I'm betting the email I sent to my subscribers for this post gets a high open and click-through rate.
Why? Because I asked a question that we ALL want the answer to. And that, I've learned, is the primary motivation for getting my emails opened and read.
I should back up a bit and also state that for me a 30% open rate and 20% click-through rate is pretty good. You might do better than me, but I doubt it. You see, whether somebody opens, reads, and clicks through to my blog is impacted by a number of factors outside my control.
Timing has a lot to do with whether you open my email. Are you in the middle of a really important project or proposal? Are you distracted by a personal issue? Are you on vacation? You'll probably skip it.
Did you receive it late in the day? Did it arrive on Monday or Friday? Did it arrive with a huge batch of other emails? You'll probably skip it.
Does it come from someone who's tricked you before? You'll probably skip it. For example, yesterday I received an email from someone named Bibba Valenza with the subject line, "Radio TV Interview Request." Hey, I want interviews, so naturally I would open it! But it's bogus (you already figured that out, didn't you?). This dweebo doesn't want to interview me. He/she/it wants to sell me an ad listing in a directory. Yeah, deception ALWAYS makes me want to business with you.
Does it ask a stupid rhetorical question like, "Would you like to make $100,000, GUARANTEED?" You'll probably skip it.
Or does it address a problem you've been wrestling with? Does it ask a question that you've also been asking? You'll probably open it.
Does it spur genuine curiosity? Does it sound like a quick, but valuable read? You'll probably open it.
And most important of all, does it come from someone you know, like, and trust? You'll probably open it.
Oh, and lists work well, too.
Your subject line must be informative, interesting, urgent and specific to the person reading it. It makes no difference whatsoever whether YOU find it interesting. If you don't get what I mean, go watch my YouTube video about Two Hat Marketing.
And, as examples of my own, here are the subject lines of my all-time top five most opened and read emails:
1. I'll
bet you don't know the answer to these three questions
2. Nine reasons your marketing doesn't work
3. The three most important words in marketing
4. Can we learn a marketing lesson from a bank?
5. Do not make this stupid marketing mistake
BTW, you may not notice this, but all five have been in the last four months. I've been writing my blog for almost four years, so you see, I'm learning, too.
As an extra thought, I've also learned your From email should be friendly and seem like a real person. I know I've been guilty of not following this myself, but coming from steve@twohatmarketing.com is way better than from enews@twohatmarketing.com.
And, if you've got some other helpful, non-deceptive tips for getting your emails opened and read, please comment below!
Thank you for posting this – subject lines are very hard to get right. It’s important how long they are also. One Return Path (email monitoring company) study found that subject lines with 49 or fewer characters had open rates 12.5% higher than those with 50 or more.
To echo your point – I read in an article by Gail Goodman, Constant Contact CEO, the following approaches to great subject lines: ask a question, be a tease, tell it like it is, remember “wiifm”, get personal (using the word You).
One more very important aspect of subject lines is avoiding spam filter trigger words. It just so happens that I found your e-mail today in my spam filter Steve. Free, All New, Buy Direct, Guarantee, Marketing, Success, Solution… are all listed as spam filter trigger words. I found a list of these words by searching on “spam filter trigger words.”
Great reminders as always Steve!
I like that you think. Thank you for share very much.
Good Article. I first need to say that I’m not a pro and I’ve been learning a lot from you, Steve – so take this critique as being from a novice: I just recently read a tip from Lyris (http://lyrishq.lyris.com/) that talked about how you should try not to entice people by giving them a link that says “Click here” (as you did in your email).” Luckily, the email was coming from someone that I know, like, and trust. 🙂
On a side note – I’ve also discovered that I really enjoy emails that give me the first paragraph of the article and then provide a link to “read more” or “learn more” from there. If I like the first paragraph – I’m happily going to go to their website to read more. If I’m just not interested in the subject, I’ll choose to pass. Either way, I respect them for giving me the option and I am more eager to open the email in the future, since the email itself has something more than just a link.
Thanks, Steve. Great information. We are a small manufacturer which sends emails to three types of customers, and we schedule the emails accordingly.
Wholesale Distributors get emails first thing in the morning. Professional Buyers usually have spam filters to weed out the junk, so our mails remain. They are fresh then too, we like to believe that they pay attention when coffee is around.
Small mom-and-pop retailers get their emails right after the lunchtime rush. ~1-2PM. They have already deleted the spam in the a.m., and have their selling hats on.
And consumers get their emails sent ~6PM. They come home, they eat dinner, they check their mail…
Our open rates average close to 50% on very targeted lists. Clicks through, similar to your own.
What has kept me opening your mail for the last year is some good advice I got from you that you didn’t even take credit for. Last spring you asked a bunch of your associates what advice they would share with the graduating class of ______, and one said to write an article about something you are familiar with and submit it to e-zines with your web site and bios at the end. I tried that and that works great. Nothing works better than getting what you need.