Operation Inbox
Infiltration

10 Tips To Getting Your Emails Out,
Opened, Read & Acted On – Today!

Getting Started

Building your list is only half the battle. Now that you have an active audience at your fingertips, it’s time to get the real job done. You want to connect with your market, engage your customer’s, and build a brand and authority of your own, while monetizing every square inch of your mailing list.

So, where do you begin?  How can you squeeze out every bit of possible profit, while offering your subscribers far more than the average email marketer so that they continue to read your emails?

Let’s get busy. We have got work to do!

Tip #1:  Spy On Your Market

Your first step is to drill down into your niche and tear it apart from top to bottom. You need to analyze everything you can about it – discover it all over again. In other words, you need to research every possible angle because what you are going to discover is that every niche has a language all its own. It’s your job to identify what it is and learn the lingo.

Your words – every single word used means something.  When it comes to your email subject lines, it’s all about capturing attention.

But more importantly, once you’ve gotten them to click the email link to explore the content, you need to keep them tuned in. This is where your opener comes into play and it better be solid otherwise you’ll find yourself quickly making your way towards their trashcan or worse, spam folder.

The best subject lines, openers, offers and closers all come from knowing your market.  

Here’s an example from my own personal experience being a subscriber on someone else’s list.  

Years ago I was stuck in a dead end job and I felt as though my life would never get better. I was barely getting by, living paycheck to paycheck. Every night I’d scour the Internet for a way to make some extra money. I wasn’t looking to get rich or anything, I just wanted to make my life easier.

So, I subscribed to a couple of “guru” newsletters figuring that these guys knew a thing or two about making money and maybe I’d learn something from them. However, within a couple of weeks the number of newsletters that I was on had shrunk to just a few. I really didn’t feel a connection with most of them, so I quickly opted out.

But one guy knew what he was doing. He wasn’t going to lose me as a subscriber because he seemed to really understand where I was coming from and what I was hoping to find in his emails.

One day his subject line read something like “Feeling nauseated at the thought of another 9-5 shift?” and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt absolutely sick to my stomach every time I drove to work. My stomach churned at the idea of another long shift at a dead end grind, and so when I saw that subject line I instantly opened it. And he hooked me. I read every word he wrote, because I felt as though it were written specifically for me.

That’s the difference between not understanding your buyer to knowing your target audience inside & out. When you really know where they are coming from, what their expectations are and what they are most desperate for (whether it’s answers, information, products, support, advice or encouragement), and you give it to them, you’ll have a subscriber and a customer for life.

So, take the time to really know your market.  Spend time on forums, within social media communities like Facebook and Twitter (they can be time consuming but quickly scan the site from time to time and engage people in discussion). You’ll learn a ton.  While your there, jot down product ideas for (both resale and to use as bonuses, incentives and giveaways) as the ideas come to you.

You’ve heard how important that initial giveaway (AKA: bribe) is, and it’s true – when you are first introducing yourself to a potential subscriber you need to make it worth their while by giving them something of value in exchange for their email address.

The best way to figure out what your subscribers will respond to is by knowing their most desperate desires and needs.  Then you can create a compelling giveaway that will lure them in like kittens to catnip ?

So, enjoy exploring, discovering and connecting with your audience.  It’s one of the most important preliminary steps to becoming a successful email marketer.

Here are a few ways to get started:

Use data mines to analyze your market & your competition:
When it comes to knowing your market, it begins by knowing who your competition is. Not only can you learn from what they are doing successfully, but you will be able to find uncover new sources of traffic as well.

Use resources including:
http://www.Alexa.com

Reverse engineer what they are doing. Join their newsletters, read their blogs and follow their website updates.  This is all incredibly helpful especially if they are authority figures in your niche.  Study their sales funnel, backend system, and follow-ups. What are they offering the same buyers? What are they doing well that is yielding results?

Use Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts ) to spy on your market and get to know your customer base. Set up keyword based alerts that will send you notifications whenever they appear on websites, blogs, and forums.

Get involved in social media. Join popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter and engage your target audience. Get to know them, ask questions and test out giveaways & incentives. In fact, you should always be testing as you learn.  Not only will you become a better email marketer, but you’ll be working towards building your list all at the same time!

Tip #2:  Create Killer Subject Lines

Your subject line makes all the difference between a successful email marketing campaign that brings in actual sales and one where your emails remain unopened in spam mailboxes.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Clarity
When trying to create a subject line that will grab attention, you may try to use wordplay and creativity in order to boost open rates, but be careful. History has shown that convoluted or confusing subject lines will often backfire, leaving you scrambling to apologize to your subscribers and repair the damage that’s been done.

Remember that your readers have email coming in from many other email marketers & sources. They don’t have time to sort through who has something of true value to offer and who are being dishonest or using questionable strategies to get their attention. Misuse their time and trust, and you’ll lose them forever.

People want to zero in on information that is straightforward and to the point. When it comes to email subject lines, clarity wins over fanciness and flowery language every single time.

For example, if you were promoting a gift website to a new email list, a subject line that says 10 Ideas for Valentine Day’s Gifts for Her That You’d Never Think Of is more likely to get a response than one that says, 10 Gifts For Her.

There is always room for creativity but it shouldn’t overrule clarity.

Share Stories & Connect

People respond to stories that are based on real life experiences rather than those that are full of facts, statistics and data. Catch their attention with subject lines that incorporate personalized elements.

For example, if you are selling an e-book on relationships, consider a direct subject line that illustrates real life couples in everyday situations, such as: Keeping Your Relationship Alive: How 10 Couples Spice It Up.

This type of subject line would ultimately work better than only saying, How To Keep Your Relationship Alive.

Ask A Question

Another way to spice up your subject line and boost open rates is to write it as though you are asking a question.

For example, Valentine’s Day Traditions: Yay or Nay? is far more catchy than A Look at Valentine’s Day Traditions when you want to suggest alternative traditions and open up a line of communication.

Questions help to engage your readers and involve them in the process of building a solid relationship, while making them feel as part of a group or community.

Create Urgency

Another tactic is to create urgency so that a reader is motivated to open your page and take the action you have suggested.

Rather than say, 10 Ways To Make Money Online consider: For 24 Hours Only:  Download: 10 Simple Ways To Make Money Online!

You may have never even considered using provocative or controversial subject lines, but once you’ve taken a peek behind the yellow curtain and have witnessed just how incredibly effective they are, you’ll be running circles in your mind trying to come up with as many fresh, creative and compelling subject lines as you can think of.

Tip #3:  Avoid Trickery

Throughout the years, we have tested out many different subject lines. We’ve stuck with proven winners, and we’ve broken the pattern long enough to test out crazy new subject lines just to see where it would go. Sometimes they bombed (and sometimes they crashed, burned AND bombed miserably), while other times we hit it out of the park.

The idea is to test, test & test again.  You need to think outside of the box but also pay close attention to the results you get when you do.  Is your subscriber base more likely to respond to controversial subject lines, or do they prefer that you take a professional tone?

Every market is different and it’s your job to figure out what they are looking for, comfortable with and willing to accept.

What You Don’t Want To Do:
Okay, so you know have a good idea as to what type of subject lines will work, and hopefully we’ve got your creative juices flowing.

Write down everything you think up – even things that you aren’t even sure that you’ll use. It’s all valuable, because later on when you hit a dry spell and you can’t think of a witty, creative, interesting or fresh subject line to save your life, that little swipe file that you should be working on today?  It will get you back on track.

So, you know what kind of subject lines work but is there anything that you should avoid?

Yes, my friend – I’m afraid so.  Never Use Trickery!
Leave the games to the kids; they don’t have a place in email marketing and especially not in relationship building.  Every subscriber is a person, just like you.  Remember that when you are shooting off your next broadcast. Sure, your job is to get them to open up the email because otherwise you can’t sell them a thing but be professional and honest. At all times.

This means:
No “Re:” email subject lines.

You know the kind that I’m talking about.  They are designed to make it look as though someone is replying to you, as if you have an open conversation.

The minute I open an email like this and discover that I’ve been duped, it gets trashed without a second thought.  No one wants to feel cheated, or tricked so don’t do it.

Other Things To Consider:

• Subject lines should never be longer than 50 characters.  Keep it simple, direct and to the point.
• Include a powerful benefit in your subject line.  Give them your very best upfront and motivate them into opening your email immediately.
• Pique curiosity, and compel them to click your email to learn more.
• Tease & Entice:  Don’t give it all away upfront.  Force them to click your email in order to learn more about your offer.

Tip #4: Share, Don’t Sell

Have you ever gotten an email that you instantly deleted?  Chances are you identified it as either spam, or simply not relevant. Or, perhaps you knew before even opening the email that the sender was simply trying to sell you something, and even if you may have needed the product, you just didn’t like the feeling you got when the flashy email landed in your inbox.

Take all of this in and think about it. Your own reactions should provide guidance when crafting your own email messages for subscribers. Yet, time and time again, we forget the golden rule that we’ve heard countless times throughout our lives – “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

No one likes to be sold to. No one likes to be made to feel as though they are nothing more than a number. No one wants to be treated as if they are one of many. We all want to be recognized as unique, individual and worthy of kindness.

Going into email marketing, you may never connect those dots. In fact, thinking of subscribers in such a personal way may feel a bit unusual, or even awkward.

But the truth is, the more you treat your subscribers like friends or family – and the more you look out for their best interests, the more money you’ll make. And if you’re in the email marketing business to make money, then you need to understand this fundamental fact:  Your subscribers want you to take care of them. They want to know that you have their back, that you actually care about what they want or need.

If you treat them like just one in thousands, you’ll lose any chance of nurturing a relationship that will give you a customer for life.

So, how can you really make a difference in connecting with your subscribers so that they not only tune into your emails but they actually look forward to hearing from you?

You begin by conditioning them to expect & respond.

This means that you over deliver so consistently that your readers learn to automatically open your emails and look for the value.  Don’t be afraid to send them your best content. The more value they assign to your email messages, the faster they’ll open your emails.

Never sell within your emails.
Understand that your email messages are designed only to create, nurture, and maintain relationships with your customer base.

Selling within the email message is dangerous and often quite difficult to do. Instead, provide value in the form of solid content and information and guide them to your website (sales page, offers, etc) where they can find out more.

Tip #5: Follow the 4-Point Formula

Being able to increase your conversions relies on creating powerful email messages that people will read and respond to. Every successful email message involves 4 simple questions:  Who, What, Why & Where?

Who
Your emails must always be focused on a specific person or group of people. You need to identify your market and get to know who your readers really are. When you know your target audience, you are able to create personalized emails that truly speak their language and motivate them into taking action.

Show them that you know who they are when you write to them.  Touch on important points, address burning questions, provide exceptional value and be open to receiving feedback from subscribers.

What
A well-written email message gives them all of the information they need upfront. Your message has to pack a punch right from the beginning. Consider making the opening sentence an incentive, followed by your greatest benefit. It can be a discount, a coupon, or other gift that will hold the attention of the reader until they reach the call to action and respond.

The “What” is your offer – what you are able to deliver and what you bring to the table.

Why
Answering the question of why means that you address the reason for contacting your subscriber. It introduces your ideas, generates a positive response, and informs them as to what is in it for them.

The “Why” is: Why should they open your emails, read and respond? Or maybe even ‘Why should they remain a subscriber?’.

Never leave this question unanswered. In every email message you need to be clear and upfront about why you are contacting them, why they are fortunate to be on your list and why they will never want to leave it.

Where
Finally, give them direction and lead them where you want them to go.

Do you want them to visit a blog? Lead them to it! Do you want them to complete a survey, form, subscribe to your social media account, follow you on Facebook or download content?  Lead them!  The “where” is all about providing clear direction through a powerful “call to action”.

Never leave them wondering what their next step should be.  Be very direct with a clear call to action that appears multiple times within your email.

Tip #6: Create A Powerful Call To Action

Your call to action is one of the most important components of a successful email message because it ultimately leads your reader into taking the next step. It guides and directs them to their destination, whether that is your blog, website or sales page.  Your call to action requires a response and the wording you use, along with the placement are both very important.

For starters, you should always have a call to action above the fold (within the first few inches of your email message), as well as at the very end.  That way, you can direct those who are in a hurry as well as those who skim your email message, looking for the next step.

You should also use action words and power-phrases such as “Now”, “24 Hours Only”, “Time Limited” and other prompts that emphasize urgency.

– Don’t miss out! Click Here For Free Shipping on all orders until April!
– Claim your $20 discount – 1 week only: Click Here!
– Click Here To Create Your Free Account! – 48 Hour Trial!

It’s also important that your call to action is obvious. Use the traditional blue link structure that people recognize.

Here are a few more tips to help you create a powerful call to action that will generate a response:

Keep It Simple:
Use language that they understand and avoid market-lingo or abbreviations that they may be unfamiliar with. For example, instead of using “TLO: Click Here To Claim Your Copy”, use “Time Limited Offer: Click Here To Claim Your Copy”.

Social Media Integrated Call To Action:
Unlike the past, call to action commands don’t always involve selling.  Instead of “Click Here To Purchase”, consider sending them to your Facebook page or asking them to follow you on Twitter.  Encourage your subscribers to engage and communicate with you because when you do this, selling just gets easier.

Multiple Calls To Action:
You should always have more than one call to action within your email message, but depending on the length you may get away with 3 or more instances.  Test out different layouts with a call to action at the top, middle and close of your email messages.

Make It Stand Out:
Do your best to highlight your call to action so that it doesn’t get lost in the rest of your message. Use characters such as asterisks, bold or larger text to emphasize your call to action prompts.

Personalize Your Call To Action:
Many autoresponder providers allow for the use of personalization, such as inserting a subscribers name, location or even their email address. Consider testing out different personalized call to action prompts such as:

Mary! Click Here To Download The Free Report!

Tip #7: Use The Hollywood System To Your Advantage

You’ve done the job at getting a reader to click on your email.  Now it’s time to harness the power of the Hollywood System to your advantage:  Creating a compelling build up!

You never want your email messages to be boring, stale or long-winded. Instead, you want to keep it exciting and fresh.  You can do this in two parts: 1) Maintain your subscriber’s interest and 2) Build excitement and energy.

You maintain their interest by staying focused and on topic.  Deliver clear value and be very direct in what it is that you are offering (the “Why” of your email as we mentioned earlier).  Never lose focus, but don’t reveal everything at once. Give them just enough in your opener to stay glued to the message.

Then, build momentum.  Explain the key benefits of your offer, show them how it will change their life or help them in some way.  Address concerns, reveal truths, exploit weaknesses in other products and take them on an exciting journey from your greeting to your last call to action.  It’s all about the buildup!

The Hollywood System is especially important when using email campaigns to promote an upcoming product launch.

This is where you reveal the product in parts – bite-sized information that is strung out over a period of time.

Many email marketers (including us!) use this strategy even before the product is actually finished and ready for market in order to gain insight, feedback and build anticipation while gauging interest levels.

Tip #8: Avoid The Spam Filters

Being successful in email marketing requires knowing exactly how to dance around the many spam filters, triggers and blacklists that are waiting to snatch up your email and deliver it to the black abyss.

Research has revealed that 1 out of every 6 marketing-based emails end up blocked by a spam filter.

Here are a few ways to avoid being blocked or filtered:

Avoid Marketing Lingo
Make sure that your entire email message is structured in a way that lends value and credibility to your brand and doesn’t sound ‘salesy’.

“Hey everyone!  This is your chance to win a free…” will only guarantee a quick trip to the spam folder.  Make sure that your email messages sound genuine and personable.

Build Well-Managed Lists
Don’t ever purchase bulk lists of email addresses. You’ll risk your credibility and ruin your reputation. Instead, build lists of double-opt ins, which are people who have directly requested to be on your list and have confirmed their interest by clicking on a verification email.  Also, make sure that you give people an easy way to unsubscribe from your lists in the event they wish to do so. Keep your lists clean.

Avoid Keyword Triggers
Make sure that your emails don’t get flagged as spam by avoiding the over-use of exclamation marks, percentages and common marketing terms such as “free”, “limited time”, “special offer” and “buy now”. Also avoid using currency symbols whenever possible.

Note: It’s also important to pay attention to your text-to-link ratio. Make sure that your email contains adequate content and that your links are limited.

BEWARE: Don’t try to get around keywords by using asterisks or hash tags (Example: Download Your F-R*E.E G*I*FT!) – you won’t fool the spam filters for long!

Consider Domains Carefully
When sending from a domain based email address keep in mind that the reputation of your domain (as well as the history) plays a significant role in whether your email gets through or not.   This includes the email addresses that you use in your “From” field.

Build a positive reputation by only sending relevant, high quality emails and when purchasing a domain name from a merchant, make sure that it isn’t blocked or blacklisted.

Resource:  MX Toolbox will show you whether a domain is blacklisted: http://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

Ask Subscribers To Whitelist You
An easy way to avoid deliverability problems and to keep your emails from visiting spam folders is to ask that your subscribers add you to their contact or address books.  This puts you on their “allowed/verified senders” list and will ensure that your emails get through.

Tip #9: Timing Is Everything  

Emailing your subscribers during an off-day (such as Monday when they are just getting back to work), or at a time of day when they are less likely to have the time or desire to sift through emails, can seriously impact your campaigns.

Wednesday and Thursday are popular days to email because subscribers are back on schedule and into their daily routines.

You also want to keep autoresponder messages up to date and based on current events. For example, if you’ve created a complete autoresponder funnel that delivers emails automatically to new subscribers, remember to go through your delivery cycle from time to time to ensure that the content is still relevant and accurate.  Recycle content, refresh material and keep it current.

Your email delivery schedule (the frequency in which you email your subscribers) is also important. Email them too often and they’ll quickly begin to overlook your emails (or opt-out entirely), but send too few and they will quickly forget all about you.

Which leads us to the next tip: Testing!

Tip #10: Test & Test Again

Know your metrics.  You can’t improve if you don’t know where potential problems lie.

Testing isn’t necessarily the most enjoyable part of the job but it’s one of the most important so test, test and test again!

Things To Test:
Optimize your emails.  Offer text based and HTML formats and test out which formats work best.

Text versus Images:  Determine whether text based headlines, subheadlines and even content work better than image based illustrations and graphics.

Subject Lines: Always test your subject lines, exploring different formats including urgency, personalization elements, passive versus aggressive tone, etc.

Delivery Times:  Test out different times of day, email frequency and even how many times you email your subscribers in a week.

Destination URLs:  Test out various destination prompts, such as sending readers to a blog versus article site, or to a social media platform versus your blog.

Call to Action: Very important! Test out different phrasing and keywords as well as placement and frequency.  Test, test, test!

Length of Email: Test out whether long copy works better than short copy (you may be surprised at the results!)

Squeeze pages – Test out different templates, layouts and themes, as well as opt-in box placement, headlines and of course your incentive offers.

You never want to stop testing. It’s an ongoing part of the job.

Final Words

At this point, you should have a solid plan in front of you. You should understand the importance of a powerful subject line and more importantly, you should have a good idea as to how to research your market well enough to know what will work and what to avoid.

We’ve covered the A – to – Z of crafting compelling openers and I’ve taken you through the complete structure of a rock solid email message that will not only be seen, but that your readers will respond to.

So, where do you go from here?

It’s time to let you out into the world of online business so that you can make your mark on your niche market.  Continue to build up your mailing lists, focus on high quality incentives and bonuses that you can offer to subscribers in order to keep them active and do everything within your power to over-deliver each and every time.

Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile and to provide exceptional value with every message that you send out. Your subscribers will quickly become a major extension of your business and an important source for repeat business and loyal customers.  Expect loyalty and be loyal in return. Give them exactly what you say you will, and then some.

From today forward, you will take a few extra minutes to think through your email subject lines, your openers, your body content, and giveaways. Everything you do will be carefully planned and thoroughly tested.

You will test (and test again) so that you are always improving and always moving forward. Learn the words and terms to avoid, stay out of the spam folders and always be on the lookout for new ways to connect and engage your audience.

That’s really what it’s all about. Giving your subscribers exactly what they want and being rewarded for it.

To your ongoing success!