Last week a news story was circulating around Twitter about a high school wrestler who contracted herpes during a wrestling match.
Back when I was in wrestling all you’d catch is cauliflower ear.
Or, maybe get a staph infection.
But kids these days?
Sheesh.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about something. We got a bit of this sort of thing in the email copywriting world, too. In fact, just as wrestlers contract diseases from wrestling indiscriminate men without realizing it… I’ve noticed a ho’ bunch of email copywriters have been contracting bad (sales and even brand-killing) habits from competing online with indiscriminate and unsavory marketers.
Here are a few examples of what I’m yapping about:
- Putting “sent from iPhone” at the bottom of a broadcast/auto-respondered email
- Putting “re:” in the subject line in a broadcast/auto-respondered email (I’m not lawyer, nor do I play one on line, but I believe that violates the Can Spam Act)
- Putting “Fwd:” in the subject line of a broadcast/auto-respondered email (ditto above)
- Apologizing for sending people emails (i.e. “Sorry to bother you…”, why are you sorry for helping people?)
- Swiping from competitors and sending those emails to the same “gene pool” of leads
- And the list goes on
All of the above is amateur at best.
And, illegal at worst.
(From what I understand about putting “re” and “fwd” in the subject line, at least.)
Screw the tips and tricks.
Simply learn how to sell and all the above is unnecessary. I can show you, in about about an hour’s time, how to write emails people look forward to reading and, yes, even buying from, practically every time you push that send button.
Details here:
Ben Settle
