Another great post as always! I especially like the portion about using someones name in the Subject line. I too have always heard (and adhered to) using their first name whenever I send out an email.
I look forward to keeping that out of the email and seeing what comes of it.
Thanks for the advice!
Alan Gray
· 1 year ago
Good points Michel.
One really dumb thing that a lot of marketers started doing was misspelling, to fool the filters. Those early filters were set up to reject common marketing words such as buy, purchase, free. At the email company I worked at, my approach was unlike SpamAssassin. If people used correct spelling, they had nothing to worry about. The marketers who used spelling obfuscation often had their messages zapped.
Not only that, but the obfuscation makes it really difficult to read. Steven Pierce does that in his emails ... "Unique Sel.ling Proposition" "want to bu.y".
In his email today, he talks about forming relationships with readers, but he is destroying that relationship by making his email hard to read.
The key to getting delivered is not to break up the English language and make your message hard to read, but to form a relationship with your readers and have them whitelist/greenlist you. That's what I do at NewsBlaze.com
As you suggest, personalization is also important. Looking back at your spam idea - how many fake PayPal emails have you received in the past few years? What is the defining difference between a real and fake paypal email. The most obvious thing is that PayPal knows your name and uses it in the message. The scammers don't know who you are so you are "Dear PayPal member".
Happy New Year.
Murtaza
· 1 year ago
Dear Michel!
You have hammered soft point... hardly!
I have actually used some of them even for my personal e-mailing and it works effectively.
Thanks a lot.
Murtaza.
Jay
· 1 year ago
Well done, Michel. From a guy who makes a majority of his living writing emails for clients, you hit the proverbial nail on the head.
Twoquestions: Do you have any guidelines for the styling of the subject line? I've always went initial cap, but if you've had better response with all lower case, I'd love to know.
Also, what about subject line length? I've always tried to shoot for 25 characters or less, but was never sure if that affected the open rate or not.
JW
Michel Fortin
· 1 year ago
@Jay:
In some cases, all lower case, or just sentence case (first letter only is capitalized), outpulled "headlinish" subjects where all words' first letters are capitalized.
But I think it's all a question about how you connect with your readers. And "connection" and relevancy, here, is the crux of it all.
Frank Kern does his subject lines in all lower case. And it works, because Frank is known to have a laid-back, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is style. And that's why his emails pull well.
But it doesn't mean it's the same across the board.
Subject line length also depends. But in this case, it's really a matter of playing the lowest common denominator. Less than 25 characters is good. Some subject lines, especially in webmail services like Hotmail or Gmail, truncate them.
For others, it depends on screen resolutions. For the wider the resolution, the bigger the email software opens up on the screen and therefore the longer the subject line can be, without being truncated.
But again, just like sticking with smaller tables for web copy to appeal to all monitor resolutions, I think it's safe to stick with the lowest common denominator. Personally, I think 25 is a bit low (I prefer 30 or even 40), but it's still a pretty good goal to aim for.
John W. Furst
· 1 year ago
Hi Michel!
When you write, "most people check email first", you are right. I see it in Internet cafes, ... , and every weekend guest visiting us wants at least to check their email from my home office.
Would you share your opinion and experience on personalization in the subject line?
Some marketers use the 'first name' and a welcome phrase. I have seen dates as well, and you begin the subject line with '[Michel Fortin]' (for your Blog announcements).
In 25, 30, 40 characters there is not much room? Would you rather use it for personalization (probably not) or to create the much needed urgency, curiosity, or controversy.
Yours John P.S. Happy and successful new year.
Michel Fortin
· 1 year ago
@John:
Not sure I understand your first question, since I covered that in my blog post (about personalization in subject lines). The bottom line is to test -- send a bunch of emails with personalization, and a bunch without, and see which one pulls best.
But in my own tests, personalization in subject lines are lower in response, and my theory, as I mentioned in my post, is that people are desensitized to personalization.
(Granted, adding the name in the middle or at the end, in some cases, pulled better. Like, "I want to know, Michel, if you like this...")
I tested my emails with and without the bracketed branding. And bracketed branding did outpull non-bracketed ones. I suspect it's because people have filters to recognize mail coming from me, to look for subject lines like [Michel Fortin]. But my guess is as good as yours.
(That said, I'm a BIG proponent of branding!)
The third question is what I specifically covered in my post. Focus on urgency, controversy or scarcity, instead of personalization.
Andrew Cavanagh
· 1 year ago
Nice post Michael.
One of the subjects you didn't touch on is how to use the sequence of your emails to keep your list responsive.
I experimented for quite some time with sending a couple of emails leading to high quality content THEN an email leading to a pitch.
Then I realized how dumb that was and moved to creating high quality content as a lead in to all the products I was marketing.
A large portion of your open rate is dependent on the relationship you've built with your subscribers.
Think about how you check your email.
Don't you scan the From line first and stop on the messages that are from someone who's in your "good" books.
If you're ALWAYS sending links to high quality content you're going to build trust and your open rate will most likely be far higher than sending your subscribers to one sales letter after another.
On the subject of personalization I would say the biggest reason the response is lower is because the personalization makes no sense.
In many cases personalization is just someone's name jammed into a subject line because that's supposed to increase your open rate.
It's a lot like really amateur sales people who use your name too much..off putting and annoying.
Kindest regards, Andrew Cavanagh
DK Fynn
· 1 year ago
There's one other thing that I think helps that I didn't read above before.
I think it's really important that you, the sender, keep a close relationship with your list and communicate with them (send them e-mails) often. Over time, they'll begin to recognize your name. Your name, I think, will eventually play a greater role in getting your e-mail opened than most headlines will.
You see, when I scroll through my e-mail inbox, I look at the left-hand column first: who is more important than what. By that I mean that I look for the people I respect the most or am most interested in, then, when I see their name, I open their e-mail without much regard for what the headline is.
I know this is a bit of an extreme way of looking at things, but I bet you more people sroll like me than you'd realize.
John W. Furst
· 1 year ago
@Michel Fortin: Thanks. I mistook your link list of headlines for the related posts section, jumped all the way down to the comment form, and skipped your text on personalization totally. Uups! Sorry.
Alex
· 1 year ago
What about putting a benefit in the headline ... does that work if you're mailing to a niche market?
Jeff Hendrickson
· 1 year ago
I thought the email you sent out with the title "what we can learn from criminals" was going to be about Gary Halbert!
Don't get me wrong.. I know Gary was no criminal. I read his whole story. And in no way do I think he was ever a criminal.
Sorry,, had to post that. Thought it might make you laugh as well.
Regards,
Jeff
Michael A. Stelzner
· 1 year ago
Really great post Michael!
Michel Fortin
· 1 year ago
@Alex:
Yes, it can still work. But lately, I've found that intrigue and newsy headlines do better, especially with email. And intrigue is definitely a big part of the three tactics in my post. Again, the obvious solution is to test.
Barnabas Ng
· 1 year ago
Hi Michel
Love the post and timely for me.
I have check out Larry Chase's "Web Digest For Marketers. Great and informative site.
And I believe the 3 tactics you shared would work equally well for any salesletter or website.
Thanks
John James
· 1 year ago
I do find it a challenge to get people to open emails. I thought it was because I couldn't write very well, so I hired a Bellevue Wa Copywriter. I'll have to wait and see how this works out for me.
Franck Silvestre
· 1 year ago
Awesome tips Michel. But when your member (my word for subscriber) trusts you, everything becomes easier.
So getting your email read (after the spam filter test) is a work that should be done BEFORE the prospect subscribes.
Money Truth
· 1 year ago
Great tips, goingto test it out right away, i ll let you know how I get on!
R Johnson
· 1 year ago
awesome information, great advice!
Emma Hamilton
· 1 year ago
Originally Posted By AlexWhat about putting a benefit in the headline ... does that work if you're mailing to a niche market?
I would definitely say so. Leading with the benefit to your customer is key.
On that subject you might find this email clinic article useful. I am currently doing some work for Pure and they have some great knowledge pieces and tips:
All Comments
I look forward to keeping that out of the email and seeing what comes of it.
Thanks for the advice!
One really dumb thing that a lot of marketers started doing was misspelling, to fool the filters. Those early filters were set up to reject common marketing words such as buy, purchase, free. At the email company I worked at, my approach was unlike SpamAssassin. If people used correct spelling, they had nothing to worry about. The marketers who used spelling obfuscation often had their messages zapped.
Not only that, but the obfuscation makes it really difficult to read. Steven Pierce does that in his emails ... "Unique Sel.ling Proposition" "want to bu.y".
In his email today, he talks about forming relationships with readers, but he is destroying that relationship by making his email hard to read.
The key to getting delivered is not to break up the English language and make your message hard to read, but to form a relationship with your readers and have them whitelist/greenlist you. That's what I do at NewsBlaze.com
As you suggest, personalization is also important. Looking back at your spam idea - how many fake PayPal emails have you received in the past few years? What is the defining difference between a real and fake paypal email. The most obvious thing is that PayPal knows your name and uses it in the message. The scammers don't know who you are so you are "Dear PayPal member".
Happy New Year.
You have hammered soft point... hardly!
I have actually used some of them even for my personal e-mailing and it works effectively.
Thanks a lot.
Murtaza.
Twoquestions: Do you have any guidelines for the styling of the subject line? I've always went initial cap, but if you've had better response with all lower case, I'd love to know.
Also, what about subject line length? I've always tried to shoot for 25 characters or less, but was never sure if that affected the open rate or not.
JW
In some cases, all lower case, or just sentence case (first letter only is capitalized), outpulled "headlinish" subjects where all words' first letters are capitalized.
But I think it's all a question about how you connect with your readers. And "connection" and relevancy, here, is the crux of it all.
Frank Kern does his subject lines in all lower case. And it works, because Frank is known to have a laid-back, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is style. And that's why his emails pull well.
But it doesn't mean it's the same across the board.
Subject line length also depends. But in this case, it's really a matter of playing the lowest common denominator. Less than 25 characters is good. Some subject lines, especially in webmail services like Hotmail or Gmail, truncate them.
For others, it depends on screen resolutions. For the wider the resolution, the bigger the email software opens up on the screen and therefore the longer the subject line can be, without being truncated.
But again, just like sticking with smaller tables for web copy to appeal to all monitor resolutions, I think it's safe to stick with the lowest common denominator. Personally, I think 25 is a bit low (I prefer 30 or even 40), but it's still a pretty good goal to aim for.
When you write, "most people check email first", you are right. I see it in Internet cafes, ... , and every weekend guest visiting us wants at least to check their email from my home office.
Would you share your opinion and experience on personalization in the subject line?
Some marketers use the 'first name' and a welcome phrase. I have seen dates as well, and you begin the subject line with '[Michel Fortin]' (for your Blog announcements).
In 25, 30, 40 characters there is not much room? Would you rather use it for personalization (probably not) or to create the much needed urgency, curiosity, or controversy.
Yours
John
P.S. Happy and successful new year.
Not sure I understand your first question, since I covered that in my blog post (about personalization in subject lines). The bottom line is to test -- send a bunch of emails with personalization, and a bunch without, and see which one pulls best.
But in my own tests, personalization in subject lines are lower in response, and my theory, as I mentioned in my post, is that people are desensitized to personalization.
(Granted, adding the name in the middle or at the end, in some cases, pulled better. Like, "I want to know, Michel, if you like this...")
I tested my emails with and without the bracketed branding. And bracketed branding did outpull non-bracketed ones. I suspect it's because people have filters to recognize mail coming from me, to look for subject lines like [Michel Fortin]. But my guess is as good as yours.
(That said, I'm a BIG proponent of branding!)
The third question is what I specifically covered in my post. Focus on urgency, controversy or scarcity, instead of personalization.
One of the subjects you didn't touch on is how to use the sequence of your emails to keep your list responsive.
I experimented for quite some time with sending a couple of emails leading to high quality content THEN an email leading to a pitch.
Then I realized how dumb that was and moved to creating high quality content as a lead in to all the products I was marketing.
A large portion of your open rate is dependent on the relationship you've built with your subscribers.
Think about how you check your email.
Don't you scan the From line first and stop on the messages that are from someone who's in your "good" books.
If you're ALWAYS sending links to high quality content you're going to build trust and your open rate will most likely be far higher than sending your subscribers to one sales letter after another.
On the subject of personalization I would say the biggest reason the response is lower is because the personalization makes no sense.
In many cases personalization is just someone's name jammed into a subject line because that's supposed to increase your open rate.
It's a lot like really amateur sales people who use your name too much..off putting and annoying.
Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh
I think it's really important that you, the sender, keep a close relationship with your list and communicate with them (send them e-mails) often. Over time, they'll begin to recognize your name. Your name, I think, will eventually play a greater role in getting your e-mail opened than most headlines will.
You see, when I scroll through my e-mail inbox, I look at the left-hand column first: who is more important than what. By that I mean that I look for the people I respect the most or am most interested in, then, when I see their name, I open their e-mail without much regard for what the headline is.
I know this is a bit of an extreme way of looking at things, but I bet you more people sroll like me than you'd realize.
Thanks. I mistook your link list of headlines for the related posts section, jumped all the way down to the comment form, and skipped your text on personalization totally. Uups! Sorry.
Don't get me wrong.. I know Gary was no criminal. I read his whole story. And in no way do I think he was ever a criminal.
Sorry,, had to post that. Thought it might make you laugh as well.
Regards,
Jeff
Yes, it can still work. But lately, I've found that intrigue and newsy headlines do better, especially with email. And intrigue is definitely a big part of the three tactics in my post. Again, the obvious solution is to test.
Love the post and timely for me.
I have check out Larry Chase's "Web Digest For Marketers. Great and informative site.
And I believe the 3 tactics you shared would work equally well for any salesletter or website.
Thanks
So getting your email read (after the spam filter test) is a work that should be done BEFORE the prospect subscribes.
I would definitely say so. Leading with the benefit to your customer is key.
On that subject you might find
this email clinic article useful. I am currently doing some work for Pure and they have some great knowledge pieces and tips:
Email marketing tips
Eric