Email Marketing Critical Questions-Will it Be Read?

Unread emails are the killers of small business email marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, most failures here are not bad autoresponder service, bad copy, or missing calls to action it is simply for a lack of making it relevant to the consumer.

You have a big challenge to overcome a mounting attention deficit to get to point of influence and persuasion over your email recipient.

Here is the problem: As of June 2007, 100 billion spam emails are received by consumers. The Spamhaus Project paints and even bleaker email marketing picture--an estimated 90 percent of email is spam.

We are looking for influence and persuasion here, right? Well, who better to go to for guidance than the man that wrote the book--Dr. Robert Cialdini. He cites several element of influence, and as he terms it the "art of persuasion," but here are a few of the psychological tips that will get your emails read more often:

* Reciprocity: People are thought this from a very early age. Reciprocity goes to our sense of basic fairness. Make sure your email marketing has an element of "returning the favor." This is why I always recommend start any email opt-in campaign with a free gift (i.e., ebook, discount, or other give-away). Now you have a foundation of reciprocity for future email reads, and even sales.

* Commitment: Like reciprocity, with the element of commitment you need to set an anchor point. This can be most anywhere in a autoresponder service campaign, but you need to have it set. Typically, I achieve this by having the customer commit to a goal or objective--the classic "give me 10 days and I will give you..." As non-binding as it might sound it will induce compliance, for our initial purpose that is a read.

* Social Proofing: Groupthink is a well know concept, which can be used to a good or bad effect. On the Internet, in a sea of anonymity, it can be a powerful mover. Presidential candidate Howard Dean used this premise to drive record breaking online fundraising in 2004--millions in a few short days. The Internet is a great way to track and show growing affinity. Mounting subscribers, buyers, or actions gather strength and propel curiosity in your email messages.

* Liking: This is a bit of a funny word, but liking is an extraordinary factor in email conversion. If people like you, the sender, the forwarder or other person associated with the email--it will be opened.

Email marketing is more than an autoresponder service and a direct email marketing campaign plan. It takes planning and core principles. If you want to get more from your small business email marketing strategy ask smart questions and heed these important email marketing tips.