Articles by Larry Chase - Internet Publisher, Speaker, Author and Consultant

Larry Chase - Internet Marketing Consulting

About Larry | Consulting | Speaking | Articles | Press | Newsletter | Book Excerpt | Home

'From' Field Branding

The subject header of an email can have the best come-on in the world and mean nothing if the 'From' field is from no one you've ever heard of. This bit of home-spun advice seems obvious to me, yet I frequently get offers from info@Company-I've-Never-Heard-of.com

Generally, I'm not a big booster of brand awareness marketing, since it isn't very accountable in this day and age when we want all monies spent to count for something. But if I don't know the sender of an email, be they individual, company, or publication, I'm just not going to open it. I imagine you're the same way.

In fact, I'll bet the people who send out these emails themselves would never open an email from someone they don't know. Yet I get more and more of these one-to-none marketing attempts. Then they go one step further by putting "Larry" in the header, and maybe they go so far as to use my name in the copy a few times to drive home exactly how personalized this faceless email really is.

Of course the subject header is all important. I will be writing a piece on this shortly, as I've seen over the course of running this publication for six years what is and isn't effective. But before the copy inside, before the subject header, must come the 'Fm' field. Duh. This works even on a personal basis.

For example: When I'm weeding out my In box to see what is really left to deal with, I mentally prioritize the remains of the first cut. There's one guy I know who is always looking for free advice. Let's call this guy Murray. Whenever I see an email from Murray, I typically leave it until the end of the day before even considering it.

On the other hand, when I see a note from Adam Boettiger (who runs the Internet Advertising Discussion List) I typically open that right away because I know he's sending me info that is very useful. I become habituated to open Adam's email right away and to delay on Murray's missives. Maybe one day, Murray will surprise me. Perhaps his subject header will read, "I'm not picking your brains this time."

As email marketing gets more trendy, more people will be throwing gobs of email offers at us that are out of context. As journalists say to each other, "Consider the source." Consciously or unconsciously, savvy consumers say that each and every time they consider in a split second whether or delete email they receive.