Stanton Marris

Leadership and organisational development consultancy, Stanton Marris, uses its ‘Inside Track’ email to maintain brand awareness and offer positive, useful information to its mailing list.

With a readership of mainly busy senior executives across a range of sectors, from finance to FMCG and central government, it’s important they grab their recipients’ interest from the get go. However, could slight changes to the structure and presentation of this e-shot have a dramatic effect on response?

Positive elements

1. ‘Inside Track’ is a good choice of title. It’s notoriously difficult to get the attention of this busy target audience. However, ‘Inside Track’ tells the reader they are being given insider information and are privy to something exclusive that may be useful to them professionally. The company strap line and branding are also clearly visible, which is key for maintaining brand awareness.

2. Including a navigation bar is a simple and efficient method of drawing a recipient straight back to your website. It also reduces the need to use valuable space in the newsletter explaining who you are and why you’re sending the e-shot.

3. The introductory summary is an essential part of an e-shot. It’s important to make your communications as user friendly as possible. The reader can find out quickly whether the content is relevant to them, without having to plough through all the text. They can be selective about which articles they read.

4. Delineating clear sections is also a good move. The newsletter appears more easily digestible to the reader because each part of the content has a clear purpose. The colour codes also provide a helpful visual guide. Using sections is a helpful tool when it comes to choosing the articles, too. Having clear goals for your content means you can plan your ideas well in advance.

5. Some email clients may not render the e-shot as you had intended or may fail to load it altogether. Giving the recipient the option to read it online is essential. It’s also good to see the company registration details and an unsubscribe option has been included.

6. The choice of images here is effective. Images should always add something useful to the content otherwise they can be distracting. Here the pile of papers and the clock break up the text and provide a good visual illustration of what’s being discussed.

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