Article by: Simon Speight
Why bother writing marketing emails that are being ignored?
Emails are the single most profitable marketing communication channel in 2020 and have been for a number of years. Current statistics show that on average your return on investment (ROI) is $38 for every $1 spent – that’s a 3800% return!
However, these spectacular returns are only available if your emails are getting opened, read and acted upon.
So is it worth sending out emails that are consistently ignored?
Yes! No one is good at doing anything the first, second or third time they do it. It takes practice, testing, and more practice to get to a reasonable level at anything.
If you want to shortcut this and send out emails that get opened from the get go, use an email copywriter who knows how to write a great subject line, can tell a story and knows how to frame a call to action…
What’s the most important part of a marketing email?
I’m sure if you asked a room full of people that question there would be several answers ranging from interesting copy to effective call to action and hopefully the correct answer (in my opinion…), a fantastic subject line.
If you’re wondering why the subject line… you are wondering aren’t you? It’s because the subject line is the part that decides if your email gets opened.
It doesn’t matter if the words inside are artfully crafted or the call to action could persuade a snowman to buy ice, if your recipient doesn’t open your email it’s all for nothing.
1. Subject lines: why they have to earn their keep
Your subject line has an enormous weight resting on its shoulders. It is responsible for whether your entertaining words of wisdom are read and your call to action is acted on.
There are certain types of subject lines we are psychologically predisposed to click. We don’t have a choice, we just can’t stop ourselves. When you use these psychological triggers, you are increasing your chances of getting your reader to open and enjoy what you’ve written.
Why they work isn’t a mystery but is connected to how we as humans are hard-wired. If you make us curious, ask questions, highlight a problem that could cause us sleepless nights, or offer us a solution that will solve our number one problem, then we’ll open your email and love you forever.
Don’t be boring and write bland subject lines, then wonder why your open rates fall off a cliff. If you can’t be bothered to be interesting and engaging in your subject line, then I’ll unconsciously assume the email itself won’t be worth reading and hit delete.
2. Question based subject lines
What is it about questions we can’t resist? Questions demand an answer.
If you write a subject line as a plain statement it doesn’t entice a reader. Why should they click to open? What’s in it for them?
A question based subject line immediately gets your attention and you want to know more. As Sean D’Souza says in his ebook Why Headlines Fail, ‘Questions irritate the brain causing your grey cells to do a neurological dance.’
The sight of a question mark forces your brain to want to know more.
Here’s a couple of examples of statement based v question based headlines.
S: This is where your marketing strategy is failing v
Q: Do you know where you fail in your marketing strategy?
Or
S: Why you should exercise v
Q: Why should you exercise every day?
When you ask a question in your subject line, the expectation is that in the email you’ll satisfy your readers’ desire for an answer and tell them what they need to know.
How much should you invest in Digital Marketing?
3. Curiosity
Subject lines that have the curiosity factor work because you (and your brain) are naturally curious and need to know the answer. You hate not to know.
If you’re told you can’t look behind the door, you immediately want to look, even if the door and what’s behind it has never interested you before…
If I tell you you can’t have something, you’ll immediately want to know why, your curiosity will be piqued and your brain will demand answers – why, why, why…
Let’s have a look at the headline of this article.
‘What are the 5 reasons your marketing emails aren’t getting opened?’
A bit long for a subject line, but it could be reworded if you wanted to use it for an email.
It’s a question, which is good because your brain is already tugging at your sleeve, wanting to know the answer.
Add in the curiosity; there are 5 precise reasons my emails aren’t getting opened? What are they, I have to know, so I can skyrocket my open rate and sell my offer?
Now you’ve got a subject line that’s hitting your reader with not only a question but curiosity in the form of five reasons, not one, but five ways your emails could grab more readers. What are
Because your brain is demanding to have its curiosity satisfied, you’ll take a peek, just a small one, and before you know it you’ve read the entire email.
4. Problem - based v Solution - based subject lines
We all have problems, stuff we’re struggling with, things that drive us nuts, problems that we’re desperate for a solution to.
When you combine questions with problems, your brain is in heaven. When it identifies with a problem you are experiencing, you are the precise target audience, the person the email is for. It dives straight in, looking for the solution.
Problem based subject lines work because they imply that in the email’s body they’ll be a solution.
Here are a few examples:
Is your marketing not giving you the results you need?
Struggling to lose those last few pounds?
Does spicy food make your heartburn unbearable?
When you identify with these problems and are keen to solve them, you’ll want to click, be desperate to click so you can discover the solution.
Solution based subject lines have nothing like the same power as they don’t connect with your pain in the same way as a problem based subject line does.
5. Not showing up
As well as being infotaining and providing valuable information that your audience benefits from and helps to make their lives better if you want them to look forward to your emails and open them, you need to show up.
They want and expect to hear from you regularly, whether that’s daily, weekly or monthly. If you don’t, they’ll forget you exist.
When you show up in their inbox again, they may have forgotten why they signed up to hear from you or worst think you are spam.
Keeping in regular contact with your list will help your open rate, especially if it is on the same day and at a similar time.
How can you get a high email open rate for your whole email marketing UK campaign?
Serendipity Marketing, as a leading email marketing agency UK, is specialised in creating high valuable emails with subject lines specifically designed to grab your target audience’s attention and make them want to open your email.
Our unique methodology mixes marketing strategies with psychology science, allowing us to uncover your ideal clients deeply hidden driving emotions and behavioural patterns, and to create email marketing UK campaigns that glue your audience and drive them through the buyer’s journey.
Our unique methodology, named the Ultimate Triumph System, makes us a leading email marketing agency UK, and allows us to achieve high email open and click-through rates.
Stand out from the uniformity, grab your audience’s attention deeply in their heart, and drive them to become loyal clients.
