Does people really open their email ?

It's not a stupid question. People are inundated with commercial e-mails, so you have to do something to provide them with value for their time. I'm on many lists myself and I almost unconsciously have developed a feeling for which lists provide me with learning and good advice.

When I open my inbox I select all to delete and deselect only those ones and personal e-mails.

People are opening their email, the real question is whether you get them to click. Many people open ALL of their emails just to reach "Inbox Zero" status (where there are no unopened emails), I do that on one of my inboxes. Not many people have just one inbox nowadays. But they open all of their emails and then they immediately close it. Their purpose is just to reach "Inbox Zero", not to read the email, click the link, read the offer, read the blog post or even buy the product.

And the open rate is not even accurate. If subscribers don't enable images that enables the open pixel to work, and most won't unless you really have images in your email, then the opens won't be registered.

So how do you get them to click?

You can write really short and to the point emails that direct subscribers to the offer or content that is on a blog, Facebook Page, webinar etc. You can provide tons of value and personality in your emails and content. You can also write shock and awe subject lines that they just cannot miss.

In any case, delivering value and having personality is one of the basics. Getting subscribers to click and act is what you really got to do.

And you also have to get the emails delivered and seen. Gmail's Promotions Tab is practically invisible on the Gmail app on a smartphone, and almost half of emails are opened on mobile devices, so you can imagine lots of people are not even seeing your email. Previously, when most promotional emails were actually going into the Promotions Tab (now most are going into Primary or Updates if that is turned on), there was a serious advantage to be gained when using a self-hosted autoresponder, configuring the settings and getting the email into the Primary Tab. I experienced almost double the opens and clicks as my emails that were going into the Promotions Tab. Stats also prove that people click on links in email on mobile devices HALF as often as on desktops.

So the game has changed. You have to get more subscribers, you have to deliver more value, you have to really bring it in your emails.

Fabian