Tag: email marketing

Email subject lines – another six real life examples

Patrick Griffin 2 Comments

Email marketing tips and tricks

Email marketing tips and tricks: At RocketResponder we know how important email subject lines are, which is why we want you to give them some careful thought.

Here is another selection of real-life email subject lines and some thoughts about how effective they actually were:

  • I am giving away $100 just to join a free program! – Ok well it does sound a bit too good to be true but it is also rather intriguing at the same time. I would have most certainly opened this to see what it was all about. Good subject line.
  • Hi there Patrick – Take a look at this – Personal, informal, engaging and with just a hint of mystery. “Take a look at what?” I am asking. Now I am curious enough to open the email and find out more. It works. Excellent subject line.
  • DR.CLIX !!!! D0ctor that treat dead traffic the right way..000h yeah!! – Ok so I know what Dr Clix is but if I didn’t then this subject line would be totally confusing. I also hate the way that the sender uses zeroes instead of the letter “o.” It does have me thinking “What is the right way to treat dead traffic?” and also “What does the term ‘dead traffic’ even mean? However as I don’t expect to get the answers in the email I wouldn’t open it.
  • How I Went From 0 to 150 Leads in 30 Minutes.. – Apart from the fact that the ellipsis (…) is a series of three dots and not two, this is almost perfect. Yes of course I want to know how you did what you say you did. Opened. Success. Well done.
  • goldline – Seriously? That’s really it. Without context this is just a random word. It does not make me think of anything. Woeful. Deleted already.
  • Launched in 2013 with custom script – Probably just a bit too random and meaningless for my liking. I really can’t be bothered to open it to find what launched in 2013 with a custom script. Failed. Deleted.

Look out for another selection of email subject lines next month.

What A First Time Visitor May Think Of Your Website

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Email marketing and websites

Email marketing and websites: When using an email service like RocketResponder you may very well be sending your subscribers links to your website.

Although it is your website – in the sense that you contol the content and pay the bills to keep it on line – it is really your visitors’ website.

They are the people who use it, navigate through the pages, read the content, click the links, buy the goods…or take one quick look and depart in a hurry.

You might encourage people to join your list from (among other things) an opt in form on your website so you want to ensure that the look and feel of your website makes them want to opt in.

Equally they may have joined your list from some of your other promotional efforts and be visiting your site for the first time so, once again, you want to ensure the site does not want to make them unsubscribe.

Here are some things a first time visitor may feel about your site:

  • I really like it here – this is exactly what I want
  • Oh dear, this does not look good at all, it is all so confusing
  • I am sure what I want is in here somewhere, but where do I find it
  • I would not feel comfortable giving my personal details away on this site
  • I am totally at home here. The site is bookmarked already.

Examine your site from the point of view of someone visiting for the first time.

Try and put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself how you would feel.

This may throw up some changes you could make to make your site seem more inviting and trustworthy.

If these issues arise then deal with them promptly.

How to Harness The Emotions Of Your Subscribers

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Email marketing and emotions

Email marketing and emotions: We are creatures driven by our emotions.

Emotions help us to bond with others, can influence the decisions we make in our every day lives and you want to appeal to the emotions of your subscribers.

We have already seen how you can use RocketResponder emails to communicate with those who have subscribed to your list.

You will get the best results from your emails (and from the content you put on your website and every advert you place) if you can appeal to people’s emotions.

But choose the emotions you wish to trigger carefully…get the wrong ones and you will get the opposite of what you have in mind.

Here are some emotions you want to avoid triggering…

  • boredom – if you send out dull emails then you will send your subscribers into a coma and they will never want to listen to anything you have to say ever again.
  • distrust – if you make promises you fail to deliver on or promote programs which don’t live up to the hype surrounding them then you will lose the trust of your list and once that happens it is almost impossible to recover.
  • anger – it is very easy to make your subscribers angry by misjudging their needs and requirements. Bombarding them with marketing emails every day is one way to really make them angry with you.

Here are some emotions you really want to trigger…

  • empathy – you want to build up a rapport with your list. People want to know that you are “just like them” and not some distant person looking down on them from your ivory tower.
  • desire – there is so much out there which we want to have but which we do not really need to have. Your job is to make people feel an overwhelming desire to want to have the goods or services you provide above the goods or services of everybody else targeting them in your niche.
  • passion – get your subscribers passionate by showing how passionate you are. This passion will make itself known by more return visits to your website, more of your emails getting opened and more of your offers being bought.

How To Win Over A Cold Email List

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

common email marketing writing mistakes

Last time we mentioned some common email marketing writing mistakes people regularly make.

One was perhaps one of the greatest mistakes of all and that is allowing your list to grow cold.

So today it would be a good opportunity to discuss what can be done to best revive a relationship with such a group of subscribers.

A cold list in this context a “cold” list is one which you have not communicated with for so long that you have allowed your relationship with the people on it to grow cold.

The chances are that if you suddenly start sending out your emails to them again then many of them will have to scratch their heads to work out who you are.

The result – they may think it is spam mail and they will just unsubscribe or report you as spam (or both.)

Others may remember having signed up to your list but decide that having got along just fine for many months without you that they no longer need to hear from you again.

So how would I tackle a list like this.

Well the last thing I would do is wait until I had something to promote to contact them again…that is just adding insult to injury.

Instead I would use my RocketResponder account to try and gently rebuild bridges.

I would send a broadcast email to the entire list and cover the following points:

  • Reintroduce myself
  • Apologise for having ignored them
  • Offer a reason for having failed to do so
  • Tell them I will be in more regular contact from now on…if they still want to hear from me
  • Invite them to unsubscribe if they feel they no longer trust me or no longer want to hear from me.

Keep the email short and don’t make silly excuses for having lost contact. Just be open, honest and up front – remember you are trying to rebuild contact.

Also be aware that some people will take you up on the offer to unsubscribe – it is only to be expected after all. However some will really appreciate your honesty and some who might have unsubscribed may be willing to give you a second chance.

Now you have done the best you can to rebuild bridges, don’t make the same mistake again!

Five Email Mistakes To Avoid

Patrick Griffin 2 Comments

Email Mistakes To Avoid

Email Mistakes To Avoid: With a service like RocketResponder it is easier than ever before to send out emails to multiple people in just seconds.

Do it right and you will get the results you want but do it wrong and you could irretrievably damage your relationship with your list.

Some mistakes are worse than others but really you should not be making any mistakes at all when sending out emails so always to try to get things right every time.

Here are some mistakes you ought to be aware of so that you can avoid making them yourself:

  • Failing to check – There are few things more annoying than getting an email with dead links or other errors so take times to get things right before pressing the “send” button. Always use the RocketResponder feature which allows you to send a test email to yourself first.
  • Using misleading subject lines – We all want to get out emails opened but if you use misleading subject lines then you will really irritate your subscribers…so don’t ever be tempted to do this.
  • Adding far too many links – Including too many links in an email will just confuse people and could lead to them not taking any action at all. I have regularly received emails where I have counted a dozen or more links. That is far too many. Keep the email, short, focused and to the point.
  • Trying too hard to impress – Sometimes you really can try too hard and it won’t do you any favors at all. People know when you are overdoing it with the hype and flam and they generally hate it. If you have to use random capital letters, multiple exclamation marks and multiple colors then your message is sure to get lost.
  • Ignoring your subscribers for too long – If you ignore your subscribers then they will probably forget about you after a while. The result of this is that the next time you contact them, totally out of the blue, they may even forget that they signed up to hear from you. Therefore you can expect a higher number of unsubscribes than usual when you do eventually contact your list again.