An Email is NOT a Blog

I love a good blog as much as the next person, but if I click on an email and it looks like a chapter from a book, then it belongs on a website and not in an inbox! Unfortunately, that’s something we’ve been seeing a lot of recently. People are busy, and it is easy to overwhelm them when they are looking in their inbox and find a wall of text staring back at them. The last thing you want is for an overwhelmed prospect to hit the dreaded unsubscribe button, and you lose them forever. American workers already receive an average of 126 emails a day. Wow! That is a lot of competition. Don't you want to stand out from the crowd and make your email count?

Let’s talk about a few ways to leverage your vast content and turn potential unsubscribes into leads!

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Translation: If you’re giving away all of your good content in your email, then prospects don’t have a compelling reason to click to your website to read more and ultimately convert into a buyer. You spent a lot of time – and probably money – on your website to bring potential customers there. There are so many different options to place good content on your site such as a blog, case studies, or product pages. An email is simply a marketing tool to hopefully help people land on your site where they can convert into customers.

#1 Condense your email content

You don’t want to include an entire blog post in your email. That’s just too much information, and it can be overwhelming to your readers. When they open or click to a blog, they are preparing to read something long and in-depth. They are mentally prepared to read 400-1,400 words. Meet your customers where they are. Emails are meant to be catchy and to the point. Condensing your email content will be more appealing and eventually drive the client to your website to read the rest of your article or blog. Blogs are successful because they show your credibility about the topic. If you’re talking about what you know and can give good actionable advice, then your prospect will find it helpful and will be more likely to buy from you. Emails serve the purpose of driving traffic to the great blog content.

#2 Capture the lead

Now is the important part. Take your thoughtfully written content and turn it into a few really enticing sentences. These two sentences can be from the beginning of your blog or from another part of the blog that will entice the reader to say, “Oh, I want more!” Once you have those sentences selected, add a “Read More” or “Keep Reading” button and invite them to continue reading on your website. This way you are giving them a taste of the milk, so they might eventually buy the cow or at least visit your farm (aka website). Now they are on your turf, and you have a chance to make them a lead.

Here is an example of a recent BlueByrd email that received over 200 clicks to our website. You’ll see a few sentences about the blog, and then a Read More button.

59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI.

#3 Convert the lead

Sticking with the cow analogy, at this point they have enjoyed the milk and are thinking hard about buying the cow. Sometimes you will just get people who admire your content by reading and bouncing or maybe even sharing it. And other times you have an opportunity to make them a lead. Adding a low-friction form to your blog allows the prospect to reach out to you immediately. Having an optimized website with a clear path to contacting you is key. Make sure you have the customer in mind when creating your website. The worst thing you can do is botch the user journey.