Sometimes it's necessary to focus on informing your subscribers, be it because of a product update or company news. On the whole, however, email marketing is all about driving action.
Make it easy for your subscribers to know exactly what you want them to do after reading your email. Are they supposed to register for a webinar? Schedule a product demo? Contact their account rep? Visit your website?
Email calls-to-action should be obvious. And they should be easy.
I just saw a great example from the Humane Society of the United States. The message asked me to support an upcoming U.S. Congress Farm Bill which would:
"...stop the importation of puppies from foreign puppy mills for commercial sale, strengthen the federal law against dogfighting, increase the maximum penalties for Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations..."
Great - I'm briefed. And I agree with supporting those initiatives. But what should I do now? HSUS tells me exactly what to do in a bulleted list:
- Contact my Senators and House Representatives. Ask them to support the bill. The email dynamically populated the contact information of my congressmen so I don't even have to look it up.
- Send a follow-up email after my calls. The message included a link to a pre-made email form on the HSUS website.
- Tell family and friends (or ExactTarget blog readers!) about the bill by forwarding the email. A clear link allows me to quickly forward the message to spread awareness.
Though the email contains multiple calls-to-action, each is clear, concise, and immediate. HSUS informed me about the bill, told me exactly what to do about it, and provided the tools to make it as easy as possible for me to take action.
Are you doing the same for your subscribers?
Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate
