Too many business owners and professionals think about email marketing as one-way communication. The problem is that when it’s one-way, you don’t know if anyone is listening or paying attention.

From my vantage point, email marketing – like all direct marketing – needs to be two-way. In other words, you need to get something back for what you’re giving away. That “something back” could be an email address, a telephone number, a request for additional information, a brief (two to three question) survey, a downloadable audio file, a link to a video, and so on.

When the recipient of one of your emails clicks through to a video, email marketing systems such as Constant Contact provide statistics that tell you that that specific recipient did, and when. With that information in hand, you can go back to that recipient with a phone call or additional email message that’s more tailored to the needs of the prospect or client.

Let me give you an example. I was recruited by a local business to help them increase the effectiveness of their email marketing. The problem was that they gave everything – too much – away in every message. They knew it was important to educate prospects and clients, so their email messages would include something like “10 best practices” articles.

When I came onboard, I replaced their “give away everything” messages with a two-step approach. I gave away “3 best practices,” but then said, “There are many more than 3 best practices. Click here to see them all.”

By doing this, we were able to see which prospects and clients clicked through. Depending on the campaign, this would initiate a phone call from one of the sales reps or result in sending them another report.

Now, the emails we send have numerous links. Depending on which link prospects and clients pursue, the company knows how best to respond.

When email marketing becomes two-way, it becomes a more powerful marketing tool.

Personalization in marketing messages assumes that you know something about the people you’re marketing to. It can be an effective way to keep clients coming back, but be careful how you use it.

Here is a simple and safe strategy. A greater amount of personalization is best suited for house lists or with clients who have purchased from you before. After all, you talk with them, and they talk to you. Naturally, they expect that you know many things about them and their buying habits. When you become familiar or even chummy with them, it is because they opened the door first.

Conversely, use less personalization when you haven’t previously done business with a prospect. If you use too much personalization with people you don’t know, your prospects may see this as an invasion of privacy. It’s similar to assuming you can be on a first-name basis with the president and CEO of your biggest client before you’ve been formally introduced.

Sometimes, in a sales letter or other direct marketing materials, less personalization is actually more convincing than too much. The key is to write the letter as if you were writing to someone you know. Typically, in this case, you don’t use the person’s name in every paragraph. Nor do you make frequent references to specific personal data, unless it is relevant.

At the right point in your correspondence, you might say, “Thanks, John. As always, we sincerely appreciate your interest and support.”

Some new prospects may not care about personalization. They may simply want you to get right to the point. They only want to know about your product, service, or offer. If they’re not going to care whether or not you address them by name, why invest in the extra money?

When you use personalization wisely, it’s powerful and it works well. It attracts attention. It increases readership.

When you create and deploy a sales or marketing message of any kind, address it to the people who work at those companies, not to the companies themselves. Ultimately, a person makes the decision to buy; “the company” doesn’t.

When you deploy an offer to a company, the least favorable way to address your solicitation is: Dear Acme Company. Who gets it? The janitor? The president?

A somewhat better approach is to address your marketing message to: Dear Purchasing Agent. You are getting warmer. At least you’re directing the mail to the right corner of the building.

Naturally, the best approach is to address it by name: Clark Kent, Purchasing Agent. There is no doubt that you’ll reach the real Superman in the company — the one who will be making the buying decision.

The purchasing agent may need to get approval from others, but it’s other individuals he confers with, not “the company.”

As you develop your strategy and write your copy, picture your prospects. Imagine them sitting neatly in a row on top of your computer screen. Glance up every now and then. Call them by name; get to know them.

By the way, mailing to a household is very different. After all, the family is a very different assembly of people from a business or organization. Family members set priorities. They talk and compromise. The family ultimately does make decisions together.

The words guarantee or guaranteed are incredibly powerful. When you offer a guarantee, you assure your prospects they can buy with confidence.

After all, you couldn’t and wouldn’t offer such a great guarantee if your products didn’t perform as you claimed. A guarantee is a customer service commitment. You promise to fix and adjust, and even provide solace for their inconvenience.

Guarantees in your marketing offers can be simple, dramatizing your confidence in your product or service. “Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.” It starts to look almost like a free trial, doesn’t it? It says that your prospects can try it freely, knowing from the outset it may be returned if necessary.

Guarantees in offers will help direct behavior. “Guaranteed for two years if you use your credit card.” People will reach for their Visa if it means the warranty is twice as good or lasts twice as long.

Guarantees in offers help you build solid, long-term relationships with your customers. “Because you are a valued customer, we’ll extend the factory warranty to two years.”

People like guarantees, and so do you. Say you are presented with two similar products at similar prices and terms offered by two experienced, quality companies. One company offers a guarantee; the other does not. Go ahead. Place your order.

By the way, your guarantee, no matter how good it is, has no value unless you back it up, advertise it, and promote it. Display your guarantee proudly and prominently, in as many ways as you can.

An experienced, successful marketing writer tells of his most humbling early lesson in learning to write concisely.

After many English and creative writing courses, he still did not “get it.” Something happened between the time he thought his thought, and when he tried to put those thoughts to paper.

While working on his master’s thesis, he met weekly with his advisor. At each meeting, he hoped to dazzle his advisor with his recent efforts.

But at each meeting, his advisor would patiently read and review the recent writing attempts. Her expression was invariably thoughtful — yet lacking any visual reaction that the young would-be writer could read. Then slowly, quietly, and deliberately, the advisor took the pages of narrative and turned them face down on her desk.

Lifting her eyes, she asked the would-be writer, “What are you trying to say?”

In a sentence or two, the eager student related in plain English what he had labored so many hours trying to say in perfect prose.

“If that is what you are trying to say,” the advisor responded, “then say it — and nothing more.”

Most people speak effortlessly. They know what they want to say, and they say it. It may not be perfect English, but it is effective communication… and that’s the key! Ask that person to write those thoughts, and the English language comes to a dead halt.

Writing can be as effortless as speaking — if you don’t make it harder than it is. If you said to your hostess after a gala party, “Thanks for a lovely party — we had a great time. You have a lovely home, and you are such gracious hosts!” If that’s what you’d say face to face, say that in your note. You need nothing more because there is nothing more to say.

Before you start writing, ask yourself, “What am I trying to say?” Listen to your answer and to the simplicity of your response. Then begin writing.

When you finish a sentence or two, or a paragraph, ask the other valuable question about each sentence and paragraph you write: “Have I said what I was trying to say? Or, is my attempt to be a great writer getting in the way of understanding?”

You may never be a William Shakespeare, but your prospects will know what you’re selling and how it benefits them. That is what really counts.

Asking “What am I trying to say?” as an editor of someone else’s work is a proven way to test whether that copy gets the job done effectively.

Rarely does the family — or office staff — gather around when a sales letter arrives to read it aloud together. In marketing — and direct marketing especially — you are talking to one person at a time.

While you think of all your clients as a single, large group, they see themselves as individuals. Letters written to “Dear Friends” or “Dear Homeowners” rob familiarity from your marketing solicitations.

A simple change in salutation (and the tone) to a one-at-a-time “Dear Homeowner” or “Dear Friend” can set it all right again.