Viral Email. Should you bother trying?

The other day in Sydney I was discussing the use of 'viral' email marketing messages with one of the delegates at my sales training course. If you don't know, a viral email is one that is sent from person to person (like a virus) because the recipient thinks it is cute, funny, helpful, goofy, or just worth passing on.

From my perspective, the problem is that research shows only 15% of these viral email campaigns are successful in getting people to forward the emails on. And that is for emails that have been specifically designed to be interesting enough to catch on as a 'virus'.

The research also highlights that only 3% of 18-24 year olds pass on messages. Whereas 10% of the 45-54 year age group have forwarded a viral message.

So my advice for most businesses is to focus on communicating information your clients and prospects will find helpful. The objective is to attract them to your business - not to be entertaining.

We all remember some TV ad's, radio ad's or quirky video's that caught our attention. But how many of us can remember the product, service, or purpose of those same messages? Not many I would bet.

Some people in the creative/agency world might think my comments are too rational and 'left brain' thinking. They might argue that prospects respond to the creativeness of viral emails.

Yes... I agree that being 'creative' can attract attention. But the real business challenge is to convert that attention into revenue.