I was on an Italian vacation (my favorite place in the world) pondering what I do for a living – teaching the art of email marketing so that small businesses can use it to grow – and I started to draw some parallels about how Italy is like email marketing. OK, it might sound like stretch, but it’s fun nonetheless.

So here they are – Five ways email marketing is like Italy:

1. Your Subject Line is a Work of Art – Just as Michelangelo carefully laid out every part of painting the Sistine Chapel from the beginning to the end, you should do the same with your email. We see many businesses write the email first, then add on a subject line at the end as an afterthought. You need to start with the idea in the subject line and pay it off it in the email.
2. Bon Giorno! – In every store or restaurant in Italy, you are cordially greeted by everyone who works there. Why not greet your email recipients by personalizing your email? The friendly and welcoming tone will help encourage your recipients to take action with your message. Give your recipients the feeling that they’re part of something and that there’s a person behind the email and your company. After all, people buy from people.
3. Keep it Well Manicured – If there’s something that Italian people are great at it’s making sure things look good. Whether it’s their gardens, the granite sculptures in the yard or the clothes they wear, they make sure it’s easy on the eyes. Why not try that with your email campaigns? You want to make sure you’ve got a nice mix of both text and images, break your paragraphs into small concise ideas and use scannable bullets to get your reader to the click!
4. Give Clear Instructions – Just like the well-marked autostradas in Italy, your emails should be clear, too. Make sure you have your call-to-actions marked clearly so that people know what to click on. A great way to do this is by using a call-to-action button. This way you’ll get the results you want and there won’t be any “accidents” in your email! (How is it that there are so few accidents in Italy with the way they drive, anyway?)
5. Tell a Story – Italians love to tell the history of everything, from the street you might be walking on, to the restaurant that once served Hemingway. Why not give your customers a little bit of what’s going on behind the scenes with your business? It could be a blog or Facebook post about a customer who bought from you, or it could be about a stellar employee who’s great at customer service. Then send an email campaign to your recipients with a snippet of the story and a link to read more.

And there you have it! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes for your email marketing and customer relationships. Remember to analyze your results and refine your email program as you go.

Ciao!

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