Three Simple Ways to Humanize Your Email Marketing

I am always surprised at the number of emails I receive from companies that have clearly been written without any effort being to connect with me as an individual.

This lost opportunity is most evident when I provide my email address to a company for the very first time. Maybe I sign up for a newsletter, maybe I register for some kind of service, maybe I buy a product.

Almost without exception, the automated emails I receive to confirm the action I have just taken are uniformly drab and impersonal.

When a customer first gives you his or her email address, you have a small window of opportunity. Customers are expecting a confirmation email from you. They are waiting for it. And when it arrives, almost 100% of people will open it.

In other words, this is your first and best chance to make a great impression. Do you or your company take full advantage of that opportunity?

Here are three simple things you can do to "humanize" any email communication.

1. Communicate as a person, not as a business

People don't want to hear from a computer. They want to hear from you.
So include some elements in your email that are one-to-one—from one human being to another. A photo or video of sales rep on a landing page is a powerful way to connect on a human level.

2. Add a real name at the end of each email

Many emails are signed by "The Domainname.com Team" or something like that.
Well, if the head of that team is called John Frost, sign the emails with the name "John Frost."

Make it from a person. There is no power in sending an email and signing it as a corporation or a team. There is no connection there. When you do that, every opportunity to take advantage of this most personal of online media is lost.

3. Add your real address and other contact information

When I receive an email that closes with the complete mailing address of the sender, it immediately boosts my feelings of trust and confidence in that company.

When "John Frost" also adds his own email address and phone number, then the connection I feel with that company rises immeasurably.

When I get complete contact information, I know that I am being valued as an individual. And I know that the company is taking full and complete responsibility for its communications.

I have trusted them by providing my own email address. In turn, they trust me with their own, personal contact information.