The "Secret" to 80%+ Email Opens for New Subscribers

Man Bites Dog I guardianmarketing.substack.com

Ever see marketers out there boast about 80%+ open rates, especially on that first email?

Do you look at your own email marketing, where you're getting 50%, 40% or lower on that first email (going down from there) and wonder what the heck these other people are doing?

Well then, do I have some good news for you.

Turns out,

Every single marketer out there who is bragging about getting 80%+ open rates on the first email, and selling "the secret" to this ...

Is using one specific tactic.

They all are.

Every single one.

And it's this tactic I'm about to show you.

But before I show you, I have to warn you

This tactic is so brain dead stupid simple, you're likely to have one of three reactions:

Either you'll look at it and say "holy cow, how did I never think of that?"

Or

You'll look at it and say "I don't believe you."

Or

You'll look at it and say "uh ... duh? doesn't everyone do that?"

The answer to that last one is,

NO

Most businesses and entrepreneurs running email lists DO NOT DO THIS.

It actually boggles my mind.

I started using this tactic over 10 years ago - at the time even less people used this, and there were no email marketers out there bragging about 80% open rates.

But this tactic made too much sense to me NOT to use.

And it worked.

It worked so well it has become a key part in my entire email strategy which I originally developed running positive ROI campaigns to a $30/year subscription. (Which is nuts to think about, usually you need a big back end to turn a positive ROI on ad campaigns to a low cost product like that)

Think about this.

Let's say right now you tend to get 40% open rates on your first email sent to subscribers after they opt-in (let's say for a free PDF download).

So you get 40% on the first email, and then that eventually drops down to let's say 20% consistent open rates. Maybe that happens during your welcome series, maybe that happens within the first month or so depending on how you run your list.

And let's say you're getting 1% of your opt ins to convert to a sale in the first 3 months.

It's not too bad,

But you could be doing a lot better.

Well,

If instead of 40% on your first email,

You get 80% ...

See where I'm goin with this?

Without doing ANYTHING else, besides this one tactic, you start at 80%, drop down to 40% and ...

you get a 2% conversion rate.

Yea, turns out the fastest way to double your email conversions over time is actually to just engage twice as many people from the same audience, and THIS is the first step.

Now remember,

I told you this was gonna be BRAIN DEAD SIMPLE

Like.

Really.

Simple.

Here's what you do.

This works no matter what your opt-in is. Whether it's a "download to get this pdf or book" or "sign up to get this free course" or "sign up to get this email series" or "sign up to just get my whatever emails"

It doesn't matter,

Do this:

Right after someone fills out their information to opt-in,

You are going to present them a page which says:

You signed up,

Now I'm going to send that thing you signed up for to your email,

So go in your email right now and get it.

.

.

.

That's it.

Here’s an example from freebumpersbook.com (after you opt in):

Told you it was gonna be brain dead simple.

That you might look at it and go "uh. ... duh"

Or "why the hell didn't I think of that"

Or "I don't believe you"

Every single marketer out there bragging about 80%+ open rates is using some variation on this tactic.

Why?

Because the goal isn't to get their email address,

The goal is to get them to read your emails. And the only leverage you have at the beginning is that they want what they are giving their email for, so you make them go into their email to get it.

(There are a number of other principles at play here, but that's for another time)

Now … you're going to have 80%+ people opening that first email (unless you’re really offering something for opt-in they don’t actually care about),

The challenge changes,

From “getting them to read the first email” to keeping them reading your emails.

Which is a much better place to be in.

They've stepped into your world, now you don't need to convince them to do that. You just gotta show them a nice comfy seat where they can hang out and keep enjoying what you have to say.

If you're interested,

After the MBD+ paywall below, I've included a swipe file of "First Email Examples" along with my “10 Laws of ‘First Email’ Success”

This will give you what you need to turn that "First Email" opportunity into readers sticking around.

The longer they stick around, the more you'll sell.

Want the goods?

Unlock them below by joining MBD+