I received an email from a winery that arrived in my inbox shortly before Valentine’s Day advertising a special Valentine’s Day event on Saturday and Sunday (Feb 14 & 15).
The event itself sounded like fun but my enthusiasm for the event was diminished by the font that was used to write the body of the email. The font was, to say the least, hard to read with it’s swirls and squiggles, kind of Olde Englishy. Because it was so hard to read I stopped reading after the first paragraph, and had I not decided to write a blog about this email, I wouldn’t have bothered to read any further. As it was I battled on to the bottom of the email.
If your customers have a hard time reading your emails, they just won’t do it. Additionally, please remember that the generation that is spending the most money on wine and drinking the most wine is the Boomer generation (ages 51 – 69). This is the generation that spends a lot of time reaching for their collective reading glasses, even when the type isn’t hard to read, so please make it easy for them.
The second problem with the email: There was very little in the email that focused on the potential attendees and how they would enjoy the event. The headline focused on the ordering of tickets for the event, instead of letting people know what was in it for them.
The headline could easily have been…A Valentine’s Day to Remember… or Enjoy the Best Valentine’s Day Ever or You, Your Sweetheart, Wine and Chocolate.
In the body of the email was a list of all the wines being tasted with information as to what people would taste in the wine. We never know how a wine will taste to others. Tasting wine sometimes seems like a test, and when we don’t taste what we have been told we should, it’s rather like failing a test. Let your customers decide for themselves.
When putting together an email invitation to an event or to buy wine, think first about the people you are sending it to and what is important to them, instead of what is important to you.
A tip of the glass from me to you.
E column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
Follow E on twitter @esavant and facebook.
