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Love thy email recipient!
Usually, we use this email to tell you about industry news, tips and how-to’s. Today, prepare for a sermon! There is a passage read at almost every Christian wedding that begins, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” You can write the most well-scripted email, ensuring that all the legalese is in place and that every executive, board member and division head has signed off on it, but if you don’t take just a minute to consider the recipient it can fall F.L.A.T. Let me illustrate. Recently, I received an email from a nonprofit that deals with healthy living issues. There were some great things about the mechanics of this email. The subject line used active voice to ask me to join. An explanatory paragraph was positioned above the header art. It told me that I was receiving this email because I had previously contributed; I needed to add their address to my whitelist, and I could unsubscribe. The body of the email was a letter from the executive director, telling me that as a contributor I must be concerned about healthy living. Therefore, I would certainly be interested in signing up for their “tips” email. It was written well. All in all, not a bad email… except for two minor problems: As a ordinary subscriber, I was confused. As an industry insider, I was furious. I happen to know this group has the technical capacity to code their database and segment the email list. I also guess they are so hamstrung by internal politics and approval processes, that the task of getting approval for two different emails (one asking contributors to join and another asking subscribers to give) would be a Hurculean effort. Instead, everyone on the list got the same message. As a subscriber, I got the message loud and clear - this group has no idea who I am. Seriously, folks! PEOPLE receive your email messages – not servers or computers. PEOPLE - who have an opinion and will make interpretations about how you feel about them. If the only questions you ever ask are about you, your mission, your policies and your reputation, that will become evident to your readers. They will feel unloved, and your organization may resound like a gong. July 2007 | ||
