| {->-> Do YOU have it backwards? “On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. It follows that if you don’t sell the product in your headline, you have wasted 80% of your money.” – David Ogilvy Most email marketers have it backwards. They spend inordinate time writing an email, but come up with the subject line only as an afterthought. Ogilvy highlighted this as a fool’s errand, decades before email marketing came on the scene. What the headline is to print, the subject line is to email. The subject line’s only job is to sell your recipient on opening your email. If you fail at that, you’ve frittered away time and energy with nothing to show for it. Because cracking copy that doesn’t get read can’t sell a thing. Yet even the best subject lines often have too many hurdles to jump in a prospect’s overflowing inbox and sea of digital distractions. According to statistics, 78% of emails never even get opened — a whopping 55 trillion emails each year never see the light of day. They inhabit a virtual junkyard… doomed to remain for an eternity. Is there no hope? There’s plenty – if you’re willing to pay to play. In a world of scarce attention, one direct mail letter to a targeted prospect can do the work of an entire email campaign. But many email marketers are afraid of getting started in direct mail. They needn’t be. The slightly crazy advertising archivist Lawrence Bernstein is obsessed with an “outdated” solution that could transform your results overnight. It’s the airmail envelope. Yes, the envelope with the trademark red, white and blue border and classic airmail mark sporting the multi-lingual: “Via Air Mail, Correo Aereo, Par Avion” grabs attention with a healthy dose of intrigue to boot. What may surprise you about this almost forgotten carrier is that you can mail it as reliably to a distant part of the globe as across town. And because it’s formatted to look like personal mail, it has the uncanny ability to make it to the top of the “A-pile” and get itself opened. If you’d like the full scoop on how to turn this nostalgic envelope into readership… and red HOT response… have a look here. (You can ignore the first 26 lines as they’re about me. What he reveals will profit you far more.) Best, Drayton |
55 trillion emails never opened…
About the Author
In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.
He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.
Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.
He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.
Hello Drayton,
What’s the best book on Direct Mail (for beginners based in the UK)?
Thank you,
– Huw