If you’re like me, you receive at least a few mass marketing emails from organizations you enjoy hearing from. These could be emails from clubs or philanthropic organizations, airlines, political groups, educational or business training organizations, etc. For the most part, these are not spam emails because they’re from organizations you want to hear from.

Based on what arrives in my inbox, the good folks sending these marketing emails seem to be unaware of how many organizations send out emails and that we’re all on information overload.

I’m not a professional marketer, but I am a consumer and I’ve written my share of newsletters and event invitations. In that vein, I have five tips for anyone sending out mass marketing emails that will make me (and most likely many others) a happier consumer who wants to continue to do business with the organizations behind the emails.

Tip #1 Send me the promo code with the email. Recently I received an invitation to an event that I could attend for free as part of a special subset of invitees. Here’s what I went through to register for the event:

1. Click the link in the email to register;
2. Fill out the registration form;
3. Form asks for my credit card for the event I’ve been invited to attend for free;
4. Find a note at the bottom of the form that says IF I qualify to attend for free to contact the organization for the promo code;
5. Contact the organization via email;
6. Wait for a reply, which I received 2 days later while out grocery shopping (interestingly, email from customer service with the promo code says an email with the promo code will go out to all eligible for free attendance in a couple of days);
7. Add “register for event” to my never-ending to do list when I get home;
8. Forget to register for event for another couple of days;
9. Finally, sit down to register for the event with the promo code and all goes smoothly. I’d have been irritated if the event had been sold out when I was finally able to register.

There’s a better way to send out the invitation. Split the email into two lists: those eligible to attend for free and those who need to pay. Create the email for those who need to pay and send it to the appropriate list. Copy the first email, change a little text, add the promo code, and send it to those eligible to attend for free.

This is a 5-minute process. I know because I’ve sent out my share of these emails. Spending these few minutes on the front end will give you happier customers for the long-term. Make my life easy and I’ll continue doing business with you.

Tip #2 Stop sending so many damn emails. I have received three four (just got another one) emails in two hours from one organization this morning. That’s on top of the two I received yesterday and the two the day before. Just stop.

Tip #3 Give me the option to choose how many and what kinds of emails I want to receive via user preferences. If you’re using an email provider like Constant Contact, there must be options for receiving digests that could be auto-sent, creating no extra work for employees. Here are the options I’d like: all emails, weekly digests, and unsubscribe. If the only options are receiving 4 emails from you daily or none at all, I’m choosing none and you’ve lost a customer.

Tip #4 Create emails that are phone and tablet responsive. The odds are good that most of your audience is reading their email on a phone or tablet. Emails created only for reading on a computer are hell to read on a mobile device. Most email programs today offer the option to have an email auto formatted for mobile users. If yours doesn’t, you need to change your email provider.

Tip #5 SHUT UP. In 1656, Blaise Pascal is supposed to have written “I made this [letter] very long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.” Take the time. The four emails I received this morning had 389, 404, 556, and 855 words in them. Yes, I counted. That’s too many. Keep your email simple and put most of the information on the event registration or product information website. If I’m reading on my phone, I can’t possibly read all that info.

On behalf of all emails readers, I thank you in advance for heeding this advice.

Do you enjoy reading Little Merry Sunshine? Of course you do.

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