May 31, 2008

Managing Your AdWords - Utilizing E-Mails

by Kirt Christensen

Get your customers to stay with you three times as long by using email correctly. Email is the most personal way to contact someone on the internet. Using email you can build trust and create and a whole business based on your personality, and sell to your clients repeatedly.

Discussions about AdWords are not complete without talking about how to make a lasting relationship out of that costly fraction-of-a-second click. When a person clicks on your Google ad, you are charged fifty cents no matter what happens next. If that person stays on your page less than 5 seconds, he is out of there and you most likely won't see him again without another costly click.

Fifty cents for five seconds of someone's attention-dang, that's $600 an hour! Kind of depressing if you look at it that way. On the other hand, if that person gives you her e-mail address, you can communicate with her on a regular basis for little or no cost. If you're trying to sell a $1,000 product, which is easier to get from your prospects: a $1,000 order or their e-mail address?

With a more complicated sales procedure, it is even more important to divide it into smaller steps.

The Effectiveness Of Email Use Relies on Being Personal

Ordinary advertisers have diminished understanding of the intimate qualities of email. They don't grasp that by violating that intimate quality they can drive away prospective clients, ones who might otherwise have been receptive.

When you are composing your emails write as is you are talking to one person, unless you are writing to a group where each member knows the other members. Writing to a crowd when your email is addressed to individuals is that last thing you want to do. Speak to your client, an individual.

1. A "From" Field that Shows You're a Real Person

If a personal approach works for the actual text of your e-mail messages, chances are that same principle will apply to other details in your e-mail. Such as your "from" field, for example. Consider the different impressions these "from" lines create:

Bill Kastl

William Kastl

William D. Kastl

Nakatomi Corporation

William D. Kastl, Nakatomi Corporation

Nakatomi Sales Department

Bill Kastl, Nakatomi Sales

Without the "spam" look you want to be amiable and personal. Spammers aim for this look themselves, the "this is from your long lost friend" look, so the truly personal look can be a difficult thing to achieve. The ticket is to include something in the email that is so connected to their peculiar interest that spammers could never have invented it.

Pick a "from" field that your customers will understand, and stick with it.

2. A Provocative Subject Line

The most important thing about e-mail is that its success or failure is all about context. E-mail subject lines work not because they follow standard copywriting formulas but because they tap into what specific people are interested in at a particular time.

If we showed you generic examples of e-mail subject lines, it would be almost impossible for them to not sound like spam. So let's take examples from a specific context that you understand: Google AdWords

When Google is NOT the Best Way to Get a Customer

Are Google Employees Spying on You?

Google's 'Don't Be Evil' and all that

Five Insidious Lies About Selling On The Web

These headlines do not assault the reader with cheesy-sounding promos, but they do hint very strongly at a story. They provoke curiosity rather than scaring people off.

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