Email Marketing - 500 words?? more or less?

[BJ Min]

hi guys,

for all this time, i have been writing 500+ word
emails with 70% content & 30% promotion in my email marketing...

but lately, i want to know if this is best way...

1) do you prefer to write content in your emails

OR

2) do you prefer to write short emails with LINK to content (in your blog)???

what's a better strategy these days?

BJ

[SISMediaGroup]

Well this sort of depends on who you are marketing too? Are these people who have bought from you in the past? New prospects or what?

This really determines what type of marketing you use.

[BJ Min]

im doing this for all my websites...including prospects & customers

[pbrbart]

I prefer to put the content in the email. The purpose of your mailing isn't to get the reader to click through, it's to provide them with value. The best way to do that is to give them value right there. If you make them click, they'll just get frustrated with you.

Give them the information, and an easy way to get more.

[Robert Matthew]

I usually do about 95% content in 90% of my emails...generally for offers, I just give a blurb or a short presell and then a link to the full presell or offer page.

In the other 10% of my emails, I pretty much do advertorials.

[itsliz]

When sending anything (content or promotional) I typically send a very short teaser with a link.

The reason I do this with content, is to constantly "train them" to click on links. That way, when I do send something promotional, they're more likely to click.

It's what they're used to and "trained" to do. (I hate using that "trained" lingo, makes it sound like they're dogs or something! But that's essentially what you're doing.)

I've noticed the shorter the email, the more likely it is they'll click. The key is to make sure you get them curious in the teaser copy though.

I'm certain some skeptics won't believe this, but not too long ago I had an 87% click rate on an email that went out. Not open rate, *click* rate. The downside is this was for a niche that's not very profitable compared to others (didn't make much even from that 87%). And I don't usually get results that high. 30-35% click through is my average.

Hope this helps.

[itsliz]

One more thing. I actually used to do a combo. I would have a short teaser at the top with a link to the content, and then would also say "or, if you prefer, you can read the article below instead"

I still had a lot of people clicking over to read the content on the actual site itself. I'm guessing it's because it's easier to read on a web page, because the web page is larger, contains formatting, etc. while the email is short (52 characters wide) and text-only with no formatting.

[Colin Evans]

Originally Posted by pbrbart

I prefer to put the content in the email. The purpose of your mailing isn't to get the reader to click through, it's to provide them with value. The best way to do that is to give them value right there. If you make them click, they'll just get frustrated with you.

Give them the information, and an easy way to get more.

Why bother spending time and money on email marketing?

The whole point of email marketing is to get your readers to click on links so you make money.

BTW - I get my highest number of spam complaints when I send useful information and freebies - when I send promos the spam complaints drops. Go figure.

[Jay White]

This might help

YouTube - Email Copy Made Easy: How Long Should...