Do you use email for prospecting? Do you use it for keeping in touch with past clients and your sphere of influence?
If so, then you need to consider four things:
- More and more people are reading their email on their smart phones, so therefore…
- It needs to be easy to read on a small screen.
- Your subject line must grab readers with the first 25 or 30 characters.
- You have a second chance to entice them if your first paragraph is written correctly.
First – the format.
I discovered this week that my 2-column newsletter format did NOT work on a smart phone. Sure, the reader could enlarge the print and scroll back and forth – but who wants to do that? Not me, so I wouldn’t expect anyone else to do it either.
After much experimentation I THINK switching to one column will do the trick. I don’t like it – but don’t see any option other than switching to a mail service provider who is set up to be mobile friendly. If you’ve ever switched providers, you know that’s something to do as a last resort.
Then – the subject line
When your prospects/clients/friends open their mail on a smart phone, they’ll see only about the first 25-30 characters of your subject line. That means you can’t afford to use any “lead-in” type words at the beginning, but must go straight to something that will grab their attention.
The preview gives you a second chance.
Most email clients will also deliver a small preview of the first 75-100 characters in your message. So again – you need to dive right in with something that will grab attention.
Subject lines and introductory paragraphs are what cause people to read or reject your message within the first few seconds.
That’s always been true, so you have probably always paid attention to them. Now you need to pay even more attention – making sure they’re structured with the most “grabbing” words leading the way.
