Email open rates have plunged, click through rates are down, marketers with huge lists are wondering why no one seems to buy anything via their affiliate links anymore, no one wants to promote anything, it’s all doom and gloom.
Or is it?
There’s a chance you may have noticed a drop in response from your emails, but ask yourself this question, how many marketers lists have you un-subscribed from or how many marketers emails do you simply ignore as you check your emails on a daily basis? I know I have started to ignore many emails that come into my inbox from a customer point of view.
Now ask yourself this, how many marketers who you have either unsubscribed from or who’s emails you ignore send you promo after promo without giving you any real value.
Is there a pattern? I bet there is!
The reason email open rates have plunged is because people are sick of all the crap that’s getting pumped into their in-boxes everyday and they know most emails are simply promoting the latest and greatest product of the day.
If you are guilty of promoting crap every single day then you will probably fail, and to be honest you deserve it for treating your subscribers like an ATM.
Look! The only way to get your emails opened is to stand out and be different and make your subscribers want to open your emails.
So how can we do this?
First of all treat your subscribers with the respect they deserve, after all they took the effort to opt-in to your mailing list and you should do everything in your power to keep them on it, and more importantly make them want to open your emails. The best way to do this is to build a relationship with your subscribers, also, make sure each email you send is not a pitch fest, make sure you give value, make sure you promote products you believe in and not the latest crappy product of the day that you haven’t even reviewed. Also, when you do promote a product be honest about it, don’t hype it up and tell your subscribers how it’s going to change their lives.
Most marketers are getting it completely wrong in their email marketing, this is why their open rates have plunged.
Here’s are 3 typical examples of bad email marketing that you definitely shouldn’t be doing.
Email Marketing Mistake 1.
Sending irrelevant subject lines in an attempt to ‘trick’ your subscribers into opening your emails, believe me if you do this your subscriber is gone. You know the kind of subject lines I am talking about, lines such as:-
Affiliate Sale Generated.
Followed by, ‘You could be generating tons of affiliate sales.’
Notification of Payment Received (This is a bad one)
Followed by, ‘Wouldn’t you like to receive emails like that?’
Call Your Bank Manager!
Followed by, ‘Because he’s going to wonder what’s going on when all this cash hits your bank account.’
I’m sure you get the picture.
Make sure you use proper subject lines and never ever try to trick someone into opening your email because if you do it will probably be the last email of yours they open. We hate being made to look a fool and this is exactly what this practice does. Sure, you can add a bit of intrigue into your subject line to make your reader want to open to find out more but if they feel like they have been tricked then they will probably be gone for good.
Email Marketing Mistake 2.
Hyping the crap out of a product. We see this every single day, we are told that this is the one, the product that will finally answer all our prayers and all it will take is 6 clicks of your mouse, (I wonder if a product will ever come along that takes one click 🙂 ) this is the greatest product that’s ever been launched on the Internet and we must buy it right now. Then the next day another email from the same marketer arrives. We are told that this is the one, the product that will finally answer all our prayers….
You get the picture don’t you?
Why oh why oh why do these marketers treat us like 3 year olds, do they really think we are that gullible? Well actually they do or they wouldn’t keep sending the crap they do day in day out, but if you are guilty of the same thing then wise up.
I actually know of a very high profile marketer who I respect. He is big enough that he speaks on stage and has hosted a few workshops. However his emails are so hypey that I cringe when I read them. I’ve also noticed that I’ve never seen his name on a JV leaderboard, even though he promotes a lot of the big launches. I wonder why 😉
Look, all you need to do is highlight the benefits of any product, keep it short and sweet. Just explain what the product will do and how it will help them. Simple and highly effective.
Email Marketing Mistake 3.
Not building a relationship with your subscribers. It actually took me a while to realize how important this is. While I am not saying you have to tell your subscribers everything about you, you should let them into your life a little. If you have been on my mailing list for any amount of time you will know what I look like, what I sound like, how I got started online, that I used to work in a car plant, that I spend most weekends at my holiday home, that I have 2 sons who now work for me, because of this you may trust me more than a marketer you know nothing about.
Let your subscribers into your life a little and they will learn to trust you. Two marketers who do this brilliantly are Randy Smith and Martin Avis. Get on their lists and you can learn a lot about relationship building.
I could go on and on but I think this blog post has got long enough. I’ll probably do a follow up post in a few weeks time but if you take anything away from this blog post it is this.
Let your subscribers into your life a little and treat them with the respect they deserve, after all, without them your business is nothing.
As always, feel free to comment and if you have any tips you’d like to share I’d love to hear them.
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Hi John,
Not sure what to add other than a massive THANK YOU for the mention 🙂
Much appreciated!
And just to back up what you’ve said… People might be surprised to know it – but most of the replies I get to my emails make comment on the personal aspects rather than the business recommendations.
So it does prove that people do want to be treated like a person – and not just an ATM!
That said – depending on their business model – I’m sure those who just send 3 line promotions actually make more money than I do – But they also have the constant task of rebuilding their lists due to those falling open rates… which is fine if you have 100K plus lists and affiliates…
But your advice would work FAR better for anyone with small lists, and I’m sure they would enjoy their marketing much more too 🙂
Randy
I hear ya Randy, but even if I were bringing in 10,000 new subscribers per day I’m pretty sure I’d have better results marketing the way I do rather than using churn and burn hype filled tactics. Plus I sleep a lot better at night 🙂
LOL….
Yes you do sleep better – But I bet you’d make more cash if you switched to Churn & Burn….
BUT – then you would do as they do and see a drop in open rates and a mass exodus of subscribers… and you’d have to focus on adding new ‘meat’ to your lists daily.
Hence why most of us are with you mate… cos you don’t follow the usual ‘guru’ path 🙂
Randy
Long term I can’t see how you’d make more cash no matter how many subscribers you had. If you had 10 million subscribers I think you’d still make more money using ethical tactics.
Excellent blog John.
I’ve got much stricter about who’s list i stay on these days because there is so much crap flooding into my inbox and it all steals a few second of my life.
I particular hate those that have subject lines of “Congratulations you’ve made a sale” when I haven’t and the sender is just touting the latest offer. I don’t even understand the logic for those of us who do make affiliate sales as discovering we haven’t, immediate puts me in a bad mood.
I know I don’t work my list hard enough but i don’t want to be seen as a pest.
Paul, I think some of it has to do with the fact that many in our industry are extremely shortsighted. It’s not that difficult to make a sale – but it is difficult to stay at a level as you say, where we aren’t seen as pushy or selling out of our values.
Hi John,
Very interesting and I’m glad to say I’ve not fallen for the 3 tips to avoid that you gave us here. Looking back in my AR sequence I give nothing but content for the first 3 weeks and send an email every 3 to 4 days in that period then 1 promotional email and back to content for another 3 weeks but once a week emails.
Like you Randy, probably don’t make as much as some guys who are suggesting hit ’em hard with promotions after just 3 days! …but yes, sleeping at night with a clear conscience is important.
Chris
You forgot to mention ‘videos’! I’m sick of them! There has to be a fantastically attention getting headline or I immediately delete a video. (except yours, of course)
Thank you John for mentioning Videos!!
They still are a very Powerful TOOL when used properly, and are not set up for Auto Play.
I find great response with a text description before the video, so the reader has an opportunity to decide to spend their precious time.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom
Hi,
I think the training videos are a fantastic tool for those who are getting started. I have lots of videos, a lot of John’s to help me. The videos folk send in emails and you have to watch for 30 minutes and after it, it has been worthless, they do my head in.
I wouldn’t have been able to build my blog the way I did if I had not watched Johns videos.
Regards
Donald
Hi John,
There are only few marketers that I open the mail from. These are the people who provide interesting posts and interesting content where I can actually learn something. I dont mind buying from this kind of people as long as I need that particular product.
Gordan Bosnjak
Hi John, Great post on sending e-mails out.
The subject lines that get me are, Clickbank #XXXXXX. Like I really made a Clickbank sale, please.
They do seem to over hype products. If it’s a good product it will sell for itself without the non-sense.
I can speak on Randy. Stand up guy as far I’m concerned.
Jeff
Hi John
Excellent post and there is some great advice in there. The one that annoys me the most as a recipient is emails with irrelevant subject lines. The person sending it believes they are going to attract your attention but it just smacks of desperation. I’ve unsubscribed to many lists because of subject lines like ‘notification of payment received.’ Stuff like that just really pees me off.
Build a relationship, give great value and look after the interests of your subscribers. If you can do that you’ll actually make more money and have a sustainable list.
Once again thanks for a great post
Daniel
Great guidance John! I have experienced the same thing. I’m mostly building websites for marketers these days, but when I do decide to offer something to my list the results are better now – because it’s usually been awhile since I sent an offer. Meanwhile my “evergreen” emails have been going out from my auto-responder, keeping in touch with valuable tips but not offering anything. So, when an offer finally comes to my subscribers it’s something special as opposed to just another offer being crammed in.
-Ken
Hello John,
great 3 mistakes for start in Part one. I get some idea where I can clear some of my stuff and put in some better text in.
I’m waiting on Part two. I hope that you’ll write something about “How can we work more and better on relationship with our Subscribers”.
Alex
Hi John,
Great post and i have been deleting E mails and coming off some lists because of the way i am treated but yours and a couple of others i usually make time for. I have just had a promotion from a respected marketer which sent me to a page with a video with 152 copies available as soon as the video started the quantity started coming down as if people were buying it, i clicked out of it and there were 7 downsells, i then went back to the video after a few minutes and the whole process was the same as before with still 152 copies available, needless to say i did not even watch the video let alone buy, do some of these people think we are idiots, they probably do and this method probably works for some people but it smacks of scam marketing to me.
Keep up the good work John and thanks for the great post
Graham
Hey John
Great point you have made here… I subscribed to most top marketers list, not just for buying interest, but for the marketing that they do.
And some of the hyped copy that’s in those emails is just plain and simply “how do they get away it”
lol I get a few of those “Notification of Payment Received” type headlines too, and it really kind of annoys me to be cheated into it.
Building relationships and showing people what’s working in your own business is what people subscribed to in the first place.
And also providing the resources that have worked in your own business, and not just treating people like a “ATM MACHINE”
Great point John
Danny
I agree with all you have said, John, and also with the videos comment above…like any of us really have time to watch those increasingly lengthy videos. I sometimes start them, but if they don’t tell me what it’s about in the first sentence I switch off. Can’t bear the vague ‘I’ll tell you at the end after you’ve listened to me ramble for 18 of the 20 minute video’!
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Hooray Mandee!!
We have found videos of less than 5 minute to be very well received, anything longer has little value
Hi John,
Excellent post and I totally agree! Another mistake that I see a lot is people just using the standard swipe emails that come with a product. Copywriting is my least favourite task, but find that when promoting something, if I use it & review it first, then tell a story and explain the benefits of it in my own words, that can sell much better than sending one of these copy and paste swipes!
Cheers,
Suzanne
I agree Suzanne. Using ready made copy, especially during a product launch is a big no no.
The points made by you John and the other points made in the comments really strike a chord with me.
I totally agree with Daniel’s point about “desperation”. If the things that are being promoted are so great, then they would sell themselves. They don’t need the hyped subject lines that the desperate “marketeers” are using. I’ve played at IM for a while, just for the buzz. Fortunately I am retired and am in a reasonably comfortable position financially, but income from my “hobby” is a bonus.
The other point that really annoys me is I am now on lists that I have never subscribed to. Obviously, several of the people I have subscribed to have now very kindly!! passed my email address on to other desperate marketeers.
Keep up the good work John. I always look forward to your emails as the content is always refreshing. No hype, no BS, just down to earth information which I can understand.
Cheers
Alan
I was cringing as I read this post, John, because it’s so true. I think a good rule of thumb is to send emails to your list like you would like to receive.
I find it’s easier and way more fun just to be myself in my emails. I learned this from Randy way back when. 😉
Thanks,
Peggy
You send great e-mails Peg
I always open your emails .. That’s what made me want to interview you as you came across as being a really kool person with lots of good tings to say 🙂
Keep em coming ! !
xxxxcarlxxxx
Thank you, Carl. That’s so nice of you to say! 🙂
Peggy
Again John…I cannot fault this.
Original content is the key to everything…too many copycats out there.
I am building slowly and trying to be original.
It takes longer..but i feel and know it will be worth it.
Hi John,
Good points of what not to do like you have always said just be yourself, learn from their mistakes and make yourself stand out from the rest honestly and ethically.
Mike
Hi John,
How true, these mistakes are made be a ton of marketers and it has gotten so bad a lot of us are just sick about it and opt out.
It has gotten out of hand. We must be different unique and stick out of the crowd by providing Value otherwise our email marketing efforts are all going to go to waste.
Having to get your subscribers know who your are a is a very good idea in building relationships.
Providing good news and learning, interesting related subjects, quality recommendations that you truly know about is what will keep your subscribers on your list.
Terry Conti
Hi John
all so very sad but true. I especially agree with points 2 and 3. I still cringe when I see ”top” online marketers sending really hypey email promotions saying ”you must have this and you must have that – one click to success”.
I currently have an open rate of 79.6% and a click Through Rate of 62.4% which I’m very happy with right now. I try and offer as much value as possible to my subscribers and really like to let them into my life and online business.
I create videos in my office and talk them through what I am up to and when I do promote a product I try and always create a short video of myself using that product I am promoting to show its features and value. This seems to get me a really good CTR on my email promotions.
My philosophy as an affiliate is that we are very privalidged to be in the position to promote a product to our list and readers who expect us to give them an honest and informed review.
I also believe that for someone to click through our affiliate link that we as affiliates must offer something in return and I find that offering a video presentation or some kind of product related bonus is the best way to reward that customer for buying through me.
This practice has never failed me so far and I think it could really help others improve their email open and click through rates. Just my thoughts anyway.
Thanks as always John for an informative and compelling post!
Regards,
Steve Wilkins.
Hi John
I’ve moved from my Hotmail account to me gmail as my main e-mail account as the Hotmail one is drowning in exactly what you have described as bad marketing. This Planetsms blog has got to be one of the best blogs on the net!
Loads of kool and genuine content here!
I also agree with what you say about Randy’s blog. Really entertaining … I wish I could spend more time there … but that day will come when I can shake off these 60 hour a week day job hours and start to reclaim some of my life back… I want to interview Randy as soon as I can. Hopefully meet you guys soon when you do your workshop …
Take care and thanks for the genuine sound advice once again matey.
regards
xxxxCarlxxxx
I agree with this totally. I have removed myself from lists because of these tactics, or tagteaming get this free and get added to someone else’s list and in the end they all pitch for one marketer.I am sure I unsubscribed from rabbit lists and they keep multiplying
What the problem is that a lot of people want the easy train , It takes time to build trust and you should work on this before you try to sell anything. I don’t know of any reputable marketer who has not had to do this in the beginning. While you are building trust you can be working on a product at the same time.
I know of a couple of marketers that offer free webinars (useful no sales pitch) and they do well. I also know of others that use long webinars and push a product. Another method that works is a free newsletter with no hype. Lastly there are marketers that I will buy from who don’t need all this but that is because I trust them and they won’t sell something just to make money.They are very small in number
While using those “tricks” might get a few more people to open your email, they won’t ever act or do anything because they’ve been tricked! I’m a big believer in creating value-filled headlines to get opens and then loyal readers for my content!
Thanks for the post!
Hi John,
I get the same emails and they make me mad .The ones that say support, cb in the title really annoy me. Thanks for sharing I’m sure most others are receive emails like these. Great job pointing this out maybe they will now wake up.
Thanks to you success
Zora
P.S. Thanks for the email coaching offer for only $19.95. “Wow” What a deal!
Hey John!
Great subject! I am right there with you on this one. I am so sick of these marketers and the way they go about promoting day in day out with emails spam.
What I hate most is when you buy one of their products and the same or next day you get another email – not thanking you, but trying to sell you their competition’s product (basically identical product to theirs). As if their product wasn’t good enough….
Also, when you finally decide to pull the pin on these suckers and go to the unsubscribe page they have some statement like “Do not unsubscribe unless you don’t want future updates to your product!)
This is a crazy trap that they want you to stay in. They never intent to follow up with you on the product you bought and soon it is totally forgotten…
Mo-Fos!
Thanks Buddy!
Ryan K
Hi John
Great post, totally agree about getting value from the lists you subscribe to. The two marketers you mention are excellent examples of how to allow your subscriber’s into your life alittle.
Martin I met down in Bristol last year where you and I met (briefly). I also saw Randy there but until I saw a post about him on your blog I didn’t know his full name, since then I’ve signed up to “Randy’s Ramblings” and I’m pleased to have found another a marketer that’s honest and doesn’t hype up products.
I had lost a little faith in mailing lists recently as a lot do seem to be heading down the “churn & burn” route. I’m busy unsubscribing from lists on a daily basis, like Carl my hotmail account is overflowing with hyped up emails, surely it’s got to be better to be on the list of a few marketers that you trust, give you great info and know that they actually care about their subscribers, than be on a hundred churn & burn hype merchants.
This email subject line I’ve had a lot recently;
“Here’s you free download link”.
Link takes you to product and then sales page (where you have to buy). I suppose they’re not lying in a way – “hey, the download link is free” – absolute tosh!
Apologies of the rant John, thanks for the post and the intro to Randy’s Ramblings 🙂 Take care
Hi
Thanks for such a succinct review of the bad side of email marketing.
As the grandmother of all newbies, I am constantly blown way by the poor manners that seems to be dominating online marketing.
Treating people poorly is not the way to do business – or is it? There seems to be a culture of poor behaviour along with the hype – and I can’t help thinking that there must be a target audience steadily growing out there, who find these type of emails ‘normal’ and indeed expect it.
I also think that the ‘churn & burn’ marketers (absolutely love your turn of phrase there) belong to the ‘here today gone tomorrow’ business category, which I observe seems to be a type of business model these days. Churn it out, get rich quick, go bust quicker, then start over and do it all again. It’s all about how something looks rather than any degree of substance – and those perpetrators really do believe their own hype – it’s like they’ve been hypnotised by their own spin and are impervious to the sensibilities of their subscribers.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your words John, as well as those who have commented. It displays a level of personal/business responsibility and integrity that I am proud to be associated with.
Best wishes
Carol
Hi John,
Very well timed blog post. I have recently been looking into ways to improve my email marketing and relationship building.
I started studying Ben Settle and Micheal Senoff and I now write ALL the emails that leave my account.
This has meant scrapping adswaps for now as the copy I was getting to broadcast was as above. The worst was ‘Paypal Alert!’ Oh and when I chinned the sender, he told me this was ‘Guru Swipe’.
So now I have fun writing my emails. My list seem to be enjoying it as my open rates are going up. I still promote products but it’s as a follow on from the story or as a PS.
Looking forward to part 2.
All the best,
David
This is really true.
In the past I was on many different lists. I even changed my email adress, because I was getting something like 30 emails every day. Now I think I am on 4 different mailing lists. And get about 1-2 emails per day.
I remember in the past I got an email “notification of payment received”. I felt excited , because up to that point I did not make any money. I open that email and… guess what’s the first thing I did? UNSUBSCRIBE!
I am happy that you and some other people don’t use these tactics. I also see that many people talk just about “clicks” and not people. I think that’s a big mistake, don’t you think so, John?
Matt Poc
Thanks for the post John! As a subscriber of mailing lists, I always try to keep in mind the things that make me want to open an email or delete it immediately, so I can build a list without making these mistakes. For me, if I get videos constantly that do not include the stop, pause, play, etc buttons, many times I will opt out of the list if these tend to be long and drawn out. I like to know how long the video is and be able to fast forward through the hype at the beginning if I choose to do so. One of favorite emails is the free video that is just content and no sales pitch.
Keeping in mind that others have busy lives and need for things to be as simplie as possible is something that I feel is important. There are just not enough hours in the day to get done all of the things I want, and I know others are faced with this same obstacle. Many subscribers still have full-time jobs, like myself, and are using their free time to build their online business.
Funny you should mention this. I’ve recently posted on on of my blogs about the same thing. I unsubscribe from lists for all the reasons that you have listed. There’s another Email Marketing Mistake that could be added to the list, and that is “Not Testing Your Emails Before Sending Them Out”.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve received messages that start off
“Dear {firstname_fix}”
because they have mis-typed the mailshot personalisation tag and not bothered to test it before sending the message.
Even worse, I’ve even seen ones where they had typed a random name in the email and forgotten to replace it with the mailshot personalisation tag. As a result, everyone gets a message starting with
“Dear Joe”
I have even seen this from well-known marketers. There’s no excuse for not testing. It takes 5 minutes and could be the difference between losing a few hundred subscribers or keeping them.
Hi John, I totally agree with everything you’ve said here. I’ve had those emails with the false titles and I do unsubscribe from them, every time and if given the chance I tell them why as well.
I have a very simple philosophy when it comes to many things online: If I don’t like something done to me I won’t do it to my list or readers etc.
I’m quite personal on my blog and am seeing the benefits for it but I still need to apply that a little better in my emails.
One thing I have found that helps is to imagine that you are emailing a friend and write it with them in mind, explaining what the subject has done for me and how it could help them.
Even then I’m am very choosey on what I will promote.
Cheers John,
Barry
Hi John
Another great post and gives me something to think about for my
Next product launch:-))
I agree with Barry and that you need to imagine your just speaking
To one person with your email.
Make it personable and gain that persons trust and this will apply to
the rest of your subscribers on your list.
James
Hi John
How about ‘Product Information – Transaction Receipt?’ or ‘Congratulations You Have Made A Sale?’
There are so many more and the ones I delete first are the ones with no name, just ‘notification, support, congratulations or very your subscription’. It is hard enough for newbies without all that crap floating around. I also hate sites with so many exit pop ups you can’t leave the site. Shows how desperate they are to make a sale. Why would someone be stupid enough to sell a million dollar sysytem for $27? or giveaway a website worth $2000?
It is sad that there are so many unscrupulous people out there preying on the unsuspecting.
Regards
Dee
Wise words John. there is too much rubbish hitting in-boxes and people are more cautious than they were a few years ago too. I look at my inbox and the emails I open are from people I trust, I’m looking at the sender, not the subject line. Thanks!
Hi: John
Thanks for the good, post and powerful ideas you share with us. I am always looking forward to your e-mails because you always teach us not to be just marketers looking to win the big Jv Trophies but to be earning our money in the ethical way.
I am still struggling to build a relationship with my mailing list but with the use of some powerful and honest marketers like you and Randy Smit, I hope to get it right.
From: Patrick Sekhoto.
Hi John,
I like the post. Very true in what you say. I go through my main e mail address 2 or 3 times a day. I know the ones I want to keep and the ones I delete. I usually keep the e mails from yourself Dave, Stuart Turnbull, sally Neill, Daniel Sumner and 1 or 2 others. Don’t get me wrong there are e mails I want to keep but my inbox is so full I sometimes can’t be bothered to check.
Keep coming up with the products John, if nothing else folk know that you are genuine.
Regards
Donald
Hey John,
Good post. I’ll mention one phrase that really stops me from going any further in anyone’s email: Almost any use of the word SECRET, especially something like: The biggest SECRET They Don’t Want You To Know.
I handle email subscriptions a bit differently than some.
1. If I subscribe to a list but determine it is not for me, but my perception is that the marketer is OK, then I’ll unsubscribe and not distort their list.
2. However, if my perception and experience is that they are an unending BS artist then I just auto route all their email to the Junk folder and it is deleted in a couple of days without ever being opened or read. Thus doing my part to distort their percentages.
Some never wise up, I have several who have pumped unending junk to me for over five years — all automatically to the junk/delete folder.
TomH
Hi John
Thanks for another brilliant post which highlights the unethical and ultimately unsuccessful practices used by some inernet marketers. Looking at the comments you’ve received, it’s clear that listowners who don’t add value will get unsubscribe requests, not sales!
Richard
Wow…I thought I was the only one getting those “magic bullet” emails. The problem comes from other so-called IM guru experts who teach other intermediate marketers that this is the way it should be done.
Thanks John for this wonderful post.
Paul