I recently received the following unsolicited e-mail.

Hello, we’re very pleased to announce that our new website has been launched – please check it out and feel free to provide feedback or comments!

There was nothing else in the e-mail except the URL.

What do you think most people would do when receiving this?

It offers no benefit for clicking on it, no clues as to why I might be interested. Unless I’m a good customer or I know you, I’m very unlikely to do anything except block you as a sender or complain that you are spamming me. At best I might delete it.

This business owner who sent this made almost every common mistake made by novice marketers. Sadly, this person is almost certainly unaware of what they could have done to increase response.

StreetSmart Marketers avoid falling into the trap of thinking that people are interested in what they have to say. They offer solutions to problems their prospects may be having, they provide benefits for taking action and they promise readers benefits for reading what they have written. Each sentence serves only to draw the reader in.

This e-mail failed on all accounts. Don’t fall into this kind of trap, it will undermine your results.