Image by Beatrice Murch

As a marketer it is sometimes too easy to get tied up in your own little world and forget about your overall goals and objectives. Be warned though, in the context of email marketing, forget about the recipients at your peril. While you might have your targets and deadlines, forget to communicate and engage with your audience and your efforts could very well result in the opposite of what you want to achieve.

The thinking of a typical email recipient

- I am not an email address on your list, I am not a potential conversion, an additional open or click-thru, I am a person, I want to be entertained, I want to see something useful and relevant to me right now, I am selfish and self centred – disappoint me – I may never take the time to open your messages again !

- If I don’t recognise a name/company/brand in the From or Subject Line there is a high chance I’ll ignore you.

- Pretty much every waking hour and most places I look I’ve brands stuck in my face and I’m bombarded with ads, they’re usually bundled with things I consume – TV, newspapers, web sites … even so most of the time I actively ignore the ads – so you sending another one to my inbox, and worse, if there is nothing to accompany it for me to consume – what do you think your chances are ?

- If I don’t know or remember you – in my world you’re a nobody – if your a nobody I probably won’t listen to or trust you – no trust – no sale

- Tell me “do not reply”, I may be petty about it, if you won’t read my replies – I won’t read yours.

- If the message content is pretty much the same as the last 100 messages you’ve sent me maybe just worded a little different, I stopped reading them a long time ago.

- My definition of spam is I don’t want to see your emails in my inbox any more, as such I’m just as likely to click This is Spam as opposed to using your Opt-Out link, regardless of how I came to be on your list !

The moral of the story ?

Bugging or boring your target audience doesn’t make for good marketing, simply avoiding this pitfall could in fact put you head and shoulders above most of those you’re competing with for attention !
Oh yeah and there is no such thing at the typical recipient !