"Snail Mail" and e-Mail - Examples of How NOT To Do It

In a previous post, we discussed some basics of what makes a good e-mail and what doesn't.  You might be tempted to take the text from your "snail mail" letters and do a cut-and-paste into your e-mails.  But I warned you.  Don't.  It won't work.  Especially if the subject is all about fund-raising and donating to the cause.

Yesterday, I went to the post office to collect my mail.  Guess what was in the mailbox.  Yup.  One of those "snail mail" letters asking me to donate to the cause.  

Did I Ever Reach The Bottom??
I sliced the envelope open and peeked inside.  Holy crap Batman!  Wall-to-wall print.  Both sides of an 8 1/2"x 11" page!  Asking me to donate to the cause ........  or at least I think that's what it was all about.  The letter didn't even get 3 seconds of my attention.  Immediately dumped into the recyle bin underneath my desk.  

Today, I retrieved the letter from the recyle bin, scanned it, and decided to post to the blog to show you exactly how NOT to ask for money.  

Take a look at the letter.  Ask yourself one question.  Would you donate to the cause? (Click on the letter for a larger view.)  

...And On To Page 2...
But that wasn't all!  At the bottom right corner I was asked to "Please see over..."!!!

I didn't even make it to the "P.S. Your donation today is incredibly important."

"A Message From President Clinton"
Around the same time I was scanning the above letter, in came an e-mail from President Clinton.  I opened the e-mail and up popped the part above the fold.  

Not much detail about the content of the e-mail except that it's "A message from President Clinton".  Sometimes those e-mails are interesting.  So I started to scroll down to the bottom ..... scrolling ....... and scrolling ..... and scrolling .....

Are you still with me??? (I hope you are!!)  Never mind that large red "Donate" button at the bottom of the e-mail!  I never got down that far.  Was this one of those copy-and-paste jobs from President Clinton's "snail mail" letters?

"Yes, I AM angry" - Hitting The Nail Right On The Head!
Around the same time, I received another e-mail from US Senator Elizabeth Warren.  It was one of those "weeks that wuz" for Senator Warren.  She'd lost her cool at a conference in Las Vegas and had gone ballistic.  It was all over the media.  Never one to lose an opportunity, out went the e-mail to her e-mail subscribers.  But this one packed a triple-whammy!

Remember those 3 important lines in an e-mail?

• "Subject" line
• First line of the e-mail
• "From" line"

Aside from the fact that I enjoy reading Senator Warren's e-mails (the "From" line), wow, did the "Subject" line ever catch my interest!!  (Click on the photo for a larger view.)  

Senator Warren wasn't beating around the bush on this one!!  This is what showed "above the fold".  (Click on the photo for a larger view.)  

Digital Media- Connecting The "Dots"
When I opened the e-mail, what caught my eye was a link to a video that was the subject of her e-mail.  It didn't take a lot of reading to get to the point.  All I had to do was watch the two-minute and 33-second video.  On Facebook!!  (Facebook now has video-upload capability.)

Senator Warren had discovered the power of using Facebook for her videos.  Because the video is on Facebook, she was also asking us to "share" the video with our friends!  When I last looked, she had over 46,666 "likes", 66,000 "shares", 2,756,492 "views" (the number of people who had watched her video) and climbing!

Holy crap Batman!  We've now got a way to increase the number of "Friends" and "Followers" on Facebook simply by using old-fashioned e-mail, including a link to a Facebook video, and asking us to share it with our Facebook "Friends".  Talk about boosting our social media game!!!  And it didn't cost Senator Warren a whole lot of money to do it.  Just some creative thinking.  

Personalizing Social Media - Keep It Going-And-Going-And-Going!
But it just didn't end there.  She carried it right to the end of her e-mail.  Take a look at her Facebook and Twitter logos.  You usually see the impersonal Facebook "F" and Twitter "bird" at the end of an e-mail, website, or blog.  

Senator Warren had changed those logos into a more personal "Follow Elizabeth on Facebook" and "Follow Elizabeth on Twitter".  Much more effective than a couple of dull logos!

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Methinks some people need to take a close look at how Senator Elizabeth Warren creates her correspondence.
  

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Next up:  Meet Me At The Fair - All about display booths.