Humanise your Email Marketing Content

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Has your marketing content grown a bit bland? Perhaps it’s time to adopt a more human approach. Jeff Clark from Siverpop shares his tips.

With the rise of social media, today’s consumers are seeking personalised, one-on-one interactions with the companies they do business with—but they don’t always receive them.

Sadly, generic marketing and advertising messages are still prevalent. Only now, with the rise of smart-phone use and consumers surfing back and forth from viewing family holiday photos on Facebook to reading their email, sending personality-free corporate messages is less effective than ever.

Here are a few suggestions to help you humanise your email marketing content:

• Avoid robotic language – Don’t let your emails consistently sound like a sales pitch. Read copy out loud to ensure it sounds conversational. Spend less time talking at your customers and prospects and more time paying attention to their behaviors and listening to them via social networks, community forums and surveys. Speak to them like they are human beings—because they are!
• Reevaluate your content – You don’t always need more content, just a different kind. Make sure your email arsenal includes messages designed simply to inform, entertain, surprise and provide value rather than sell. Use your blog, Twitter and Facebook posts or even your customer support staff. Listen to the questions that your customers and prospects have, and then use your emails to help provide answers and insight. All of these can be great resources for a new angle on content.
• Use humour – People like to laugh! Consumers enjoy and respond well to humour. Adding a touch of fun to your messages is an attention-getting way to add personality. The voice used in your email messages should be the most logical extension of your company and its brand or image.
• Incorporate customer and employee voices – According to Nielsen’s 2009 ‘Global Online Consumer Survey‘, customers and prospects place tremendous value on peer opinions and reviews, even more so than on ads. Add content such as peer reviews and testimonials to give your emails a more human feel—and increase your revenue.

As you begin to add personality to your content, remember that ‘humanisation’ isn’t just a new buzzword—it’s a way of marketing that brings your customers’ and employees’ personalities into your company messages. Humanisation is now an expectation, so drop the ‘corporate speak’ and communicate with people like they are, well, people!

Article by Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark is responsible for the Australian and New Zealand operation of Engage Digital, a partner of Silverpop who is a global provider of engagement marketing and campaign automation software provider. Jeff works with Silverpop customers to develop their engagement programs. He has an extensive background in marketing, consulting and technology over 20 years and has a science degree with postgraduate studies from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

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