Life, Hope & Truth's Email and Website Analysis based on Direct Marketing Strategy, Design, and more

Introduction to Life, Hope & Truth

The email and website that will be discussed in this week’s blog are Life Hope & Truths. Their website can be found at lifehopeandtruth.com. Life, Hope & Truth is an outreach website for the church, Church of God a Worldwide Association. The goal of the website is to spread awareness of the gospel message to all.

Email Analysis

The email that I will be analyzing was sent in August 2017. Many of the Life Hope & Truth emails look the same. They are sent from info@lifehopeandtruth.com and their subject line is the title of an article on the website. When opening the email, the first thing you see is a hero image with the same title of the article and a stock photo illustration. Underneath, you again find the title of the article, then the author. After that are a few sentences of the beginning of the article and then an orange “continue reading” button. Underneath, you find a CAN SPAM compliant footer that states “You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive blog updates from lifehopeandtruth.com” and an unsubscribe link, then the business name and address for Life Hope & Truth.

Direct Marketing

The email is great direct marketing, as it is simply letting the receiver know that a new blog has been posted, and includes the topic of the blog as well as a preview of what the receiver will find if they click the Continue Reading button. It’s a simple but effective traffic driver.

Design

I would also say that the design is very successful, because the eye is drawn to the header image and then the bright orange continue reading button. The message that one will read a blog with the title that is illustrated in the header image upon clicking the Continue Reading button is very obvious. The only trick is trying to have content that is compelling enough to warrant a click.

Compliancy

As stated before, the email is CAN-SPAM compliant. It is obvious that the email is coming from Life, Hope, and Truth and the unsubscribe button at the bottom is there. Also, since this is an email list that people must sign up for to be added to, there is another layer of non-spam here. Nobody will receive these updates unless they ask for them.

Changes

There are very few changes that I would make to the design of this email as I feel it is very effective. My main one would be the subject line. Since the article title can be found upon clicking into the email, I’m thinking something more prompting to the click through action or more thought could be used. The sample email I’m looking for has the blog title: “Three Tips for Dealing With Stress” as the subject line. If I were sending out this email I might change it to something like: “Stressed? Read our New Blog Post” or “New Blog: Dealing with Stress.” Questions in subject lines can be effective. Seeing a subject line asking someone if they are stressed may prompt the question: “Well, am I stressed?” which means the blog has already provoked thought in the end user before they have even clicked through.

Website Analysis

Now onto Lifehopeandtruth.com, the home of Life, Hope & Truth. The website will be analyzed according to the 4 Internet I’s as well as the critical strategy elements of Direct Marketing. Both of these can be found in “Internet marketing: integrating online and offline strategies.”

The 4 Internet I’s

The 4 Internet I’s from “Internet marketing” ask: Is the website interactive? Is it Information Driven? Immediate? And finally is it Involving? I would say that the website is very interactive. One of the first things that comes up on the homepage is the search bar. It encourages search by keyword so that information can be found. There are also many clickable buttons and a clickable banner ad on the front page. This all encourages a lot of interactivity.

The website is also information driven. It is essentially a resource for those searching for biblical answers. It includes articles, blogs, Q&As, downloadable booklets, and much more. Additionally, the website is very immediate and has quick loading times. The website is mostly involving, though as mentioned before there is a lot of text and not as many videos. Videos are considered much more involving than text on the internet today, and it is something the website could do more of.

Direct Marketing Strategy

The direct marketing strategy consists of : the offer, the list, the media used, creative execution, and service and support. Life Hope and Truth’s offer is simply their gospel message. The website asks that people take an interest in the message they are trying to get across and get more serious about their faith. I think that everything on the site serves as a support for the offer and it is successful in this. The list is basically the “targeting vehicle” according the “Internet Marketing.”

 Life Hope & Truth primarily uses social media marketing and SEO marketing to target their audience. These are great places that people looking for religious answers may find themselves, and I think they are again successful here. The media used here, a website, is a great place to have an interactive repository of information. The creative execution is very good as well, with engaging articles and interesting religious topics. The final direct marketing strategy is service and support. The Q & A section of the website is a great example of the kind of support and service the website provides. Anyone who reaches out for more information will be contacted back either via email or social media, or a posting in the Q & A area.  Overall, the site does very well with it’s direct marketing strategy.