First of all, I don’t do any e-mail marketing, but this is just something I thought of while checking my e-mail.

Some time ago I somehow got on publisher clearing house’s e-mail list and haven’t taken myself off for one reason. No, I am not hopeful of becoming a millionaire through the e-mails, but I like to see what tactics they use to get leads for their affiliate programs.

What you can Learn…

The Subject Line

This is logically the most important part of this e-mail marketing thing. If you can’t get the user to open the e-mail, then you have wasted your time writing the e-mail in the first place. Every time I see a PCH’s subject line, I must admit that I get a little excited. And that is an important part of any marketing- invoke emotion. For example, here is the subject line from the most recent e-mail:

You could be announced a multi-millionaire!

Not, “you could be a millionaire,” or “win a million dollars.” The subject line is indeed interesting and unique when compared to what I would usually see from the net’s incentivizable offers. The subject line doesn’t promise anything, but sort of lies between a statement of chance and one where you have already won something. With this subject line, I will read it, sometimes open the e-mail and then do a double take to read it again.

E-mail Content

This is also a very important part of the strategy that PCH uses. Right away after reading the first few lines of the e-mail is that they use a sensory word right away to get your attention, “You may have seen…”

The next thing I always see in their e-mails is a statement that makes you visualize something:

The PCH Prize Patrol will climb into their van and head out to deliver a millionaire-making SuperPrize®.

Again, this is just like the emotional words they use, it does basically the same thing by making you feel something.
The rest of the e-mail is pretty much just a statement of urgency and a call-to-action.
Conclusion

You can learn a lot just from doing something simple like subscribing to a company’s e-mail list. Become a customer. Not for the sake of being a customer, but instead acting as an observer. After all, it’s FREE!

Tagged as: Advertising, e-mail advertising, e-mail lists, Learning from other advertisers