The reality is that most of the emails we get from businesses are...lame. And, if you are sending out emails yourself you may have already resigned to the fact that you get a low response rate - it's just the nature of email, right?

No.

The reason we can accept poor response rates from email marketing is because we are lazy. Creating and sending an email is just too easy these days. So, type away....drop it into a nice template...fire it off and see what happens.

No wonder response is weak. You've earned it.

Want to get some killer results???? Read on..


To get the big numbers, you are going to have to do a bit of work. For an email to be super effective it must achieve three things (please note that I am going to avoid all the technical stuff about deliverability and getting through spam filters and just focus on your campaign):

1. The email must be opened (attraction)
2. The email must be read to some extent (engagement)
3. The email must inspire action from the reader (response)

So let's go through each stage and see what is needed.

Getting your list to open your email is often the biggest challenge. Many experts say that a provocative subject line is the best way to get your prospects to open your emails. I agree to some extent. Hey, if you have a great subject line then use it. But if that's all you have and the content of your email does not match the excitement or anticipation created by your subject line then you will only fool them once.

And this leads to my first insight into email marketing. The key to getting people to open your email is to create the condition that they will want to open it - before they even get it.

Yes, before.

How is this possible? It is possible because all of your previous emails have offered them some great value.

You see, too often we write emails from our own selfish needs. You want someone to buy something. Now there is nothing wrong with that but what is in it for them?

In every instance you emails must offer your prospect some value. This can range from some good information, insights into their business or even some good entertainment value.

I created an email campaign that had a 98% response rate. It was a series of four emails sent over two weeks promoting a company's attendance at a trade show. And for each successive email the open rates and response rates increased. They actually started asking when the next one was coming.

Why? Because we engaged them in some fun around the show. Trade shows are boring, but we had some fun with it. And they appreciated it and took us up and had some fun with us.

And to top it all off, the company had a record attendance at their booth and everyone was talking about the emails.

Wow....can you do that? Yes.

You just need to think from the perspective of your prospect...not from your own selfish needs. What email can you send them that would add value for them? They may not buy anything with the first email, or even the second or the fifth, but over time, if they continue to open your emails and get good value from you...they will come calling.

Stay tuned for part 2.