{"id":9599,"date":"2017-11-20T14:08:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T22:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.benchmarkemail.wpengine.com\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2020-06-05T18:38:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T18:38:24","slug":"nobody-reads-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/nobody-reads-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Nobody Reads Your Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

To succeed, email marketers must overcome three hurdles.<\/p>\n

First, they have to get people to open the email. Second, they have to get people to read it. Third, they have to get people to act on it.<\/p>\n

Regarding email marketing strategy and metrics, a lot of attention goes to open rates and conversion rates \u2014 the first and third challenges. In between, there is the rather important step of getting people to read the email. Using proper email list management<\/a> techniques and testing methodology for subject lines will boost open rates to be sure, but without getting those additional email openers to read the content, there is no conversion, and as a result, ROI goes nowhere.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

A Different Approach to Email Marketing Strategy for Content<\/b><\/h2>\n

Tips for getting people to read your emails are everywhere on the Internet. But these tips \u2014 for instance, writing about benefits, creating attention-grabbing headlines, having strong calls to action \u2014 are all good. However, without the right email marketing strategy for content, deploying these techniques is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.<\/p>\n

The analysis and suggestions that follow may be a bit different from what you have read in the past, but a new way of thinking about your email content strategy may be just the thing to transform your email ROI from flat to flat-out fantastic.<\/p>\n

What Happens to Your Email in the Real World<\/b><\/h2>\n

People are deluged with email 24\/7. They are not likely to consume content for the purpose of saving it for future reference. Unless an email subscriber needs to act on the content now, it will be forgotten.<\/p>\n

So, when companies send emails with information about new products, industry insights, helpful industry data and the like, the subscriber\u2019s reaction will be, at best, \u201cThat\u2019s nice.\u201d In the back of the subscriber\u2019s mind, there may be the thought, \u201cThis company is smart, they\u2019d be good to work with\u201d \u2014 but that\u2019s a pretty fragile conversion hook on which to hang your hat.<\/p>\n

As long as I\u2019ve been in sales and marketing, there has always been a strong element of \u201cout of sight, out of mind\u201d on the part of customers and prospects. Now, any possibility of prospects hanging on to emails for future reference has dwindled to near nothingness \u00a0\u2014 because of search engines.<\/p>\n

Information is immediately accessible to your email subscribers. If they have an immediate need to know about new products, industry insights and helpful industry data, they just Google it, then and there, when they need it. Nobody is going to sift through an email folder of old emails to find it.<\/p>\n

Google processes more than 40,000 search queries per second<\/a>. An interesting consumer study from 2016<\/a> shows that when consumers are searching for products, about 75 percent start on Amazon or Google, with, hmm \u2026 zero starting with their saved emails. On the B2B side, about 70 percent of product searches start with search queries<\/a> and is trending upward. With mobile search and voice search set to explode, the ability to obtain instant information will only spike further.<\/p>\n

The point is, email subscribers are well aware of their ability to get information instantly and on demand. Thus, if they have no immediate need for your email, they are not likely to read it.<\/b><\/p>\n

Emails Must Be Immediately Necessary<\/b><\/h2>\n

To continue on this line of thinking, if your email needs to address an immediate need, what sorts of things are customers and prospects always interested in? Here are some pretty safe bets:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Saving money (profit)<\/li>\n
  2. Selling something (profit)<\/li>\n
  3. Getting an edge over competitors (profit)<\/li>\n
  4. Preventing a problem (security)<\/li>\n
  5. Solving a problem (security)<\/li>\n
  6. Not losing ground to competitors (fear)<\/li>\n
  7. Getting promoted or being a hero (ego)<\/li>\n
  8. Contributing to a good cause (ego)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There certainly are more items that could go on this list \u2014 please share your ideas in comments \u2014 but consider: If your emails cycled through these eight content themes, can you imagine the impact on conversions?<\/p>\n

    Boiling it down into a few practical examples:<\/p>\n