They’re valuable. Your bonus should be something you can easily sell for $25, $50 or more.
They’re in-demand. Simply put, a bonus needs to be something your audience wants, so be sure to do your market research before you create your bonus.
They’re highly related to the main offer. Indeed, the bonus ideally should make it easier or better to use the main offer.
They’re easy-to-deliver. Your bonus won’t be very effective for you if you need to deliver it manually. Be sure your bonus is easy to deliver so that high volume doesn’t put a damper on your campaigns.
What sort of bonus or incentive can you offer to grow your business? Check out these ideas:
Ebooks or reports.
Videos.
Audios.
Access to membership sites.
Access to a private group.
Coaching/consulting.
Done-for-you offers or services.
Webinars.
Checklists.
Worksheets.
Templates.
Swipes.
Cheat sheets.
Planners or calendars.
Apps, software or plugins.
Coupons.
Free trials.
Multipart ecourse.
Here’s the next tip…
10 Ways to Use Bonuses to Grow Your Business
There are a whole lot of ways to use bonuses and incentives to grow your business. These include:
Add value to affiliate offers (which boosts conversions).
Boost conversions on your own offers.
Retain members in a membership site.
Reduce refunds.
Receive more customer referrals.
Motivate affiliates.
Encourage people to share content.
Get people to join a webinar.
Give people an extra incentive to request a lead magnet.
Offer people an incentive for requesting a quote or trial.
This isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list. Think about what you want your prospects, customers, and affiliates to do and how you can give them an incentive to take that specific action.
How to Use Bonuses to Overcome Buying Objections
One good way to boost conversions is by using bonuses to overcome buying objections.
For example, let’s suppose you’re selling a weight-loss product and the buyer objection is this: “I’m too busy to follow this diet.”
You can overcome this objection by offering a bonus that makes it quick and easy to follow the diet, such as a package of meal plans, quick recipes, and accompanying shopping lists.
How to Use Bonuses to Boost Affiliate Sales
When you’re promoting an affiliate offer, you have a lot of competition. One way to both overcome this competition and boost your affiliate paycheck is by offering bonuses.
Here’s the key: you need to offer something that’s highly related to the main offer. It should be something that makes using the main product easier and better.
For example, if you’re promoting a copywriting course, then you might offer a package of sales letter templates and swipes as a bonus to those who purchase through your affiliate link.
How to Use Bonuses to Sell More Products/Services
You can boost your conversions on your own products by offering bonuses. This increases the perceived value of the overall offer and pushes people towards the buying decision.
Again, the key is to give people something that’s really in demand and something that complements the main offer. For example, if you’re selling a weight-loss course, then you might offer a meal-planning app as a bonus.
How to use Bonuses in a Membership Site
Offering bonuses in a membership site is not only a great way to boost conversions, but you can also use it to retain members. This works really well if you offer delayed bonuses.
For example:
Offer a new monthly bonus for every month that a customer retains their membership.
Offer a bonus every three months.
Offer a “graduation” bonus if it’s a fixed-term membership site.
In order to make a bonus or incentive as effective as possible, you need to spread the word that you’re offering the bonus. Here are 15 places to promote your bonus:
Sales page.
Lead page.
On the order form.
On an upsell/OTO page.
Via email.
Sidebar of a blog.
Blog header.
Blog content.
On a notification/attention bar.
Embedded in a coupon.
On social media.
In a signature file.
In a “members only” area.
On a forum or in a group.
During a webinar.
Next…
5 Examples of Creating Related Bonuses
One of the keys to creating a great bonus is to be sure it’s highly related to the main offer. But what does that mean, exactly? Check out these examples to get a better idea:
Once you get your email campaigns up and running, you’re not quite done. Now comes one of the most important parts: you need to optimize these campaigns in order to get great results.
See, just because a campaign is delivering some good results to you doesn’t mean it’s a good campaign. With a few simple tweaks, you may be able to double, triple or even quadruple your responses. In order to figure out what really works and what doesn’t, you need to scientifically test and track responses. That way you’re not throwing good money (or time) after bad.
So, with that in mind, check out these 17 insights for interpreting and improving your email campaign results…
1. What Can You Track and Test?
You can track, test and optimize every part of your email campaigns. This includes:
Traffic sources. The quality of your leads is going to depend on the quality of your traffic, so be sure to test your traffic sources to determine which ones produce the best quality leads. (Also, you’ll want to optimize your ad campaigns in order to boost your overall response.)
Lead page. Here you’ll test all parts of your lead page itself in order to maximize your conversion rate.
Lead magnet. You can test everything from the type of lead magnet to its title to its graphics.
Emails. This includes every part of the email, from the subject line to the opener to the call to action to the design.
Offers. You’ll want to test different products and different offers for those products to see which ones your audience responds to the best.
We’ll be looking at these five main categories in more detail in this guide, so keep reading…
2. Decide What to Test
While you can test just about everything under the sun, you shouldn’t do that. That’s because there are some tweaks that are going to produce very small results. It’s a much better use of your time to focus on the big factors that will produce the best results for you.
The 80-20 rule comes into play here. About 20% of testing factors are going to produce 80% of the results. Your job is to focus on that impactful 20% to create the biggest lifts to your conversion rates.
Typically, here are the factors that are going to have the biggest impact:
For emails:
Subject lines.
Pre-headers (the preview users see before they click on your email).
Offers.
Calls to action.
Overall design of the email (be sure it’s responsive/mobile-friendly).
For lead pages:
Headlines.
Bulleted list of benefits.
Lead page title and ecover graphics.
Call to action (word and button design).
Overall design of the page.
Once you optimize these main factors, you may decide to tweak other factors. For example, you can test different font colors on a lead page, or mess with the inner paragraph in the body of an email. But don’t test these lesser factors until you’ve optimized the big ones.
For the emails themselves, you can usually use your email service provider’s (ESPs) built-in tracking and testing tools. The companies I’ve mentioned throughout these guides – such as GetResponse, Aweber and ConvertKit – include these tools. They let you test things such as open rates and clickthrough rates.
For other tests, such as testing your lead page headline, you’ll need an A/B split testing tool. You can search Google for “split testing tool” and pick one that matches your needs. (One example is SplitTestMonkey.com.)
4. Test One Thing At a Time
When you’re doing an A/B split test, then you should only change one factor at a time while holding ALL other variables constant. That way, if there are any significant changes to the conversion rate, you can say with confidence that the change is due to the factor you’re testing.
Example: Let’s suppose you’re testing subject lines. What you do is create two emails that are exactly identical, EXCEPT they have different subject lines. That’s the only difference.
Then you randomly split your email list into two groups (your ESP’s tools will do this for you), with one group getting Subject Line A and one getting Subject Line B. If everything is the same except for the subject lines, then you know any difference in conversion rates is due to the subject line (and not another factor, such as a CTA or the time of day you’re sending the emails).
5. Understand That Small Tweaks Can Create Big Results
Initially when you’re testing big factors like subject lines, you may test a handful of headlines that are completely different from one another. Once you have a winner, look at your conversion rate. If you think you can improve it some more, then create small tweaks to your winning headline, which can create big results.
For example, something as simple as adding a question mark to a subject line may have a big impact.
E.G., “Lose weight without exercise” vs. “Lose weight without exercise?”
(It’s a simple tweak, but the question mark creates curiosity, which may boost conversions.)
6. 10 Ways to Optimize Your Lead Page
It’s important to maximize your lead page, otherwise you’re going to waste the vast majority of your traffic. They’ll land on your page and leave without opting in, never to be seen again.
Here are factors you can test to improve conversions. Keep in mind that you’ll want to start with the big factors mentioned earlier in the guide:
The headline.
The subheadline.
The opener (first few lines on the page).
The bulleted benefit list.
CTA wording.
Design/color of the CTA button.
Design of the opt-in form.
Overall design of the page.
A long lead page vs. a short lead page (headline, bulleted benefit list, CTA).
Video sales letter, text only, or text and video.
Here’s a related point…
7. Test Your Lead Magnet
You’ll also want to test your lead magnet. This includes:
The lead magnet itself (test reports, videos, apps, memberships and other lead magnets).
The title of the lead magnet.
The ecover graphics.
Here’s another factor…
8. Maximize Your Confirmation Process
If you’re using a confirmed opt-in process, sometimes called the “double opt in” process, then your subscribers are going to need to click on a link in their email before they’re officially added to your list. In order to boost your opt-ins, you’ll want to test this confirmation email.
This includes:
Test the subject line.
Tweak the pre-head/preview text.
Test the call to action.
TIP: As soon as subscribers fill in your opt-in form, be sure to display a page that lets them know they need to check their email and click on a link in order to officially join the list and get their requested lead magnet. You may want to test this confirmation page as well to discover if small tweaks to your instructions will boost response.
Next…
9. Track and Test Email Subject Lines
As mentioned earlier, your email subject lines are a big factor that you should focus on testing. You’ll want to test different headlines to see what your audience responds to. However, you’ll also want to make small tweaks to improve them. For example:
Test emojis in the subject line versus no emojis.
Test different punctuation, such as ellipses (…) at the end of the sentence vs. a question mark (?) vs. no punctuation at all.
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10. Test the Body of Your Emails
One of the most important parts of the body of your email is the pre-head, as people who haven’t yet clicked on your email will see this text in their email client preview. This, along with the headline, will have a big impact on your open rate.
Here are three different ways to open your email:
Present a subheadline with your main benefits. E.G., “You’re About to Discover the #1 Dog-Training Secret That Turns Even the Most Unruly Pup Into a Docile Dog!”
Ask an engaging question. E.G., “Have you ever been kicked out of a PetSmart because your dog was acting nutso?”
Share a story. E.G., “PetSmart threatened to call the police on me if I didn’t leave immediately with my dog. This is a story you won’t believe…”
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11. Determine the Best Products/Offers
You may have specific products that you want to promote in your email sequences, but keep an open mind. You’ll want to rotate a variety of offers in your emails to see which ones your audience responds to the best. For example, if you’re promoting a report as a tripwire offer, you might also test out a different (yet similar) report, a video, and access to a membership site to see which offer delivers the best response.
If you’re selling your own products, then test out your offers as well. Specifically, what price are you offering? Are there any discounts available? What sort of bonuses come with the product?
If you’re selling affiliate products, then test different products as well as testing out different bonuses that you offer to buyers.
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12. Strengthen Your Calls to Action
Your call to action is important, so test different versions of it. For example:
“Grab your copy of this guide now!” Vs. “Get your copy of this guide now!”
Vs.
“Get started on the best body of your life!”
Vs.
“Yes, I want to unveil the best version of myself!”
Be sure to also test the design and colors of your CTA button. Finally, test the placement of the CTA, along with the number of CTAs you insert into an email (e.g., one CTA vs. repeating the CTA).
13. Find Out What Your Audience Wants
Another thing you’ll want to determine via testing is what sort of topics your audience responds to the best. For example, if you’re sharing weight-loss information, you may find that sharing recipes tends to create the highest open rates, while exercise information almost always creates the lowest open rates.
Also, test length. Does your audience prefer short emails, or do you get higher clickthrough rates when you share longer emails?
You can also test graphics inside your emails. You can test text-only emails, versus minimal-graphic emails versus emails with 10 or more graphics.
14. Test Teasers vs Full Emails
Does your audience prefer to get as much information as needed in order for them to decide whether to click on a link, or do they respond really well to a short benefit-driven, curiosity arousing teaser? Only way to know for sure is to test it out!
As mentioned earlier, the quality of subscribers starts with the quality of your traffic sources. That’s why you’ll want to track your sources to see which ones produce the best quality subscribers. Once you know that, then you can invest more of your time and money into generating traffic from the high-quality sources.
TIP: Yes, you’ll want to optimize your ad campaigns too. This includes tweaking the ads themselves (headlines, benefits, calls to action and graphics), as well as focusing on a targeted audience. For example, if you’re doing pay per click marketing, you’ll want to test to see which keywords get you the best results.
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16. 2 Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
As you’re optimizing your campaigns, be sure to avoid these common mistakes:
Testing One Factor Over and Over
If you’re testing something like headline, you’ll probably do a few tests where you create significant boosts to the conversion rate. After a certain point, however, you’ll run headlong into the law of diminishing returns. This means that while you may get tiny changes to the conversion rate, it’s not really enough to keep justifying repeated testing. Instead, move on to another factor.
Terminating a Test Too Early
Generally, you need about 30 to 50 actions (e.g., clicks) before you can confidently say that one factor won out over the other. Don’t make the mistake of stopping a test too early just because it looks like one version is going to win. See it through to the end to be sure.
17. Track “Negative” Actions Too
Some people get so caught up in tracking opt-ins, opens and clickthroughs that they completely forget to track unsubscribes. Doing so can provide a lot of insight. For example, if you have a seven-part welcome series and a good chunk of people unsubscribe during message #3, then you’ve obviously got a problem you need to fix.
Conclusion
Ready to start getting better results with every email you send? Then put the above tips, strategies and ideas to work by testing and optimizing your email campaigns!
Most marketers focus on creating emails that their audience will be excited to read. Obviously, that’s a big key to building a responsive, profitable list.
But here’s something else: you need to make sure that your emails get to their intended recipients. After all, if your emails aren’t getting delivered, then no amount of good copywriting or building relationships will help you generate sales.
So, with that in mind, check out these 17 things you need to do before you hit the “send” button…
1. Review an Email’s Spam Score
Many email service providers (ESP) let you check an email’s spam score directly from the dashboard. This is a tool that lets you see if you’ve inadvertently created an email that’s going to trigger spam filters.
For example, if you so much as make a joke about Viagra – even in the context of an otherwise innocuous email — the spam score will go up because so much spam centers on Viagra and other pharmaceuticals.
TIP: If your ESP doesn’t let you check the spam score, then you can use a third-party tool like mail-tester.com.
Next…
2. Check Your Sender Score
Another check you’ll want to make periodically is your sender score. This is a score that shows the overall reputation of your email address or domain. If you end up with a bad score, this site gives you tips on how to improve it so that your emails end up in the intended recipients’ inboxes.
Many people have inboxes that require them to whitelist an email address in order for the email address to arrive in their inbox (versus a spam/bulk email folder). However, many people also have no idea what whitelisting, why they need to do it, or how to do it.
With that in mind, you’ll want to tell new subscribers to whitelist your email address, otherwise they won’t receive your emails. You can then give them instructions for popular email clients such as Gmail, Yahoo, and similar.
TIP: Be sure you’re also following sender guidelines in order for your emails to get to inboxes. Here’s more info about Gmail’s sender guidelines: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126.
A good third-party email service provider will devote considerable resources to complying with laws, whitelisting their IP, and generally improving deliverability. That’s why you’ll want to choose an ESP that prides itself on deliverability (like Aweber, GetResponse, iContact and similar).
5. Optimize Your Opt-In Process
Two things to keep in mind:
Set the right expectations regarding what sort of content people will receive. For example, if someone is signing up to receive a lead magnet from you, then make it absolutely clear that they’re also going to receive email from you. Indeed, you can frame the follow up emails as a benefit, in that they’ll get ongoing training and recommendations for trusted resources.
Select a confirmed opt-in process. That way, only people who want to be on your list will be there (and you don’t have to worry about nefarious people adding “spam trap” emails to your list, which would automatically get you blacklisted everywhere the next time you send an email).
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6. Send Targeted Email Only
Every once in a while, you may be tempted to email something that’s not entirely targeted. For example, maybe your really good friend had a fire destroy their home, so you set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the family. Naturally, you want to reach as many people as possible, so you’re tempted to send the fundraiser to your list.
Don’t do it. If, for example, your newsletter is about weight loss and you send out this untargeted fundraiser, you’re likely to have people hit the “spam” button your email.
It doesn’t matter if it’s for a good cause, a good friend, or anything else – avoid sending untargeted emails in order to protect your sender reputation.
7. Offer Options to Subscribers
The idea here is to let your subscribers decide what sort of emails they receive from you and how often they receive them. You can offer these preference options when the new subscriber is signing up, plus you can offer them again when someone is unsubscribing (as sometimes people don’t want to unsubscribe – they just want less email).
For example, let’s suppose you send three emails per week to subscribers. You can give them the option of receiving:
All three emails per week.
One email “digest” per week.
Only the most important emails (which may be two or three per month).
One email digest per month.
That’s just an example. You can set up options that work for your list. End result? Fewer unsubscribes and fewer people getting overwhelmed and hitting the “spam” button.
8. Clean Your List
I’ve mentioned this before in another guide: be sure to clean your list from time to time to get rid of cold or bouncing email addresses. That’s because a lot of bounced emails will ruin your sender score, so it’s good to clean them out monthly.
9. Avoid Purchasing or Sharing Lists
The big problem with purchasing an email list is that it may contain a “spam trap,” which are email addresses that spam activists plant all around the internet. Whenever someone sends a commercial email to one of these spam trap addresses, the sender gets blacklisted. It’s difficult to get off these lists, so protect yourself by only gathering emails yourself from your website (and avoid purchasing lists).
Secondly, don’t share lists with your joint venture partners. If a recipient doesn’t recognize the sender, they’ll hit the spam button, and your sender score will plummet. If you want to work with JV partners, then offer to place advertisements in your newsletter (as allowed by your privacy policy), rather than giving others access to your list.
Likewise, don’t engage in co-registration practices. This is where you let subscribers check a box on the opt in form to join more than one list at a time (such as your JV partner’s list). Problem is, a lot of subscribers don’t realize that they’re subscribing to multiple lists, so they end up clicking the “spam” button on emails coming from unrecognized lists.
If you want to do a list-building joint venture, then promote your partner’s list from within your email list, on social media or other platforms. That way, subscribers know exactly what they’re signing up for, which creates a cleaner list.
10. Stay on Top of Email Best Practices
One of the best places to get information about email best practices, laws, new technology and other changes is through your email service provider. That’s because it’s their job to stay abreast of the changing landscape, and they’ll pass this information on to you via their newsletter, blog and social media pages (be sure to subscribe to all three).
Even if you’re not a customer, many of these companies (such as Aweber, MailChimp, CampaignMonitor.com and similar) publicly share this information, so be sure to follow and subscribe. In addition, you may check out industry leaders, such as the email marketing section of Entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/email-marketing.
11. Follow Applicable Laws and Regulations
Elsewhere in these guides we’ve talked about laws and regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations, the US’s FTC.gov regulations for marketers and similar. It’s worth repeating: be sure to follow these regulations, or risk damaging your sender score.
12. Review Feedback Loops
Many ISPS offer information about spam complaints they receive from their users. These complaints are called feedback loops, and you can generally check on the feedback loops with regards to your domain/email addresses. You’ll need to go directly to platforms like Yahoo, AOL and similar to get the information.
NOTE: Gmail only lets email service providers gain access to feedback loops, so generally you won’t be able to gather information directly from Gmail.
13. Be Careful With Contest Entries
Although a contest can build your email pretty quickly, the problem is that a “sweepstakes” style contest often creates a poor list. That’s because people will enter the contest using multiple emails. Some of these emails are throwaway emails, which may eventually start bouncing and creating problems with your sender lists. In other cases, someone who entered the contest may not be interested in what you’re offering, so they’ll hit the “spam” button when you start sending emails about anything other than the contest.
Here are dos and don’ts for running a contest without damaging your sender reputation:
Don’t give away cash, gadgets or “general interest” prizes. Doing so will attract a lot of interest from untargeted participants. Instead, offer prizes that are of interest to people in the niche (such as your products).
Don’t merge this list with your regular list. Keep it separate/segmented so that you don’t risk “contaminating” your regular list.
Do offer extra contest entries. For example, you can use a tool like Rafflecopter.com, which lets you give contestants extra contest entries for sharing your content on their social media pages.
Do send a welcome series to your contest list while the contest is running. You want to provide a lot of value at this point when you know people are opening your emails, which will help you build a good relationship (and make them eager to remain subscribers even after the contest is over).
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14. Don’t Add People to Multiple Lists
Some marketers add subscribers to multiple lists, and then start sending the subscriber multiple emails from these multiple emails. Don’t do this, as your list members are likely to view email coming from any other list (and any other “from” field) as spam.
Instead, segment your list. You can then send targeted content to your different list segments, but they all come from the same sender (same “from” field). This also ensures you’re not overwhelming prospects with multiple welcome series emails and promos.
15. Email on a Consistent Schedule
Before you even set up your mailing list, decide how often you’ll email your subscribers, and make this information known on your lead page as well as in your welcome series. Then stick to this schedule, being sure that you’re sending emails consistently and regularly (e.g., once per week).
The reason this is so important is because emailing your list sporadically or erratically tends to generate spam complaints. If you’re emailing sporadically, people will forget that they ever signed up for your list. They’ll forget your name and branding. So when they see you promoting something, they’ll hit that spam button.
Point is, keep your name in front of your audience and provide a lot of value so that subscribers remember you and are eager to open every email you send.
16. Check Blacklists
Is your domain on any blacklists? If so, your emails aren’t going to get to their intended recipients. That’s why you’ll want to check the blacklists, which you can do using the following tool:
https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
And finally…
17. Create Test Emails
Another way to monitor your email campaigns for potential problems is to join your own list using a variety of emails (such as Yahoo, Gmail and similar). Check your sending list to see what sort of emails your subscribers use so that you know what types of emails to test.
You can start by testing the opt-in process to see if the initial confirmation email gets to your inbox with these different platforms. You can then monitor these different email addresses every time you send an email, which will alert you to any potential problems with a platform.
Now let’s wrap things up…
Conclusion
Deliverability is an important part of managing your mailing list. As you just discovered, there are several steps you can take to protect your sender reputation and ensure your emails reach their recipients. That’s why you’ll want to put these 17 tips and ideas to work to boost the number of your emails that land in inboxes rather than spam folders!
Reader loyalty: it’s the magic ingredient that ultimately makes or breaks the success of your email list. If you have loyal readers who trust you, then you’ll have higher conversion rates. Plus, loyal readers will help you in other ways, such as referring their friends to help your list grow even more.
Question is, how do you get people loving you and your business simply by sending them emails? That’s what you’ll discover how to do in this guide.
1. Share Personal Stories
You’ve probably heard that you need to create content that’s focused on your reader, their problems, and how to solve them.
That’s true. But you also need to let people get to know you a little bit by sharing personal stories.
The key is that you don’t want to go on and on about yourself. Instead, share snippets of your life here and there. For example, if you have an event going on in your life that most people can relate to (such as getting married, having a baby, getting a new dog, going on vacation, etc.), feel free to share it. You don’t need to tell a long story about it – just let people know what’s going on.
E.G., “You may have noticed I haven’t been as active on social media lately. The reason is because we just had a baby! Here’s a pic of our new little girl…”
Secondly, you’ll also want to share personal stories that are directly relevant to the niche. For example, if you’re helping people lose weight, then share stories of your own struggles with being overweight, and how you eventually lost the weight. Not only does this sort of personal story pull people closer to you, it also gives you an opportunity to be unique, as no one else has the exact same story as you.
2. Give Generously
A second key to creating reader loyalty is to give generously when you share content. This means giving some of your very best content to your subscribers. Indeed, you can share (for free) the type of content that a lot of other people in your niche are charging for. Your subscribers will quickly realize that you offer high-quality content, which is a good step towards building loyalty.
Generally, your mailing list is a one-way street: you create content to send to your subscribers, and your subscribers read it.
The problem with this model is that it’s difficult to build a relationship when one person is doing all the talking. Plus, people who get this sort of content may even forget that there IS a real person on the other side of those emails.
Here’s the solution: you need to make a point of interacting with your subscribers on a regular basis. Here are three ways to do it:
Ask for feedback via email. When subscribers provide it, write a personal note back to each person who gave you feedback. (Obviously, this works best when you still have a small list, as otherwise you may get overwhelmed with responses.)
Assign a special section of your blog for newsletter content. You may even start a password protected section of your blog for subscribers only. Then encourage your subscribers to comment on your articles. It helps to ask questions such as, “What do you think?”
Advertise your social media platforms. There you can personally interact with subscribers in a variety of ways, including liking their comments, replying to them, and sharing their content on Facebook and other platforms.
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4. Put Subscribers First
As you decide what to promote inside your newsletter, there should be one question at the forefront of your mind. Specifically: “What are the BEST solutions for my subscribers?”
If you’re promoting affiliate products, don’t look at pricing, commissions, or anything of that nature at first. Your first priority is to make sure you’re promoting the very best solutions for your audience. Because if you do that, then you’re going to develop a great reputation that will bring you a lot of income in the long term.
Here’s a quick litmus test: would you proudly promote a particular product to your best friend or your mom (assuming they were part of the target market)? If not, don’t promote it to your list either.
5. Offer Something Unique
Look around your niche, and you’ll see that there are plenty of people who are publishing newsletters on the same topic as yours. The question you need to answer is WHY should someone subscribe to YOUR list? What makes your list different and better than the similar publications in your market?
For example:
Does your newsletter provide tips or information not found anywhere else?
Do you share case studies or other special features that others aren’t sharing?
Do you offer special features such as video tutorials?
Your unique insights will help set your newsletter apart from the others in your niche. To that end, see if you can develop new ways of presenting information, such as creating your own formulas, which will help you stand out from others in your niche.
I like to create formulas around relevant, memorable acronyms. For example, my “Freelance Force” course is based on my F.O.R.C.E. formula, where each letter corresponds to a step in the formula (Focus, Organize, Rank, Create, Education).
6. Surprise Subscribers
The idea here is to reward your loyal subscribers with high-quality freebies from time to time. For example, you might send out a free report, a video, or even invite them to attend a webinar that’s not open to the public. This helps build reader loyalty, and it also helps train subscribers to open their emails from you.
7. Set Up Targeted Drip Campaigns
This strategy is all about segmenting your list, and then setting up targeted drip campaigns for these different segments.
NOTE: By “drip campaign,” I’m referring to loading a sequence of emails to your autoresponder, and sending these emails out at pre-determined intervals. For example, for new customers and prospects you might send an email every day or every other day for a week, just to build name recognition. For people who’ve been on your list for some time, you can send out a sequence with emails spaced out once or twice per week.
Here are examples of drip campaigns at different points in your sales funnel:
People who request your free lead magnet get a sequence of emails encouraging them to buy the tripwire offer.
People who purchase the tripwire offer get a sequence encouraging them to buy the core offer.
People who purchase the backend offer get a sequence encouraging them to buy your backend offers.
Next…
8. Engage Your Audience
We’ve talked about creating quality content to engage your audience. Here are three other ways to do it:
Solicit responses by asking questions. E.G., “What is your favorite dieting tip to staving off cravings and hunger?”
Share a story to build rapport. E.G., “I’ve never been so embarrassed as I was during my first day on the job as a teacher…”
Serve content using a light, conversational tone. Imagine you’re writing to a friend and adopt a similar tone. Avoid stuffy “textbook-style” language.
Next…
9. Create Challenges for Subscribers
The idea here is to create niche-specific challenges for your subscribers to help them achieve their goals. For example, if your list is full of writers, then send out a message challenging them to a 30-minute writing sprint (i.e., seeing how many words they can write during the sprint). You can link this challenge to a private group, so that those participating can share their results.
10. Become the “Go To” Person
You need to set yourself apart from other newsletter publishers in your niche. One way to do this is by becoming the “go to” guy or gal for a specific sub-topic in your niche. In other words, you specialize in one important part of your niche, and then share breaking news, tips, and insights on this topic.
For example, if you serve a dog care niche, then you might specialize in a specific disease, such as diabetes.
11. Give Subscribers Special Perks
Another way to build reader loyalty is to give valuable perks to subscribers, such as exclusive discounts and bonuses not offered anywhere else. Indeed, if you promote other peoples’ products, you may wish to secure exclusive offers from these vendors, which will boost loyalty among your list.
12. Create a Quick-Start Guide
When you send out a welcome series to new subscribers, part of this series may include a “quick-start guide” for your niche. For example, if you’re teaching people how to set up a business, you might offer a free report or video that outlines in simple terms what steps users need to take to get started. Once people take the first few steps and get good results, they’re going to come back to you for help with the other steps.
13. Ask for Feedback
From time to time, you should ask for feedback from your newsletter subscribers about how to improve your newsletter. The key here is to then incorporate the good suggestions, which builds loyalty. You may even publicly praise the person who offered a specific suggestion. E.G., “Thank you to Mike from New York for suggesting a weekly Q&A session…”
14. Showcase Your Subscribers
This strategy is all about creating a “Subscriber of the Week” (or month) feature in your newsletter, where you interview a subscriber and showcase their success. For example, if you’re in a weight loss niche, then you can show how a subscriber has lost 25 pounds since joining your list (in this case, be sure to include “before” and “after” pics). This not only motivates current subscribers, it also builds loyalty among those who are showcased.
15. Find Out Why People Unsubscribe
Whenever possible, ask people who unsubscribe why they’re doing so. (Many autoresponders have this sort of “exit survey” built in.) If you find a pattern of responses, take the feedback to heart and see if you can lower your unsubscribe rate.
For example, if people unsubscribe early on, does your onboarding process or welcome series need work? Or perhaps the expectations you set on the lead page don’t match the messages you’re sending?
TIP: As always, keep in mind that the goal isn’t to keep every single person on your list. You want to keep the TARGETED audience on your list, while letting those who aren’t really part of your audience unsubscribe. In other words, let people who aren’t targeted weed themselves out, which will boost your reader loyalty and conversions overall because you’ll be left with a very targeted, qualified list.
One feature of many top email service providers is that you can see which subscribers haven’t been opening your emails lately. If someone hasn’t opened a single email or taken some other action for weeks or months, then these subscribers are growing cold.
The solution is to send out a re-engagement series of emails that’s designed to “warm up your list” and bring these cold prospects or customers back into the fold. Your goal is to get them to open your emails again and start clicking on your links.
For example, you might send out a three-to-five part series of emails to people who haven’t clicked on any of your emails for at least a month.
So, what happens if someone doesn’t re-engage during this series? Then you can remove them from your list. This will boost your overall conversion rate. Plus, as an added benefit, you’re not paying to send emails to people who are never going to open and read them anyway.
17. Provide Tools for Your Audience
Many publishers in your audience will provide information. If you provide information AND the tools needed to complete a process, then you’ll stand out and build reader loyalty. Examples of tools include:
Checklists
Worksheets
Templates
Planners
Swipes
Mind maps
Process maps
And similar.
For example, if you’re teaching your list about copywriting, you can offer them sales letter templates to make it easier for them to create a sales letter.
Conclusion
Building reader loyalty is one of the big keys to creating a responsive list, so be sure to put these 17 tips and ideas to work for you!
This is the internet dream: setting up an autoresponder that generates sales for you 24/7, even while you’re sleeping, on vacation, or doing something else away from your keyboard.
It really is possible. You’ve been learning about some of the strategies required to automate your follow up marketing inside these guides, such as creating email sequences to promote different products. Now inside this guide you’ll learn even more tips for making follow-up marketing faster, easier and more effective.
Let’s get started…
1. Use Templates
If you’re like most people, you’re short on time. That’s why you’ll want to make use of templates whenever possible. Here are three types of templates you can put to use:
#1. Opt-in templates.
Many email service providers (ESPs) give you templates to make it “point and click” easy to create your opt-in forms – no coding experience required!
#2. Email design/layout templates.
Many ESPs also offer email templates so you can create beautiful layouts, even if you don’t know a thing about HTML or design. Just be sure to use responsive layouts so that mobile users can view them.
#3. Text templates.
Finally, as you start constructing emails, you’ll want to create your own templates for particular kinds of emails you send on a regular basis (such as transactional emails, confirmation emails, and welcome emails).
2. Make Use of Automation/Workflows
Another shortcut for busy marketers is to choose an ESP that allows for automation and workflows. In many cases, you can set up “If ___, then ____” triggers to make it easy to manage your mailing list.
For example, you can set up a trigger that removes a new buyer from your prospect list and puts them on a buyer list, being sure to segment according to the product they purchased. They’d then receive a follow up onboarding sequence.
Another example: if someone clicks through to a blog post on a particular topic, that click can trigger a follow-up email sequence that sends them additional content and offers on the same topic.
3. Create Accessible Campaigns
Depending on your niche, there’s a good chance that about 15% of your audience has some sort of disability, such as low vision. Your goal is to create accessible email campaigns. Check out these tips:
Create content for screen readers. This includes alt-image text on images, as well as using header tags (such as H1 and H2 tags) to format content.
Use black text on white backgrounds. This provides good contrast for those with low vision.
Choose easily readable fonts. It may look stylish to use tiny, obscure fonts. But if a part of your audience can’t read these fonts, then your conversion rates will suffer. Stick with easily readable fonts in standard 12-pt font size instead, such as Times New Roman, Arial, and similar.
Next…
4. Be Aware of Image Blocking
Many email clients block images and remote content. If you send an email that shares the main message via images, a good chunk of your audience won’t see it. Be sure to share the most important parts of your email in plain text, and use alt-image tags to describe images.
5. Humanize Content
Most of the people on your list are well aware that your emails are automated. However, people don’t want to read content that looks like it came from a bot. That’s why you’ll want to humanize your emails, including transaction and confirmation emails.
For example:
Personalize emails using the recipient’s name.
Include a picture of your self at the bottom of the email.
Offer your contact info and encourage people to get in touch if they have questions.
Share personal tidbits about your life from time to time.
Next…
6. 3 Tips for Creating Evergreen Content
Elsewhere in these guides I’ve mentioned that you need to create evergreen content for your autoresponder messages. Let me share with you three tips:
Don’t reference anything that will date the content. This includes referencing seasons, days of the week, months, years, holidays, or other events that may date the content.
Don’t refer to anything as “new.” For example, don’t say you’re promoting a “brand new diet guide.” That may be true when you’re writing it, but it won’t be “new” six months down the road.
Don’t promote fads. Even if the fad is really popular now, it may suddenly lose favor and date your content.
Here’s one more idea: ask a friend to read your email. Then ask them to guess when you wrote the message. If they can tell when you wrote it, then you need to go back and rewrite the part that’s dating the content.
7. Connect Your Emails
Even if your current email isn’t part of a series, you should still remind subscribers of what was in your last email. You can even link to previous emails, which will help boost conversions from people who didn’t see it (e.g., they saved it for later and never got around to opening it).
You’ll also want to build anticipation at the end of each email by telling subscribers what benefits to expect in the next email, and when they can expect to receive it. E.G., “On Friday you’ll get a full months’ worth of delicious, fat-burning meal plans and recipes – you won’t want to miss it, so keep an eye out!
8. Use Redirect Links
If you’re promoting an affiliate offer, use a redirect link that runs through a domain that you control. That way, if the affiliate product goes off the market or you don’t want to promote that product for any reason, you can change the link on your end to a similar offer. That way, you won’t have dead links sitting in your audience’s inboxes.
For example, sometimes people put hobby-related emails to the side to read later. Maybe the link was intact when you sent it, but a week later it’s no longer good when the recipient sits down to read your email. No problem, because you can switch the links via your domain.
9. Plan Your Follow Ups
As mentioned elsewhere in these guides, you can send follow up messages to people who didn’t open or click on your last email. However, be careful with this strategy. For example, if you send an email on Friday and then follow up on Monday, your prospects may feel overwhelmed if they don’t tend to check emails too much over the weekend.
In other words, give your recipient’s a chance to open the email (perhaps up to a week) before sending a follow up.
10. Create Honest Openers
Get right to the point when you create an email, and be sure your opener isn’t dishonest. For example, if you start your email with “Just checking in,” you need to ask yourself if that’s true or if you have another agenda in mind. If you have another goal in mind, then start there. This shows respect for your reader and their time, plus keeps your emails and the reader focused on the overall goal of your email.
11. Don’t Make Assumptions
One of the keys to creating content that resonates with your audience is to profile them so you can use language that connects them. Part of this means you shouldn’t make any assumptions about your audience.
For example, don’t say, “As you know, I got married last week…”
Or, “You all know my feelings on crate training…”
If someone didn’t read your emails last week, then they DON’T know. Or if someone is new to your list, then no, they don’t know. Stop making these sorts of assumptions or you’ll create a disconnect with your audience.
12. Use Multimedia
Incorporate or link to multimedia such as infographics, photos, audios and videos. Different people like to learn things in different ways, so offering content in different formats helps connect with a larger number of your subscribers.
13. Link to Examples
Typically, your follow up emails include a strong call to action and a button or link (as discussed elsewhere in these guides). However, you can also use soft-sell means of linking to a product. For example, if you’re teaching people about copywriting, then link to one of your copywriting product sales pages and point out a specific part of it as an example. E.G., “For a good example of how to justify the price, check out this sales page…”
This strategy doesn’t directly sell an offer, but it’s an inobtrusive way of getting people to look at a sales page.
14. Understand Your Audience’s Pain Points
As mentioned, you need to understand your audience in order to connect with them. One of the big issues is that you need to understand their pain points, and then create follow up emails that directly address these pain points.
For example, perhaps you serve a weight-loss niche for women. You understand the overall pain point is that the women are tired of being overweight and tired of diets that don’t work. However, you need to understand their secondary pain points as well in order to promote the right solutions.
For instance, perhaps many of these women have tried diets with foods that their kids won’t eat. The mom ends up cooking one meal for the family and a separate meal for herself. End result? She quits the diet because she’s busy enough without doubling her nightly cooking work.
The solution? Connect to this secondary pain point by sharing recipes and meal plans that the whole family will love.
15. Get Your Foot in the Door
Imagine for a moment if someone you didn’t know asked you for a big favor, like helping them move. Chances are, you’d say no. But what if they asked you for the time? That’s easy enough to do, so you’d oblige them.
Your prospects behave in a similar way. When they join your list, they don’t know you or trust you. As such, coming at them with a big favor (such as buying your core offer) may get you a few sales, but mostly you’re going to get a lot of “no” responses.
So, here’s what you do: get your food in the door (and start developing a relationship) by asking for small favors first. For example, promote your low-cost tripwire offer first, and it will be easier next week to sell that same person your higher-cost offers.
When your prospects first join your list, you probably collect their first name and their email address. Collecting much more than that would likely dampen your conversion rate. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t collect additional information later.
For example, you might want to collect mailing addresses and/or cell phone numbers. Even if you don’t have any texting or postcard campaigns planned, you’ll at least have the option if you collect this information.
Here’s the key: collect it at a later date, perhaps as part of your welcome series. Once people are starting to get to know you, like you and trust you, they’ll be much more open to offering that additional information to you. This is especially true if you offer an incentive, such as giving folks access to a valuable freemium in exchange for the extra information.
17. Study Copywriting
If your goal is to start generating more sales with your mailing list, then one of the best skills you can develop is the art and science of writing good sales copy.
Where to start? You can go to Amazon to pick up classic copywriting books from the masters, such as Victor Schwab, David Ogilvy, Joseph Sugarman and John Caples.
Conclusion
If you put these tips to use, along with the other tips you’ve discovered in the Emailcome guides, then you’ll have a follow up marketing system that delivers great results for you!
Elsewhere in these Emailcome guides you’ve seen me refer to list segmentation, though so far we’ve just lightly touched on the subject. Now in this guide we’re going to fully delve into the subject so that you can start putting this strategy to work for you and reaping the benefits.
First things first, what is segmentation?
Segmentation is when you slice up your list into targeted segments. These segments may be based on a variety of factors, such as demographics, buying behavior and many more. (We’ll get into this in detail below.) The reason for doing this is because it lets you then send ultra-targeted content and offers to each segment of your list. In turn, this boosts your open rate, increases conversions and creates more loyal subscribers.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the following tips, ideas, examples and insights that will help you get the right message to the right audience…
1. Six List-Segmentation Categories
As mentioned a moment ago, there are plenty of ways to segment your list. We’re going to start with a quick list of these many ways, and then later on in this guide you’ll discover more specifics about how to create and optimize these list segments.
Let’s start with an overview of how to segment your list:
By demographics. This includes things such as gender, age, location, marital status, whether they have kids and similar characteristics.
By behavior. This encompasses a wide variety of behaviors, from whether someone read your last email to how many products they’ve purchased from you to whether they read your blog posts. This also includes whether they attend events like webinars or participate in contests.
By survey answers. If you’re doing any market research, you may segment your list according to the answers. For example, if someone says they’re interested in specific topics in your niche (such as grooming a poodle or high-intensity interval training), then those topics are potential segments.
By entry point. Here you might segment your list according to how someone arrived onto your list. For example, did they buy a product? Did they attend a webinar? Did they sign up at an offline event?
By device. The idea here is to segment your list according to how they visit your website and read your emails. Do they visit on a smart phone or a desktop/laptop?
By status. This includes prospect, customer, or marketing partner.
Again, these are just some of the major categories. We’ll get into specifics later in this guide. But first, let’s create a plan…
Your first step is to decide what sort of segments you’re going to create for your list. In order to figure this out, you need to determine what types of segments will be most useful to your business.
Let’s take the example of segmenting by whether someone is visiting your device on a phone or a desktop. If you don’t sell phone apps, then this may not be that important to you.
Another example: let’s suppose your audience falls within a fairly narrow age range, such as 30 to 40 years old. Chances are, it’s not going to matter if someone is 35 or 40 – you probably won’t gain much from segmenting on such a narrow factor.
On the other hand, consider if your audience ranges in age from about 25 to 50. If you’re selling dieting information, then it’s VERY helpful to segment across these ages. That’s because a 25-year-old has different concerns, needs and abilities versus your over-40 crowd. For example, the 20-somethings may be primarily concerned about losing weight to look good, while the middle-age part of your audience may have health concerns.
You get the point. Here’s what you need to do: brainstorm all the different demographics, characteristics, and behaviors of your audience. Then decide if it’s important to create segments based on these differences.
3. The Question You MUST Ask Yourself Before Segmenting
Here’s the question: can I collect data on this particular point in order to segment my list?
Simply put, you can’t segment without collecting data. As such, you’ll need to determine if you’re able to collect the data necessary to create the segments you desire. For example, if there is information that’s not easily available, will your audience offer the information via a survey?
4. Choose the Right ESP
The next step you need to take is to choose the right Email Service Provider. Not every ESP gives you the tools to segment your list, so you want to be sure that you choose one that does.
Here are seven options for you:
Aweber.com
ConvertKit.com
iContact.com
ConstantContact.com
FreshMail.com
MailChimp.com
GetResponse.com
This is by no means an exhaustive list (not even close), but these are among the most popular options.
NOTE: Some of these options create separate lists for each segments, while others let you “tag” a list segment (and then send separate emails to different tags). The main reason this is important is because of financial considerations, especially when your list grows large. If an ESP creates completely separate lists, then check if a subscriber is counted once for each list they appear on, or if a subscriber is counted once no matter how many lists on which they appear.
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5. Segmenting Based on Surveys
The idea here is to ask your subscribers to take a survey, and then segment according to their answers. A tool like SurveyFunnel.com is designed to make it easy to segment your list based on surveys.
Here are three ideas:
Ask your audience what topics interest them.
Ask them about their pain points.
Ask subscribers what solutions they’ve tried.
For example, if you know a segment of your audience is currently using a competitor’s product, you can send out an email that compares your product to the competitor’s product (and shows why your product is better and why they should switch).
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6. Creating Demographic Segments
Some of this information you can collect silently when people sign up (such as their location based on their IP). In other cases, you can survey the audience to determine:
Age
Gender
Geographic location
Marital status
Children or not
Education level
Career/job
Income
For example, if you know someone is a 35-year old mother of two with a full-time job, then it’s a pretty good bet that she’s really busy. If you’re selling dieting information, you empathize with how busy she is, and how your diet guide is designed for buy moms who don’t have time to go to the gym or cook one meal for herself and another for the family.
7. 6 Ways to Segment Based on Buyer Behavior
How do you segment based on buyer behavior? Check out these ideas, where you segment your list based on:
Whether a person is a prospect or a cash-paying customer.
The exact product(s) the person has purchased.
Whether he buyer always pays full price, sometimes pays full price, or always (and only) uses coupons.
The last time a person purchased a product from you.
The number of products a person has purchased from you.
How much the customer generally spends on a product. (E.G., do they only buy low-ticket items? Do they only buy your premium offers? Or do they buy a bit of everything?)
For example, let’s suppose you segment your list according to specific purchases. If you’re going to send out a big promo for one of your products, then you can exclude anyone who’s already purchased the product.
8. 5 Examples of Engaging Customer Segments
You’ve collected data on buyer behavior. Now what do you do with this information? Check out these ideas:
Reward long-time customers with special perks.
Send onboarding messages to new customers.
Send a re-engagement sequence to cold customers.
Send special offers to segments that only buy when presented with a coupon or other discount.
Ask long-time customers to send testimonials, share your content on social media, or refer their friends.
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9. Splitting Your List into Traffic Sources
Still another way to segment your list is according to how they found your site. This includes SEO, partner traffic (affiliates), social media, paid advertising, offline methods, guest blogging, and so on.
TIP: In order to create these segments, you’ll need to create tracking links so that you know exactly how a person came to your lead page. For example, someone who comes to your site via a paid ad might visit the lead page link that looks like this: yourdomain.com/lead.html?ppc …. Whereas someone who comes via social media might come in on this link: yourdomain.com/lead.html?db
You can then “tag” these segments by tracking link, or set up different lists for different traffic sources, whatever is easiest with the tools you’re using.
For example, if you’re sending out a message to invite people to join you on Facebook, you can exclude the segment of your list who already follow you on Facebook.
10. Keep Your Prospecting Lists Separate
If you’re doing any email prospecting, which is where you find people who may be interested in what you offer and you contact them, then keep this list completely separate/segmented from your other lists. That’s because this is the only list you’ll have where you approached a prospect versus the other way around. In general, email prospecting is best reserved for finding marketing partners, as they’re more open to receiving unsolicited, cold emails.
Check out this next idea…
11. Save a Sale With Segmenting
Many shopping carts track people who already have accounts on your site, and then they give you the option to send an email to someone who abandons their cart before completing a purchase. You can remind these prospects to come back to complete their purchase, which will boost conversions. To further increase conversions, you may offer them a coupon code if they complete their purchase in the next 24 to 48 hours.
12. 2 Ways to Engage “Recent Activity” Segments
Many autoresponders, shopping carts and other tools let you segment your list based on the users’ recent activity. Here are two examples of how to engage these types of segments:
Send a relevant sequence to someone who clicked on a blog link. For example, if someone clicks through to your blog to read an article about DIY kitchen remodeling, you can then send them a sequence on the same topic.
Send a follow up depending on whether someone opened your last email. You can send additional information to those who opened it. To those who didn’t, you can send another email encouraging them to look at your offer (e.g., “last chance”).
Here’s the next segmenting strategy…
13. Engaging “Event” Segments
Another way to segment your list is according to whether the subscriber has participated in events. For example:
Send follow up information to those who join a webinar, such as offering a recording and transcript of the webinar for a small fee.
Select people who take part in a free Q&A group coaching session to get an invitation to take part in your personal one-on-one paid coaching program.
14. Keep Contestants Separate
Want to keep a clean, high-converting list? Then separate out people who initially joined your list via a contest. That’s because these folks something give you bad email addresses in order to enter your contest multiple times. Be sure to clean this list periodically (see Tip #17 below).
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15. Optimize Partner Lists
When you start thinking about segmenting your lists, don’t limit yourself to segmenting your prospect and customer list. You’ll also to create partner lists, which separate your regular affiliates from your joint venture partners. You’ll also want to segment according to the following:
Affiliates that have never promoted your offers.
Affiliates that used to promote, but haven’t done so lately.
Affiliates that promote, but make very few sales.
Affiliates who promote and make a lot of sales (these are your super affiliates/partners).
For example, you might send an email to partners that haven’t promoted lately to invite them to take part in a contest or a coupon promo, which will motivate them to start sending you traffic again.
Another example: you can send out emails with special perks for your super affiliates and other best partners.
Ever notice that when your birthday rolls around, you get all sorts of messages from the companies and people with whom you do business? That’s because these birthday messages work. They engage (or even re-engage) and audience, plus they can spur sales if you include a special birthday discount or bonus.
17. Keep a Clean List
Whether you’re talking about partner lists, prospect lists, or customer lists, you want to keep a clean list. To that end, watch for inactive segments of your list. If someone hasn’t opened your emails for a month, send out a sequence to attempt to re-engage them with special offers, freemiums, perks, etc. If they don’t re-engage, then delete their email address from your list. Doing so will help boost your conversion rates and your sender reputation score.
Conclusion
You just discovered all sorts of tips, examples, insights and ideas for segmenting your list. Once you start segmenting, then the key to boosting response is to send out targeted content and offers.
For example, if you’re writing to busy moms, you can say things like this, “Sometimes you feel like you live in the car as you drive the kids back and forth between their practices, recitals and other activities…” This helps you connect emotionally with the reader and shows you understand their problems.
Another example: if you’re sharing information about how to travel and vacation with dogs, then you might segment your list based on how many and what sort of dogs your subscribers have. That’s because people who have multiple big dogs will have issues that small-dog owners won’t, such as finding a place that accepts three big dogs.
Point is, the more you know about your audience (and if you’re able to create segments based on what you know) the easier it will be to really connect with them every time you send an email!
The overall goal of just about every email you send is to get a click. This might be a clickthrough to a sales page, a webinar registration page, one of your social media platforms, a partner’s page, and so on. But ultimately, you’re usually looking to get your subscribers to click a link and buy a product.
Question is, how do you boost your CTR (clickthrough rate)? That’s what you’ll find out inside this guide. Check out these 17 surefire ways to improve your CTAs (calls to action) and CTRs…
1. Know Your Numbers
In order to improve your clickthrough rate (CTR), you need to first understand what a good rate is for your industry. Generally, the range averages from 1% to 5%.
You’ll need to do your research to determine what’s normal for your market. For example, if your market is known for 4% conversions but you tend to get 2%, then you know you have some work to do to improve it.
2. Use a CTA Image
A good call to action button or similar image tends to outperform CTA links. That’s why you’re going to want to insert a button that even skimmers can find easily. For example, a bright orange button will easily stand out against a black and white design.
You might also use the “blur test.” Squint your eyes or back up from your screen far enough that you can no longer read the words in your email. Question is, can you still recognize the CTA button? If so, then you’re on the right track – big, boldly colored buttons that stand out tend to work well. As always, you’ll want to test the wording on the button and the size and color of the button to find a combination that works for you.
Whether your CTA is a button (preferable) or a link, you need to choose your wording carefully. You want to use active language that gets people excited about what they’re going to get.
For example, “Click here” tells people what to do, but overall it’s pretty ineffective. Here are other ways to word your CTA link or button (with a couple examples in different niches):
Click here to start your business!
Get your free copywriting consultation now!
Join the net’s best home-selling group now!
Start slimming down now – click here to get started!
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4. Give People a Good Reason to Act
One key to crafting a good CTA is that you need to give people a good reason to take action. As mentioned above, simply asking people to “click here” isn’t very effective. Instead, you need to give them a good reason, which should appear very near your CTA link or button.
For example: Get started now, because you deserve every edge you can get in this business!
Another example: If you do nothing, you’ll wake up tomorrow in the same place: overweight and unhappy. You deserve to be healthy and happy, so click here to get started now.
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5. Encourage People to Act Now
As you just discovered, you need to give people a good reason to act. Even better is if you can give them a good reason to act RIGHT NOW.
Before we go any further, let me be clear: don’t use any sort of false scarcity or urgency tactics. Don’t try to scare people or evoke another negative emotion. Instead, if you have a legitimate reason for encouraging people to act now, then share that reason.
For example: This special $50 discount ends in just 72 hours – so order now to avoid missing out!
Another example: Become a charter member and lock in a 40% discount off the regular membership price. But heads up, this offer is only available to the first 150 people who join now, so click here to get started.
Here’s the next idea…
6. Send Offers People Want
This is such a simple way to boost your conversion rates: give people what they want. Send them relevant, targeted, and in-demand offers and content.
If you’re not sure what people want, then take these three steps:
Do research to find out what people are already buying. Let’s suppose you’re in a weight-loss niche. If you search ClickBank for “weight loss” and notice that “get rid of belly fat” products sell really well in your niche, that’s one of the best predictors of whether your audience will buy that particular kind of product.
See what’s popular elsewhere. For example, take note of what sort of content and solutions always get a lot of traction on your blog and social media pages.
Ask your audience. Survey them to find out what they want, but keep in mind that way they say and what they do may be two different things, so always use this in combination with Step 1 above.
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7. Insert Relevant Images (Maybe)
Many people who’ve tested it all confirm the same thing: if you insert relevant, compelling image into your emails, your clickthrough rate goes up. BUT (and it’s a big but), it’s going to depend on how many images you insert.
Mail Chimp did a study where they examined the results of billions of emails. They found that zero images tended to outperform emails that had up to ten images inserted them. However, when emails included 11 or more images, they outperformed the emails with zero images by a wide margin!
Will this work for you? Only way to know for sure is to test it out. Just be sure you’re using professional, polished images that are oriented towards the text or the CTA (call to action) button.
For example, if you have a smiling face that’s looking slightly to the right, then insert the image to the left of the text. That way, the person appears to be “looking” towards the text, which in turn will draw your prospect’s eyes towards the text as well.
8. Remove Distractions
When someone opens your email, you want them to have a singular focus: clicking on your link. To get to that point, they need to read your content from top to bottom.
Simple, right?
It is. But it’s also easy for readers to get distracted. That’s why you want to make sure your emails are clean. Remove distractions in them, such as contact info and links that may appear in your header.
Think of it this way: the only two ways to exit your email should be 1) By hitting the back or “close” button on their email client (which you hope they don’t do) and 2) Clicking on your link. To that end, be sure there is nothing else to click on or distract the reader.
9. Use a Single-Column Layout
You may like the idea of a two-column layout in a newsletter because it looks “newsy.” However, if your goal is to get your readers to take action, then a single-column layout is preferable.
The reason is simple: a single-column layout focuses the reader. They have to read from top to bottom, as there is no other way to do it. That makes it more likely they’ll read your content in the order you intended, which will increase their desire and get them clicking on your link.
10. Offer Long Links
As mentioned earlier, CTA button are preferable. However, if you need to use a link, then use at least a half-dozen words as the anchor text. This is much preferable to using a two or three word CTA link.
Here’s why:
Your users can spot the link more easily when it’s longer.
Mobile users can more easily click on longer links.
Longer CTAs give you a chance to tell people why they should act now.
Together, these reasons add up to a better clickthrough rate.
11. Insert Directional Graphics
Part of boosting your clickthrough rate is making sure the CTA button is easy to see. That’s why inserting graphical arrows that point at the button tend to boost conversions. Your prospect’s eyes will naturally look in the direction the arrow is pointing, which will make them take notice of the CTA button and the text immediately around it.
12. Place CTAs to the Right
In many cases, your CTA button is going to be in the middle of a single-column design, usually near the bottom of the page. However, if you insert multiple CTA buttons into your text (which is a good idea, provided the calls to action are for the same thing), then you might offset one of the buttons. If you do this, then be sure the CTA button is to the right of the text.
Here’s why: people read from left to right, so the most natural place to put the button is to the right, which prospects will see after they’ve read the text. Conversely, if you put the button to the left, people need to backtrack with their eyes to get back to the left side of the screen. That’s unnatural. It’s a simple thing, but it will impact your conversions.
13. Increase Conversions With a Series
If you send out a single email that’s known to convert well, you’ll get some clicks and sales. But if you want to further boost conversions, then it’s a good idea to send out a series of emails all promoting the same thing.
For example, you might send out a short series that looks like this:
Email 1: Presell email that lists the benefits of the offer.
Email 2: Objection handling. Inside this email you raise and handle objections. For example, if you’re selling something expensive, then you might focus on justifying the price. Or if an objection is “it won’t work,” then you focus on the guarantee.
Email 3: Proof. This email provides proof of your claims, such as offering case studies, testimonials, videos, screenshots, newspaper clippings or similar.
Email 4: Last chance. If you were offering some sort of discount or bonus (which you would mention in all the previous emails), you might send out one more email informing people it’s their last chance to take advantage of the special.
An email series will almost always boost your conversions over a single email.
Another way to boost your clickthrough rate is to encourage your prospects to share the content with their friends. You can make this easy by inserting social sharing buttons. This works to boost response because people are naturally more open to an offer when their friends recommend it to them (versus when the offer is an advertisement from a marketer).
NOTE: Create a separate email apart from your promo series that encourages people to share. That way, you’re not diluting your responses by presenting two calls to action (one to buy, and one to share). You can also put a social share button on the order confirmation page, in much the same way that Amazon encourages you to share that you just purchased a product.
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15. Prioritize Quality
One of the big keys to high conversions is to consistently send high-quality information to your subscribers. Over time, people will open your emails because it’s from YOU. And they’ll click on your links because they trust your recommendations. To that end, be sure you’re 100% focused on helping your subscribers.
16. Analyze Your Numbers
If your conversions are low, then you need to look at your numbers before you can fix the problem. For example, maybe your conversions are low because your open rate is low – in which case, you need to first do things to boost opens (such as tweaking your subject lines).
17. Limit Campaigns
If you’re pushing different promotions multiple times per week, your subscribers may get promo fatigue. Plus, if you’re insisting every new product out there is the best thing ever, your prospects are going to start realizing that you’re just promoting everything.
The solution: limit your campaigns, typically to around one per week. Watch your conversions and your unsubscribe numbers to get an idea of how effective your campaigns are. (But keep in mind unsubscribes aren’t always a bad thing, as when untargeted people weed themselves out, you end up with a more responsive list.)
Conclusion At the end of the day, the name of the game is to get clicks and sales when you send out emails. That’s why you’ll want to use the 17 tips and strategies that you just learned about for improving your CTA and CTR.
If you read the previous guide, then you know how to get attention with a subject line that gets clicks. But once you have your reader’s attention, you need to hold it. Otherwise, your readers are going to abandon your email without ever getting to the end, seeing your call to action, or clicking on your link.
And that’s what this guide is about. In just moments you’ll discover the 17 essential elements of effective email copywriting. These tactics work in tandem to help you create an email that your readers stay glued to right until the very end.
Let’s get started…
1. Define Your Goal
Before you write a single word of an email, you need to define your goal. In other words, what do you want your audience to know or do once they complete your email?
For example:
Take action on what they just learned.
Purchase a product.
Watch a free video or read a blog article.
Join another list/request a freemium.
Fill out a webinar registration form.
Enter a contest.
Become an affiliate.
Join a membership site.
Participate on a forum or in a group.
“Like” your comment on social media.
Comment on your newsletter.
Share your content on social media with their friends.
Click a link for some other purpose (such as seeing an example).
The key is to pick ONE primary goal, and then craft your email around this primary goal.
2. Know Your Audience
The second big key to creating an effective email is to know your audience. The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to create content that really resonates with them.
To catch the reader’s attention immediately, personalize your emails. Use their name right in your email salutation (e.g., “Hi, Susan”). (Note: this is why it’s a good idea to capture first names when building your email address, so that you can personalize your emails later.)
Secondly, create content that speaks directly to your audience. For example, if you know your audience consists of busy moms who want to lose weight, then you might say something like this:
“Seems like you spend an inordinate amount of time chauffeuring the kids to their practices and appointments, helping them with homework, bathing the little ones, and doing everything else it takes to make your household hum along smoothly. But at the end of the day, you don’t have time to cook extra meals for yourself or go to the gym. So how can you possibly lose weight?”
See how that connects with the audience? It’s much better than saying “Losing weight is hard when you’re busy” (which is generic, and doesn’t speak directly to your target audience).
In order to create content like this, you need to profile your market. This includes:
Researching their demographics.
Viewing their online discussions on forums and social media to get more insight into what they want.
Surveying them to get more insight into who they are, their challenges, and what they want.
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3. Grab Attention Immediately
As soon as your recipient’s open your email, you need to have an opener that grabs their attention immediately. Here are different ways to do it:
Empathize with the reader. E.G., “I know how frustrating it is to spend hours in front of your computer trying to build a business, but you have nothing to show for it…”
Tell a story. Ideally, this should be a story about how someone like the reader overcame the same problem the reader currently possesses.
Share a startling, relevant fact. E.G., “Your business is likely to fail this year…”
Start with a relevant quote. E.G., Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try…”
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4. Engage the Senses
Whenever you tell a story in your email or describe something, bring in the reader’s senses whenever possible. This tends to engage the reader and keeps them hooked on your email.
For example, perhaps you’re sharing a weight loss story about how hard it is to not cheat on one’s diet. Your story might talk about the smell of fresh-baked bread, or the silky feel of hot chocolate in one’s mouth being like a little piece of heaven.
5. Ask a Question
Asking questions in your opener (and all throughout your email) keeps readers engaged and even helps them self-qualify, depending on the type of question.
Here are three types of questions:
Self-qualifying question: “Do you ever struggle mentally to keep going when you’re nearing the end of a long race?”
Engaging question: “Can you simultaneously rub your tummy with one hand and pat your head with the other?”
Curiosity-arousing question: “Do you know which common food can stop your sugar cravings cold? Most people don’t, and the answer might surprise you…”
Which brings us to the next point…
6. Drop Cliffhangers/Build Anticipation
To hook readers in your email opener, build anticipation for what’s coming. This works particularly well if you’re sharing a how-to article or similar.
E.G., “In just moments you’ll find out the three best ways to save enough money for retirement. Most people have never even heard of the third method, so keep reading to find out what it is…”
The middle of your content should also make use of curiosity-arousing cliffhangers to keep people reading. This tells readers something good is coming up so they should keep reading.
E.G., “In just moments you’ll discover my #1 trick for getting rid of cellulite. But first, let me share with you a story about how I discovered the keys to getting rid of this ugly fat for good…”
7. Create a Series
One really good way to get more people opening and reading your emails is by creating an engaging series. E.G., a five-part series might be called, “The Five Keys to Rapid (Yet Safe) Weight Loss.”
At the end of each email, be sure to build anticipation for the next email. E.G., “Stay tuned, because next time you’ll discover which simple food will kickstart your fat-burning metabolism…”
8. Engage the Reader’s Imagination and Emotions
When some people talk about engaging emotions, they often are referring to manipulating people, evoking fear, or using sleazy tricks. Take note: that’s NOT what I’m referring to here.
Instead, the idea behind this strategy is to engage your reader’s emotions and their imagination in a positive way. For example, sharing your own struggles with a problem will engage the readers’ emotions, show them that you truly understand the problem, and show them that you care.
E.G., “I know the humiliation of not fitting into a standard airplane seat. Sometimes you feel like everyone is staring at you, and all you want to do is just disappear…”
Another way to engage the reader is to get them to imagine what it will be like to solve their problem. In other words, you get them to imagine and feel the joy of the solution. If people can imagine themselves using a product and getting a positive benefit as a result, then they’re all that much closer to clicking on your links (and your order button).
E.G., “Imagine waking up two months from now and seeing a new, slimmer you looking back from the mirror. Imagine how good it will feel to actually LIKE the person in the mirror…”
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9. Offer a Quick Win
Whether you’re sharing how-to information or a promo message, you can hold your reader’s attention by giving them a piece of information that will provide a quick win. In other words, give them a “wow” moment with a really good tip that they can apply right now to get fast results.
For example, if you’re sharing copywriting info, then share a headline-tweaking tip that will boost conversions.
Sharing this info will impress your readers and keep them hooked on your email in search of more good information.
10. Raise and Handle Objections
If you’re selling a product or service in your emails, then your prospects are going to have objections as to why they shouldn’t buy the product. If you create a series of promo emails, then you can devote one or more emails to raising and handling these objections.
For example, if people say they don’t have time to implement a strategy that you share in an infoproduct, then offer a bonus app that makes it quicker and easier to take action and get results.
11. Be Succinct
People don’t have the time or attention to read long emails, especially if they’re on the go and reading it from their phones. That’s why you’ll want to be as succinct as possible.
For example, if you’re selling something that requires a lot of words to sell it, then don’t try to turn your email into a sales letter. Instead, use your email as a short, benefit-driven “teaser” to get people to click through to your sales letter.
12. Be Aware of the Preview Text
Most email clients let readers preview the first couple lines of the email without clicking to open the email. That’s why you’ll want to be sure that the first 100 characters of your email are as compelling as possible. Look at these first characters in isolation and ask yourself, “Would this text persuade me to open the email?”
13. Proof Your Copy
If your readers are met with spelling errors, grammar errors and other problems, they’re going to view your email as low quality. Likewise, whatever you’re promoting inside the email will also be associated with low quality. That’s why you’ll want to take care to proofread your emails before you send them. Better yet, have someone else do it for you. For the most important emails, it’s a good idea to hire a professional proofreader using upwork.com or similar.
14. Utilize a Professional Design
In addition to judging the quality of your email based on whether it has typos, your readers are also going to judge it based on the design. That’s why you’ll want to be choose a clean, professional design template – and be sure it’s responsive, so that mobile users can easily read your emails.
TIP: Most big email service providers (like Aweber.com) provide multiple templates for you to choose from – no design experience required.
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15. Format for Skimmers
While you hope that everyone reads every single word of your email, sadly that’s not the case. Quite a few people are going to skim it. And in order for you to get these skimmers to take action (or at least draw them into the text), you need to format your email for skimmers.
How? By emphasizing the main points of your email using headlines, subheadlines, italics, bolding, different font sizes and colors, utilizing bulleted lists, inserting Johnson boxes, using captions under graphics, and similar.
The key is to only bold the most important parts so that a skimmer gets the gist of your email simply by reading anything that you’ve highlighted in some way. For example, if it’s a presell email, then highlight who the target market is and what the product will do for them (i.e., highlight the benefits).
Your P.S. (postscript) is a really important part of your email, because many people won’t read every word of your email… but they WILL read the postscript. As such, you should use this postscript to do one or more of the following:
Remind people of the main points/benefits of the email they just read.
Provide a call to action and link (see below).
Offer a “closing argument” as to why people should take action.
Share a new benefit not mentioned elsewhere (such as a guarantee or a discount).
E.G.,
P.S. People are selling access to this information for $50, $100 or more. If you act now, you can register for this webinar for FREE. But hurry, because this offer is only available to the first 150 people who click here…
17. Craft a Compelling CTA
As mentioned, you have a goal for your email, and you’ve created your email around achieving this goal (such as getting someone to click a link to buy a product). Now what you need to do is craft a compelling CTA (call to action), which tells people exactly what you want them to do next.
E.G., “Click here to watch this video – and do it now before I take it offline…”
Conclusion You just discovered 17 surefire ways to get more people reading every word of your email. The key is to be helpful, offer relevant, targeted information shared in a conversational tone (that’s a bonus tip for you!), and construct your email with a singular goal in mind. If you apply all these tips, you’ll see fewer abandoned emails and more clicks and sales!
Your subject line is one of the most important parts of your email. If it doesn’t get your subject’s attention and entice them to open your email, then even the most spectacular newsletter you’ve ever created won’t get read. That’s why it’s so important for you to take your time to create subject lines that get clicks. To that end, check out these 17 tips, ideas and templates…
1. Keep It Short
Most email clients truncate your email subject line, meaning your subscribers aren’t going to see the whole thing if it’s too long. That’s why you’ll want to keep your subject line to 60 characters or less.
Note: some email marketers have tested subject lines and found that even shorter subjects get more clicks. How much shorter? About 30 characters. This may not be true for your particular audience, which is why this is something you should test out for yourself to find out what types of subject lines create the best response.
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2. Avoid Clickbait
As you work your way through the tips in this guide, you’re going to see different ways to get your reader’s attention. The one thing you don’t want to use, however, is clickbait. These are outrageous and/or misleading subject lines that don’t have much relevance to the content inside your email.
For example, imagine creating a subject line like this: “Actress Julia Roberts Dead?”
The line suggests Roberts is dead, which will get people opening the email. But then if the email confesses that she’s not really dead, you’re going to trash your credibility. People aren’t going to trust you next time. They’ll unsubscribe, or they’ll simply stop opening your emails… no matter WHAT the subject line is.
Point is, don’t use clickbait, not even once. Doing so could harm your long-term open rates and any destroy any trust and credibility you’ve built with your audience.
3. Present a Benefit
When people see your email, they’re going to be wondering, “What’s in it for me?” In other words, what benefit will the subscriber get if they click on and read your email? Whenever possible, your subject line should answer that question.
Another way to get more people clicking on your subject lines is by arousing curiosity. You can do this in the following ways:
Ask a question. E.G., “Are you making these dog training mistakes?”
Use a question mark on a statement/claim. E.G., “Best fat loss tip ever?”
Arouse curiosity about how someone will get a benefit in what seems like a counterintuitive way. E.G., “Eat chocolate and still lose weight?”
As always, be sure to arouse curiosity in a relevant way. (I.E., no clickbait!)
5. Convey Urgency (Where Warranted)
If you have an email that’s urgent, such as an offer that ends soon, then convey this urgency in your subject line.
E.G., “Last chance for 50% off…”
There are two keys to this strategy:
Use the strategy sparingly. If you’re making every email sound urgent, you’re going to lose credibility.
Don’t use fake urgency/scarcity. If it’s not truly urgent, then don’t make it sound like it is. Obviously, faking urgency will destroy your credibility.
The overall key here is that you’re looking to help people. It’s HELPFUL to let them know if time is running out on a special offer, as they’ll be upset if they miss it. It’s NOT helpful to try to boost response with fake scarcity claims or similar.
6. Be Specific
The more specific your subject line, the more credible and attractive it will be. That’s why you’ll want to be precise and specific when using numbers.
Consider these two examples:
“Reasons why you can’t lose weight…”
Versus
“7 reasons why you can’t lose weight…”
In most cases, the second line with the specific number (7) will get more clicks than the first headline.
7. Personalize Subject Lines
If you collect first names while building your list, then from time to time you’ll want to use the recipient’s first name in your subject line. (Not always, as doing so will lessen the impact of this strategy. But do it from time to time to highlight a particularly important email.)
For example:
“Hey [first name], do you want more sales?”
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8. Ask a Question
Asking a good question in your subject line can engage readers, arouse their curiosity, qualify them, and get them clicking through. I’ve shared a couple examples above of how to ask questions in your subject lines. Here are three more examples:
Is this food sabotaging your diet?
Do you love Paris?
Are you at risk of a heart attack?
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9. Utilize Social Proof
Social proof is when you suggest that other people are doing something specific, which makes the reader want to do it too.
Here’s how to do it:
Use phrases that suggest others are doing something. E.G., “Who else wants to lose weight fast?”
Be specific with a number. E.G., “2443 other people can’t be wrong…”
Inform the reader others know something that they don’t know. E.G., “What top golf pros do to shave strokes off their game…”
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10. Avoid Anything Spammy
If your subject line looks like an advertisement, many of your readers are going to simply ignore it. To that end, avoid anything that looks like spam such as:
Aggressive sales messages.
Subject lines in all caps.
Multiple exclamation points.
Here’s an example that hits all three points above to look like spam: “SALE ENDS TONIGHT—ACT NOW!!!!”
11. Make People Feel Special
You should be sending exclusive content and offers to your mailing list, as that’s one benefit to get people to join your list. When you do send these offers or content, let people know it’s something exclusive, which will make them feel special.
Here are example subject lines that help make people feel special:
Exclusive offer for subscribers only…
You’re invited…
Free report for your eyes only…
12. Help People
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again: the main goal of your newsletter should be to help people. With that in mind, you also want to create subject lines that show people that you intend to help them.
Let me give you a few examples:
Your black mold problem, solved…
Free SEO video – get more traffic…
Want to travel well on a budget? Here’s how…
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13. Be Unique
When your subscriber is scanning through all the emails in their inbox, most of the subject lines are going to look pretty similar. Similar words, similar offers for free content, similar promotional offers.
If you want your email to stand out, it needs to be unique. It needs to say something unexpected in order to get attention. In other words, it can’t blend in with all the other emails filling your recipient’s inbox.
One very simple way to be unique is to say something unexpected in the subject line. This might be as simple as an unexpected word, or it may be an unexpected viewpoint.
For example:
An unexpected viewpoint: “Why this fat-loss trainer recommends chocolate…”
An unexpected word: “My thighs are ginormous!”
All you need to do is interrupt your reader’s thoughts for a split second (that’s the goal when you use unexpected language). In that split second, you can get their full attention and get them to click on your email to read more.
14. Use Attention-Getting Words
There are some words that almost always seem to catch people’s attention. These words are often referred to as “super” words, “trigger” words or even “power” words. Whatever name you want to attach to them, the point is to start incorporating thtem in your subject lines to see if they boot your conversion rates too.
Here’s a swipe file of some of the top words:
You
Amazing
Secret
Discover
How to
New
News
Guaranteed
Proof
Free
Quick
Easy
Fast
Sexy
Genius
Lazy
Startling
Surprising
Breathtaking
Smart
Savvy
Revolutionary
Remarkable
Heartbreaking
Excited
Horrifying
Love
Steal
Awesome
Mind-blowing
Take note that some of these words reference emotion. Evoking some sort of emotion is often a good thing. E.G., “The heartbreaking reason you’re not losing weight…”
15. Use Active Language
Another key to crafting a good subject line is to use reader-oriented, active language instead of passive language.
In order to create active language, you need to have a specific subject performing a specific action. For example: “You need to lose weight.”
The subject is “you” and the action is “lose weight.”
Now compare that to passive language: “Weight needs to be lost.” Whenever you have weak language such as “needs to be,” that’s a sign you have a passive sentence. You’ll want to rewrite it to be active.
When it comes to subject lines where you need to be succinct, you can drop the subject (“you”) and simple use a strong action verb as the first word in the sentence. In this case, it becomes more like a command, but it’s still powerful and active.
E.G.,
Lose weight with this tip…
Boost conversions fast…
Get your free gardening inside…
You can see the point here. Use active language to get attention. This is as easy as starting with a verb, as shown in the examples above.
16. Avoid “No Reply” Addresses
Elsewhere in these guides I’ve advised you to do use a recognizable “from” field. While it’s not technically part of your subject line, it’s important because it impacts whether people are going to even read your subject line. You’ll also want to take this one step further by having a recognizable email address. Whatever you do, don’t use a “no reply” email address, as that just screams “spam!”
You should start your own swipe file of subject lines by collecting examples from your inbox. You can also use sales letter headlines and article titles as inspiration, which you can collect from blogs and social media.
In the meantime, you can generate subject lines by using these templates:
Who else wants [a good benefit]?
E.G., Who else wants to save money on heating bills?
I couldn’t stop [laughing/crying/etc.] when [something happened]…
E.G., I couldn’t stop crying when I stepped on the scale…
Last chance to [get some offer]…
E.G., Last chance to save $100 – coupon code inside…
Have you heard about [some idea or product]?
E.G., Have you heard about Emailcome?
New [some piece of news] – this isn’t good for [some group]…
E.G., New FTC rule – this isn’t good for online sellers…
[Number] secrets for [getting a benefit]…
E.G., 3 secrets for selling your home for top dollar…
Surprising way to [get some benefit]…
E.G., Surprising way to boost your metabolism…
Get rid of [bad thing] for good…
E.G., Get rid of cellulite for good…
Are you making these [type of] mistakes?
E.G., Are you making these Facebook marketing mistakes?
The easiest way to [get a benefit]…
E.G., The easiest way to start a business…
Again, this is just a starting point. Be sure to create your own swipe file for inspiration so you can generate all the subject lines you need.
Now let’s wrap things up…
Conclusion
Your email subject lines can make or break the success of your entire email campaign, which is why it’s a good idea to take your time to craft compelling subjects. You may want to start by brainstorming several subject lines using the tips and best practices above, and then test the best subject lines to see which ones produce good results for you.
Your open rate will make or break the success of your newsletter. If people aren’t opening your emails, then no one is reading, no one is clicking, and most definitely no one is buying. That’s why you need to improve your open rate using the following 17 ideas…
1. Get Permission
This is a given, but I’m going to say it anyway: before you send email to anyone, make sure you have their explicit permission to do so.
Note: Acquiring email addresses using a confirmed opt-in process is much safer in this regard than a single opt-in process. That’s because anyone can put their friend’s (or enemy’s!) name into an opt-in form, and that person will start receiving the newsletter… even though they never requested it.
Instead, use a confirmed opt-in. This is where someone fills in your opt-in form, and then they have to click on a link in their email to confirm that they requested your newsletter. This ensures that you’re getting working email addresses from your subscribers, plus it ensures that only those who requested your emails are going to receive them.
2. Set Expectations Early
You should start setting expectations about your newsletter right on the opt-in page, as well as in the first email. Ideally, you should remind subscribers of this information from time to time.
Specifically, your opt in page and first couple emails should answer the following:
What is this newsletter about?
What sort of content can the readers expect?
How long is the newsletter, in general?
How often will the subscriber receive the newsletter?
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3. Choose Your From Field Carefully
The next step is to make sure your audience instantly recognizes the “From” field of your emails.
For example, let’s suppose people joined your list through an opt-in page that was branded with your business name. However, you then insert your first and last name in the “From” field. If people are used to your business branding, they may not recognize your name – and that means they won’t open your email. As such, be sure to choose a “From” field that’s recognizable to your audience. (And don’t change this field unless there is an extremely good reason to do so, otherwise your open rate is likely to drop.)
4. Acquire Good Email Addresses
Sometimes people will join your list to get a lead magnet, and they’ll use one of their “throwaway” email addresses to do so. End result? They don’t check those addresses, so they’re not seeing or opening your emails.
Sometimes marketers specifically request that subscribers give their “best” email addresses. That helps, but it’s not perfect. What you’ll want to do is, where it makes sense, is create a lead magnet that requires people to check their email regularly, such as a multipart ecourse. That way, users need to give you an email address they’re willing to check on a regular basis.
TIP: You’ll also acquire better email addresses if your email marketing strategy revolves around driving highly targeted traffic to your lead page. For example, you might use pay per click marketing, and bid on focused, longtail keywords that are highly relevant to your site. E.G., “weight loss for women over 40” is very targeted versus something like “how to lose weight.”
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5. Publish on a Regular Schedule
The next tip for boosting your open rate is to publish frequently and regularly, meaning at least weekly. This keeps your name in front of your audience to build recognition, plus helps you build trust over time as subscribers see your high-quality content.
6. Build Anticipation
The idea here is to get subscribers excited about the next email that will be landing in their inbox. To that end, build anticipation by sharing the benefits of the next email. You can also build curiosity if possible.
Here’s an email template for building anticipation:
“Next time you’ll discover my #1 trick for [getting a benefit/desired outcome] – I’m almost certain you’ve never seen this before, so be sure to keep an eye on your inbox for the next email arriving [insert when it will arrive. E.G., “Tuesday” or “in 48 hours”].
7. Test and Track Your Emails
Another way to boost your open rates is by testing and tracking your email campaigns so that you know what your audience responds to the best. For example, you can test and track subject lines for an autoresponder series until you discover the line that gets you the best open rates. (You’ll learn more about this topic in a later guide.)
Note: many email service providers also provide tools for tracking individual opens. You can then follow up with those specific individuals who didn’t open your last email. For example, if you sent them a promo, you might send up a follow up “last chance” email the next day.
8. Create High-Quality Content
I alluded to this above. The point here is to consistently publish high-quality content in your newsletter. Most people will open at least your first few emails to see what your newsletter is about. If you don’t impress them right away (and continue to impress them), they’re going to cease opening your emails.
That’s why you should never push out subpar content just to get something to your readers. Instead, focus on publishing the highest quality content possible, and you’ll have subscribes who are eager to open all your emails.
9. Develop a Series
The idea here is to create an enticing email series that gets your readers opening your emails repeatedly over time. Once they’ve completed the series, they’ll be impressed with your high-quality content and they’ll be “trained” to keep opening your emails. Indeed, you can even start up a second series once the first one is over.
For example, you might create a three-month, 12-email long series titled, “The 12 Secrets for Boosting Your Metabolism.”
10. Provide Surprises
Another way to increase your open rate is to provide occasional surprises in your emails, such as access to a valuable product. For example, you might offer a valuable, in-demand report, video or app from time to time. Your subscribers will keep opening your emails, because they never know when there might be a surprise inside.
11. Optimize for Mobile
A large number of your subscribers are likely opening your emails from their phones. Depending on your niche audience, you may even find that the vast majority of your subscribers are doing so. If these subscribers open your first email and struggle to read it, they’re not going to be eager to open your subsequent emails.
That’s why you’ll want to optimize your email messages for mobile. Specifically:
Use a responsive design that looks great across devices.
Space out links so they’re easy to tap.
Format for easy readability, being sure to incorporate plenty of white space.
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12. Send At the Right Time
If you want to get more people opening your email, then send emails at a time when you know your subscribers are not only going to be online, but they also have time to engage with your email.
The best way to determine this time (and day) is by testing and tracking your email campaigns. Split your subscribers into random groups, and send your emails at different times of the day to determine the best time for your audience. Most of the bigger email service providers offer built-in tracking tools to make this task easy.
Need a good starting point? Then look at when your subscribers initially joined your list. If a good chunk of them joined around 9:00am EST on Tuesdays, then that’s likely to be a good time to send out your emails.
13. Segment Your List
Another way to boost your open rate is by segmenting your list, and then sending out highly targeted emails to these segments.
Check out these different ideas on ways to segment your list:
Separate buyers from prospects.
Segment buyers according to the exact products they purchased.
Segment prospects according to the exact lead magnets they requested.
Segment your list according to events they’ve participated in, such as contests or webinars.
Segment your list according to buyer behavior, such as people who ONLY buy with coupons versus those who nearly always pay full price.
Segment your list according to whether they opened your last email and/or clicked on the links inside and/or took some other action.
Ask new subscribers to tell you which topics they’re interested in when they’re in the process of joining your list.
For example, if you segment by product, then you can send out a targeted promo for a product and exclude everyone who’s already purchased that particular product.
This strategy helps ensure subscribers are only getting emails that are relevant and of interest to them, which in turn increases your open/read rates.
How do you segment? Fortunately this is easy if you choose an email service provider that has segmenting tools built in. Many of them do, especially the bigger and more well-known services.
Note: We’ll discuss this topic in more detail in a later guide.
14. Clean Your List
If you’ve had your list for some time, then you’re going to have some subscribers who never open your emails. This may be because they no longer own the email address, they don’t check it, or they see your emails and just trash them rather than unsubscribing.
What you want to do is clean up your list using the following tips:
Delete email addresses that are bouncing.
Send a short three-email series to re-engage cold subscribers (e.g., offer enticing freemiums and content).
Give subscribers a “last chance” to remain as subscribers.
If an email address is truly cold and doesn’t respond to your re-engagement efforts, then delete it.
15. Avoid Filters
Sometimes subscribers don’t open your emails simply because they never see them. In most cases when this happens, the email lands in the subscriber’s spam/bulk folder.
The first thing to do to avoid this is to tell new subscribers how to whitelist your email address (and why they should take this step).
The second step is to run every email you plan on sending through a spam tool (which is part of the features many email service providers offer). This tool will check if your email includes common spam triggers, such as certain words (pharmaceutical, fast money, etc.). You can then tweak the email to reduce its spam score, which increases the chances of it landing in the recipients’ inboxes.
16. Use a Reliable ESP
You may be tempted to build your list on the cheapest budget possible, which includes signing up with the least expensive ESP (email service provider). Alternatively, you may decide to do it all yourself, by installing email software on your domain and managing your email list yourself.
Both of these actions are a mistake, as they can negatively impact the deliverability rate of your emails. That’s because the well-known and reputable ESPs devote a significant amount of resources to ensuring any emails sent off their servers get delivered to their intended recipients.
Smaller companies don’t have the resources to do this, so their deliverability rate is much lower. Likewise, if you send emails from your own server and you’re not engaging in strategies to increase deliverability, then you too will suffer from low deliverability rates.
The solution? Stick with a well-known, established email service provider that advertises good deliverability and uptime rates.
17. Create Enticing Subject Lines
You’ve probably been waiting for this tip, because it’s one of the bigger keys to getting more people to open your emails. If you create benefit-driven, relevant subject lines that get the clicks – and you test your subject lines to get the best response – then you’re likely to see your open rates significantly increase.
Note: This topic is so important that I’ve devoted an entire Emailcome guide to it! See Guide #5 for more information.
Now let’s wrap things up…
Conclusion
One of the big keys to the success of your email marketing campaign is whether people open your emails or not. However, there’s not just one thing you can magically do that will make everyone open all your emails. Instead, you’ll want to put the above 17 tips and ideas to work so you can start enjoying more higher open rates, which directly lead to more clicks and sales!