Florist Marketing Tip of the Week:
'Save' Could Be the Word Killing Your Open Rates!
By Gina Kellogg
If you've noticed a drop off in the open rate of the e-mail messages you send to customers, it could be your subject lines. A recent study by email service provider Adestra detailed the best and worst words to use in the subject lines of e-marketing messages.
Words examined in their report included: Exclusive, Free, Free delivery, Gift, Latest, New, Offer, Only, Sale, Save, Voucher, Alert, Bulletin, Issue, Learn, News, Newsletter, Report, Today, Video, Webinar, Win, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Download, Get, Register, Subscription, Don't Miss, iPad, Re: and Fw:.
I'll bet you've used more than a couple of those words in some of your e-messages! So which ones were good and which ones were bad?
Among their findings for retail businesses:
"The challenge in this sector is to balance short-term response uplifts (limited offers and the like) with long-term brand value," write the report's authors. "If you do nothing but offer discounts, guess what? You’ll be perceived as a discount brand. Make sure you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what your core brand values are, then make sure your subject lines follow this through."
Read the full report here and see whether the words you've been using have been negatively impacting your e-messages.
What about you? Have you discovered certain words that positively--or negatively--impacted your e-mail marketing campaigns? Share your results here! Help other florists improve their open rates and help the industry grow stronger as a result of your generous advice!
About the author
Gina Kellogg is community/social media manager for FlowerChat. She is also a floral journalist.
'Save' Could Be the Word Killing Your Open Rates!
By Gina Kellogg
If you've noticed a drop off in the open rate of the e-mail messages you send to customers, it could be your subject lines. A recent study by email service provider Adestra detailed the best and worst words to use in the subject lines of e-marketing messages.
Words examined in their report included: Exclusive, Free, Free delivery, Gift, Latest, New, Offer, Only, Sale, Save, Voucher, Alert, Bulletin, Issue, Learn, News, Newsletter, Report, Today, Video, Webinar, Win, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Download, Get, Register, Subscription, Don't Miss, iPad, Re: and Fw:.
I'll bet you've used more than a couple of those words in some of your e-messages! So which ones were good and which ones were bad?
Among their findings for retail businesses:
- Price has an impact. "Research denotes that one of the main reasons for losing a sale online is delivery charges," the report states. That means that simply including the words Free Delivery in your subject line can help you influence a customer's interest. The researchers found that the words Free Delivery positively affected open rates (+35.9 percent) and click rates (+81.3 percent).
- Consumers love a sale. The use of the word Sale impacted open rates by +10.7 percent and click rates by +26 percent.
- Percent-off offers are a plus. Specific offers such as X% off resulted in greater open rates (+6.1 percent) and click rates (+17.7 percent).
- Generic offers are a bust. Words such as Save didn't have the same affect. They negatively impacted opens and clicks (-4.4 percent; -27.4 percent). And pushy calls to action, such as using the word Buy, also had negative effects (-19.3 percent; -59.1 percent).
"The challenge in this sector is to balance short-term response uplifts (limited offers and the like) with long-term brand value," write the report's authors. "If you do nothing but offer discounts, guess what? You’ll be perceived as a discount brand. Make sure you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what your core brand values are, then make sure your subject lines follow this through."
Read the full report here and see whether the words you've been using have been negatively impacting your e-messages.
What about you? Have you discovered certain words that positively--or negatively--impacted your e-mail marketing campaigns? Share your results here! Help other florists improve their open rates and help the industry grow stronger as a result of your generous advice!
About the author
Gina Kellogg is community/social media manager for FlowerChat. She is also a floral journalist.
