Your invitation email should follow four basic rules. It should:



1) Avoid spam filters


Spam filters may be triggered by various things. Avoid these common offenders in your invitation email:


  • all-caps subject lines
  • exclamation marks in the subject line
  • trigger words in the subject line or body of text, like 'free', 'urgent matter', 'act now', 'last chance'
  • an email with one big image and little to no text
  • lots of different fonts, font sizes, and text colors



2) Invite your customers to open the email


Your subject line should be brief, straightforward and friendly. Often a question works well. Examples of good subject lines:


  • How did we do?
  • We'd like your feedback
  • John, how was your experience?
  • We'd love to hear from you
  • Would you recommend us?


Examples of bad subject lines:


  • We would really appreciate your feedback about your recent purchase at out Eshop - too long
  • Give us your feedback now - too demanding
  • Did you miss this last time? - too patronizing



3) Convince your customers to click on the survey link


Some tips to increase the number of customers who will click on the survey link:


  • The text of your email should be brief and clear - don't expect your customer to read multiple paragraphs of text
  • Avoid shouty logos and varying fonts/colors - stick to a stylish and simple layout
  • The survey link should be obvious and easy to find (no need to scroll down) - a button always invites people to press it!
  • Mention how short the survey is - people often avoid surveys because they worry it will take them half an hour
  • Personalize the email with your customer's name (but make sure you have clean data!) and potentially with relevant transaction information
  • Put a face to the feedback request: for example use your CEO's name and photo in the signature
  • Tell your customer how you intend to user their feedback - make a promise



4) Be mobile-optimized


A significant and ever-increasing percentage of your customers will read your invitation email on a mobile device, so it's crucial that your template is optimized for a variety of screen sizes. Once you've finalized your invitation text and layout, you should view the test email on various devices - desktop, tablet and phone.