Don't pee in the pool...
OK, I know that is gross but that was the message
staring me in the face when I logged into my
Infusion account last week. The point they were
making is that the email marketing world is being
destroyed because of the horrendous practices of
uneducated email marketers. Deliverability is
declining, open rates declining, attention of the
recipient declining, etc...
Two days after I saw that message I received an
email from Jeff Mask, the VP at Infusion, asking
me to speak at one of their events because our
email practices at Strategic Profits are stellar.
Needless to say my email got through his spam
blocker, LOL. We have one of the lowest complaint
rates out of all their customers.
So I figured I would share some of the things we
do to accomplish that. There is no way I could
cover everything that I would need to in this article
to make you an expert. Being a deliverability
expert is a job in itself but I will give you a few tips
on what we do.
What would it mean to you to increase your
deliverability, open rates and conversions by 10,
15, 25 even 30% or more? Well if you have a list
like we do, that could be the difference between a
$100,000 dollar JV promotion and a $200,000
promotion.
However, just blasting out to your whole list every
time you get the urge is not properly capitalizing on
your most valued asset.
OK, I know. If I get another marketer telling me
that people just want to be sold and the more you
bash them over the head and pound them into the
ground with email the more money you make, I'm
going to puke.
I understand that concept and if that is what you
think I applaud your misguided enthusiasm. There
is a right and a wrong way to do that but more
important there is a better more effective way to
do that.
We try not to do one email to our whole list at
once. The days of that are over for us. We
segment our list very intelligently and we talk to
the segments appropriately. Thereby decreasing
complaints and opt-outs. Recipients are just sick
of everyone's babble. Respect who you are talking
to.
Your list could be segmented in many ways. As an
example; A customers, the people that buy your
back-end expensive products. B customers, the
people that buy your lower priced front-ends but
just have not yet stepped up to your more
expensive products. C customers that take
advantage of your special deals and shipping only
type offers but have not bought anything else.
The rest of your list (prospects) can be segmented
into many different lists based on your company
needs and markets. We currently have 62 different
segments. From buyers of partner or affiliate
products, to people that registered for teleseminars,
to people who are just blog readers, to people who
just like to watch and see what we are doing. YES
WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE and stop being lurkers.
That is important because we will write sometimes
many different emails, depending on who we are
talking to for the same product or promotion.
I just did a video with my friend Mike Filsaime. We
talked about the fact if someone walks into
McDonalds and orders a salad with fat free dressing
and 2% milk; you don't try to upsell them into a big
mac with extra cheese and a super size coke. You
have to know your list and talk to them the way
they want to be talked to or are used to being talked
to.
Here is an example below of two emails of a
promotion we did for our Strengths Mastery
product:
Strengths Mastery Advantage FOR Entrepreneurs
SUBJECT: Are you "master" of your domain?
Hey there FIRSTNAME, Rich here, just remembering
a classic episode of "Seinfeld"...
Maybe you do too. Jerry, George, and all the gang
had a bet to see who was "master of their domain".
Now, the subject matter to be "mastered" was a
little more delicate than I want to talk about here.
But if you saw this one, you know what I'm talking
about (and you're smiling right now).
And as I was thinking back on this episode,
something struck me...
How many of us are truly "mastering" our strengths
to create the biggest profits possible?
Because discovering your strengths (and your
weaknesses) and leveraging them properly is vital
to achieving the wealth, freedom, and lifestyle
you've always dreamed of.
And here's the fastest and easiest way to do
exactly that.
Email For White Collar Business Owners
SUBJECT: Are you leveraging your strengths?
Hello FIRSTNAME,
It goes without saying that leveraging your
strengths properly is a key fundamental to
maximizing your profit margin while minimizing
risk in your business...
By leveraging your talents--and also managing
your weaknesses--you can quickly gain a
competitive advantage in your marketplace and
enjoy long-term success.
But how can you do that exactly? What are the
best ways to get better results for your business
without adding time, effort, and expense to the
equation?
You'll find your answer right here.
Don't you think the conversion was higher
because we customized the copy for these
segments?
Next, don't try to trick ISPs and think you are
getting away with it. Been there done that. I
just laugh when I see the word free cleverly
"disguised" with other punctuation in subject
lines. Don't you think they are smart enough to
pick up on those types of antics?
Well I'm in the mix enough to tell you they know
all the tricks. Just follow the industry standards,
do the right things and the things they ask.
It's just like dealing with Google Adwords. You
get the best scores and get to the top by doing
what Google wants to see.
I just recently got a wakeup call because we had
too many blank lines at the bottom of our emails
before the opt-out links. We got our hand slapped
because that is opt-out padding and you will get
slapped for doing it.
Run your emails through a score checker. There
are many out there that will give you a good
indication if you will have deliverability problems
with a particular email you are sending. We use the
Habeas monitor... now ReturnPath... as well as a
few others.
There are many more tips, and I will hit some in
future episodes. But the main message is to do the
right thing and over time your reputation score
will rise along with your income because of it. Treat
it like your personal credit score and understand it
does take time. If we all do the right thing the ISPs
won't keep making it so much harder for us.
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