Inside intel
View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|) I’m going to share with you some inside information about this newsletter.
CreativeBoost is responsible for more than 75% of all new business I generate. It has a fiercely loyal readership: the vast majority (more than 85%) of those who open it do so consistently with every issue. And here’s one more interesting fact: the open rate here is consistently around 60%. That’s about three times (https://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-marketing-benchmarks/) the average rate, according to Mailchimp.
Here are a few thoughts about what makes those numbers possible.
Your subject line is everything
I spend a lot of time choosing and refining my newsletter subject lines. Some of them sit in my ideas folder for months before the rest of the story gets developed. Why are subject lines so important? As advertising guru David Ogilvy once said, “headlines are the ticket on the meat.”
The subject line of every email you send is a headline. It tells your reader more than just what your message is about.
Go have a look at your inbox. If yours is anything like mine, most messages tend to have descriptive subject lines (e.g., “Recapping our discussion yesterday”).
That’s a courtesy to your reader when your message is administrative. It signals whether reading the body of the message is either optional or time sensitive.
But that approach is bound to hurt you when you’re writing a newsletter like this one. As newsletter readership statistics will attest, if they don’t open it within 24 hours of receiving it, they likely never will.
I tend to favour subject lines that don’t give away too much. Instead I try to stir the reader’s curiosity, persuading them to click and find out what heck I’m talking about when I open with, for example, Making Movies (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=9272c7afce) , or Swoop, Declutter, Do (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=4476734e34) . Also, I don’t do clickbait headlines. As my reader, I owe you my best work.
Another way I try to challenge myself is to limit my subject line to no more than three words. More recently I’ve upped that challenge to two-word subject lines (e.g., Grow Small) (http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=89226eb68936fc712577977b8&id=139aecc4fa) , just to keep things interesting.
There’s also a practical consideration: 89% of my readership receive this newsletter on mobile devices, so screen space is at a premium. Wordy subject lines just get cut off.
Run an opt-out campaign
This newsletter isn’t for everyone. And I am very ok with that. But when a subscriber doesn’t read what they signed up for, that tells me something meaningful.
The root cause falls into one of three groups: time, message or technical.
If it’s a matter of time, the reader has other priorities and I’m just filling up space in their inbox these days. No point in doing that. If it’s message, what I talk about just isn’t right for them. Better that they find what they’re looking for elsewhere. Lastly, if it’s technical, maybe something is triggering a filter on the reader’s end. I need to know if that’s happening.
So that’s why I run an opt-out campaign once a year. I zero-in on subscribers who haven’t opened CreativeBoost in a long time. I send them a note that says maybe it’s time to unsubscribe. Some do. Some don’t. And some send a reply saying “noooooooooo I want to stay!”
I’m only interested in connecting with and learning from engaged readers. Otherwise, what’s the point to doing this, right?
The magic of you
This is a point that I make in all the writing I do for clients. Wherever possible, take what you have to say and make it about your reader. It’s nearly impossible to overuse the word “you.” Not only does it make your message far less inward looking. It makes it easier for the reader to see what’s in it for them to keep reading.
It says “I see you.” And we all want to hear that.
Very best, Patrick
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