The Rule of One in email marketing
When you are working on marketing emails, one thing to keep in mind is the Rule of One. This can help to simplify your emails. Keeping things simple can often make them more effective. People have a tendency to overcomplicate the process.
The Rule of One helps you focus. You need to identify the one goal that you have for that marketing email. You then need to identify the one audience toward which that email is targeted.
For instance, perhaps you are trying to sell trail running shoes. Your target audience is people in their 20s and 30s who have an active outdoor lifestyle. The goal of the marketing email is to tell them about a new type of shoe that you are promoting and a sale that you are having while that shoe launches.
By starting with this focus, it helps you write clear marketing copy. Every sentence in your email should work toward informing the reader about the shoe and telling them how they can save money if they purchase it at launch. All of that copy should be written with your specific target audience in mind. It speaks to their needs and solving their problems — increasing race times, addressing foot pain, providing grip on uneven surfaces, etc.
Trying to do too much at once
Conversely, what sometimes happens with marketing emails is that people try to do too much. The hypothetical shoe company wants to talk about all of its various products in the hopes that the reader will connect with one of them. But that just muddles up the copy with too much information. Most readers are not going to wade through it and find the product they would actually be interested in.
Similarly, the copy could be written for too wide of an audience. If the shoe company is trying to write copy that works for parents who are buying shoes for their children, outdoor trail runners, middle-aged office employees and elderly people living in a nursing home, there just is not enough focus.
It may be true that the company makes shoes that will be useful to all of these different demographics. So it is natural to want to put that information in the email. Open rates are relatively low. Once you get someone to open the message in the first place, you want them to find something that gets them to make a purchase.
But the problem is that this creates mixed messaging and complicated emails. You are typically better off running multiple email marketing campaigns. Each one can focus on a different product and a different target audience.
Upgrading your email marketing
The Rule of One is a simple way to remember that your marketing needs to be focused. Exactly how it applies to different industries and different emails will be unique from case to case. But no matter what types of products or services you are selling, it always helps to start by identifying your target audience and the goals you want to accomplish with that copy.
Here at Content Customs, we can help you upgrade your email marketing strategy if it has not been getting the results that you are looking for. Just reach out to us today to learn more.
