Top 3 Biggest Email Copy Mistakes, Part 1

Today’s question is from Peter H., who asks, “I’m working on some emails for a new client and want to make sure I do my best. Do you have any tips you can offer?” Do we have tips? Oh, do we ever!

Email is a fast and inexpensive medium, and that helps to make it incredibly popular. And, done right, it has potential to be phenomenally successful. At the same time, though, a lot of writers and a lot of companies are making major mistakes that lead to low open rates, low click-through rates and low success rates. Since this topic is such a meaty one, I’m going to make the executive decision to launch another…wait for it…Three Part Series!

So, without further ado, Number 3 in the Top 3 Biggest Email Copy Mistakes:

The dreaded “From” line fail.

The “From” line is the section of the email that shows up in the “From” column of email inboxes and tells people who sent that email. It sounds so simple, and yet, a lot of people are making mistakes that get their emails almost instantly deleted.

Here’s the rule: The From line must quickly and concisely tell the recipient who the email is from without their having to think about it.

A recent trend in email is for companies to send out emails from personal accounts and the From line shows up as just that person’s name. Well, guess what? If the recipient doesn’t know who that person is, or has to spend more than 2 seconds trying to remember, they will delete it because they assume it’s spam!

They’ll never even read your message because they think you’re sending them a virus or a link to naked people or prescription meds. Or all three.

The solution? Simple. Put the company’s name in the From line. If you or your client really insist on it coming from a single person, that’s fine: Just put both the name and the company name in. For example, you could structure the From line as:

Jane Smith, Acme Paper

Jane Smith – Acme Paper

Jane Smith for Acme Paper

Or, if the person’s name is very long and, therefore, runs the risk of pushing “Acme Paper” out of the field, you could write it as:

Acme Paper’s Annette Pappadoppulous

Get your From line right and it will immediately help to increase an email’s open rate!

Ready to move on? Check out Part Two in the series.

Ready to talk back? :et us know how you’ve fixed a From line in the comments below! Or, if you’ve seen a particularly bad From line come from a non-spam company, share it here. (Just be nice! We all make mistakes.)