Morning, Inbox Hackers. If you failed to make it to work today, you’re smarter than the rest of us.
Today we’re tackling brand personality in emails. Do I like using the word ‘brand personality’? Makes me a little queasy but we can’t let that stop us.
Point is this. Brands need a solid personality or they might as well be ACME Widgets. ACME Courses. ACME Agency. Same, same, same as all the others. Follow me as we distinguish your emails from the riff-raff.
Audience Perception
This article got me on our topic.
“In a nutshell, the warmer your perception of a brand, the better your engagement with them. Now, this perception isn’t an accidental thing.”
Since we know email marketing is ultra-personal, our email designs and tone should make a statement. Broad statement? No, because any brand can make those same statements. 💡ACME.
A focused intentional statement is what you’re looking for. So readers connect with you. Not sometimes. Every time they grace your email with their presence (by opening it 📩).
Now, let’s look at two examples, regulars in my inbox…
The Hustle & The Marginalian
Before I open the Hustle, I think 3 things:
- Story upcoming I won’t see elsewhere
- A GIF header or wacky graphic
- Why haven’t they offered me a phat contract yet?
With The Marginalian:
- I expect a yellow & black header
- Brilliant breakdowns of books from a legendary book lover
- A donation request (which I should get to)
No surprises. Specific vibe + content well worth my time.
*If you read Morning Brew, you expect swag teases at the end.
Hone In and Tweak
With new brands, their personality won’t be set in stone at first. Some tweaks will come as they hone in on their people and find precise messaging for said people.
Brands that have been around the block can fine-tune their personality too though.
“More often than not, brands tend to think in broad strokes while conceptualizing their tone. “Let’s aim for funny,” “We need to be a serious brand,” “Our target is to appeal to teenagers” are examples of the kind of briefs that get floated around during brand tone brainstorming sessions. I’m not saying these briefs are bad, but they’re incredibly vague.”
Solid consistent tone can be tough when:
- Writers come and go
- Content has to be churned out daily
- Different writers / designers on varying marketing channels
3 resources to help brands stay consistent:
→Brand personality examples (Swoosh-n-such)
Or skip those. Instead, scan 2 of your favorite brands’ emails. Look at 5 emails each, note how they do it. Are they doing it?
There’s more.
Where Emails Lead and the Look
“If the landing pages the emails direct to seem incongruous with them, all your attempts at carving a formidable brand personality will be in vain. Remember, this is the age of omnichannel marketing, which essentially means that your brand personality is going to be a culmination of your efforts across every channel you’re active on.
If your emails and landing pages look like opposites that don’t attract, then…
Try creating landing pages with your ESP. All the graphics and history in one location. Naturally consistent and could also save you time.
These 37 landing page examples can give you inspo and direction. Calm’s logo is unmistakable to me and I don’t even use the app. (Blessed with intravenous ice water.)
*Post on landing pages working with vs. against emails
Design Issues
If your font looks freaky or graphics don’t appear aligned once they hit the inbox, that’s a problem.
So, be on the lookout during test sends for anything that takes away from your brand’s look, feel, and consistency.
Consistent CTAs?
Ahh – the CTA. No pressure here.
Ok, lots of pressure. You don’t wanna drop the ball after designing a perfect email on target with the personality you want.
Make your calls-to-action fit the email’s theme and flow.
If an email is a laid-back edition of a newsletter, don’t whack subs over the head with a raging CTA.
Same thing with a bold email, don’t whisper the CTA.
Brand Personality Wrap Up
This brand personality stuff would be easy if you only created one email per month, huh?
Harder with two or three per week.
Smooth out the process by reviewing your past emails.
Review them biweekly. I don’t mind reviewing emails I wrote. It helps a bunch.
Just remember, with brand tone, voice, and personality… don’t expect overnight perfection.
Knowledge Base
Knowledge is power, but first motivation via 64-yr-old dunk.
Email Throttling and how you’re gonna avoid it.
Video: 7 Zapier alternatives to automate tedious tasks.
Valentine’s Day, 💘 tying your offers in.
How to write reengagement emails (or watch your list crumble).
50% – 70% Open Rates. Consistently. Find out how Inbox Mailers can do it for you too. Schedule your FREE Demo.
Self Help
Do-gooder + marketing hybrid?
Definitely a good thing IMHO.
Amazon Smile was such a hybrid.
Regardless of any profit benefit for the company.
It did good.
What do you think?
*Shout-out to Inbox Hacking Subscribers →
🚢Michelle at Travel & Leisure (life!)
📝Adam at Golden Egg Insurance (peace-o-mind)
Facts and Stats
- On mobile, email conversion rates outperformed other channels for Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shopify sales
- Not having time to read an email is 1 of the top 2 reasons subscribers don’t open an email
- 3 abandoned cart emails generate 69% more orders than just 1 email
*Pre Inbox Mailers Quote Circa 1801 … “Timing’s everything in snowball fights. Wait for winter is all I can tell ya.”
~ Lola ‘Obvious” Lee
Marketing Musings
Millions of people would love to read every email you send. Ok, half your emails.
But they’re flat broke.
Time-poor like you wouldn’t believe. Actually, you know the feeling.
“I think the word (attention) economy is really important because you only have so much time you can spend in a given day. You have to choose what’s worth my time, what is going to deliver value to me. As a consumer, I have a lot more say in where I’m going to spend my attention, so marketers have to get clever and serious about how they’re going to get attention and hold attention.” Full article
In the email marketing world, sending discounts to subscribers is smart.
Saving people money gets attention. Clicks too.
Maybe email campaigns should lean more into saving subscribers time too?
Help those without two minutes to rub together.
See if saving readers time produces more opens, clicks, and loyalty.
Get Hacking
Test time. Not for you. For your subscribers.
A/B test 2 different reengagement emails from these 3 options:
- Ask for feedback
- Update them on what they missed since their last open
- Wildly generous discount code
The alternative? Don’t test and let your deliverability slide due to unengaged subs. Or start deleting contacts left and right. Crazy talk! Let’s test first.
(((Reengage faster when your emails land in the “wanted email stack” via Inbox Mailers. Demo to learn more)))
3 quotes from email marketing newsletters ‘awesomer’ than Inbox Hacking:
Wow!
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