As a true nerd for email marketing, when I come across something that makes me act, I usually pause to think “Hmm, how’d they do that?”
I got this email from event marketing company, Cvent and didn’t even realize it wasn’t a personal request until after I opened it. “Will you send us a picture of emfluence’s last event?” As the marketing manager, I’m thinking “Of course! Who wants to feature our photos?!”
Talk about knowing your audience! Cvent got me. And it was with simple personalization! Insert the company name into a great subject line and voila: I opened the email.
Then I open it up and Cvent really does invite me to submit photos of my event. Admittedly, I didn’t. I was less excited about submitting for a contest than I was for an Association’s Facebook Page or a partner company’s website. But the offer is pretty compelling: $10,000 if my pic is voted the greatest.
What do you think of this type of personalization? It’s not misleading – the subject line asks for exactly what the contest was about.
But I mis-read it anyway and it lead to an open, an impression.
Me? I loved this use of personalization. It caught my attention, surprised me and then the content inside intrigued me enough to be read.
The only bummer was that it didn’t incite me to actually submit a photo. In fairness, I don’t think would have made me submit the photo for this use, so perhaps that isn’t a detriment after all. At least they got my attention.
How can you use personalization to grab attention like this in your emails?
- How can you surprise the reader? (NOT mislead, just surprise.)
- What payoff can you then offer in the email that will incite your desired action, i.e. registration, photo submission, etc.?
