

Send Better Automated Emails - duck
http://b.lesseverything.com/2011/1/3/send-better-automated-emails

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CodeMage
Honestly, when I read both versions of the e-mail, I liked the original
better. It's not that I disagree with the author's recommendations, it's just
that I think his execution didn't work too well with this particular example.

I'm not 100% sure what made me come away with that impression. I think he
overdid the "make every character matter" part. For example, I intensely
disliked the "and because we love you!" bit. Also, "Hi there" seems to me less
fake than "Hello Friend". To top it off, the fourth step -- "Start to see the
power of word to mouth marketing! " -- is yet another irritating, thinly
veiled attempt to persuade me to "buy"; after all, either I truly participated
in the beta and therefore I know what the site is about, or I didn't because I
found out I didn't care.

All in all, I like the advice, but the example ended up being a counter-
example.

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charlemagne
Calls to action in emails is not much different than calls to action for
landing pages: Give people just enough information to take the action you want
them to, and little else. Political campaigns and non-profits (at least from
successful organizations) are pros at this. Most of the time it is a short
teaser and a prominent call to action button. Back to the similarities,
paragraphs with off direction sentences are not seen in landing pages, the
trendy style is short content blocks of icons and a sentence, for an email the
equivalent are bullet points/numbered steps.

Each email should have a well defined, ideally singular purpose, unless it is
something like a newsletter, where the reader is more accepting of less
relevant content before reaching the more valued information (and even that is
not guaranteed.)

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jasonmccay
Really enjoyed the ideas of breaking instructions into steps and offering
subtle separators to prevent users from being overwhelmed.

...and just like his email suggestions, Allan's email was succinct and
helpful.

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EGreg
yeah besides the "and because we love you!," I liked the visual clarity of the
second email.

Let's face it. We scan emails visually for clues as to what to read next. The
step 1, etc. was much easier to comprehend, and the intro was two lines.
That's what made the email great.

