Netiquette Core Principles - Retention of Recipient Interest - Via Netiquette IQ

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Many of us, try as we might, can make mistakes with our email which will cause recipients to avoid future contact. The article below specifies a half dozen of these.
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From Millennial Branding

November 21, 2013 by Maria Elena Duron

 

Building up a sizable email list takes a lot of work, and late nights. For all your trouble, you want to continually grow your list, or at the very least, keep good numbers. However, if you take a closer look, you’ll always notice a few drops now and then.

On the flip side, your direct actions may be causing the drop in email numbers. As a wise business person, you want to avoid this at all costs. The following are some of the things you should do to avoid driving away email subscribers. Consider them keenly, and apply changes accordingly.

1. Provide relevant content

Does your email content provide relevant information? Stay away from the self-promotional material. Focus on information that is engaging, helpful, and adds value to the customer experience. That way, a subscriber is more likely to read through and follow-up on the message given.

2. Frequency

After relevance, the frequency of your emails plays a big role in how susceptible you are to opt-outs. There’s isn’t a general rule of thumb when it comes to frequency of sending out emails, but once you start emailing people twice a day, every day of the week, you are asking for trouble. Many times, your frequency will depend on the type and quality of information you are sending out. As such, focus on providing great content, even if you email your list once a month.

3. Email “readability”

Your email content has to be information that is easily readable, regardless of the medium used to access it. First, appearances are everything and if your email doesn’t appeal to the eye of the reader, it will be deleted even before they get to see who sent it. This is something to consider as a lot of audiences rely on mobile devices to view emails. Make sure your design team comes up with content that reads as well on a tablet as it would on a desktop. Keep the unnecessary clutter and ads away, and you’re sure to keep that list happy.

4. Lengthy emails

Just as off-putting as a poorly designed email is, a lengthy one is just as quickly discarded. Few people have the time to pore over paragraphs of material in the few minutes they have to scan their inbox.

Keep things short and concise. Clearly state the purpose of the email, elaborate on how the offer/product/service helps them, then give them a reason to act on the message. Quick and simple, it shouldn’t take more than half a page to communicate your message and sign off.

5. Clear communication

Your subject line has to connect to what the rest of the email conveys. If the subject line says “Best tips to writing resumes,” but the email offers tips on how to prepare for interviews, then there’s clearly a disconnect between what you promised the readers, and what you actually serve up to them.

 6. Feigning familiarity

Feigning familiarity with the old-age personal greeting “Hi Susan” may work well if you know the person personally, but won’t be taken well by a new subscriber who doesn’t know anything about the business. Rather than go for the personal approach, focus on providing relevant content.

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 In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:

 www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki

 If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio  and an online newsletter via paper.li.I have established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and  Yahoo.  I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and I have been contributing to the blogs Everything Email and emailmonday . My work has appeared in numerous publications and I have presented to groups such as The Breakfast Club of NJ Rider University and  PSG of Mercer County New Jersey.
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