*by John Forde, whose free weekly e-Letter, “The Copywriter’s Roundtable” is definitely worth subscribing to.

Let me just preface this second bit by saying, I don’t know diddly about reality TV.

You know I say that, in part, because I’m subconsciously trying to say something about myself… “I’m not the reality-TV-watching type.”

But also because, if you happen to be a fan of same, I want you to forgive me if I get some of these facts wrong…

There’s a show, apparently, called the “Jersey Shore.” Maybe you’ve seen it. I haven’t, but I’m wondering if I should.

Partly because I can’t begin to tell you how many people made a reference to it when they heard we were about to rent a house for a week in Ocean City, NJ.

Growing up, my Philly-based family spent lots of time at the Jersey shore. And while it wasn’t exactly like
the “yo, yo, yo” kind of big-hair experience I understand you can find on the hit TV show, I’ve got
to admit that there’s something unique to “summering” in Jersey.

Each beach town is decidedly different. But overall, it’s a place you go to meet “regular” people. The
Mediterranean cost this ain’t. The bubbly on ice is beer, not champagne. And cookouts trump caviar, by a long shot.

Nor is it, as a recent Slate article pointed out, ”The Hills” — another reality show, apparently (how
is it I know nothing about what’s on TV these days?), that was all about the high and fashionable of
Beverly Hills.

What Slate pointed out is that the slick, plastic-enhanced face of “The Hills” plunged from popularity
along with the economy… as the raw earthiness of the “Jersey Shore” took its place.

I don’t know if I can go as far as Slate did in romanticizing the trend. But there does seem to be
something you can take away from all this.

When the going gets tough, the tough get real. It’s a metaphor. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it’s
an interesting one.

But it’s absolutely relevant to marketers. The face of the crowd is clearly changing. You’ll want to make sure your marketing efforts change with it too.

*This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter, located at www.bly.com

When you encourage prospects to act now instead of later, response rates increase.

1. One way to do this is to put a deadline on your offer.

Since third-class mail takes an average of 2 ½ weeks to be delivered nationwide, make the deadline at least 8 to 12 weeks from the mail drop date. Alternatively, for any mailing that goes out September or later, a good deadline date is December 31.

Copywriter David Yale recommends emphasizing that the deadline date is final by adding the phrase “it’s too late” as follows:
“This offer expires December 31, 2011. After that, it’s too late.”

For e-mail marketing, you can say the offer is good only if the recipient replies “today” or “this week.”

2. If you are not comfortable putting a deadline date on your mail piece, specify a time frame within which the reader must reply, e.g., “reply within the next 10 days.”

3. Or at least make it clear that this is a time-limited offer. Copywriter Milt Pierce suggests this wording:

“But I urge you to hurry. This offer is for a limited time only. And once it expires, it may never be repeated again.”

*This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter, located at www.bly.com

Measuring open and click-through rates can show you just how successful your e-mail marketing campaigns are.

But on the flip side, there’s another metric you should measure: the “complaint rate.” And if it’s too high, you could be in trouble.

Complaint rate is the percentage of recipients receiving your e-mail who complain to their ISP that you are spamming them.

According to e-mail deliverability expert Kevin Senne, the complaint rate should not exceed 0.2% — meaning a maximum of 2 spam complaints per 1,000 e-mails broadcast.

Warning: a number of e-mail services will refuse to distribute e-mails to your list if your spam complaint rate exceeds 0.2% or even 0.1%.

To lower your complaint rate to acceptable levels:

- Make your e-mail copy more content-heavy … and less sales-oriented.

- Ask subscribers what they want to read in your e-mails – and give it to them.

- E-mail your list less frequently.

Source: The Marketing Report