Has Your Email Marketing Lost Its Accent?

People’s accents are a funny thing. When you talk to someone from a different part of the world, you notice their accent immediately. Some accents are hard to understand, and some are just wonderful to listen to (like those from England, Ireland, etc.).

In the U.S., there are many types of accents. People from Boston (where I’m from) have a quaint way of dropping the “R” into certain words (think “idear”). A natural southern drawl can pull you in easily with the smooth flow of their words.

When I moved to Texas 10 years ago, I thought everyone had an accent. And they, too, thought I had an accent (and would guess right that I was from Boston or the Northeast).

But after a few years, I noticed that fewer people seemed to have accents. Now, after 10 years, I only notice those with thick southern/Texas accents. Why? Because, over time, our brains adapt to hearing the accent. So much so, in fact, that not only do we lose the ability to hear the accent, but we also pick up a bit of the accent ourselves when we talk. My friends back home in Boston say I sound like a southerner.

Think of it as “Accent Crowdsourcing.” Or, as Spock would say, “The accents of the many outweigh the accents of the few.”

Now, take a look at your email campaigns and processes over the past few years. What’s changed? What’s stayed the same? And Why?

Look at your sending timelines. Have you fallen into the organic rut? You know… where you start to do your email marketing the same way each week, month, and year?

Did your content used to edgy, funny, or irreverent? Have you known your audience so well that the content and offers have always been on target? Have you always tested your campaigns? Do you look at the same lines of analytics each time?

Have you stopped hearing the accents of your subscribers? Have you stopped paying attention to the differences?

Now’s the time to review your entire email marketing communication plan: Your automated sends, your triggered sends, your transactional sends.

Now’s the time to remove yourself from your current situation and pretend you’ve been brought in to breathe new life into your email marketing campaigns. A new look, new templates, new content, new voice, even a new attitude.

Now’s the time to listen to your subscribers; Even if they don’t talk to you, they tell you a lot just from their actions. Find the nuggets of gold in your analytics that tell you what they like, what they don’t, what they buy, when they buy it, and how they buy it.

Find the important information and make a 90-day plan. Start with creative, punch it up, and make it memorable. Make your content ooze your voice and attitude. Give them a reason to convert. Test it all, and move forward with your unique accent in place.

Make sure your subscribers hear your accent in everything you do.

Because if you lose your accent and your voice, you’ll lose your subscribers. And that’s just not wicked cool even if you “Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd.”

Cheers, Chris