VIRAL: 10 Things That Make You Forward E-mails

Most of these are obvious, but point number 9 is why most progressive viral campaigns aren't compelling enough to go viral.

The world's inboxes are crammed with e-mails containing jokes, pictures, movies, tests or games and which are sent to millions of people within a few hours. They're not just the preserve of skilled hobbyists, they are increasingly part of advertisers' strategies to create so-called "viral" campaigns. What is it about the best e-mails which makes them so compelling?

1. They must be funny. And, for some reason, it's a fairly coarse sort of humour which does best. Pete Brown, who runs Boreme.com, a site which collates the best viral e-mails, says: "Sport and sex do very well - really because it's the laddish humour which seems to be most popular. They work well for homemade or commercial e-mails, especially if they are crude or gross."

2. If they're not funny, then they have to be topical or somehow "shocking, clever, strange or surprising". Topical ones are usually homemade, simply because professionally made e-mails take longer to produce. A good example was David Beckham taking tips from Jonny Wilkinson on how to kick the ball over the bar, says Pete Brown. "There was a thought bubble over Beckham's head which registered simply 'ball... bar... over... win'." It worked well after England lost to Portugal in Euro 2004 - Beckham having missed a crucial penalty - because it was done quickly, he says.

3. E-mails must be a bit risky to be shocking or funny, says Chris Hassell of creative agency DS.Emotion, which makes viral e-mails for advertisers. Some advertisers will want to have a viral e-mail for people to send round as part of their campaigns, he says, but rein it back too much and "it ends up being just like a TV advert - and who wants to send that round?"

4. But not too risky. People know that employers can - and sometimes do - monitor people's inboxes. Anything that is too explicit, particularly sexually, is unlikely to be forwarded very far.

5. They must be in the right format. In the early days, most e-mails which would get sent round would be in plain text. Doctored photographs came later, but Pete Brown says the growth of movies has been marked in the last year. "That's linked to the rise of broadband, probably. But people's expectations about interactivity have increased too, and if the viral is a game, it's got to be good."

6. You've got to want to be associated with it. The whole point of sending an e-mail on to a friend is that it becomes a reflection on the sender, says Pete Brown. "A good e-mail that you pass on to your friends says something about you. You are choosing to pass on this particular joke to this particular friend. It partly says that you care about them to bother keeping open a channel of communication. It also says something about the type of person you are."

7. If it's a commercially-produced e-mail, then it's got to be for the right sort of brand. Chris Hassell thinks Ford made a mistake by distancing itself from an advert which showed a cat being decapitated by a sunroof. Following complaints from animal protection charities, the car giant said the film was an agency's idea they had never endorsed or intended for release. But Hassell says it would have done little to the brand's image among young people to have said nothing.

8. If movies have come from an advertising agency, the branding must be very subtle. "People aren't stupid - they're not going to send round something which is basically a TV advert," says Hassell. Brown adds that the e-mailed game which impressed him most was actually quite difficult to complete, and it was only when players reached the final level that they discovered it had come from Dyson.

9. Don't be politically correct says Brown. "We have never found a PC viral e-mail," he says. If it's about politicians, then it cannot show any respect.

10. Ignore points one to nine - Brown says finding the right e-mail which will go round the world depends on having the X-factor, something novel which will grab people's attention and distract them long enough from their work. [ BBC ]

VIRAL: Hey! You've Got To Hide Your Code Away

GM Leaves Answer to National Billboard Campaign Puzzle On Website
GM has launched a unique national outdoor campaign that reveals a new, one word billboard each day. On January 31, when all 17 boards are revealed, a sentence will be formed. The campaign includes a website called findthemessage which reveals each day's word and places it in proper order, provides message boards for people across the nation, prior to January 31, to work together towards solving the puzzle and allows visitors to enter a sweepstakes to win 100 daily prizes along with one grand prize consisting of a choice between eight new 2005 GM cars. So far, 6 of the 17 words have been revealed. The 17th word appears to simply be a period leaving 10 more words to be revealed.

However, all the words are readily available in the source code of the findthemessage website. One programming-literate literate sole on the message boards claims the sentence is, "This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation's highways.," pointing to the possibility GM will offer OnStar in all of its vehicles and to the source code of the website's Flash file easily visible to those who have the technological know-how. Oops. Either the site's creators embedded the answer on purpose to throw people off or GM spent a ton of money only to have the fun taken out of the campaign. Just as we're assured of hearing "You're Fired" on tonight's The Apprentice debut, we're certain to hear the same words screamed by an angered GM marketing executive very soon. [ AdRants ]

POLITICS: The Death of Top-Down Politics?

Michael Agosta, CTSG's resident demographic data and research smart guy, responds to Micah L. Sifry's article on AlterNet, The Rise of Open-Source Politics:

I think before we pronounce this: The era of top-down politics is over.

We need to consider this: Karl Rove used "top down politics" and he kinda handed our collective backsides to us.

I agree the political landscape is dramatically changing, but what I wish the commentators would address, though, are the problems with the new landscape.

A blog full of comments...

• Doesn't produce a unified message.
• Doesn't produce movement leaders. This very problem, I'd argue, all but wiped out the anti-globalization protest movement. A "movement of movements" is anarchy not a coalition for real change in the real world and it tends not to be sustainable.
• Isn't a scientific subsample of the activist universe. What we likely see in the blogosphere is a vocal minority. Look at MoveOn's post election conference call (where the leftmost folks told 'em the number one priorities should be fighting the "stolen" election and working on a very inchoate notion of "media reform."
  

Direct Democracy damn near killed the Sierra Club, too, when 2% of the most vocal anti-immigration loons damn hijacked the entire Board of Directors.

Blogworld does give the wings a voice, but it's important to try to measure how big those wings are vis a vis the total populace. 600K members sounds great (the size of Dean's database at it's zenith) until you consider that at the eve of the Iowa primary a smidgeon under 1/2 of his online donations came from 21 very liberal counties and only managed to grab 18% of the vote on caucus day. When you subtract the curious, the bounced emails and the thousands of press folks logged on, you maybe had 450K real Deaniacs. That's roughly 4 tenths of 1 percent of the folks that ultimately cast ballots in November.

EMAIL: Subject Line Best Practices

Sarah Haug has pulled together some solid info on email subject line best practices. Learn 'em, envangelize 'em, and put 'em to use before the next blast to your list.

In the most recent DoubleClick Consumer Email Study, 35% of responders said that the subject line was the most important driver in inciting them to open an email (60% cited the From address as the biggest driver).

Tactics to keep in mind when writing a subject line:

1. Clearly state the purpose of the email, requiring minimal interpretation. For example,

BAD: “Newsletter Name, Vol 1”
GOOD: “Newsletter Name: 10 Tips for Saving Energy”

2. Create a connection with the reader by using “you” in the subject line.

BAD: Save the Rainforest
GOOD: You Can Save the Rainfores

3. If possible, provide geographical link to the reader.

In an email test by the Boston Museum of Science, the “Ancient Egyptian artifacts coming to the Museum of Science” email subject line drew a 30% better response than the subject line “Exclusive Egyptian exhibit coming soon.”1

BAD: “Protect Clean Water”
GOOD: “Protect the Natural Waters in Your Area”

4. If the content is timely, be certain to express the timeliness of the content in the subject line.

A great example: during the Presidential debates, a Sierra Insider with subject line: “The Debate You Didn’t See” had a 37% unique open rate.

However, be careful not to cross the line and use words which may trigger spam filters, such as “urgent”, “hurry”, or “Breaking News.”

5. Use direct, specific appeals rather than indirect general appeals. For example,

BAD: "Oceans at risk - protect sea lions in Alaska, dolphins in Japan"
GOOD: "Protect sea lions in Alaska, stop dolphin killings in Japan"

The "Oceans at risk" summary is unnecessary and turns off readers.2

6. Only focus on one topic or action in the subject line.

BAD: "Just Say No to Arctic Drilling and Protect Caribou”
GOOD: “Just Say No to Arctic Drilling”

7. If the subject line uses negative wording, also try to offer a solution in the subject line.

BAD: “Bush’s Anti-Environmental Regulations”
GOOD: “You Can Stop Bush’s Anti-Environmental Regulations”

8. Try to use creative wording.

Instead of writing: ‘Top 10 Tips to Save the Environment’, try ‘Saving the Environment Takes 10 Easy Steps’.

9. Be familiar with words, phrases and formats which may trigger spam filters.

It’s surprising to learn that “Oprah” was a spam term in 2003.

Check Spam Filter before finalizing your subject line.

A few terms to avoid: All natural, Be amazed, Being a member.

*Remember - This also applies to your email content as well.

10. Other formatting to avoid which may trigger spam filters is:

Excessive capitalization.

Overuse of punctuation – Never use exclamation points or special characters.

11. Based on recent testing, subject lines shorter than 50 characters long in length lead to increased open rates.

Subject length 0-49 characters, open rate 27%.

Subject line length 50+ characters, open rate 23.7%3.

.....................................

Sources Cited:

1. Joanne Hunt Blatte, ed., Email Marketing Metrics Guide Second Edition,
(MarketingSherpa, Inc, 2003), 55.

2. Andrew Stocking, Some Thoughts About Subject Lines

3. Loren McDonald, How Message Size, # of Links and Subject Length Affects Email Results – Shorter Subject Lines Rule

4. Loren McDonald, Optimizing Your Subject & From Lines for Email Clients