Poor Mario Mendoza. He spent an entire MLB season struggling to hit above a .200 average. His ineptitude at the plate earned him a phrase named in his honor: the Mendoza Line, the point at which a player’s batting average drops below .200 and he can statistically be identified as an embarrassingly poor hitter.
Did you know your emails have a Mendoza Line too? As a rule, swing for email open rates at around 20% and click rates of approximately 3%. Here a few tips to help keep your emails from hitting like Mario Mendoza.
1. Strikeout-Proof Your Subject Line
You only have 50-55 characters to entice someone to open your email – and some mobile devices cut that down to as low as 12 characters. The coolest email in the world won’t get opened if the subject line is poor. How do you strikeout-proof your subject lines? Keep them focused, concise and professional.
Things that will make your subject lines swing and miss:
- Misspellings
- Poor grammar
- Typos
- Spammy text pitching offers and giant sales
Good Subject Line: Top Business Class Internet in Denver – Now 50% Off
Bad Subject Line: GIGANTIC SALE! The best internet for your business available now!
2. Use Eye-Pleasing Designs
Most readers spend less than 15 seconds actually reading the message. What should this tell you? Make your emails as skim-friendly as possible. Craft your emails using:
- Big headers
- View pane summaries
- Linked Calls to Action
3. Don’t Write Like a Used Car Salesman
Like people shopping for a car, readers can weed out obnoxious, cheesy sales messages in no time. As a rule, avoid the following when writing email content:
- Using all caps
- Lots of exclamation points
- Colored text
- Salesy phrasing like “Today Only!” and “FREE!”
4. Always Include a Call to Action
You know what moves your email prospects further down your sales funnel? Getting them to do something after they’ve opened your message. An eye-catching CTA makes it quick, easy and compelling for a reader to further engage with your business. But be careful – the wrong CTA to the wrong prospect will send your email straight to the trash bin. “Buy Now” links sent to top-of-the-funnel leads come across as “trying too hard”. Use your CTAs to engage leads and provide them value without seeming desperate.
