Email Marketing: 3 Simple Ways to Increase Your Open and Clickthrough Rate

Email marketing can take a bit of time under your belt before you fully understand the impact it can have for you and your business.

Whether you are just starting out online with store front or as an affiliate marketer, you should definitely be using an auto responder service for email follow-up and broadcasts to your current customers as well as your prospects that have subscribed to receive your offerings.

One of biggest complaints I hear from those taking the plunge into email marketing is that their emails are not getting opened and if they do, those that open the email are not clicking on the link provided to them.

Here's the thing, people are busy and if you don't give them something they were promised when they signed up, you will lose them in the deep dark pit of junk mail or worse, they will unsubscribe from your list.

So how do get to the point where your subscribers can't wait to hear from you?

What really makes someone open up? You might be a bit surprised to know that most folks that subscribe to an email list are really just tire kickers for the most part, that is unless you have captivated your first time visitor with a "I just have to have it" offer.

But that's not the end of your relationship with your subscribers. These folks took the time to sign up for something. They did it because you had something they needed or wanted at the time. If you just drop off the face of the earth and they don't hear a peep from you with relevant emails you have just lost again.

In this article I am going to get straight to how I personally get 68 percent open rate and a 47-58 percent click through rate from the opens. "Sometimes even higher on the CTR."

Note:This is not with the "Make Money Niche" which is one of my personal favorite products. Although I do get great opens and action takers, the make money niche is whole different animal simply due to the guys that are just wanting stuff for free or the other make money sneaks that want to take your ideas for lack of their own creativity. You know the ones I'm talking about if you are in the Make Money Niche.

Listed here are 3 simple ways to increase the opens and CTR:

1. When you start building your list of valued subscribers, you need to pay close attention to THEIR needs not yours.

The emails sent to your subscribers should always focus on what it is they are after from you as their trusted adviser or "Go to guy or gal"

• Your email subject line must command attention without looking like you are trying to sell something. Unless that is; you are have a big SALE on something or are letting your subscriber know about one that is going on in the niche you are promoting. The highest open for me personally come from subject lines that either ask a question or start out with the word How, What, Where, Why or Did. Either How to, How did,How you or How I. You get the Idea.
• Example: "How to make Rolled Fondant from scratch". This example is straight from one of my lists for a cake decorating community of subscribers that love to see this kind of thing. It's the kind of content they signed up for and I make sure they get what they want. The body of the content has a link to my site so they watch the video, read the directions and know that they just got something of great value. Guess whose site they will go to when they are looking for instructions on how to do something in the cake decorating niche? Think they might tell their friends about it?

Build your follow-up emails and/or broadcasts in the form of a newsletter with things of great interest and value to your readers. Take Staple's Office Supplies for example; or better yet, Family Fun Go. These companies look after their subscribers and give them what they signed up for.

Staples gets the message across quickly with the word "savings" before they ever get to the shopping cart.

Family Fun Go gives fantastic updates on articles for well, fun family things to do.

Both companies are precise in what they have for the subscriber. They have taken the time to build that relationship of trust. No matter how big or how small your company is, your customers and subscribers needs always come first.

2. Don't be lazy with your emails. Create an email news template that looks like your site.

You would be doing your subscribers a favor as well as yourself by taking the extra time to give some bells and whistles to your email blasts. I remember the first time I saw this done by an affiliate marketer, I was blown away by the concept of it. I never thought to do it to this level. Now all of my lists are being revamped with this format after testing it out and seeing firsthand the rate hike. My emails look like my website. Basically, they are mini versions with a huge impact. I have taken what Family Fun Go did with their email news casts and created my templates from their conceptual design.

• Express Gratitude: Say "Thank you" and let your subscribers know you appreciate them.
  

3. How easily we can forget that without our valued subscribers and customers, we really have nothing.
We would have nothing to share, nothing to give as a gift, nothing to promote. Make the time to just say Thank You. Send an email out and just say it. "No reason, other than you want to express your gratitude." It's that simple. "Don't just say thank you on a holiday or on a birthday."

Pick a random date and just give of yourself. We are dealing with humans that have real emotions. Your readers have something much more valuable than just a dollar sign attached to their email. Let them know it. Be honest about it though. If you don't mean it, I guess don't do it. But really, who wouldn't be grateful for relationships that are built in our boxes. This too took me a while to learn. I have been humbled and I am grateful for my subscribers, my customers and for you that are reading this now. Thank You.