Email Advertising - How Ad Tracking Helped Create a Killer Ad

I recently undertook an email advertising promotion, using a number of advertising media. The exercise involved a program of mine called the Magical Marketing system.

As an email advertising Internet marketing exercise, I decided that I wanted to approach the members of some of the affiliate programs that are featured in Magical Marketing, and offer their members the chance to join this system, and reap the benefit of the multiple promotion methods that it employs.

And. as an email advertising marketing exercise, this has worked very well, and whilst an interesting exercise in Joint Venture Marketing in itself, it has produced a result so remarkable in my eyes, that I felt it worthy of a report.

With one particular featured program, I did a multiple ad test, to see what the comparison between three ads. It was the results of this that struck me, and prompted me to put this article together.

The three ads, which were very similar. This is good of course, because it means that any variance in the results can be explained in relatively few ways. So there are two points that need to be made about these ads, which may affect your thinking about how you write your own ads.

1. Use Of Variables in Headlines

I don't know about you, but I am always hearing that using someone's name in an advert can make a significant difference to the effect of that advert. Not all programs have this kind of facility though. It just happens the program that I ran the adverts with does, so I made use of it in the headlines for 2 of the 3 adverts, but not for one of them. I have used the variable in the body of all three ads, so some personalisation took place in all cases.

2. Bulleted Benefits

Again, all the books and articles that I have ever read tell you to spell out the benefits, and a lot of them tell you to bullet them to add emphasis. So, I have done this with all three adverts, but with a difference between ads 1, and 2 and 3. In the first advert, I just made single word references to the benefits, in the other two, I elaborated in order to explain the benefit better.

3. Conclusions

The results are so striking, that they are worthy of comment.

The ads were placed from 12th December 2004 to 18h January 2005. So, the time span is about a month, but, I use the program in question to send other ads out too. About every 3rd day, I will send one of these three ads, in rotation. So, each of the ads would have been sent about every 6 days or so.

Advert 1 pulled in 70 unique hits, with 19 action hits. The latter is where prospects followed through to the sign up page.

Advert 2 pulled 5 unique hits and 1 action hit.

Advert 3 pulled 4 unique hits and no action hits.

Headlines I have always advocated trying to keep headlines short, especially where email adverts are concerned. You only have the width of the email pane to enter your message, so you must tell your story within a few words.

I don't consider any of the Headlines that I have used to be excessively long. However, the first advert is very short, and perhaps that accounts in part for the huge number of additional clicks for the first advert?

In part, I believe that this is true.

However, I am now thinking that perhaps email prospects have become wary of seeing their name in emails from people that they don't really know. Think about how you react when you see such an email?

Do you open it immediately, or do you become suspicious?

Trust your gut feeling.

I have used the personalised approach in the body of the email, and maybe the psychology here is that once someone has opened an email, they have 'let you in' and are more amenable to your being personal.

Headline conclusion
I am more convinced than ever that email headlines should be short - as short as possible. I also recommend that if you personalise the Headline, you stop, and test your ads without it.

Bulleted Benefits
You can see that advert 1 has produced a massive amount of additional click thru's over the other two ads. Bearing in mind that each ad went out, probably every six days, the first two ads are not far removed from the norm with the program that I used. This makes the results achieved by Advert 1 even more staggering.

The change in headline may go some way to explain this, but the huge number of clicks tells me that something much more significant has occurred.

Thankfully, the body of the three ads are very similar in all aspects, except one; the bulleted benefits. In the first ad, I have given one word answers. In the other two, I have elaborated.

Bulleted benefits conclusion
One cannot escape the fact that keeping the benefits so short has had an impact. And not only in click thru's either. If you look at the graphic under 'Actions' column, you will see that I have tracked the prospect through to the signup page. You might expect that the 20% conversion rate be the same, but it isn't, it has increased to around 28%. So the shorter bullet points have also pre-sold more effectively, so the prospects likelihood of signing up has increased as well.

As a final note, please remember that all of this is courtesy of tracking my ads. If you don't do it, then you will struggle to make an impact in the marketing world.

Whether you are new to email advertising or not, you cannot ignore this statistically proven information.

---

4 Steps To 1,000.. 2,000..3,000 Subscribers In Days!

Everyone who has been marketing online for sometime already know... Read More

Is Your Autoresponder Hungry?

Do you know how to feed it, so that it... Read More

An E-mail Promotion Internet Marketing Strategy Works

E-mail promotion Internet marketing can help your home-based business expand... Read More

Tips to Build Your Email Address Database

WHY BUILD YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS DATABASE? Gaining your customers' email... Read More

Lesson #3: Capitalize on Your Captures!

One of the underlying benefits of smart autoresponders is that... Read More

Autoresponders, Which Autoresponder Is Right For Your Business?

An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a... Read More

The Lowdown: How To Create And Send HTML Email

I am frequently asked how to create and send HTML... Read More

Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing

Given the inherent problems with traditional marketing techniques, it`s important... Read More

Sales Prospecting for Appointments by Email

A few months into the job and Sabrina's cold calling... Read More

unorthodox email subject tricks -500% more responses!

5 unorthodox email subject tricks -500% more responses! (c) Copyright... Read More

6 Simple Ways to Manage Your Emails Better

E-mail, a wonderful communication tool is also the greatest challenge... Read More

Proven Techniques For Building A Responsive List

We've all heard those who have Internet business-success stories proclaim,... Read More

Email Scam Warnings

Most people online are very familiar with the Nigerian Email... Read More

The Gold Is In Your Mailing List

Let me ask you a question, "What is the most... Read More

How NOT To Appear Like A Spammer

Unless you use the Internet only for surfing and never... Read More

10 Ways To Quadruple Your Sales with 232%

1. When you make your first sale, you need to... Read More

Great Response by Auto Responder

1. Collect leads with your autoresponder. You will get an... Read More

How to Start Your Own Mailing List

I remember reading time and time again when I first... Read More

A Cool Email Communication Tip

If I sent you an email that said: "The Big... Read More

Top 10 Business E-Mail Basics

When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need... Read More

Confessions Of An Info Junkie

I love the Internet! Information about any topic that piques... Read More

Is Your E-Address Unprofessional?

How much time did you spend on deciding on the... Read More

How to Choose the Autoresponder Right for Your Business?

Let's give a definition to autoresponder first. So, what is... Read More

Converting More Free Downloads to Paid Customers

Do you give web site visitors the opportunity to download... Read More

A Lesson In Email: The Money Is In The List... With The Back-End Sales

Firstly, back-end sales is eMail Marketing at its best, so... Read More

Seven Tips To A Perfect Email Ads

Everyone at some point in their Internet experience has received... Read More

Who Else Wants to Sky Rocket Their CD Sales, Fan base and Indie Music Career?

If YOU Answered YES, Then Start An Online Newsletter?It's Easy,... Read More

Lost: 200 emails gone missing. Last seen on the 25.10.2003

Sound familiar? Ever wondered what happens to those unopened emails... Read More

Build Your Opt-In List Today

There are many services available to help your with building... Read More

New Realities for E-Mail Marketing

Spam e-mail is no longer the mild irritant it once... Read More

Its In The List! Thats Where It Is!

Have you noticed the marketing frenzy? Have you felt the... Read More

Promote Your Products Without Annoying Spam Filters

How many times have you realized that your email simply... Read More

Raid Your Autoresponder Attic For Content

Why you need new website content.Finding or creating good content... Read More