Pertinent Reviews

Nothing of any importance happens in your email campaign until your email is opened.  Everything depends on this one simple action.  You may measure success in a number of ways, amount of sales, sign-ups, or cash to the bottom line, but getting your email opened is the first, and most important, step.

Initially, you have only two things to work with – your from line and the title.  Be honest.  Put your name or company name in the from line.  Remember, you only want people who are interested in your product.  Your subject line should reflect the content of your email.  Tell them exactly what you are offering.  There’s no need to be secretive or evasive about it.  If they are interested in your offer, they will open your email.  If they have no interest, you will never sell them anyway.

A good subject line should arouse interest.

“Five Ways to End Your Back Pain Naturally.”

“How to Rid Your Garden of Pests Without Poisons”

“The Secret to Gaining Muscle Fast”

If you use phrases like “special offer,” or “Autumn Sale,”  your open rate will probably decrease, but your sales may stay constant or increase.  If your title is an obvious offer to buy, chances are that buyers will open the email.   Test your subject lines to see what works best.  Keep in mind that what appeals to you may not be what appeals to your prospect.   Often, the most effective subject lines are counter-intuitive.

The third piece to the puzzle is picking the right time to launch your email campaign.  If you are selling business-to-business, think of your customer.  Mondays are usually harried, leaving your prospect little time to look at your offer.  If you wait until mid-week, the chances are that she will be more disposed to looking at commercial offers, and more disposed to buy your product or service.

The same holds true for the time of day.  Early in the morning is probably not as good as mid-day for getting you business-to-business email opened.  Think coffee breaks and lunch.

Finally, you need to pay attention to the issue of getting your email delivered.  Some services do a better job than others. Make sure that your email service provider offers the statistics necessary to adequately test your email efforts.  The key to successful email campaigns is constant testing and improvement.