Get Your Customers to Open Your Emails

A common marketing tool of ecommerce merchants and online business owners remains the humble email. Whether you use autoresponder messages, newsletters, or daily emails, the point of these writings is to increase your customer loyalty as well as to boost your sales. However, according to the Direct Marketing Association, only about 1 in 4 emails ever get opened. This means that about 75% of your emails and hard work are going straight into the trash bin. Just because a customer opens your message doesn’t mean that he will make a purchase, but it does mean that you are more likely to develop the business relationship with him than you would if he just threw the message away.

Use a Descriptive Title

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The first line of defense is the subject line. Don’t use something boring or spammy. Make it enticing and descriptive. Which of these two would you be more willing to open up “The Secrets of Great Deals Online: The Shopify Guide to Comparison Shopping Engines” or “Deals Online.” If you’re like most people, the longer and more detailed subject line will get your attention. It will also appear more legitimate and seem less likely to be carrying a virus.

Solve, Entice, or Entertain

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Your subject line and the first few lines of your email message should solve a problem, entice your readers with a secret, or entertain them. All three of these methods will draw them in and make them want more, particularly if you do it well.

Solve the Problem

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Of all three methods, solving a problem is one of the most common and the most likely to result in continued customer loyalty. People are more inclined to read a message if they know that you are going to give them useful information to solve a common problem. It also establishes your reputation as being someone who cares about your customer’s needs, and that is a valuable benefit in and of itself.

In some cases, solving the problem your readers might have could be quite simple such as providing them with preemptive information, facts to make them smarter and to help them to develop their skills and knowledge. Try to intersperse different problem solving methods through your emails if possible to keep the excitement level up.

Entice the Readers

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Enticing your readers with secrets can be tricky since you want to avoid looking like spam. You should be cautious of using “free” or “guarantee” in the subject line until your customers trust you. Otherwise, you run the risk of heading straight for the spam bin. However, you can certainly use mystery and curiosity to get them to read it. You might have something that says, “Bet You Can’t Guess the Seven Spices that Increase Your Metabolism and Save You Money?” The secret will be most effective if it connects to a desire or a want. In fact, you can make it doubly effective if the secret promises to solve a problem that most of your customers have as well as satisfy a want.

Entertain the Readers

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Entertainment is probably the trickiest of the three methods that you can use to get your clients to open your messages. The reason that entertainment is trickier is because not everyone will respond to your sense of humor. In fact, with most humor, you run the risk of offending some of your clients and perhaps even alienating them. In some cases, this may not be a bad thing. If you are developing a reputation for being hard hitting and not pulling any punches, then it may be appropriate. If it contradicts your business purpose or goals though, avoid humor that could cause problems with your clients.

However, entertainment can be more than humor if you pursue additional forms of entertainment media. While the jokes in the tagline and puns are classic forms, you can also explore other methods such as embedding fun videos or music. Providing free downloads of an upbeat song is another possibility. Just make sure that you include that information in the tag line as you may otherwise find that your readers just assume that there’s nothing of value in the message.