Author - liztomey

It’s a problem as old as old as email marketing itself: a poorly responding list. Sometimes marketers struggle to get clicks, they struggle to get people to open their emails, and they struggle to get readers to take definite action (such as purchasing a product).

Why does this happen?

There are actually quite few mistakes that can kill your results. Are you making one or more of these mistakes too?

Read on to find out…

Mistake 1. Setting Incorrect Expectations

From the very moment someone lands on your lead page or even reads the very first email you send, you should be telling them what to expect with regards to your list.

Specifically, this includes:

What kind of content they can expect to receive. Promos? Special discounts and other deals? “How to” instructional content? Freemiums? Curated content? Some combination of these? Whatever it is, let your readers know upfront what they get.

How often they’ll receive content. People don’t mind getting frequent content, as long as they know to expect it. However, what is a problem is if you email infrequently, such as less than once per week. If you don’t get in touch on a regular basis, your subscribers are going to forget about you. That means they’ll do business with your competitor who reaches out to them more frequently.

Related to this…

Mistake 2. Repurposing Your List

Some email marketers don’t see much of a response from their lists, so they repurpose it. In other words, they start sending content that violates their readers’ expectations. This is a mistake that will kill your results.

For example, maybe you’ve told your list they’ll receive “content and tips” once a week. But then you start hammering them with promos once a day.

Or maybe you have a bodybuilding list that started off focusing on specific lifts, but now focuses almost exclusively on nutrition. You’re likely to see your conversions drop, because current subscribers primarily signed up to get lifting info, not nutrition info.

So how do you fix this?

Obviously, the first step is to plan your list strategy carefully so that you don’t end up repurposing it midstream.

Secondly, if you DO make a major change, then warn your readers. Let them know what’s coming for a few weeks before you make the change. Be sure to also change your lead page and welcome emails to reflect these changes.

Mistake 3. Sending Untargeted Emails

There are actually two parts to this mistake:

The first part is making the mistake of simply not understanding what your market wants.

There are three ways to fix this mistake:

Do your market research. Find out what your market is already buying, and then put similar offers in front of them.

Survey your list. Find out what their problems are and find out what kinds of solutions they’re seeking.

Test your offers. If they don’t perform, find an offer that does produce high conversions with your list.

The second part is making the mistake of not segmenting your list.

You can fix this problem with these steps:

Separate your prospect lists from your customer lists.

Separate customer lists according to what they purchase.

Offer freemiums to your prospects to help you segment by their interests.

Once you have these micro-targeted lists, you’ll be better able to send out targeted content and offers that produce high conversion rates.

Next…

Mistake 4. Crafting Poor Subject Lines

Your subject lines can make or break the success of each email you send. If they’re boring, overhyped or irrelevant, people won’t even bother to open your email.

You can fix this mistake by applying these tips:

Offer a big benefit. Let readers know what’s in it for them if they open the email. (E.G., “Here’s the #1 way to get more traffic…”)

Don’t overhype. It’s okay to make a bold promise if you can deliver big-time within the email, but don’t exaggerate and hype things up. (Here’s an example of what NOT to do: “How To Make $1 million in 48 hours!”)

Use social proof. People are more likely to do something if others are doing it too. (E.G., “Find out why so many smart marketers love this app…”)

Next…

Mistake 5. Ignoring the Pre-Head

The pre-head is that little bit of text that is shown in the message preview, which is accessible before the recipient actually opens the email. If the subject line gets their attention, then they’ll often look at the preview. If the preview doesn’t hold their attention, they’re not going to bother opening the email to read the rest.

Point is, you need to make the first 100 characters of your email absolutely gripping. Tell a story. Present a big benefit. Build anticipation for what’s coming. Make people curious. In short, give people a compelling reason to open your email.

Mistake 6. Making The Email About You

One of the best ways to lose your readers’ attention is to make the email about you. It’s one thing to tell a relevant story about yourself, but it’s another thing entirely to make the entire email about you. When that happens, readers bail out. You can bet they won’t see your calls to action.

So how do you avoid or fix this mistake?

There’s actually a simple “quick and easy” way to ensure you’re making your email about your readers and not yourself. Simply take a look at how many times you use words like “you” versus how many times you use words like “I” or “me.”

HINT: You should use the word “you” MUCH more frequently than words like “I” or “me.” You should be using the word “you” about three times more often than self-referential words.

And finally…

Mistake 7. Offering a Weak Call to Action

Your subscribers can be hooked and engaged throughout your entire email, but you can still blow it at the end by offering a weak call to action (or, worse yet, NO call to action).

You see, people don’t click on a button or link just because it’s right in front of their face.

You need to do two things:

#1: tell them specifically to click on that link.

#2: give them a good reason to click now.

For example: “Click here now to take advantage of this special 50% off pricing – but hurry, this offer ends tomorrow!”

Okay so those are the basic mistakes… I'm sure there are a ton more. 😉

Did you discover that you’re making one or more of the mistakes you just learned about? The good news is that you also learned how to fix these mistakes or avoid them altogether. You can even use this as a checklist of mistakes to avoid the next time you send out an email. Here’s to better conversion rates!

Need email marketing help? The Email Marketing Kickstart Workshop is ready for you to enroll! If you want to learn how to use email marketing in your online business, get people to open your emails, click your links, and buy then you NEED to grab your spot right now at http://www.LearningIM.com/email-marketing-kickstart-workshop

I have a question for you… Humor me for a minute. 🙂

Why do you send emails to your list?

Because you want them to take some specific action, such as clicking on a link.

Right? Duh,  Liz! 🙂

But, if you’ve already started up your email list, then you know that subscribers don’t tend to do a lot of clicking. Sometimes they don’t click on the links in your emails. And let’s be honest: sometimes they don’t even bother clicking on your email itself to open it.

🙁

The good news is that you can turn that all around starting today by taking a look at these 15 ways to get more clicks in your email campaigns.

1. Use Images

Big walls of text are boring. You can break up the content by using images. Not only does this make your email more aesthetically pleasing, a well-placed image can also draw your reader’s eyes into the content.

Check out these tips for using images effectively:

Use simple images. Busy images are a turn off, as the viewer doesn’t know what to focus on. Use simple images, such as an image with one or two people or objects

Show happy people. If you’re using images of people, show happy people who are looking at the camera. Alternatively, the people in the photo should be looking in the direction of the text. That’s because your reader’s eyes tend to naturally follow where the subject of a photo is looking.

Place images near important text. This draws the reader’s eyes back into the content.

Next…

2. Write Enticing Subject Lines

We've talked about getting people to open your emails using subject lines, but  you can't get anyone to click on the links within your email if they don't open it! If your subject line doesn’t capture your subscribers’ attention, then they’re not even going to bother opening your email.

Check out these tips for writing enticing subject lines:

Present a benefit. Let readers know what’s in it for them if they open your email. For example: “Eat this yummy food to lose weight…”

Ask an intriguing question. For example, “Are you making these deadly copywriting mistakes?”

Keep it short. Some mobile phones cut subject lines to as few as 25 characters, while other email clients cut them off at around 50-60 characters. So be sure to get the gist of your headline in the first few words to get the click.

Next…

3. Arouse Curiosity

You can use this tactic in three ways:

1. Arouse curiosity in your subject line to boost your open rate. Example: “Do you know this copywriting secret?”

2. Arouse curiosity in the beginning of your email to keep people reading. Example: “In just moments you’ll discover the #1 way to increase your golf drive by 25 yards!”

3. Arouse curiosity near your call to action to get the click. Example: “Find out what million dollar marketers know about creating six-figure product launches. Click here to discover these secrets now for yourself!”

Here’s the next tip…

4. Offer More Information

The idea here is to simply offer something very valuable to your readers, and then offer them more (as a paid product). This valuable thing might be a free report, an app, a checklist, a gear list or even just a really good article.

For example:

“Now that you’ve seen the exact checklist I use to get my membership sites up and running, you’ll want to get your hands on my complete profitable site system. Click here to check it out…”

This will get them clicking for MORE!

5. Segment Your List

The idea here is to create targeted segments of your list so that you can send out targeted content and ads to these specific segments. The more targeted your emails, the more clicks you’ll get.

For example: let’s suppose you have a dog training list. If you segment this list into obedience training, trick training and agility training, you’ll get a much higher conversion rate.

Here are three ways to segment your list:

Send your existing subscribers to another lead page. Each lead page you correct should correspond to a specific segment of your list.

Segment your lists according to what they buy. For example, if someone purchases a book on a particular topic, then you can add them to a customer list that’s targeted to this topic.

Get subscribers to tell you what interests them. You can ask them to simply place a checkmark next to topics that interest them at the time they’re first joining your list, and then segment your list according to interests.

Next…

6. Format for Easy Readability

Here’s the long and short of it: if your email looks hard to read, people will bail on you.

So format for easy readability using these tips:

Use short words, sentences and paragraphs. This creates a lot of white space, and makes it easy for readers to jump in.

Don’t write at a college level. Instead, make it easily consumable for the average reader. What you’re reading right now is an example of making your writing accessible. 

Use a conversational tone. A friendly tone and entertaining comment will keep people reading.

Next…

7. Send a Series of Emails

People rarely buy something the first time they come in contact with it. That’s why you can boost your clicks and conversions by sending a series of emails that all promote the same offer.

For example, create a three-part series called, “The Three Secrets of Selling Your Home Fast.” Each email would explain one secret, as well as provide a link to a related product.

8. Focus on a Single Call to Action

The point is, each email should focus on ONE primary purpose. If you ask people to click on multiple links for multiple offers, your conversion rate will drop. That’s why each email you send should focus on one link and call to action.

However…

9. Include Your Link and CTA More Than Once

Even though each email focuses on one call to action, you need to repeat the link and call to action multiple times throughout your email.

For example:

Include a clickable headline.

Embed your call to action and link in the middle of the content.

Create a call to action button and place it at the end of the email.

TIP: The idea is to tell people to take action and give them the link to do so. Next, give them even more reasons to take action, and then repeat the call to action and link.

Next…

10. Reward People For Taking Quick Action

If you give people a chance to procrastinate, they will. If they leave your email without clicking, it’s unlikely they’ll come back. That’s why you need to create a sense of urgency. And one way to do that is by rewarding people for taking quick action.

For example…

Be one of the first 100 people to act now, and you’ll get a copy of “Online Business Made Easy” absolutely free! Click here to get yours now…

11. Write One-to-One

So many email marketers make the mistake of referring to their “subscribers” or their “list” in their emails. Don’t do this. You want each of your subscribers to feel like you’re writing to them one-on-one.

Here’s how:

Don’t make any references that suggest you’re writing to multiple people. For example, avoid words such as subscribers, list, readers, prospects, etc.

Know your audience. The more you know about them, the easier it is for you to create targeted content that makes them feel like you’re talking directly to them.

Use a conversational tone. Make your subscribers feel like they’re reading a personal email from a friend.

Next up…

12. Be Emotional And Personal

Here’s a simple truth: once someone “connects” with you and your email message, the more likely they are to take action. People do business with those that they know, like and trust. That’s why it’s important to evoke emotion and personality in your emails.

Here’s how:

Tell stories. Not only does a good story evoke emotion, it also engages readers and keeps them reading.

Empathize with readers. Let people know that you understand how they feel about the problem (if you really do understand!).

Get them to imagine the joy of the solution. If people can imagine how good they’ll feel if they solve their problem, they’re more likely to click your link. Tell how it changed your life.

Next…

13. Promise and Deliver Tremendous Value

Sad but true: your prospects are used to people over-promising and under-delivering. You can pleasantly surprise them (and bond them to you like glue, creating loyal customers) by delivering tremendous value.

This includes:

Sending them valuable freemiums that others in your niche are charging for.

Being sure each email you send is in-demand, valuable and high quality.

Sharing some of your best content with your subscribers.

Giving your subscribers things they can’t get anywhere else (such as exclusive deals, tools and content).

Next…

14. Use a Bullet List

A bulleted list of benefits gives you two awesome advantages:

It sets important content apart. In fact, many people are conditioned to looking at bulleted lists, as usually they contain important information and benefits.

Skimmers will take notice. This is a great way to draw a skimmer/scanner back into your content, lead them down to your call to action, and get more clicks.

Next…

15. Test, Track and Tweak

Don’t guess at what produces great results for you. Instead, test, track and tweak every major part of your email.

Now most people know to test subject lines, email openers, calls to action and offers. However, don’t forget to test the design of your email.

This includes:

The overall design or template you’re using, including the layout.

The design colors.

The graphics and their placement.

The call to action buttons (both the design and the text).

Most major email service providers have built tracking tools right into their platforms so you can easily split-test your emails.

Now let’s wrap things up…

You just discovered 15 effective ways to increase clicks across all your email campaigns. These proven methods work for me, they work for countless other successful marketers around the world, and I know they’ll work for you too. But don’t take my word for it – start implementing these tactics today to see for yourself!

Need email marketing help? The Email Marketing Kickstart Workshop is ready for you to enroll! If you want to learn how to use email marketing in your online business, get people to open your emails, click your links, and buy then you NEED to grab your spot right now at http://www.LearningIM.com/email-marketing-kickstart-workshop

Every Internet business owner looks for ways to generate more income from their email campaigns. Well here’s where it all starts: you need to get people in the habit of opening your emails. 

If your subscribers are not opening your emails, then they’re obviously not going to see your awesome content and strong calls to action.

So how do you get people in the habit of tapping open your emails the second those emails hit the recipients’ inboxes?

Take a look at these seven proven ways…

1. Send Emails When Your Audience Can Take Action 

Since so many people have mobile phones, most folks are almost always connected and monitoring their inboxes. However, just because they’re monitoring emails doesn’t mean they have time to take action on them.

If they open your email and don’t have time to take action, then it’s unlikely they’ll remember to take action later. By that time, their inbox will have filled up with your competitors’ emails. Yikes!

So what you need to do is figure out when your readers are not only online, but they also have time to respond.

Here are four steps you can take to figure out the best time to email your list:

1. See when most of your subscribers originally joined. For example, if a lot of people seemed to join on Tuesday morning, then that’s probably a good time to send emails.

2. Think about your audience. Where do they live? Do they work? If so, what are their work hours? What kind of hobbies do they have and when do they do them? Answer these types of questions, and you’ll get a better idea of when your prospects have time to read emails.

3. Look at when your audience is otherwise active. For example, when are they commenting on your blog or social media pages?

4. Test and track. Ultimately, this is the best way to figure out exactly what days and times are best for mailing your subscribers.

Next…

2. Broadcast Emails Regularly 

The idea here is to get your subscribers used to receiving your emails on certain days at certain times. Indeed, you want your subscribers to look forward to your regular emails.

For example, you might create a regular feature, such as offering a new freemium every Friday. You can bet your readers will eagerly open every email they get from you on Fridays!

3. Offer Your Best Content and Deals 

Sometimes email marketers figure that since they’re offering their newsletter for free, then they can offer content that’s worth zero dollars. That is just the opposite of what you want to be doing. Instead, you should be offering your BEST content to your readers.

Learn this…

You want your readers to be thoroughly impressed every time they open your emails.

That means you should be consistently sending out high-quality content. Every. Single. Email.

You should also be offering your best deals to your subscribers. Reward them for staying on your list by offering bonuses and discounts that they can’t get anywhere else.

4. Build Anticipation 

The idea here is to use your current email to boost response for an upcoming email. You do this by building anticipation, as well as telling readers exactly when to expect the next email.

For example: “Stay tuned, because tomorrow you’ll discover a surprising way to save thousands of dollars on your taxes this year. You won’t want to miss this, so keep an eye on your inbox…”

5. Use Relevant Subject Lines

You can get away with using irrelevant subject lines… once. But once you do one “bait and switch” where the subject line doesn’t match the content, your readers are going to lose faith in you. And that means they’re not going to open your future emails.

Let me give you an example…

Subject line: Here’s your $5487 affiliate check…

Email: If you join my affiliate program today, you could be receiving emails like this every month!

See how that works? You get people thinking they’re getting money, and then you pull a fast one on them. They’re going to be disappointed. They’re going to trash your email. And they might even unsubscribe.   In other words, use only relevant subject lines … not “clickbait” type subject lines!

6. Format For Mobile

More and more people are checking their emails on their mobile phones, which means you need to be absolutely sure your emails look good. Of course if you’re sending text, it’s generally no problem. Just be sure to have plenty of white space, and put links on separate lines so they stand out and they’re easy to tap/click.

And what if you’re sending HTML emails? Then you need to be sure you’re using a responsive design template. This means the design, images and columns should naturally grow or shrink to best fit the user’s device and screen size.

7. Resend Unopened Emails

Most every major email service provider (such as Aweber) provide tools for you to track how many people are opening your emails and clicking on your links. Better yet, these service providers also give you the tools to segment out the people on your list who didn’t open your last email. And that means you can send a follow-up emails to those folks.

Heads up…

Don’t send out same email with the exact same subject line and pre-header (preview) information. It’s possible the recipient decided to simply not open your last email because it didn’t grab their attention. So offer something new—a new benefit, and/or a pinch of curiosity to persuade recipients to open this second email.

Okay so… You just discovered seven proven-effective ways to get your subscribers in the habit of opening your emails. If you apply AT LEAST one of these tactics, you’re bound to see an increase in your open rate and overall conversions. But don’t just choose one method. Instead, put them all to work for you as soon as possible to see what they can do for your response rates!

Need email marketing help? The Email Marketing Kickstart Workshop is ready for you to enroll! If you want to learn how to use email marketing in your online business, get people to open your emails, click your links, and buy then you NEED to grab your spot right now at http://www.LearningIM.com/email-marketing-kickstart-workshop