Rising above the mundane: The power of human creativity in email marketing

Summary:

With AI creating time efficiency on many tasks, marketers can (and should) increase their focus on creating richer, more connected, and more customer-centric content. By adding personality and emotion to emails, we can develop conversations beyond simple communication. As an example, I explore how a hotel's well-crafted webpages and emails, which focus on the human experience, to inspire your own campaigns.

Main copy:

I’ve just finished reading ‘Ted Talks The Official TED guide to Public Speaking’ by Chris Anderson (Head of TED) Lots of great tips on content creation tools, preparation and speaker delivery. But what really stood out for me was a reflection at the end of the book on what inspired him to take on TED. Something he refers to as “The age of knowledge” and what this means for us humans.

Chris makes the point (inspired from David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality) that the traditional value and purpose of knowledge was to acquire an ever-deeper specialist knowledge. A construct from the industrial age.

However, increasingly the specialist knowledge historically wielded by humans is being taken over by computers, from oil exploration to disease diagnosis. Sound familiar? And yes, I too have added to the volume of ChatGPT in email related articles!

So where do we fit in? Well simply and excitedly, to be more human. With the mundane and repetitive removed, we can begin to focus on rising above the time bound tasks that create the mediocre.  Instead, using our time to create something much richer, much more connected to each other. More innovative. More creative. More interaction focused.

I’ve long been an advocate of adding personality into emails. Of not being afraid of expressing emotion. Back in Aug 22 I wrote “Conversations, not just communications” looking at developing our emails beyond just simple communication. And in Dec 21 I wrote “From blank box to killer content” offering 3 proven methods to move from planning to customer-centric content.

So instead of greater amounts of time needed to gain ever more specialised knowledge, we can dedicate time to focus on how the expert knowledge now available to us with the stroke of a few keys on a keyboard can provide more…

• Contextual knowledge – how the puzzle parts fit together – think customer centric journey
• Creative knowledge – the ‘art’ to the ‘science’ of marketing
• Human connection – inform, inspire and entertain in your content

In part this exciting shift comes from a greater ability to share expertise. From being able to more easily learn from each other. I don’t need to learn everything the expert knows. What I do need to know is how your knowledge connects to everything else. Expanding the world view for each of us. Helping us all see how we are connected. And as marketers sparking new creativity and inspiration.

At a similar time to reading the book, I was booking an Easter mini break for the family. And for the first time in some time, absolutely delighted by the email and web content of the hotel we chose.

Let me share with you some of the digital journey to bring my desire for all great marketing to be more human to life (pun very much intended)

Webpage – OUR PHILOSOPHY (this copy sets a tone and expectation of experience)

Honest, fun, clever. An approach which easily feels to the reader like they are being put front and centre. A balanced mix sharing the ‘behind the scenes’ internal approach and how this results in excellent customer experience.

Email – PRE STAY

Before I’ve even read the email, I’m walking on the beach. Welcoming and with the simple provision of a well written guide of what to do – this really got the excitement up. Not just about the activity options, but also as an indication of the hotel experience to come.

On site – THE DIRECTORY (all you need to know to make the most of the stay, but with a copy approach that made me want to read every element, just for the entertainment)

How often are the FAQs of a brand dry and boring. This really takes a conversational and witty approach to the task in hand. Whilst still promoting the products and services available.

Email – POST STAY SURVEY (ISH)

For me this sums up the human approach to these digital interactions.

• Slightly long form conversational approach – thank you and hope you had a good journey home.
• Invite to share view, but in a unique and conversational way
• A promise that this response is being sent to a human and will be read

If I was to offer one consideration to this email it would be to include the response email address in the copy, as well as the link. ‘Mailto:’ links can be a little tricky depending on the subscribers’ email solution. Having said that, the email comes from the same address, so a reply would reach the intended destination.

Summary

As I’m writing this blog, I’ve just seen the following from our friends at RedEye ‘Experiments Lab’ showcasing their first ‘GenerativeAI’ experiment. A subject line generator which scans your email creatives from within the build platform. Check out their video on it. 

With less and less time needed for the mundane or specialist, we are free to make the effort to connect through truly creative executions. For email (and marketing in general) this means an elevation of quality and approach. No mundane, boring sterile communications for us. Time to bring your campaigns to true life.

Photo by Sarah Wolfe on Unsplash