How I found email subject lines that doubled the open rates....

13 replies
Quick tip...

I have a lot of lists in different niches... one being fitness.

Just for sh*ts and giggles... I decided to test out one of my email autoresponder
series.

I wanted to try and improve the open rates. Since I track that
stuff religiously, I decided to test out some new subject lines,
to see if I could improve open rates.

What I did is, replaced the 5 current email subject lines... with
5 subject lines I got from magazines that are currently on the newstands.

In other words, I just went online, found magazines like Men's Health,
Men's Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, and a few others... and took the blurbs
of copy that were on the covers... and used them as email subject lines..
making minor changes to make them work better with email.

Right now, the open rates have doubled and in some cases, tripled
on each of the 5 emails that go out on this particular list.

So, if you ever find yourself trying to come up with email subject lines
in a jiffy... check out magazine covers and use the copy blurbs as possible
email subject lines. Right now, it's showing promise with my initial tests.
#doubled #email #found #lines #open #rates #subject
  • Profile picture of the author MatthewRHallEsq
    Thanks for sharing. This is interesting, but also a no-brainer. Makes sense big magazines would have already tested print headlines to death.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9949697].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Millionbaby
      Yep, magazines offline or online are just with amazing catching-eye titles,and have already spent millions in research and marketers to learn how to increase interest from readers.. so real good idea to copy them and "steal" their secrets
      No need to invest in a course about "better titles copywriting" haha
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9949706].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Memetics
    Interesting concept. A lot of research goes on behind the scenes before the contents of a cover are decided upon, they're the hook to get someone to either pick up and look inside or buy outright.

    Designed to attract attention and generate curiosity or interest by some of the finest minds in advertising, based on what's moving and what's not and reams of data to back it up.

    If other experts want to do the research for you, then why not?

    Plus...considering the amount of magazine covers out there (millions all across the country) a large percentage of your demographic are going to see them even in a casual glance, which "primes" your own subject lines for when they look at their emails.

    Implicit memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Priming (psychology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
    Signature

    First we believe.....then we consider.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9949726].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Shawn, it will be interesting to see of they
    follow through to more buying.

    There's been many instances where getting lower
    open rates have increased sales while more open
    rates have dropped sales.

    Best,
    Doctor E. Vile
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9949742].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author italk
      Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

      Shawn, it will be interesting to see of they
      follow through to more buying.

      There's been many instances where getting lower
      open rates have increased sales while more open
      rates have dropped sales.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
      My thoughts exactly.

      We did a test for a client recently using similar tactic. Open rates were through the roof.

      Sales? Absolutely cringeworthy.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9950115].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
      Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

      Shawn, it will be interesting to see of they
      follow through to more buying.

      There's been many instances where getting lower
      open rates have increased sales while more open
      rates have dropped sales.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
      Ewen,

      You're right... and good call... I haven't seen much of an increase
      in profit per customer at all... sales have SLIGHTLY increased...
      but not the double that would correlate with the doubling of opens.

      So, you hit the head on the nail with that.

      Again, it's still pretty early... just started testing this, but right now,
      it doesn't show sales are going up in the same double rate the opens
      are.

      I'll keep posting results as the tests continue... but as far as emails
      go, if you're on Chris Haddad's list for Digital Romance, he sent out
      a really cool training with a fitness guy who does email a bit differently
      than most.

      Pretty interesting interview regarding email... it was worth the 45 minutes
      because I was able to pull out a nugget or two.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9950790].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author javrsmith
    I suppose you could use the same borrowing tactic from news web sites. Don't bother to take from the Onion, though!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9950994].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Originally Posted by shawnlebrun View Post

    What I did is, replaced the 5 current email subject lines... with
    5 subject lines I got from magazines that are currently on the newstands.
    How were you able to change the email subject lines without changing the body
    of the copy? You didn't mention changing this so I assume that you didn't.

    -Ray Edwards
    Signature
    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9951228].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
      Good thread Shawn. I write in the female health, fitness, and beauty markets quite a bit now and am constantly looking at the covers of magazines with huge circulation numbers in these markets for clues into the market and for headlines to swipe. Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Shape, etc are all great resources, and considering some of the top paid copywriters write these headlines for them, they are definitely worth checking out.

      Look at just a few of them and you can have some BIG takeaways, like:

      *Every single cover will use numbers (i.e. "50 Things Guys Wish You Knew", "6 Steps to SEXY Hair", "7 Smart Ways To Lose Weight") and what do you know, email subject lines with numbers do great too.

      *You'll see many words used over and over again on different covers which, if you know your market, should get some gears spinning. In my market, some of these words are "slim", "sexy", "secret", "feel", "hot/hottest/hotter" etc. and go figure, email opens (and sales) increase with these headlines and subjects.

      *Fonts- This is big and I don't know why more people don't do this, but I've seen a marked increase in making my written sales and promo material match up with similar fonts as the leading magazines in the niche. Not an exact match or anything, just close.

      ...and there's so much more. If anyone isn't looking at the covers of the leading magazines in the niche they're writing for, they're really missing out.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9951266].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
        Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke View Post

        Good thread Shawn. I write in the female health, fitness, and beauty markets quite a bit now and am constantly looking at the covers of magazines with huge circulation numbers in these markets for clues into the market and for headlines to swipe. Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Shape, etc are all great resources, and considering some of the top paid copywriters write these headlines for them, they are definitely worth checking out.

        Look at just a few of them and you can have some BIG takeaways, like:

        *Every single cover will use numbers (i.e. "50 Things Guys Wish You Knew", "6 Steps to SEXY Hair", "7 Smart Ways To Lose Weight") and what do you know, email subject lines with numbers do great too.

        *You'll see many words used over and over again on different covers which, if you know your market, should get some gears spinning. In my market, some of these words are "slim", "sexy", "secret", "feel", "hot/hottest/hotter" etc. and go figure, email opens (and sales) increase with these headlines and subjects.

        *Fonts- This is big and I don't know why more people don't do this, but I've seen a marked increase in making my written sales and promo material match up with similar fonts as the leading magazines in the niche. Not an exact match or anything, just close.

        ...and there's so much more. If anyone isn't looking at the covers of the leading magazines in the niche they're writing for, they're really missing out.
        Luke, nice add with the font.... never thought of that. Very cool.

        Yeah, most of the writers of these magazine copy blurbs are some of the highest
        paid writers... and they usually are very current with the "lingo"

        But the longer you look at them.. like you said, a lot of the same words and phrases continue to be used... so chances are they're pretty good words to use as well.

        I don't know, maybe it's just me... but the longer I'm doing this stuff... the more I realize that things really don't change that much when it comes to the psychology of selling stuff.

        Sure, the technical side of things, that changes faster than I can keep up.

        But us people... we pretty much want the same things.... there are very few new ideas under the sun, so I tend to look through magazines when it comes to headlines or email subject lines... and of course try to add some proof or some other important elements.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9951297].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
      Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

      How were you able to change the email subject lines without changing the body
      of the copy? You didn't mention changing this so I assume that you didn't.

      -Ray Edwards
      Hey Ray!

      Nope, I just changed the subject lines only... usually only test one thing at a time, only because I usually do things at such a simplistic level... I'll do the subject lines first, to see how that worked.

      If figured if I got the open rates higher... I'll move into the body copy.

      for me, I've found that testing the very first sentence of the email, and the very last one leading up to the link... those make the most difference for me.

      And it kinda makes sense... that first sentence either pulls them in, or not.

      And the call to action... I always soft sell my stuff... so there's never any hard push.

      These days, I've had a lot of luck just using "wow" content... trying to stand out from all the noise, and let all of that do my selling for me.

      I literally get 1,000s of emails a day, and maybe click and open 3.

      I think of my prospects being the same way... so I really try to be so valuable in my emails, they SEEK me out. I've earned a place in their inbox... unlike all the other "hey, buy my shit" marketers.

      I worked for a pretty well known marketer once, and it turned my stomach how I was doing their emails/affiliate promos.

      They bombarded their list several times a day, 7 days a week, with straight sales pitches.

      I tried weaving in content and was shot down.

      Needless to say, it didn't last long.

      When I was a personal trainer, I tried to be the most helpful one on the floor... helping people even when I wasn't being paid.

      I don't think that was a coincidence when I soon became the top trainer with 50 clients, and the next closest had 10.

      So, with email, I just try to send out something fun, valuable, and NOT dry... and try to help as much as possible... and let that softsell my product.

      Wow, talk about getting off on a tangent... but yes, I'll be testing out the body copy
      next :-)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9951292].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author economylar
    Thank you very much for this helpful Tip
    Best Regards
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9954981].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    Many years ago I heard an interesting factoid, I think it was from John Carlton, that the cover headline writers were the single highest paid employees of those checkout lane magazines. And for good reason...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9955013].message }}

Trending Topics