Writing an Irresistible Email Call to Action

September 20th, 2012

Writing an Irresistible Email Call to Action

DJ Waldow Waldow Social

waldowsocial.com/email

DJ Waldow WaldowSocial.com @djwaldow

Before we talk about irresistible calls to action... we first must understand the anatomy of an email

From Name

Subject Line

Preheader

Header (Image and/or Text)

Table of Contents*

Main Call to Action

Secondary & Tertiary Calls to Action

Social Sharing & Connecting

Footer

An typical white guy. A list of typical email parts.

*Table of Contents is only found in certain types of emails.

Source: Flickr - vidrio

Subject Line

From Name & Address

Preheader

Header

Main Call to Action

Secondary & Tertiary Calls to Action

Social Sharing & Connecting

Footer

Anatomy of a Typical Email

Email example provided by King Arthur Flour

We’ll come back to the anatomy in a minute.

What is the goal of each and every email you send?

What action(s) do you want your subscribers to take?

Only 5 Possible Actions

1.  Open

2.  Read

3.  Share

4.  Click-through

5.  Convert

If your goal is to get your email opened/read …

WHO it’s from (from name) and WHAT it’s about determine whether or not a subscriber will open your email.

From Name (WHO it’s from)

Source: NY Post

From: “Don Draper” Date: July 27, 2012 11:43:41 AM EDT Subject: Why I’m Not Attending MarketingProfs B2B Forum

Read more about the MarketingProfs Don Draper email Part I - http://waldowsocial.com/Don-Draper/ Part II - http://waldowsocial.com/Don-Draper-Part-II/ Part III - http://waldowsocial.com/don-draper-part-iii/

Subject Line (WHAT it’s about)

[Read Blog Post]

Wait just a minute. I thought this webinar was about writing irresistible calls to action!

It is. I promise.

A recognizable and/or trusted From Name combined with a clear, direct, compelling, and/or unique Subject Line leads to an open.

a clear, direct, compelling, and/or unique Call to Action leads to a click-through.

Once an email has been opened …

From Name: Groupon Subject Line: Housecleaning - Rated ★★★★

From Name: Groupon Subject Line: Housecleaning - Rated ★★★★

From Name: UrbanOutfitters.com Subject Line: Big. Ass. Summer. Sale.

From Name: UrbanOutfitters.com Subject Line: Big. Ass. Summer. Sale.

From Name: Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers Subject Line: Yellow

Which call to action had the most clicks?

3rd most: 10.7%

26.2% of total clicks

What have we learned?

1.  Start with the From Name & Subject Line

2.  Test mostly text vs. large images vs. a combination of both

3.  Try including an image of a video 4.  Give subscribers many options to click 5.  Be sure the click-through landing page is

consistent with call to action 6.  If it’s unclear what the main call to action

is …

ar.gy/rebelsguide

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DJ Waldow WaldowSocial.com @djwaldow