Adestra

After scrolling through my inbox I noticed there were very only a few people utilising the pre-header, also known as teaser copy, or snippet. Not sure what this is? Go into your inbox and look for the first line of text displayed after the subject line, this is the pre-header, often used for the webversion and mobile version links.

This text is also displayed in the Outlook new message pop up alert, as well as next to the subject line in Gmail, and is also viewable on mobile devices when the HTML is not.

This brief snippet of information can be used to encourage open rates, as it is the first thing recipients will see of the email, getting their attention and encouraging to download images and read your email rather than just deleting and moving on. Having your webversion / mobile version links here, are useful, but should they be right at the top? If you are sending out a news publication try including the headline of the top story or a quirky fact, a retail email try repeating your offer, include a call to action, encouraging recipients to click straight through to your website. It is valuable real estate, to build interest and excitement in your emails.

Do an A/B split test and see if it helps increase your open/click through rate, help make your email stand out from the crowd.

Jenna Lovell, Client Strategy Executive

The 2009 Marketing-Gap Tracking study conducted by fast.Map and the DMA has revealed that email is the consumer’s preferred direct marketing channel.

The study showed that consumers are now more than ever more willing to receive emails from trusted brands and products they are interested in. The study also revealed the fact that marketers are largely underestimating this consumer willingness. A panel of 300 marketers thought that 28% of consumers would be happy to receive emails about companies that they know of when actually 51% of the consumer panel expressed interest.

Robert Keitch, chief of Membership and Brand for the DMA commented that “consumers are largely receptive to direct marketing, but only under the right circumstances”.  Marketers now need to ensure that emails are relevant and targeted in order to increase this consumer interest that will then drive revenue from email as a channel.

Regardless of this underestimation among marketers email is still coming out on top as an excellent tool for ROI. The 2010 Email Marketing Census conducted by Adestra and Econsultancy revealed that 75% of companies rank email as a good channel for ROI. This was the second highest among the channels that saw only SEO coming in higher at 78%.

To read the full Marketing-Gap Tracking study click here >>

To read our Email Marketing Census 2010 click here >>

Serena Elston, Client Strategy Executive