Think Inside the Inbox in this email marketing workshop

Address the envelope

Your subject line is only one of four elements recipients on your email lists consider before deciding whether to open or click. In this session, you’ll learn to address all four. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Write email subject lines that get clicked. Carnegie Mellon researchers have identified the top two reasons subject lines work. Don’t keep sending email until you apply this to your own email marketing strategy.
• Increase campaign revenue by 760% (Direct Marketing Association) by going beyond personalized emails.
• Multiply campaign success by 1,000% (Eloqua) by adding one more data point to tailored emails.
• Avoid dropping the key element on your envelope. 24% of recipients check this before opening. Too often, senders forget to write it — or, worse, have never even heard of it.
• Go beyond the subject line to convince readers to open your message.

Get Read

American professionals receive an average of 121 emails a day (The Radicati Group) — in each of their two or more inboxes (Nielsen Norman Group). No wonder 276 emails languish unread (NNG).

In this environment, how do digital marketers write emails that get read?

• Grab attention with email leads. Steal our four great email leads to try — including one fill-in-the-blanks formula that will change your life — and stay away from our four bad email leads to avoid. (Use these for your content marketing and social media pieces, too.)
• Avoid the No. 1 reason people unsubscribe. Two-thirds of the folks on email marketing lists quit brand emails for this reason.
• Make it clever … but not too clever. Readers complain when your email isn’t edgy, insightful or witty enough. They also complain if it’s too cutesy. Find the fine line between interesting and silly.
• Pass the 1-2-3-4 Test to get the word out via emails on mobile.
• Write sentences that email recipients can actually understand in emailing campaigns.
• Plus: How to use ChatGPT to write emails

Cut Through the Clutter

Assuming your audience members do open your email message, people spend an average of just 11 seconds on each email they review. So how do you write concise emails that recipients will read? In this session, you’ll learn to:

• Reach readers who spend an average of 51 seconds (NNG) on email newsletters with our simple formula.
• Write email marketing blasts that get the word out to the average email recipient, who spends just 11 seconds (NNG) on email marketing messages.
• Avoid the Goldilocks Conundrum. Keep your email message short — but not too short. Readers complain about both ends of the spectrum.
• Pass the 1-2-3-4-5 Rule for paragraphs that are easy to read on smartphones.
• Hit the right grade level for email recipients.

Reach Recipients Where They Look

Just 24% of people fully read email newsletters on mobile devices. The rest skim — or only glance at — their messages.

So how do you get the word out to flippers and skimmers? In this session, you will learn how to:

• Reach nonreaders via email. Learn how with our simple test.
• Choose the right template for your email newsletter. Three formats have been proven in the lab to increase readership.
• Sidestep fat-finger/no-bars syndrome. Mobile email readers click 40% less often. And they click on fewer links than desktop or laptop users. Learn to optimize links and buttons — and where to put your call to action — for mobile.
• Don’t get your head cut off. What’s the right length for email headlines that don’t get cut off by email apps, smartphone screens — or humans?
• Avoid the worst link problem. It decreases accessibility, reduces scanning and cuts your chance of getting clicked.

Plus: Live Editing Sessions

Put the “master” in the Master Class by practicing and perfecting the skills you learn in the workshop. You’ll:

• Master the techniques you’ve learned in two-minute practice sessions, then get Ann’s award-winning ideas for improving your work.
• Work with your peers to turn lame digital marketing pieces into high-quality content, then find out what Ann would do.
• Get written feedback on your own work from your colleagues.
• Watch Ann transform your work in live editing sessions in class.

Master the techniques writing coach Ann Wylie has used to earn more than 60 communication awards, including two IABC Gold Quills — the Pulitzer Prizes of business communications.