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Month: August 2019

Creative Subject Lines From Top Brands

Stellar email subject lines are the key to successful marketing campaigns. Because they determine whether the recipient will consider opening the email, it is necessary to pay attention to some common tricks to attract their attention. Note, however, that click baits don’t equal good subject lines; they are more likely to create the exact opposite effect… for the most part.

Email open rates are directly linked to irresistible subject lines. Statistics show that 47 percent of recipients decide whether to open an email solely on the attractiveness of the subject line, whereas 69 percent of recipients report an email as spam based on the same criteria.

As holds true for everything else when it comes to attracting attention (in a positive way!), the best email subject lines address people’s curiosity and are witty, but they also appeal to fears, greed and vanity… and some other personality traits, too.

Don’t Miss Out!

The very first and foremost urge to open an email is triggered by a “don’t miss out” subject line. Keywords to additionally boost recipients’ curiosity go along the lines of “limited time offer,” “important,” “breaking” and similar options. Anything from “Tonight only: a denim lover’s dream” (Guess) to “Your 7-figure plan goes bye-bye at midnight…” (Digital Marketer) will do the trick. Discounts and promotions also fall into this category.

Witty Subject Lines

Email subject lines are similar to remarks. If they make recipients entertained, chances are, they will follow through. When a joke is good, everyone wants to hear the end. Emails work in the exact same way. Some of the most successful email marketing campaigns relied on this strategy. From Groupon’s “Deals that make us proud (unlike our nephew Steve)” to Eater Boston’s “Where to drink beer right now” (Sent at 6:45 am on a Wednesday)”, numerous marketers made it big using this simple principle.  

Addressing Urgency

Some situations call for immediate action whether we aye or nay. In actual fact, most effective email marketing campaigns know how to address such issues just in time, as well as how to follow up to keep their customer base continually happy. In short, you should know how to solve customers’ problems, and the best way to do that is to keep researching common scenarios. Some examples include campaigns from the food industry, furniture companies, educators and businesses offering cheap alternatives. I.e., Uber had a cheesy open-ended subject line “Since we can’t all win the lottery…”, while HP advised to “Stop wasting money on ink.” Pizza Hut tried to be both funny and practical with the line “Feed your guests without breaking the bank”.

Getting to the Point

Wittiness and urgency are fine and all, but let’s not forget that not actually giving a glimpse into the contents of the email is likely to get your messages flagged as spam. Even tackling recipients’ curiosity has its limits. You have a great offer and you know it; therefore, there is no reason why the recipient shouldn’t learn it as well, in a straightforward manner, to boot.

The most important thing to keep in mind here is to not forget to always deliver on your promise. One mishap and your business will lose recipients’ trust. Not good!

Whenever you have something important to say, say it out loud and follow up with more detailed info and a simple way how to get to the actual reward (which usually translates into a call to action and an appropriate link).

Some incredible examples show that messages titled “Yes, this is a fundraising email” have open rates between 60 and 87 percent. In addition, emails often wrongly observed as having “boring” opening lines also stand a fair chance to be read through. Some examples include “[Company Name] Sales and Marketing Newsletter” and “Happy Holidays From [Company Name]”.

Everyone Deserves a Second Chance, Including Your Marketing Campaign

If you, perchance, didn’t start off on the right foot, don’t despair. The curious marketing invention called “retargeting” is known to have done marvels in that regard. If the recipient abandoned the cart, simply send them a reminder. In such cases, subject lines should offer a better deal or remind the recipient that a limited time offer won’t be out there forever.

Some stellar subject lines of retargeting emails include “Good news: your pin’s price dropped!” (Pinterest), “Hey, forget something? Here’s 20 percent off” (Bonobos) and “Did you miss out on some of these new features?” (Bonobos).

Subject Line Keywords Matter

For once, keywords are meant for actual people, not for Google. The list of keywords in subject lines likely to prompt the recipient to read through is long and insightful. Fortunately, it is also predictable, for the most part. Here’s a glimpse.

An analysis undertaken by Alchemy Worx, which took into account some 21bn emails by 2,500 brands, shows that the most efficient keywords are actionable. Thankfully, this also ties into a nice Call to Action at the end of the email!

 

Guest Post By:
Emily Simmons
Creative author and long-time digital marketer

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Kindly share a few words about your journey.

Basically, it is an exciting long innings, I was in Advertising as well as Corporate Interior, we had a lot of failures as well as success. In the end, it is a success, and we’re happy we have achieved something. It has been a very challenging journey. 

Is this a field or career you chanced upon or chose to pursue?

I have always liked the creative part of any business. But this is partly choice, partly by default. Initially, we were trying to do too many things, then we were concentrating only on the core industry. So, this is Corporate Interior or Workspace Interior, which became our main line of business. This we are able to achieve fairly with good success.

Interspace’s USP or your competitive advantage.

Basically, we care for our clients. In the long run, I think, that pays. We care for them. When they want us, we are there. It’s not only business, but we also look forward to building long term relationships. 

What keeps Interspace going? Your company goals, inspiration, and vision.

So, we are blessed with good clients, good vendors and also a good time. See, we started our business at the right time, we are able to achieve success because of the same reason. And the other important thing is that we remain focused and also we remain a medium-small company. We are not trying to become too big so that we can give better service to our clients. 

Most important qualities required to succeed in your ever-evolving industry. 

It is not one single quality as I see, it’s more to do with hardworking, focused, persistence and endurance that has helped us to achieve what we have. 

What do you consider as your greatest achievement/s in your career?

I went through different kinds of business, starting with Advertising, Media Business. I started working very early in 1970. I joined my brother, who had just started an Outdoor Advertising Agency. Then, I started a Direct Marketing Agency, in ‘89. We were one of the earliest Direct Marketing Agencies, where we were doing a lot of things, like Event Management, Promotion, Merchandising, Interior. People knew that I could do some good Interiors so they used to call and take my advice. 

Over a period of time, we decided to concentrate on one business, core business and we got into the corporate interior, as a medium. But it was the right time because the economy was opening up and a lot of international companies were coming to Bangalore. We were there at the right time and we took advantage of that. There were not many people who were doing Interior Integrated Business, at that time. Maybe Godrej was supplying chairs or table, or Remington was supplying something. It was like, very limited availability of resources, so we started designing and we started giving them the entire project including services. If you see in earlier Bangalore, there was no air conditioning, you see, earlier offices were very simple. 

And today, you need access control, you need networking spaces, so many things which were not there earlier and people used to never spend money on the interior. And architects were only busy with buildings, and they never bothered to do any interior because the scope was very limited, spending was very limited. 

So, we were doing a lot of Bank related projects, we used to work all India and we used to have our own vendors and we had our own resources. We used to operate through a large number of carpenters and suppliers. We used to give integrated service throughout India, even in the 70s. 

Who or What inspires you constantly?

One is that we thrive through the challenges and more so, when the Client is happy with our work, we feel very happy and that gives us motivation.

What is your family’s role in your pursuit of a demanding profession?

I had a lot of freedom and independence as a young child, that actually helped me to be on my own. 

What’s your advice to young entrepreneurs and start-ups?

See when we were young, we never got proper guidance, there were no mentors or people who could tell us what we should do. So today, people are smarter, they have more information and more knowledge. In many respects, they’re more mature for their age. But what is happening is, they lose interest quickly. So, you need a long term goal and you should be persistent with that goal.

Click here, to watch K.M. Shetty’s interview.

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Kindly share a few words about your journey.

It started with me passing out from College in Nagpur in 1976, and I worked in Bombay with many big architects. And in 1980, I went on my own and started my own company. We were practicing in Bombay then I wanted to come to Bangalore so I decided to open up a branch in Bangalore. So, we opened a branch, by the grace of God, we were doing very well in Bangalore. Then I thought, we can close down the Bombay office. So, for the last 40 years, now we are doing quite well.

What made you go into Architecture & Interior Designing?

I am an artist by Nature. I wanted to become an Artist but at that time, only 2 professions were there Medical & Engineering. So, my parents said either you’ve to do Medical or Engineering. I said, Medical, you’ve lost your son, he will be dead. Then they said, you take Engineering, I said I want to become an Artist, so we somehow compromised and found a middle ground between Engineering and Art – Architecture. 

Most important quality required to succeed in your industry.

I personally feel that your client must like you. Rest is all Technology. You want to deliver the goods, you want to make a timely drawing, these are all technologies, you can manage, anybody can manage. Then what is it that makes you, YOU – Client must like you. 

What do you consider as your greatest achievement?

My son is moving in the market, meeting people and all that, and then the vendors, suppliers and other architects, they keep on telling him that your father is a pioneer in Interior and Architecture in Bangalore. So, if somebody says that I am a pioneer, I think I have achieved quite a bit.

Who constantly inspires you?

There are two architects I will name, every architect knows, Le Corbusier, he’s a pioneer in the field of Architecture. Second, the architects named as Legorreta & Legorreta. I love their designs and whenever I feel depressed and what I should do, whenever you need inspiration, I go through their books.

What is your family’s role in your pursuit of a demanding profession?

Well, when it comes to family, first is wife, so she has been always supportive. And in case, she sees that there has been a time constraint of sorts, which are related to business, my profession, then she never complains. So, support from wife is always there. My children, of course, the younger one and other, now they’ve grown up to be architects. We are all supportive of each other.

Any advice you would like to give your younger self?

What I would like my younger Raja Watwe to do is to be highly updated with Technology, which probably I lacked, a little bit. Which would have given a younger Raja Watwe quite an advantage to do better in his future. 

What’s your advice to young entrepreneurs and start-ups?

First, understand the requirement of your Client. That does not mean that he wants 2 rooms, 3 bedrooms, and 1 kitchen, etc, that is not his requirement. There is always a hidden requirement behind it, he wants a house. These are technical things, I want an Entrance Verandah, etc. So, the first thing you have to remember, be it residential or commercial, understand what is he looking for. Second, the Client’s budget, you can’t change it. I am ready to design a house in 3 Acres plot but if he has a 30-40 site, you’ve to give best in that. The third is the delivery of goods on time. Fourth is ethics, ETHICS is very very important, it goes a long way. 

Click here, to watch Raja Watwe’s interview.

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A few words about your journey.

I joined SNN in the year 2009, August, and I have been in the company for close to 10 years now. And the journey so far has been wonderful in terms of our achievements from the corporate point of view and from being a single project company, we have now moved to multiple projects. Currently, we have about 7 ongoing projects and at least another 4-5 projects are going to launch.

How do you deal with setbacks and facilitate a positive work environment?

We take the feedback from the homeowners and homebuyers and then we course-correct ourselves and then we move on. We don’t say that we can’t do this and we won’t be able to do it, no, if there is a possibility that their problem could be resolved, we get it done at our level itself and then we move on.

What are the most important qualities required to succeed in your industry?

Trust, truth, and transparency are most important as far as business is concerned. Even now, at SNN, when we make a mistake, we go before the owners and then tell them we have made a mistake, please, we will make sure that we will course correct soon. I think that the trust level improves when you’re true to what you’re saying, number one and be honest and transparent in whatever you do, that’s the most important key aspect of any business, be it a start-up or a running company as well.

What keeps you motivated and going?

I strongly believe that nothing is impossible and you need to bring in the change whatever you want to bring it, be it your personal life or your professional life. And then don’t bring it for the sake of bringing it and you need to bring it really honestly and truthfully and follow that relentlessly.

What do you consider as your greatest achievement?

You go to see the retention level that we maintain at SNN and you will be amazed actually, it’s close to 97-98% of people those who join, they never leave the company. Even if, at all, they leave, they leave for betterment in terms of either going abroad or getting married or some other reason. I’ve come across very few people, 2-3, who have left a job for really bettering their career because we provide all possible career growth opportunities to everybody. And, for four consecutive years, I have been voted as the best CEO in the real estate industry. I think that’s one of my greatest achievements that came basically because the trust level of the homebuyers has gone way above.

How does one stay relevant with the changing times?

Not at just SNN, even in my personal life, I feel that technology is one thing which is going to take the world by storm. It has already done it and it will keep on only enhancing. So, people need to adapt themselves and need to take care that they are well informed as far as the technological transformation and advancement are happening around us.

What is your family’s role in your success?

Your family is everything for you. No, it’s not just the first circle, it is, of course, my wife, Uma, and my daughter, Shruti, they play a major role in whatever I am today because, minus them, nothing is around you. Unless and until they give you that confidence level and then they take up all those pressures and tantrums I put in, after working for say 8-10-12 hours a day and come back home, they make it easy for you as far as your life is concerned. So, needless to say, that these two persons Uma and Shruti have played a major role as far as I am concerned, particularly, my daughter Shruti.

What is the one thing you wish to change about your past?

I have never been a great academically strong person as far as my schools and colleges days. If ever I get an opportunity, I definitely would like to go back to my younger age and then at least dream that I could have studied either in Harvard or Stanford.

What’s your advice to young entrepreneurs?

See, I would always give certain of the examples of the way they started off McDonald’s, and the way they started Kentucky Fried Chicken and all these are done by individuals. They saw that the category has got a huge potential and then they came up with such ideas so we need to come up with ideas which is, definitely, it’s very difficult in terms of how you want to bring up that business but there has to be a disruptive element and a reverence attached to it.

Click here, to watch Srinivasan Subramanian’s interview.

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Tell us a little about yourself.

I am a Professional Photographer and I have been a Photographer for about 25 years. But I started my career in Advertising and at the peak of my career I was the Director at a multinational advertising company, but I decided to quit. Because of the pull of Photography, the love of Photography was so much that I decided to quit. And take up Photography as a profession.

What inspired you to take up Photography as a profession?

One of the most influencing factors in my life was Late Mr. T. S. Satyan, world-famous Photographer and Photojournalist. And as a child, I have seen some of his pictures and the impact that it had on me, even till today, I will never forget his images. And, then we used to get a magazine called Life, big size magazine from America and the pictures there were awe-inspiring. This is one of the reasons, I took up Photography.

What were the challenges you faced?
When I joined the profession, because, you see, I quit at the peak of my career where I had all the facilities, perks that the corporate sector offers. Strangely, the reaction of most people when I quit a steady job was ‘Why take up Photography?’ Because even till today, we live in a status-conscious society where the perks working in corporate companies, being called a Director, matters a lot. So, the reactions were really strange, they said ‘Why Photography?’
Because mainly, the idea of Photography was somebody who shot pictures at a wedding & somehow scraped a living together. They never respected Photography, at least in my days as a profession. A very few people did and were able to accept it as an Art Form. The struggle has not changed and it still continues but I have overcome that because I enjoy my profession. 

What area of Photography do you specialize in?

I think I like shooting people, culture and ancient monuments because they’re being destroyed at a very rapid pace. See what has happened to the Notre Dame Cathedral, see what happened to the Buddha in Afghanistan and even in India, there are such beautiful places, such beautiful monuments, Ancient Monuments which are not taken care of. And I’d like to shoot those monuments and document them and also the rich heritage of our country and people.

What makes a good picture?

What makes a good picture is a little difficult to define, I wish I had points 1, 2, 3, 4… you do this, and you will get a good picture. When you see a picture, it depends on how you react to it. For me, sometimes even out of focus pictures, slow Shutter Speed pictures, blurred pictures, I react to it. And it’s an emotion and if you see different styles of Photographers, Xavier Zimbardo on one side and Ansel Adams, the classical Photographer, on the other. There is an ocean of difference, it’s an art form. And I react, I don’t really depend on the rules or my conditioning of how or why I should like the photographs or why I don’t like it, I just react to it and when I react then I try to analyze what has really gone into this picture to make it so attractive. It not only touches my heart but visually it has an impact on me.  

What differentiates a Professional from an amateur?

The difference, it’s a very thin line, these days, between Professional Photographers and Amateur Photographers. But, the people who make the grid, particularly as Professional Photographers and won International awards. They are, it’s a kind of an all-around education, not just the technical aspects of Photography, Music, the Books you’ve read, the people you know, people you have loved, everything goes into making a better picture. 

Tell us about the awards and recognitions you’ve received.

Black and White Spider Awards is that it is very important to me because I love Black and White, I have a conventional lab, where I used to shoot and film and develop and make prints. So, this Black and White Spider Awards and International Award in Los Angeles. And, the first time I saw it on the net, some about 10 years back, I was really inspired by the award-winning photographs there and it was my dream to win at least a nomination. But I won now, about 6 nominations or 7 nominations right from 2014. I have been winning both Black and White Spider Award and International Color Awards. What is very important is Magnum recognized my work 2 years back.

You’ve received international recognition. Kindly share your experience.
The Saatchi Gallery of London, even till today, they have given me free space on their official website, where I can post my pictures. And also, sell my pictures and the best part of Saatchi is, they don’t charge a commission, it’s free for me. That encouraged me a lot when I started off. Even before that, I was invited by the Italian Government in Florence, there was an exhibition sponsored by UNESCO and the Italian Government. So, that was one of the earliest awards, many years back.

What inspired you to start a Photography Workshop?

I realized that there are a lot of people who want to learn Photography from a Professional Photographer but they didn’t have time to wait for a long term course, they had time just for weekends to become a serious hobbyist. And that’s how I started and the response has been very good. I have had many international award-winning photographers pass out of my workshop, the same kind of awards that I have got, they have won and I am very proud of that. 

What can people expect at the workshop?

What I am offering is a two-day weekend workshop for serious hobbyists, 2 full days. Day 1, they have got the technical aspect covered, how shutter works, aperture works, how to take correctly exposed pictures, how your sensor works, colour temperature and so on. All the technical aspects as much as I can cover. And, on Day 2, is practicals. Practicals include on-location shoot where they learn how to handle the depth of field, and also different shutter speeds, understand metering and also shoot portraits both in-studio lights with studio setup, multi flashlight setup and also available light because most people when they go back they might not have flashlights. We also offer how-to shoot portraits in available light at home. And this broadly is the course structure of the two-day workshop. 

What’s your advice to aspiring Photographers?

What they need to do is study great photographers and also films and also art books, paintings, classical painters, renaissance painters. If they study those books, large size books are available at reasonable prices and also on the net. Download these pictures and study them because understanding the interplay of light and shadows and so on, it is all there in the paintings, that history has offered us. So, I think you should study these pictures up before you start claiming yourself to be a Professional Photographer.

Click here, to watch Anand Sharan’s interview.

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