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01.15.08
What Can You Learn From Evil Spammers?
 By
Michael Stelzner
Got spam? Those never-ending messages seem to arrive in my in-box a lot.
Despite the fact that spammers are evil, we can learn a lot about getting attention by examining their tactics.
The fact is these guys actually are successful or we would not see more and more of their messages bombarding us.
Their magic weapon is the subject line. More specifically,
a compelling headline that gets us to act, namely open the email.
Michel Fortin (a master copywriter) recently dissected spammer headline tactics. You can learn A LOT by taking a close look at what follows.
1. Imply a sense of urgency
Some of the most profitable email campaigns have subject lines that have some element of scarcity. You see this with subject lines like, "It ends tonight at midnight!", "There are only 4 left", "One spot just opened up", etc.
But don't just limit yourself to an event. You can also use situations to communicate fear of loss, which inherently creates tension. For example:
• "When she learned my secrets…"
• "Unless you do this, you are lost!"
• "The sneaky mind trick they use on you"
• "You are losing money right now!"
2. Push the curiosity button
For example, the subject line starts with "It all started when…" and in the body of the email, it goes on with "… She told me about this website!" The subject says "I've never had a chance to…" followed in the email by "… tell you about this amazing secret!" Or the subject says "Don't leave me…" continued with "… hanging by not responding to this offer." You get the picture.
The best curiosity subject lines are those that really tease not by omission but by implication. In fact, one curiosity-building tactic that works quite well is to tempt an open by implying that the answer to a question is within your email.
• "The real reason people gain weight"
• "No joke! Shocking study proves laughter is dangerous"
• "Is he cheating? Find out with these 6 tell-tale tips"
3. Spark controversy
The word "controversial," by definition, means "of a diverging viewpoint," "opinionated," "disputed," "arguable," "contentious," etc. Being controversial simply means to be different.
Take a look at some of Michel's headlines that spark controversy:
What are some other lessons spammers can teach us? Do you have any other strategies that you have employed to improve open rates?
Comments
About the Author:
Visit http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/ for extensive resources on crafting compelling white papers and applying creative marketing tactics.
Michael A. Stelzner is the author of the new book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged and has written nearly 100 white papers for companies such as Microsoft, FedEx, Motorola, Monster and SAP.
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