30 Days "Take Action" Program - Day 19

Write an E-mail That Gets Opened and Gets by the Spam Checker

Bet you started this lesson thinking you already KNOW how to write an e-mail – you do it just about every day and don't have problems with any spam checker. That's because you're writing personal e-mails and normally they won't have "spam" words in it or in the subject line (if you even use a subject line that is).

Writing business e-mails is an entirely different can of worms and needs some really smooth moves on your part to finesse them to the point they will get opened every time when they hit someone's e-mail inbox. Okay, maybe not every time, but most of the time.

What's the first thing you do when you look in your inbox? First you see who sent you e-mail, then you check the heading to see what it says. If the heading doesn't interest you, what do you do? Right, you hit delete. Well, since we happen to be Internet marketers, we don't want that to happen, we want our mail opened and read. Easier said than done you say? Not really, read on.

How You Get Your E-mail Opened

This is so easy, you'll be delighted with the results. If you can count, you have half the battle won. You have 50 characters in the subject line including spaces you can use. Make them count, because what you say can make or break your next e-mail campaign. The subject line needs to be catchy, grab their attention or it's trash bin bound.

The best place for headline/subject line ideas is your local newspaper. Yes, the daily news has some of the best headlines you'll ever read. And, you DO read them because they attract your attention and draw you in. Like newspaper headlines, your e-mail subject line needs to tell the recipient what to expect in the e-mail.

Now, having said this, just because you develop a knack for writing subject lines for e-mails doesn't mean they are always going to work. That's just the way life is – one campaign may take off like wildfire, the next flop. It's a bit like Russian roulette, but with practice and a few other hints and tips, you can be fairly certain you'll have more hits than misses.

Hits vs. Misses

To cut down on the number of misses as best you can, follow the first rule of e-mail marketing – TEST, TEST, TEST and then TEST some more. What are you testing? The styles and trends which seem to work. Think about your subject line BEFORE you write your body content.

It needs to be the first thing you do for any e-mail campaign. So you're thinking, yeah right, whom do I test it on? You can test it on the Follow our Lead Group (FOL) and a part of your e-mail lists.

Let's say you have an e-mail list of about 1,000 people, try testing two different subject lines and keep track of the results. You want to know how many responses you got with each heading.

Review the MOST successful one, then change one word. JUST ONE WORD ONLY and resend it to your list. You need to do this on a continual basis, as each e-mail campaign you do will be different by choice and by necessity.

Here's something else you need to keep track of as well, and that's the rate of conversions to opened e-mail. It's one thing to have your e-mail opened, but quite another to have someone either reply or sign up. So while you may have a successful subject line, and it gets opened, if it doesn't translate into conversions, it's a failure.

The second rule of e-mail marketing is personalize your subject lines, which means one of the words of the 50 you have to work with needs to be the name of the person you are writing to. At least it does if you are suiting the content and interests of the e-mail to your prospects interests. If however it's a bulk e-mailing, then this doesn't apply – just get creative instead.

For instance: "Elmira an invitation to join a hot online meeting"

The third rule of e-mail marketing is tell the truth. Do not under any circumstances mislead your prospects and promise more than the e-mail can deliver. If your subject line doesn't even begin to reflect what's in the body of the message, you're going to be in hot water. The prospect will distrust you and three guesses where the next e-mail will go? Right! The trash bin.

The fourth rule of e-mail marketing is create a conversation. You might be sick of hearing this – relationship marketing is the basis of this rule and we can not emphasize it enough. Without a conversation and a "relationship", you're essentially cold e-mailing to someone you do not know – meaning you have a harder time trying to tell them about your business.

If you have a series of e-mails you send prospects, and each one is a continuation of a conversation from a previous e-mail – that is conversation. Here's an Example

E-mail 1: Elmira, an invitation to join a hot online meeting"

E-mail 2: Sorry you missed the meeting. Here are some highlights. Detail one of the highlights.

E-mail 3: Continue to provide meeting highlights over the next 4 or 5 e-mails Of course you will likely be carrying on a good talk by then and able to provide many details about your business and how it will benefit them.

E-mail 8: Here is another opportunity to join our online meeting.

The fifth rule of e-mail marketing is make sure you tell the prospect who the e-mail is from. You might be laughing right now because this sounds too simple to be believed – but – remember this, you only have 50 characters in the subject line, so, if you make sure the FROM line has YOUR name, it's not required to be duplicated.

Also remember this, the FIRST thing people see is your SUBJECT LINE, so you MUST make it grab their attention. Why? Because IT will have the biggest impact if you get it right.

What About Content?
Your content must follow on from the subject line, and it has got to be interesting. Interesting enough to have your reader actually read the whole e-mail. Think good e-mail is like – a good book, you can't stop reading it until you are done.

The body of your e-mail must also have a call to action in it – asking people to DO something, like click on a link, fill in a form etc. The example we used earlier about the invitation to the online meeting? It would need to have at least THREE calls to action in it to get them to join the meeting.

Don't Stop Sending!
How many e-mails should you send? Answer is – you send until they join, opt out, die or change their e-mail address. Look at it this way if you're thinking this is being really pushy. You don't go out to buy a new car and just hop in the first one you find and take off.

You shop around, get information and then make an informed decision. That's exactly what people who are looking for an at home business do as well. They might not be ready to join NOW, but they might be later down the road. Patience is the key to a smart network marketer.

Yeah, but what about the SPAM Checker?
No, we're not expecting you to be a mind reader and know what words to avoid in your subject line that will get you mired in a spam checker. Sure you'll know the most common ones, like Internet Marketing, or Business Opportunity, or Make Money From Home. But you're not going to know about other spam triggers because they change the spam filter criteria words every month.

Oh great you're thinking, now what? Don't worry, there's a simple solution, and it's called Spam Check and it's FREE. All you need to do is cut and paste the following URL into your browser and follow directions: http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/

The LAST thing you want to do is become an unwanted pest. You're aiming instead to be a welcome guest. If you stick to the rules, you will have a successful e-mail campaign.