DOUBLE your email conversions with these 9 sneaky tricks…

As a Digital Marketer we make money when we send an email. We send emails because that’s how we engage with our audience, that’s how we segment people by interest and figure out what our subscribers need the most.
Our mission is to DOUBLE the ROI for our businesses or brands in the next ‘x’ number of years. If we don’t help businesses grow, then we fail. And if we want to attain it, we’ve got to engage with as many people as possible. So we send A LOT of emails! It is a proven fact that email marketing generates maximum ROI for $1 invested – $40 for each $1 spent.

In fact, in the past 7 years I’ve…

• Managed over a few couple of BILLION email sends in multiple markets
• Created and implemented strategies to overcome major changes in Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail algorithms
• Used “sneaky tricks” to DOUBLE click through rates (like the ones I’m about to share with you) and…
• Generate generous amount of revenue from email marketing alone!

This is not to brag but only to let you know that I know how to get results from email marketing.

So if you’ll keep reading I’ll show you a few sneaky tricks that could just help you…

• 3X email open rates
• 2X click-through rates
• Improved engagement

Email Marketing Trick #1 – Use Best/Proven Email Subject Lines

There are 4 categories for a successful email subject line:

1. Blind or Curiosity

This teases the reader with curiosity to open the email. They don’t directly state the benefit of opening up the email, but the mysterious nature of the subject line can lead to very high open rates. Personalization improves the open rates further.

Here are a few examples…

1. 9 Easy Ways to Generate FREE Traffic!
2. 120% more sale with ______
3. [NAME], what will you do with a cheque of Rs.45,00,000?!

2. Direct or Benefit

These subject lines clearly state the benefit of opening the email. Here are a few examples…

• Get more visitors in just $1
• Create an ad in 2 minutes or less

• How to make a resume that sell

3. Urgency or Scarcity

These subject lines communicate the need to act now or the recipient might miss out on something.

Here are a few examples…

• Prize update for [NAME]. Act Now!
• It’s Official [NAME], you made it! Redeem your award now!
• Final notice. Last 12 hours left!
• 70% off sale ends at midnight
• Deal closing soon! Limited stocks only.

4. Proof/Results or Credibility

Notice how these examples speak to the success others are having by opening up and paying attention to the contents of the email…

• [Case Study] A mom of two makes Rs.6857 a day!
• This guy makes 6 figures a month? Know how.
• 5643 leads in less than 10 days

You may have been taught to round up or round down “odd” numbers like these — don’t do it. Your subject lines will stand out and be more believable if you use the exact numbers.

Use unicode symbols:

Sometimes called as glyphs, unicode symbols also make your subject line stand out. Have a look at the different symbols used in this promotion by Snapdeal & Clovia.

Email Marketing Trick #2 – Optimizing the "second subject line"

When you receive an email, you see 3 things first –

1. The From Line

2. The Subject Line

3. The Second Subject Line

Here are some examples of the second subject line gone wrong… Optimizing it will boost your email open rate.

These are not compelling and it makes it very clear that this is a mass promotional email. When was the last time your friend sent you an email with the words "View this email in your browser"?!

• First subject line – Last day – Are you still missing the best App sale offers? – This is urgency based subject line.
• Second subject line – Mobiles, clothing, televisions, footwear, and more Increased Sales by atleast 15% with One Simple Funnel Tweak–the second subject line. It is a bit more direct orbenefit based. So, when we miss with the first subject line with some subscribers — the second subject line will persuade some percentage of people to open up.

Email Marketing Trick #3 – Avoid "The CleanUp"

Over 80% of us start our day with the smart phone when we wake up. Almost half of us check our email
first thing in the morning. I do it too…

But I do it to clean my inbox. Tick, tick, tick & delete!!! ‘Mission Inbox Clean’.

People don’t plan to respond or engage with email while lying in the bed. The plan to clean the inbox before getting to the office.

You don’t want to be part of this morning purge ritual — deliver your email later in the morning or in the afternoon and (if possible) deliver it based on the time zone of the recipient.

Email Marketing Trick #4 – For Every Email – Include 4 Links

Whenever I have said this, people ask me – can it be 3 links? Can it be 5? Sure. More links lead to more clicks. What is important is : Give the reader a DIFFERENT reason to click with each link.

In the example above notice how curiosity is built with showing the benefits for enrolling in the sweepstakes program. It also mentions a note with urgency or loss of not doing it.

Try leading with tremendous PROOF and then hit them with some CURIOSITY… then follow it with a touch of BENEFITS and hint at the URGENCY in the P.S.

Whatever you do, make sure you mix it up… and watch your click-through rates soar.

Email Marketing Trick #5 – Trigger Clicks

Here’s 6 easy ways to elicit the click in your email body copy.

• Pose a benefit-driven question – Example: Here’s how you can generate traffic with just $10 a day.
• Connect proof with product – Example– This is the best way to increase web traffic by 27%. Follow the link here (LINK)
• Prime them to give the yes – Example– The Official Access Code to win Rs.50,00,000. Less than 1% of the households have been selected to receive this exclusive offer in whole of India.
• Show them their “New Self” – Example– With This Money, you will know how to spend on

_______________.

• Expose Yourself To Gain Trust – Example– P.S. note in the above trick is a great example.
• Take something away – Example– Now it’s all up to you, you must make the most of your choice.

Email Marketing Trick #6 – Use Video Play Button

How often do you see an image with a play button & click it? The trick here is to use an image of a video player in your email that has the play button clearly displayed. Link that image to your landing page. Simple and effective.

Email Marketing Trick #7 – Animate Your Email

If you have a lot of products to be displayed in the smallest possible area without going ga-ga over it, animated GIFs are the creative solution.

Look at one such email campaign showcasing range of shoes.

Email Marketing Trick #8 – Know Your Subscribers

Unless you know your subscribers, it is difficult to get your email campaign right. Imagine sending an email campaign to buy a book to someone who is least interested or hate them. There are high chances reader will unsubscribe from the list & you will lose business from other product lines.

Make Segments. Build Personas. Be Relevant. Automate.

Let’s look at the email campaign below.

This is perfect for the readers who are interested in books. Bang on from Amazon. They got the segment right. Once you get your right list & segment, you can target your product & see the click rates soaring. So does your ROI.

Email Marketing Trick #9 – List Hygiene

List hygiene is one of the most critical activity to getting emails delivered to your inbox & get open, clicks, leads or sales. Perform periodic hygiene review & keep the list updated.

Some activities to clean your list are:

• Remove unsubscribes – Make sure you remove unsubscribers from your future campaigns as they are increasing your chances to hit spam.
• Inactive or dead subscribers – Subscribers who haven’t responded for over 30 or 60 days (you can define the number) are inactive or dead subscribers. They are not adding value to your email campaign. You have to re-engage them or remove them.
• Remove Duplicate Contact – Clean all duplicate email ids.
• Correct Typo’s – Having wrong email due to a typo kills your engagement score. Rectify them. Eg, ankit.xyz@gmial.com is incorrect. ankit.xyz@gmail.com is correct.
• Remove Hard & Soft bounces

Use these 9 sneaky tricks to DOUBLE your email conversions and talk about it in the comment section below. Use the comment box below to ask any questions. Tell us which is your favorite #Trick & how did you benefit.