Do Business Well

Finally, this is a checklist of what to avoid in the subject line:

• Make sure the subject line is not too long. If you leave the best to last, the offer may be truncated.
• SHOUTING!!! Shouting is using capitals. It looks unprofessional. Worse still, it is often associated with spam — and spam filters stop e-mails with too many capitals in the subject line. Exclamation marks are not a good idea for similar reasons!!! Some capitalization can work — for example, just on the first word or on the first letter of each word.
• All spam characteristics. These are many and various, but some are deeply worrying; some spam filters remove any message with ‘FREE’ in the subject line. Messages starting with ‘RE:’, suggesting a response to the e-mail, are used by spammers, but are not likely to be filtered since they could be valid e-mails. Other filters (described in more detail in Chapter are perhaps less obvious. One bank that was offering preferential discounts to under-18s was filtered by spam filters looking for X-rated content.

BANNER AND HEADLINE

The start of the creative or e-mail body content is very important, particularly with the widespread use of preview panes. An Email Labs (2005) survey indicated that 49 per cent of e-mail readers only look at the first few lines in the preview pane to decide whether they want to continue reading the message.

The banner and headline can be combined, but are often best separated. The banner should not look too much like a banner, since when we are online we suffer from ‘banner blindness’. Instead, it should be a bit like the masthead on a newspaper. I think this is a useful analogy, since the mastheads of newspapers have evolved from simply being a name and price to also featuring the top content — effective use is made of this area, and the same is required in an e-mail.

The masthead area should reinforce who the message is from, so include your brand ident prominently to help generate trust. The banner area for an e-newsletter can also incorporate site menu options, such as product categories or a search box, and an injunction to shop now, to capture those impulsive clicks.

At the same time, many e-mail marketers make the masthead area too wide and push down the initial call-to-action into the body of the e-mail.

Avoiding technology problems

The top of the e-mail message is also often used, particularly by consumer brands, to counter problems with the technology. A short message in small-font text is placed above the banner (not part of the main creative), and this directs those who want it to a browser version of the e-mail personalized to the individual. Some prefer this, or they may be unable to see the original message.

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