I don’t think it’s right to just talk about success stories in a blog. I think there’s just as much, if not more, to be learned with our failures.
Top of Mind Networks’ Surefire System features a component we call our “One to One” email solution. This solution features three email “Themes”, each with quarterly frequency:
Theme #1: Quarterly Mortgage Checkup (gives the borrower a snapshot of how their current loan compares with current rates/programs.
Theme #2: Neighborhood Home Sales Report (gives the borrower a report of which homes sold within a predefined radius within the past 90 days)
Theme #3: Identity Theft Protection Alert(s) (educates the borrower on the benefits of placing a “Temporary Fraud Alert” with the credit repositories as a way of preventing identity theft.
We executed on Theme #3 last week and found the following:
1) The subject matter was too long and complex for the reader to digest – The ID Protection theme needed to be explained in detail for the reader’s benefit. The bad news is that long copy is intimidating for the reader – never a good thing.
2) For some reason, we saw a much higher unsubscribe rate on the ID Protection theme than anything we’ve ever done. I think this happened because of #1 above. If your copy is too long, people are just going to delete or unsubscribe.
3) Maybe a saving grace here is that we received quite a bit of positive feedback from those who took the time to digest the content and take action. But I’m never happy when #1 and #2 happpen above.
So it’s back to the drawing board to replace the ID Protection Theme in our campaigns. Here’s what I’ve re-learned though.
1) Keep the creative short and simple – preferably the entire content of the email should appear above the fold.
2) Stay away from highly sensitive topics if possible - ID Theft is an important topic but with all the “phishing” going on out there, you’re better off keeping any messaging on this subject extremely generic.
3) Trust your instincts - If you read an email you’ve written and it takes more than 10 seconds to get the main idea, rewrite it and scale it back.
If you’d like to see a sample of the actual creative I’m discussing above, please visit our website and contact me through our web form or give our main office a call at (866) TOP-MIND.
Mark Green, Top of Mind Networks
