Campaigns we like: FT.com

Service type messaging can often be overlooked as less glamorous in terms of theemail customer lifecycle. However, these types of messages can be critical when you make changes to the technical or administrative elements in an email marketing programme, for example a new “from domain”.

This is exactly what FT.com recently did in this example. From a subscriber perspective the subject line was eye-catching “FT Email Briefings: Important information”. As a subscriber or recipient the language in the subject line encouraged me to open – as anemail marketer I admired the use of “Important” as a powerful and emotive word that encourages interaction.

Strong email content
I was further delighted by the copywriting, which was short, sharp, to the point and answered most of the how, why, what, when and where questions, namely:

How?
Description of how the change impacts the subscriber i.e. from one domain to the new domain

Why?
A punchy description of why the change is being made, further made more impactful with what the gain is for the subscriber, namely “…delivered correctly and on time”

What?
A clear description of what is changing in the “from domain”

When?
Clear timeframes when the change was planned i.e. from 22 March

Where?
Email and telephone details were included in case the subscriber had questions.

Further, reading as a subscriber I was quickly able to understand “What’s in it for me?”– specifically that if I want to ensure that I receive the messages after the specified “from domain” date change then I’d have to take some action. From a deliverability standpoint marketers can often miss the opportunity to add a domain to address book, which can be one of the simplest steps that a brand can take to aid inbox placement.

Finally, and given that the FT.com Email Briefings series provides relevant information and content to a predominately business audience, the copy and approach of this email struck a resoundingly on brand note with me. It ticked all of the boxes and I always want to ensure I continue to receive the content so promptly added the new from domain to my address book.

Richard Gibson, director client Services, Northern Europe, Return Path

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