A well-executed email marketing campaign can be a big-time money-maker. When you think about it, email conversion rates should be the highest out of all your marketing channels.
Consumers occupying your subscriber lists have already made an active decision to regularly engage with your brand. This isn’t a cold call. No one forced them onto your list. They asked you for more content.
So why are your open rates so frustratingly low?
1. Your Headlines Are Ineffective
Effective headlines are the single biggest key to increasing your open rates. Readers see two things in their inbox when your email arrives:
- Your brand
- Your headline
If they won’t open your email simply due to brand recognition, your need to compel them with a stop-everything-I-need-to-click-this headline.
You might think writing world-class headlines is an art, a skill set utilized only by ad gurus and marketing proteges. Writing headlines that convert is as simple as following proven templates copywriters have been using for nearly a century.
You don’t have to rewrite the book. You don’t even need to be original. You do need to understand your target audience. If you can understand what resonates with them, creating a compelling headline is as simple as plugging your info into a template.
Need a few examples? Here are a few headline blueprints that convert time after time after time.
- How to ______ and _______
○ (How to Craft Game-Changing Emails and Catapult Sales)
- # Ways to ___________
○ (3 Ways to Finally See Email Marketing Results)
- # Easily Solved [Problems]
○ (3 Easily Solved Glitches In Your Email Campaigns)
- The Secret to _________
○ (The Secret To High-Converting Email Campaigns)
- [Do This] Like [Famous Person]
○ (Launch Legendary Email Campaigns Like Neil Patel)
For an in-depth guide to writing magnetic headlines, visit Copyblogger.
2. You Aren’t Giving Customers What They Want
We’ve discussed the headline. What’s the one other thing users see when deciding whether or not to open your email?
That’s right: your brand.
What comes to mind when your readers see your brand? Is it spammy sales pitches and service hawking? Having an amazing headline is good enough for the first open. As customers continue receiving your emails, however, the quality they encounter will determine their long-term opinion of your brand.
If your email content is nothing more than a product pitch, users will either unsubscribe from your list or check your email into the spam folder.
Your email content should consistently reward the reader, bringing him or her back for more. It should offer incentive and make readers happy they chose to click-through.
What sort of problems are your target consumers facing? If you spend less time trying to sell them a product and more time solving their problems, you’ll become the beneficiary of a loyal following.
So what does this look like in an email campaign?
Offer real value to your audience. If you have a product, send special discounts to your subscribers. Run promotions. Provide valuable, relevant information that helps readers reach their personal goals.
Believe it or not, your audience has zero interest in your personal success, but they will bend over backward to facilitate their own success. If you can link your brand’s success to your audience’s success, they will work overtime to make you successful.
And when your audience begins linking your brand with their personal success, you won’t even need great headlines to get that click-through.
3. You’re Not Employing The Scarcity Effect
I’m browsing online for a pair of sweet new basketball shoes. The kind I want are only offered by a single retail outlet. My eyes lock in on the perfect pair, but wow, that price tag is expensive. I really want them, but maybe I can find another deal that will work. I think I’ll keep browsing and come back (not going to happen).
But what’s that? Only 3 pairs left! There’s a 20% discount that ends at 11:59pm tonight!? I have to buy these right now.
The truth is, as humans, we have the concept of scarcity imbedded deep within us. We believe there’s not enough to go around and that opportunities to get what we want are fleeting. By resonating with this consciousness, we can elicit action on the part of users who want what we’re selling.
Don’t make a casual offer. Offer “Buy Within the Next 24 Hours and Get 50% Extra Material FREE!” or “Just 3 Spots Left In Our Award Winning Bootcamp.” The more exclusive and fleeting the offer, the more enticed readers will feel to buy in.
I’m not saying to lie. I’m saying to cater your offers in a way that utilizes this phenomenon and highlight that scarcity in your headlines, copy, and other content.
As Simple As 1, 2, 3
The secret to good marketing is a great value proposition. If you have a good offer your audience will love, getting it out there is as simple as 1, 2, 3.
Use proven techniques to write compelling headlines. Solve your customers’ problems. Use a little bit of psychology to help wishful bystanders take action.
