The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing

10

Making Introductions: Subject Lines, From Lines, and Frequency

Imagine that you’ve just heard the phone ring, so you pick up the handset, and suddenly someone on the other end of the line screams,

“WE’RE HAVING A BIG SALE!!! WANT TO KNOW MORE?” Then imagine after you say no and hang up the phone that the same person keeps calling every week and shouts the same thing. Wouldn’t that be annoying?

Now imagine the same phone call, but this time the person on the line says, “Hi. It’s me, Eric, the owner of your favorite golf store. We’re having a big sale. Would you like to save 50 percent on a new driver?” Then imagine after you say no that the person asks you if you would like another call when there is another sale.

Whether your emails are more like the unfamiliar and annoying phone call in the first example or the familiar and welcoming phone call in the second example depends on how you write your From line and your Subject line and how often you send certain types of email messages.

This chapter explains how to use your emails to introduce yourself, prompt your audience to open your emails, and determine a sending frequency and length that leaves positive impressions.