As a blogger, I receive several news releases from individuals and PR agencies. They’ve been professional in content and appearance, until the one I got today. Ouch.
Hello,
I am contacting you to let you know about the very latest press release published by my company. Please click on the link below to access it.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information.
Thank you very much.
Are you scratching your head right about now? I know I did!
Just off the bat:
- Who’s sending this? There’s no signature.
- The url of the sending e-mail does not match the name of the company in the press release link. That arouses suspicion that this is SPAM.
- The e-mail did not include my name in the salutation. Hello? Hello who???
- This does not encourage me to click the link at all.
- At first, I thought this may be from someone out of country. But, no! The individual lives in my city! (I did the research.)
Using the same format this sender did, here’s how it could have been improved.
- Personalize the salutation. If the sender has the recipient e-mail list, then surely, there’s a first name that goes each address.
- Ensure that every reference to the organization is consistent. Otherwise, it can look fishy – or phishy, whichever you prefer.
- Sign the bloody e-mail message! How can you build credibility without a name, title, and organization name.
Got any more to add?