You’ve heard this statement so often that you probably recite it in your sleep. If not, I’ll be the first to tell it to you:
The money is in your email list.
If you create epic content and have a large social media audience, but no email list, you’re missing out on thousands of extra dollars every month.
However, if you have a big email list, but no one on that list engages with your email broadcasts, then you won’t get much money from your list.
Therefore, the money isn’t just in an email list. The money is in the engagement of that email list. With that in mind, let’s explore how we can increase your email list’s engagement.
#1: Weed Out People Who Don’t Engage
Before we focus solely on getting more out of your email list, we must acknowledge another part of the equation. If you have 50,000 subscribers, and only 500 people open your emails, you have a problem.
You can get more opens, clicks, and sales with the upcoming methods, but understand that you should weed out unengaged people from your email list. Here’s why…
For most services, having 50,000 subscribers on your account means spending hundreds of dollars every month. ConvertKit, the service I use, has a rate of TKTK per month for 50,000 subscribers.
If you weed out the people who don’t engage, you will save yourself thousands of dollars every year. To keep the email addresses in hopes of re-engaging with these people, you can create MailChimp accounts which allow you to have up to 2,000 subscribers without paying a penny.
With this important idea discussed, we can now focus on the tactics that will help you get more out of your email list.
#2: Write Catchy Headlines
If you don’t get many people to open your emails, it’s time for you to examine your headlines. Mastering the art of catchy headlines is more important than mastering the email copy.
Eventually, you will need to master both, but if you write great email copy with a bad headline, you won’t get any clicks.
On the reverse side, catchy headlines with bad email copy will result in more opens but less engagement after the email gets opened.
It’s easier to fix things like clickthrough rate and sales once you get the open rate mastered.
So how do you write catchy headlines? Here are a few ideas from HubSpot.
Understand that you have a limited number of characters to implement these ideas. If an email headline has more than 50 characters, then your subscribers won’t see the entire headline.
If subscribers can’t see the entire headline, they won’t click. Short and concise is the way to go.
#3: Email Your Unopens
Each person’s inbox isn’t as crowded as a Twitter feed, but inboxes are crowded nevertheless. Some of your most loyal subscribers will miss your latest email just because there are so many emails in the inbox but so little time.
If these people get a reminder to open your email, some of them will take action.
You can create that effect by resending the same email to people who didn’t open the email the first time (your unopens). I typically send out the second email 1-2 days after the first email gets sent.
All I do is change the subject line, and just like that my open rate goes up by 10%.
This is the easiest trick in the book as it takes less than a minute to reschedule an email that you already sent to your list (the only difference is the headline).
#4: Consistently Send Emails
If you consistently send emails on the same days and at the same times, you’ll develop a cult following. Some bloggers email on Wednesdays at 7 am, and their audiences know to check their inboxes for the message they received on Wednesdays at 7 am.
This is a common practice among bloggers. Depending on your audience, you can add fuel to the fire by increasing the frequency of your email. Instead of emailing your audience every week, try twice a week, and if you can, send daily emails.
Always stay in the frame of your audience’s mind.
#5: Get Better At Copywriting
Now that we’ve explored boosting your open rate, it’s time to get results beyond a higher open rate. Copywriting is a dense topic that I can’t fully cover in this blog post. You’ll get better with practice, and while I recommend Ray Edwards’ book, here are a few copywriting tips I can think of right away
- Use bold font, but more importantly, bullet points
- Focus on benefits, not features
- Always think of your customer avatar when writing your emails
- Ask questions
- Have a strong topic sentence
- Use a P.S. at the end of your emails because those get a ton of attention
- Subscribe to copywriting experts’ email lists and pay attention to their copy
#6: Include The Link In Multiple Places
One of the most common mistakes I see is when people send an email with the link in one location (usually towards the end of the copy). If you want to increase your clickthrough rate, you need to increase the presence of links in your email.
I typically utilize the same link in 2-3 locations. Here are my favorite places to put a link:
The very beginning of the email. For some people the headline and first sentence are enough to get the click
The middle of the email. This serves as a reminder. Your subscriber becomes familiar with the link, and with great copy just before that link, you’ll get more clicks
The P.S. Some of your subscribers will skim through your email and quickly scroll to the bottom. Your link will be waiting, and with great copy, you’ll get more clicks.
Some people place the link in as many as five places, but that number of link placements is usually reserved for lengthy emails or product pitches.
#7: See What’s Already Worked
Look through all of your emails and see which ones got the most opens, clicks, and sales. All three of those statistics are votes from your community.
If you see a trend where your audience engages better with Topic A than Topic B, then give your audience more of Topic A and tone it down with Topic B. You may prefer Topic B over Topic A, but your job is to serve your audience.
With that said, if you despise Topic A with a burning passion, then stop providing that type of content to your audience. Some people may no longer stick around, but it’s more important to do what you enjoy than find yourself stuck doing something you despise just for other people’s approval.
In Conclusion
The email list is your most valuable asset, but to reap the rewards, you must treat your subscribers with care. If you only pop in their inbox once a month, they won’t remember you for long.
The inbox isn’t as bad as a Twitter feed, but there are still hundreds of new emails people receive every day. With more experts advising an inbox detox, you need to stand out more than ever to make the cut.
Just because someone is on your list doesn’t mean they have to pay attention to you or stick around. The value and consistency of your emails will determine whether they stick around or not.
What are your thoughts on these tactics to increase email list engagement? Do you have any tactics for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.
