Thanks for stopping by!
It’s a vicious circle isn’t it? I do look forward to the emails from the mentors and coaches tho just to see what I can learn from them.
Good luck to you also.
Ron
Hi Ron,
Yes, it annoys me greatly when I see headlines like that. Lately the ones reaching my inbin have Clickbank in the title. I can appreciate marketers wanting to get their email opened, but resorting to trickery is only going to make me mad, not make them sales.
Peggy
Yes Peggy, I have started seeing them also. What’s up with that?
I do agree that ‘wanting’ to have your emails opened is the start, it’s providing quality content and a variety of it that will keep them opening and clicking.
Have a fantastic day!
Ron
Hey Ron,
Happy Great Year!! There is just one basic fact of business, online or offline that so many marketers, managers,etc are constantly missing and that’s….THE CUSTOMER IS THE BOSS…ultimately. No customer, no business,unhappy customer,a decline in business or no business/profits. Happy customers/clients/email subscribers can only lead to a profitable business!
For too long consumers are treated like they are not human beings, but rather like a wade of credit cards!!
I thought the new FTC rules would reduce the amount of garbage being thrown at unsuspecting marketers online, mostly Newbies, but I guess I was wrong!!
Best regards
Don-Andrew
Don. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.
You are absolutely correct. If you don’t provide your customer (be it a subscriber or someone who HAS purchased from you) with quality, pertinent information, before and after, you WILL get unsubscribes or refunds. And when that happens, as you say, there is no business.
Have a great one!
Ron
Hi Ron…There is no lack of passion in your email
And…I would have to agree with you. Most of those subject lines pushed my buttons immediately.
I usually just delete these and if I should be tempted and open one and it doesn’t deliver then it’s an immediate unsubscribe for me.
I don’t understand why any marketer believes that deception is the right foot to start any endeavor out with? I know there are tricks to copy writing but there is also a moment when you’ve crossed the line.
Personally I don’t want to make my readers mad before they open the email so I am probably too transparent
Kathy
Kathy Dobson´s last [type] ..Location Independence…Living Your Dream
Hi Kathy!
Thanks for the comment…
How about the one I got this morning? RE: Commission Payouts…
Fortunately, I know that this is a promo email that this particular person is sending out, but would someone who is just starting out and had just signed up for this person’s list know that?
Probably not.
So the unsuspecting reader clicks the link in the email and gets taken to a sales page! Commission Payout? I don’t think so!
I like to illicit curiosity in my subject lines and then provide a line or two with a link. I typically don’t send to affiliate products, so it’s either to one of my products or it’s to a page that would have content that can be digested and then MAYBE a link to a related product (but still mine).
Hey, have a great day!
Ron
Indeed, there are often annoying mails with the same opening line that you had just emphasized in your post every time I open my emails. I subscribed on some of them, without knowing that they will annoy me with daily messages and “bonuses”. Anyway, thanks for the share. You have disclosed some of the things that many of us are experiencing with their mails.
Peny,
THANKS for stopping by. I am not sure if they are really ‘annoying’ as you say but they are totally deceptive and that’s the problem with them. If you are unable to get YOUR readers/subscribers to open your emails without resorting to what is basically trickery, then you should really rethink your business practices and how you are relating to your readers.
Hope you continue to stop by and contribute.
Ron
Hey Ron,
Yep, I hate those too and totally ignore them. And I have heard of marketers actively telling prospects that they need to pay more attention to the headlines from your spam emails. Personally, there is no way I’m going to spend my time going through my spam so I can capture a subject line that is deceiving to my list. I give what I promise and if more people delivered, then they might have a little more success then they are at the moment.
Thanks for this post and it’s my first visit to your blog. I will definitely be back to visit again.
Adrienne
Adrienne´s last [type] ..How to Automate Your Tweets for Free