I listened to a webinar from our friends at Vertical Response, and these are their email no-nos.
Not that you would ever, but don’t put:
- Apply now
- As seen on Oprah
- Call now
- Check out
- Compare
- Credit
- Herbal
- Instant loans
- Offer
- Opportunity
- Lose weight
- Cash
- Free
- Offer
- Casino
And
- Dear
“Dear” is the only one that befuddled me a little bit. But if you pay attention to the actual SPAM that you get – and you know which ones I’m talking about – those who are not of American decent often use it as a singular greeting; they don’t grasp that it is traditionally followed by a name, grammatically speaking.
“As seen on Oprah” also made me chuckle, but Oprah’s name carries a lot of marketing weight (figuratively speaking), so it would make sense that if you wanted someone to notice you’re product you might want them to think it’s been seen on Oprah. Well, that would be nice, and probably helpful, if it were true. But more often than not, it’s not true.
I have found myself using some of the other words, just in the context of a marketing conversation, like “opportunity”, “compare” and “check out.” Running into these words provides not only a frustration, but a creative opportunity – I mean occasion – to find other ways to define our capabilities.
