When writing an email there are rules to be obeyed.  But… if your creativity is riding high enough you can break the rules.

Here’s a list of rules that can be broken, or not, as the case may be!

1. PUT ALL THE WORDS IN THE SUBJECT LINE IN BOLD CAPS

I don’t like it, but I have seen it happen AND I HAVE SEEN IT WORK. But… it only seems to work if you do it regularly and consistently, and you have a really good message to put in that line. When they work they probably work because most people shy away from them. If everyone changes, then CAPITAL HEADLINES will flop again.

2, Write lots of text, cut out the links, and don’t bother with the old call to action.

In fact I generally write lots of text, and tend to have one link only – the one I want the person to go to. This is because I treat the reader as a friend, and I try to have a conversation with that person.

The industry will tell you that email copy should include opportunities for people to click, but that can treat the reader as a simple child. Keep it like a conversation – without pushing people to “click here” (most users of email know what the “reply” button does), and people start to treat you more as a source of information, and less as someone who is trying to push a sale down your throat.

3. Standard boring ordinary templates work.

In the past year there have been experiments in the US and they have shown that just because an email template looks ultra pretty and swish, it doesn’t necessarily sell more.

The point is that although a pretty template is nice to look at it doesn’t actually sell anything. Take away the distraction of the nice to look at, and suddenly all the focus goes onto the words you write – which is what sells.

Templates can distract from the text message.

4. Stop putting in all those “need to click to activate” images.

A picture is worth 10,000 words – oh how many times I have that said to me, and how often I say, “prove it” and get a blank look.

Maybe it is true somewhere but not in email.

When the recipients of your email view the message with images “on” as default, they will see your nice picture. With images “off” which is the default of most of us, there’s nothing there except a little red x in a box.

5. Personalisation is good – or bad.

Personalising an email can work in some circumstances. It works generally if the recipient knows your company and has a relationship with you (that is it is not a cold email) and if you get the name right. Get it wrong (as in “Dear Mr House Mailings” that I sometimes get, along with “Dear ,” and you look stupid.

But getting it deliberately wrong can enhance sales. “Dear Mr Trouser Press” works for us.

So, there you have it. Call to action, well, you know, click reply. Oh and there is a phone number below.