If you’re email messages aren’t getting you conversions, don’t despair. You’d be surprised at how so many little factors affect open and conversion rates. Here are 9 easy tweaks that may make a world of difference, read on..
1. Personalize!
You should be taking advantage of the personalization option your auto responder offers. It seems ridiculous, but it’s really true that using the recipient’s name has a psychological effect, even though they know that it’s a broadcast message going to hundreds or thousands of people.
2. Text Only
If you’re sending messages in HTML, this might be causing problems. Formatting sometimes turns out funny or it may get sent to their spam folder. Try instead writing your message in only text.
3. Wrap Lines
Click where it says ‘wrap lines’ or do it manually so that you’ve got short lines. If the lines of text are too long, they’ll have to scroll and that’s a huge pain. It also helps to keep your paragraphs short and easily digestible.
4. Sharpen Your Subject Lines
The subject line is all-important because this is essentially what gets them to open. Make it catchy and relevant. If you don’t know how to do that, brainstorm. Think up ten subject lines and then compare them. Which would you be most likely to open?
5. Dodge the Spam Filter
Most auto responder programs tell you if your message sounds spammy and you should use this function. Certain words and phrases like ‘free’ and ‘buy now’ send your messages straight to the spam folder. Don’t use all caps or more than one exclamation mark.
6. Scarcity Sells
Whatever you’re offering, make sure it’s for a limited time only. Scarcity is a great motivator. If people know something’s going to be taken away soon, they’re much more likely to buy immediately, especially if they’re sitting on the fence.
7. PS. Scarcity Sells the More You Mention It
What I’ve found particularly effective is to add a PS at the end and remind them that you really mean it about the limited time. I always wondered why marketing emails had those PS’s and the reason why is that they work.
8. Mix up the Schedule
When it comes to timing, every list has a sweet spot. I can’t tell you what yours is, so experiment with different times and days of the week.
9. Segment Your List
Auto responder software programs let you segment your list, splitting it up into different sub-lists, and most marketers don’t fully take advantage of this. You can segment it according to age, buying habits, open rate, location, and any other data the software program gives you.
Every list is different, so try several of these things and see if you get better results. I also recommend split testing. Create two identical messages with just one thing that’s different and see which one outperforms. That’s the best way to find out about your subscribers.
All the best
Tony Phelps
