I can’t really imagine life without email, but it certainly doesn’t have all the advantages of face to face communications. In fact there’s no face at all.

Here’s a simple tip which may help improve your conversions and retention..

An email I received today really grabbed my attention. It was the type of communication that I usually discard upon reading the first few words as most of these types of emails are just boilerplate, but in this case the sender had included a small photo of himself in the sig line. There was nothing else special about the email format; it was otherwise very plain.

It caught me off-guard a little; imagine that - a human face staring back at me; the face of the sender. Who was this person? So I read the entire email. And there you have it; the sender achieved part of his goal - for the recipient to actually read what was sent.

The other goal that the email achieved through the inclusion of the photo was credibility. I found myself giving his proposal more consideration that I usually would.

Such a simple idea, but in my opinion, really effective. I was trying to remember the last time I’d received an email like this; and aside from newsletters containing author pics or very corporate/professionally designed mass communications; I really can’t remember an instance.

I can see this strategy being a particularly useful when attempting to establish partnerships with other site owners; those of us who get a little jaded by approaches and have gotten well past the stage of inbox excitement :). This could also be particularly beneficial in support and pre-sales communications by humanizing these processes a little more and perhaps improving retention and conversion.

It’s something I’m definitely going to give a whirl - now the challenge is to find a photo of myself where I’m not grimacing, forcing a smile or looking constipated :).