“There is no such thing as an attention span. There is only the quality of what you are viewing. This whole idea of an attention span is, I think, a misnomer. People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them.” – Jerry Seinfeld
I think Jerry’s spot on.
I also think the same can be said for email marketing.
If your content is boring or the way you present is dull, there’s isn’t some magical attention span trick that’s going to help you.
Now, I don’t want to get all marketing on you but, the fact is, people are generally capable of a longer attention span when they are doing something that they find enjoyable or motivating.
That means being relevant. And entertaining – wherever and whenever you send out your marketing message.
If your marketing message can’t get penetrate your prospect’s Happy Bubble – the place where he/she likes to live – you’re nowhere.
Your offering and content must match the needs of your prospect.
Yeah, yeah, I know you might be thinking, same as it’s always been.
Well, THAT part’s true. People simply don’t pay attention to boring stuff.
But here’s some insight that should make you rethink ALL your marketing messages – not just emails:
The average adult’s attention span is down to just 8 seconds which is one second less than that of a goldfish. (Microsoft did the human study. Still waiting to hear back from my Aquatics Division for verification on who has time to study goldfish.)
What happens after 8 seconds?
We’re multi-tasking. Psychology Today reports that only two percent of people are actually good at multi-tasking. The rest of us do it anyway – even though it has been proven to be less productive than pushing water uphill with your nose.
We’re on the move. The goods news? We’re checkers. Today, we open over half of our emails on mobile devices.
And we are masters at squeezing our inbox checking in between meetings, phone calls and commercials.
In short, we’ve become a world of scanners. #thankssocialmedia
But, as a marketer, make no mistake…email marketing continues to be THE opportunity to reach your prospect.
Why? We’re still addicted to our inboxes, spending 2.6 hours reading and sending emails every day.
Fifty-eight percent of people confess checking email is the first thing they do in the morning.
And email is actually how most people prefer to hear from brands they love – and us:).
This makes email marketing a unique opportunity.
The first step is actually getting invited to hang in your prospect’s inbox.
Scary thought. But these days, that’s become the EASY part. ***Gulp***
Staying there is where the roll up your sleeves work is required.
Here are a few tips for making yourself a welcome guest:
Come in hot. Don’t start by talking about you and your stuff. Your reader doesn’t care about you at this point. Grab your readers by the eyeballs immediately by focusing on what they want.
Tell a compelling story. People sign up for emails because they think they’re going to “get” something. eg. Free report, a coupon, a discount. Make sure you give it to them.
Make your emails scannable. Images count – powerful images that convey an idea.
Be laser-focused. Have just one goal. Don’t try to kill three birds with one stone. Your reader is lazy and will not work to figure out your message.
Have a clear CTA. Many marketers send out emails with no call-to-action. What is your most wanted response (MWR) ? Do you want your prospect to buy? Click? “Like”?
Put your mobile friendly face forward. According to studies done on viewer behaviour, 80 percent of people say they simply delete an email if it doesn’t present nicely in their mobile inbox. And one-third of people say they’ll unsubscribe altogether. Yikes.
And, learn how to become an expert at bolding and formatting key parts of your email messages so they stand out.
Follow the guidelines above and see if your email marketing efforts become more effective. They should.
