Please Don’t Call It an Email Blast

If there’s one thing that makes me cringe, it’s when someone calls an email-marketing campaign a “blast.” Everything about that word goes against what we as email-marketing professionals do in creating email campaigns that deliver outstanding results.

I thought I’d pull a few definitions of blast from a dictionary to drive home my point. I made myself laugh as I read these because they were amazingly accurate in explaining, on their own, why I can’t stand the term email blast. Hopefully, you’ll agree. Here is blast defined by Merriam-Webster online:

• “a violent gust of wind”
• “the sound produced by an impulsion of air through a wind instrument or whistle”
• “a stream of air or gas forced through a hole”
• “a vehement outburst”
• “the continuous blowing to which a charge of ore or metal is subjected in a blast furnace”
• “a sudden pernicious influence or effect” (I love this one!)
• “a disease of plants marked by the formation of destructive lesions on leaves and inflorescences”
• “an explosion or violent detonation.”

So, the next time you’d like to send a “vehement outburst” to your email list, think twice. Email blasting connotes the following:

• No segmentation
• No sensitivity to the people who are on the receiving side of the “email blast”
• No testing
• No improvement
• No customized messaging.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Instead, adopt a different way of thinking about your marketing emails. Send relevant messages, invitations, and truly valuable offers to your customers. Understand who your recipients are—what they want, what challenges they have, and so on. Then, send them relevant messages that both engage them and motivate action. Cast your “blast” aside and stop the scattershot approach that accompanies anything that remotely can be defined as a bulk email blast. If you adopt this different mindset, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

4 Tips for Email Marketers to Create Successful Email Campaigns

Here are a few tips to help businesses avoid sending email campaigns that qualify as “blasts.” In doing so, you’ll also realize other benefits, including fewer people who unsubscribe from your email lists, fewer emails caught in spam filters, delivery rates that improve, and better overall email performance results that dramatically drive up sales.

1. Don’t think of it as a “blast.” Today’s “email blast software” makes it easy to send numerous emails at one time; however, marketers should strive to ensure that each and every email sent provides value to their individual subscribers. Segmentation and personalization are two important ways to help make sure that all emails do just that.
2. Create and test email subject lines  that capture attention, engage recipients from the very start, and successfully motivate action.
3. Be sure the design and formatting of your emails help optimize conversions, paying special attention to your calls to action. Also, ensure that your email templates are coded correctly and follow email design best practices.
4. Follow the anti-spam rules that are detailed in the CAN-SPAM Act and Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) to help  keep your emails from landing in subscribers’ spam folders.

Are you ready to take your email-marketing efforts to an entirely new level? We have the team, strategy, creativity, and testing skills to get you there. Contact us or give us a call at 215-489-9336 today.