Frustrated! Have No Idea What Else I Can Do

My open rate is around 10% many times yet I still do 5 figures a month...

I don't say this brag or toot my own horn but to say...

Perhaps you need not worry about your open rate and instead focus on your product... Your offer... and your traffic.

What type of product do you sell?

Do people need your product and more importantly are they willing to pay cash to fix their problem?

Because a 100% open rate won't do squat unless your readers are ready and willing to buy...

Provide a little more info and perhaps I can help a bit more

Open rates are down across the board in almost every niche compared to where they were a few years ago. We can try to be clever--and clever occasionally works--but we also have to face the reality that the numbers have changed.

Having said that...

In 2004 I averaged $23 for each new subscriber I received in their first 12 months. In 2009 I averaged just over $20. So the sales are there from people who open, it's just possible less casual subscribers are not opening the emails. Just as many buyers may be.

i dunno either(

Hi,

Two things come to mind...

1 Your list may be to "general" and not tightly focused on what you have to offer. That could be due to your offering at the time of sign up. You can divide and target your existing list by having a new product or service and put your existing list through a new squeeze page. If that is successful you can then roll it out to the outside market.

2 For email headlines to your list, try ones that have an element of shock, news or curiosity while not mentioning your normal subject matter.

O.K. Examples would be..."This is really weired, what do you think..?"
"Should Lady Gaga get away with this..?
"How this most unlikely character succeded"
"This is coming up, what do you think..?"
"Should this top marketer get away with this..?"
"O.K. confession time...?
"I'm in shock..."
"Don't fall for this..."
"Yipee, look what I found..."
"BUSTED, I got caught out!"
"Don't be a sucker for this..."
"Would you tell your mother this..?"
"I got my butt kicked today..."
"Weired, would you buy this..?"

As you can see, all we are trying to do is get the reader to open. The headlines get you an opening to create a story which you tell first that ties in to your product, service or subject.

Also some of the headlines have an element of involvement of the reader by asking a question...being apart of something seems to draw people in.

Lastly, if you can convey you are just a little ahead of your readers in terms of what they want to achieve, and not being this high and almighty guru who is detached from your readers daily realities then that will also help overall.

Others here may chip in with other email headlines to help spark ideas.

All the best,
Ewen

Don't know about IM but in the industry where I work (where most e-mails are basically info and targeted to get someone to walk into the brick-and-mortar store) - 25% is about average. (Varies, of course, someone with a brand new 'sign up and see our newsletter' list does better than someone with a 5-year old list.)

It COULD be that IM averages higher. But I doubt it. MY open rate on IM emails is about 1%.

You seem like you're at the stage where you can stop taking so much advice and just listen to the #s. Make tweaks as you test.

Hey,

It's quite a bit leap to go from 10-20% open rate to 50% - maybe you need 20-30 small tweaks that will open up the flood gates.

On every list there will be a good split of:

* People who read every email
* People who read 80% of what you've got
* People who read only 20%
* People who just delete it

It could be that you need to split your list into sections. Email out and ask people how often they want to hear from you. The ones that say every day you can cater to their needs on one auto responder and the ones that say only once a week you can cater to there needs as well by just providing one kick ass email that will help them.

That way your emails and auto responders are a lot more tailored to each individual and the ones that only read once a week don't feel like they are getting harrassed from you

I'm on a couple of lists that I know they aren't selling me things but I just don't have time to read EVERY email they send - one in particular sends two a day and it is just way too much. If he sent me just one a week I would definetely read that email - he just dilutes his copy too much over the whole week.

That is very much an individual things for each subscriber - the only way to know is ask. Then start building the maze of emails and autoresponders that will keep your competitors scratching their heads in complete and utter confusion!

I know a few gurus that use these tactics, probably not many people actually do as it can take a bit of time to build a maze of auto responders biuld around your customers needs (probably because it's not exactly the most exciting task int he world - but hell it will be well worth it!)

That's my two cents worth anyway ;0)

Jenny

[QUOTE=activetrader;2347451]I wonder how in the world do others get 50% open rate and more??[/U][/B]


Any tips?
Hi,
I gave you tips to increase your open rates, now I have come across a great, and very valuable resource which expands on what I have already said. This is from a very credible source in that it comes from the copywriter who wrote the sales letter on a copywriting course put out by Ken Mcarthy of the System Seminar.

There is one condition on getting his keys to bumping up open rates, it's to sign up to his newsletter. Well that's not a bad thing, as Gary Bencivenga goes there to read it. And if you don't know who Gary Bencivenga is, he is recognized as the best copywriter in the business by his peers and clients.

Anyway, go to his blog at Free Email & Web Marketing Tips By Ben Settle and sign up and get ready to boost your open rates.

All the best,
Ewen

Thank you everyone for your comments and tips!