The Guide To Email Marketing
17 Ways To Make Sure Your Subscribers Open And Read Your Emails
Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re well on your way to building a big list, where you intend to promote affiliate offers. But once you start promoting them, you find that your results are less than dazzling.
You know you’re working with a targeted audience, so that’s not the problem. Instead, it seems that people aren’t opening and reading your emails as often as you’d like. And when they do open them, they’re not clicking.
So, how do you fix these problems? Check out these ideas…
1. Choose a Meaningful “From” Field
When you’re first setting up your “From” field, be sure it’s something that your audience recognizes.
For example, sometimes affiliate marketers use their branding on their lead page. But when they actually send out emails, they use their first and last names. If the subscriber signed up for “XYZ Branding” emails, but they start receiving emails from “John Doe,” they’re not going to recognize them – and that means they’re not going to open them.
The point is, be sure your “From” field is something your audience will recognize immediately. And once you’ve decided what to use, don’t change it (or you’re back to the problem of people not opening your emails because they don’t recognize who they’re from).
2. Craft a Compelling Subject Line
Your subject line is the “make or break” component of your email. If it doesn’t get attention, then no one will open your emails (much less read them).
To that end, ask yourself these questions as you construct your subject line:
Does your subject line showcase one or two enormous benefits of opening the email?
Does the subject line arouse curiosity about what’s inside the email (where applicable)?
Does the subject line use compelling words such as you, free, how to, discover, excellent, guaranteed, proven, scientific, quick, easy, reveal (and similar expressions)?
Does the subject line employ social proof where possible? E.G., “Now you too can get rid of belly fat…”
While you may not be able to say “yes” to every point above (such as the one on curiosity, which is optional), you should incorporate as many points as possible.
Here’s a related note…
3. Keep the Subject Line Short
While your subject line needs to capture attention, it also needs to do it in about 60-65 characters or less. That’s because most email clients truncate the subject line, so it needs to have an impact in as few words (and characters) as possible.
TIP: Go through your inbox and take note of how subject lines are truncated. You’ll note that the clear subject lines put their most potent words upfront (and the less-powerful terms end up at the end, where the email client may truncate them).
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4. Entice Readers With a Good Preview
Many email clients allow for a preview of the email, which the recipient can see without opening the email. This preview can range from a few words to a line or two. Or, to be more precise, it typically is about 30-90 characters long.
This means that you need to be sure your first 30-90 characters are compelling to the point that they help persuade the recipient to open the email. If you put a salutation at the top of your email, be sure it uses the recipient’s name to help capture their attention. Beyond that, use powerful words, engage readers fast with benefits, tell a story, share a startling fact, or do something similar to compel people to open your email to read the rest of it.
5. Provide Consistently Good Information
If you want people to open every single email you send to them, then get in the habit of sending high-quality information in every single email. By doing this, you train subscribers to look forward to your emails, open them, and read every word.
This brings us to the next point…
6. Know What Your Audience Wants
One of the keys to providing great information in every email you send is to know what your audience wants. What problems are they facing for which they’re actively looking for solutions? Your emails can help them solve these problems by offering tips, how-to information, and other advice, plus you can point readers to paid resources that will help them overcome their biggest challenges.
7. Create a Publishing Calendar
If you’re randomly sending out whatever content suits your fancy, then you’re going to struggle to create a responsive list. Instead, what you want to do is create a publishing calendar about six months in advance. This will ensure you stay focused on your goals for your list, that you get time-sensitive emails out on time, and that you create email sequences where needed.
Ask yourself these questions to help develop your calendar:
How many emails will you send (per week or per month)?
On what days will you send emails?
What products will you be promoting in the next six months?
Which of these products have time-sensitive promotions in the form of a product launch, a special sale, etc.? (Ask vendors if you’re not sure.)
How many emails will you send for each product you promote? (You should send sequences for best results.)
Will you be sending any seasonal content, such as Christmas-themed emails?
What else will you promote? (E.G., contests, webinars, etc.)
Once you answer these questions, then you can start planning your publishing calendar.
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8. Provide a Variety of Content
Offering a variety of content helps keep subscribers engaged. It also lets you do some testing to see what they respond to the best (so you can send more of whatever is converting). To that end, you can provide a variety of content such as:
How to/guides/tutorials.
Tips.
Lists (e.g., resource lists).
Checklists.
Worksheets.
Swipes.
Templates.
Cheat sheets.
Planners.
Mind maps.
Inspirational/motivational stories.
Case studies.
Demo videos.
Infographics.
Product reviews.
Product comparisons.
Direct-response ads.
And similar content.
Now, no matter what sort of content you create, you need to keep this next tip in mind…
9. Create Engaging Content
You could be offering the most fantastic piece of information – such as a strategy or tip very few people know – but if reading your email is as dull as watching paint dry, very few people are going to learn about this tip.
To get people reading and opening your emails, you need to create engaging content. This includes:
Using a friendly, conversational tone.
Formatting the content so that it’s scannable. (This guide is an example.)
Sprinkling in light humor, where appropriate.
I was telling stories.
We are using random words or phrases.
Utilizing analogies, similes, and metaphors to describe the content.
Simplifying complex subjects.
Offering actionable tips that create “quick wins.”
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10. Be Sure Autoresponder Content is Evergreen
When you’re sending out live broadcasts, you can certainly write about any topic. However, when you’re uploading content to your autoresponder, you need to be sure it’s evergreen. Ask yourself, is there anything in this email that will date the content?
This includes:
Referring to a product or strategy is “new.”
Promoting untested/unproven products or ideas that may fall out of favor.
Mentioning anything that dates the content, such as a holiday, an event, a month, or even a season.
The point is if someone opens up an email and realizes you wrote it weeks, months, or even years ago, they’re not going to be too eager to open and read your future emails.
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11. Create Reengagement Campaigns
Sometimes parts of your list grow cold. When that happens, you’ll want to attempt to re-engage this segment of your list with a re-engagement campaign. This is a series of highly compelling emails that are designed to get people back in the habit of opening and reading your emails. Typically, it would be best if you offered something enticing to bring people back into the fold, such as a highly desirable and valuable freemium (such as a guide, webinar, video, membership, or similar).
What happens if a re-engagement campaign doesn’t work for a segment of your list? Then you may consider removing them from your list, as getting rid of cold prospects will allow you to focus on your best subscribers (which in turn boosts your conversion rate).
If you use to send “cold” e-mails, your e-mails land in the Spam folder, or you use a new domain to send e-mails, it is definitely recommended to use software such as NeverSpam or similar.
NeverSpam displays as well as quits your cool e-mails touchdown in leads spam/promotion folders.
They accomplish this by imitating human tasks on your account as well as reporting on which folder your e-mails are landing in.
On NeverSpam, Sumolings will certainly obtain a control panel that tracks your sender track record as well as communicates with your e-mail accounts every day to make them look, extra human.
You'll see adjustments in your spam rating gradually utilizing their vibrant graphics. You will certainly likewise obtain understandings of just how to boost your sender's online reputation based upon the analytics they're tracking in your account.
- Monitor what percentage of your sales emails are landing in the spam/promotions folder, instead of the primary inbox
- Add up to 5 mailboxes and have automatic conversions simulated on them to improve your reputation
- Track and improve your sender reputation using insights from a real-time dashboard
- Best for: Sales and Marketing teams who use cold email to generate leads
Lately, customers on NeverSpam have actually seen their spam prices decreasing by 50% within the initial 3-months of use.
Considering how many sales come from email marketing, it has huge benefits.
12. Build a Good Reputation
Your reputation is one of your most valuable assets, which is why you need to defend it fiercely. Consistently providing high-quality content in your emails is one way to develop a good reputation, increasing loyalty and open rates.
The second factor is to be sure you ONLY recommend high-quality products that you’ve personally reviewed.
In other words, don’t recommend something to your list just because it’s trendy right now, and a lot of different affiliates are recommending it. Likewise, don’t recommend something just because it has a slick sales letter and a great commission rate, meaning you’ll make a lot of money.
Put your subscribers first by asking yourself if you’d feel comfortable recommending a particular product to your best friend. If not, then don’t recommend it to your subscribers either.
13. Offer Fresh Content
If your emails are the same as what everyone else in your niche is sending, then your subscribers have no particular reason to open and read your emails. That’s why you’ll want to offer something fresh in every email you send. This could be:
A unique tip not shared anywhere else.
Information is shared in a unique way, such as creating a unique formula around a how-to process.
A fresh angle on an old problem.
Breaking news on a relevant topic (if you can provide the scoop).
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14. Email on a Regular Schedule
You can’t build relationships or name recognition with your list if you’re not emailing them regularly. That’s why you need to create a publishing calendar and stick to it. You can also upload evergreen content to your autoresponder. Either way, aim to get in touch with your subscribers at least once per week.
15. Set the Proper Expectations
Your lead page and your initial autoresponder series should tell your new subscribers exactly what to expect when joining your list. This includes:
The type of content they’ll receive.
How often they’ll receive the content.
One common reason for subscribers growing cold is when an email publisher goes against the expectations they initially set, such as sending different kinds of content, starting to send more frequently, etc. Once you decide on the specifics, be sure those expectations are clear and stick with them.
16. Segment Your List
Another good way to improve list response is by segmenting your list. For example, if you have multiple lead magnets sent via autoresponder, segment your inventory according to which lead magnet the subscriber claimed. You can also segment based on:
Which offers someone purchased (when you know this information, such as when you send bonuses).
Contest entries.
Webinar registrations.
How they arrived on your list (social media, SEO, paid ads, etc.).
Where they live (so you can send emails when they’re awake and active).
And similar. When you segment your list, you can send highly targeted ads and offers that resonate with the recipient.
And finally…
17. Test and Track Your Campaigns
If you want to get more people opening and reading your emails, you need to track and test your campaigns. The most impactful items to try include:
Your email subject lines.
The email preview.
The offer you’re promoting.
The call to action.
When you send the email.
Many big email service providers provide built-in testing tools, which makes it easy to run these tests.
Conclusion
If you’re like many affiliate marketers, your mailing list is a big part of your overall affiliate strategy. The guide to email marketing and being able to follow up with your audience allows you to grow your relationship with them, give them repeated exposure to offers, and boost your conversions. That’s why you’ll want to put the above 17 tips and ideas to work for you to improve the number of people who both open and read every email you send!
It is important that you also use a Reputable Email Service Provider
For example, Builderall Mailingboss is an Autoresponder and Email Marketing Platform. With Mailingboss, you can capture and send unlimited emails with superior delivery and open rates.
Or use a reputable service provider like GetResponse.
Be sure also to read our articles on :
The Guide To Affiliate Market Research
The Guide To Selecting Profitable Products
Get The Best Email List Building Software Here>
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