I don't agree with Ryan Deis

[SimonHarrison]

Actually that's not entirely true, I think Ryan's one of the few guys out there who delivers really usable tested information , I read his stuff, test it myself , it always pans out however I have one issue I don't agree with.

He's adamant that personalisation in the e-mail subject line doesn't increase open rates, but I've split tested this over a tuesday - thursday period and this Sunday to 3 different niches, and every time the subject line is prefixed with personalisation the open rate is increased by anywhere from 3%-8%, that is a huge differential on one of our lists we have in excess of 120,000 people, that's almost 10,000 more opens at the top end.

If you don't own Ryan / Perry's 13 sneaky e-mail techniques product, it's great,he really hits the nail on the head in his stuff , everything in it has panned out as accurate for me except this one issue, he likes to de-personalise, I personalise, I take nothing as read in IM, I run the numbers myself and can not get the same open rate without the personalisation included.

Anybody else run Aweber split tests on this in their market?

I've sent out emails to over 400,000 people over two key periods in the same week and split the tests 50/50 across them exactly, the results are always the same and to 3 different niches.

[mbacak]

I've found the same exact thing. Ryan is a great friend and
I respect him more then pretty much anyone out there.

One important rule in testing - there are no such thing as "Blanket Statements"

Question and Test everything.

It's fun beating others results. (GREAT JOB)

Plus, finding out what people already tested help you
have things to test against or find to be true for YOU.

[Scott Million]

Originally Posted by mbacak

I've found the same exact thing. Ryan is a great friend and
I respect him more then pretty much anyone out there.

One important rule in testing - there are no such thing as "Blanket Statements"

Question and Test everything. It's fun beating others results.

Plus, finding out what people already tested help you
have things to test against or find to be true for YOU.

So Sneaky Email Tricks or Email Marketing 201

[Chris Cabo]

Ryan Deiss. His templates - squeeze pages - convert well. So far no slap. Although a buddy of mine did get slapped to be fair.

[jack isaacs]

It's good to not always "agree"...see things not as they are written. Experiment, fine tune and tweek. And listen to that little voice in the head, but more importantly, follow your instincts.

[mbacak]

Originally Posted by Scott Million

So Sneaky Email Tricks or Email Marketing 201

Hahahahahaha - Sneaky Email Tricks is sitting on my
computer and totally ROCKS. Has alot of good things to test
out and play with. Everything's worth testing. :-)

[lakshaybehl]

He generally promises to share ONLY his test results.

;-)

[BIG Mike]

Kudos to you for listening to his ideas, but then having the good sense to test them yourself first before following them.

I started a thread here about this very thing:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/140339-bet-you-feel-pretty-stupid-now-following-guy-s-advice-huh.html

You've set a fine example for others to follow Simon!

[Andy Hussong]

I appreciate you sharing your results, because it's true that no matter how well something converts for someone else, you should always TEST those things in your own business, because your RESULTS are what determine the best course of action with anything... email personalization, web page copy, etc.

Speaking of Ryan Deiss, the event he and Perry Belcher held back in August was definitely the best ever, in terms of providing specific testing results for people to take home and implement (test) in their businesses. He had a recent webinar that introduced an optin page that has converted 70-80% of visitors into joining his list in another market, and I'm currently testing the exact same style on my blog... but again, I will only continue to use it if it converts better than others I test it against.

[SimonHarrison]

Here's another interesting factoid (or entirely dull factoid if email ain't your thang).

The e-email sent out to the list with the personalisation in the subject line received a 0.02% complaints figure, the emails sent without the personalisation recieved a 0.04% complaints figure.

Oh and I consistently manage over 33% open rates on all e-mails.

It would seem albeit from a limited testing range that personlisation can in some scenarios decrease overall complaints.

It should also be noted that our lists are 100% double opt in so spam complaints are always pretty low.

Just worth noting..

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by Andy Hussong

in terms of providing specific testing results for people to take home and implement (test) in their businesses. .

This is one of the reasons Ryan gets into my inbox, when 99% of all other so called gurus have been unsubscribed from.

He actually provides tangible real usable information you can implement and test.

As I've said , I can't say I agree with everything him and Perry witter on about , certainly as it relates to my lists and my markets but I can say I have gained far more than I've lost from Ryans stuff.

I guess the take home is simple, even if it's a guru proclaiming it, it might not be 100% applicable to your exact set of circumstances even if it seems it should be and the paramaters are very similar to yours.

[Andy Hussong]

Hey Simon... I'd be interested in knowing what your preferred email and shopping cart solutions are, because even though I love Aweber for getting optins on my blog, I realize that it's often best to use a mixture of different services/software, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

For instance, I discovered that Ryan uses what he calls a "Frankenstein" system by combining the use of Aweber, iContact, Infusionsoft, and others in his business, based on what he has confirmed works best for various aspects of his business.

I'm planning on offering consulting, membership sites, etc. based on my expertise, so I'm just looking for some insight to what combo seems to work the best for you (and others).

I guess I should post a stand-alone post for this (I will), but thought I'd ask you directly, as well.

NOTE: I added a specific post for this thread here, so the current post you are reading stays on topic. Thanks.

Thanks for your help!

[Chris Thompson]

I bought Ryan's 13 sneaky email tricks report and I loved it ... it really was worth the money. Thanks for your comments on the depersonalization. I think your test is pretty interesting, and sounds like it would be worth me split-testing this myself.

I'm actually spending time right now implementing some of his stuff. There were great ideas in it. For example on idea on cart abandonment has lead me to spend several days playing around with ways to automate my list management, automate getting customers on my list, etc. I've learned a bunch of cool PHP stuff, implemented it with DLGuard, Aweber and Clickbank ... I'm happy.