The Only Two Reasons Anyone Will Open Your Email, Ever?

5 replies
Hi everyone.

I just wanted to post this for anyone who is struggling to get top notch email open rates, and in it I'll tell you what it seems to me are the only two reasons anyone will open your email... ever.

Because let’s face it… you could have the greatest email of all time, and if your subscriber doesn't open it, then they'll never know!

First of all, let's be honest here. Opening an email takes a fairly large amount of motivation. You're committing to something, and you don't really know what lies on the other side.

Your subscribers don't want to open an email that disappoints them, and so they PREDICT what’s going to be inside.

And that prediction is what determines whether or not they open your email.

When your reader doesn't open your email… they never even get to see what’s inside.

They just IMAGINE what it’s going to be like, and then decide whether or not they're going to open it. You could have the greatest email of all time, but if they never open it, then they'll never know.

So that’s why your readers should WANT to open your email.
And there are two ways to make that happen.


The first email open motivator is curiosity.


Curiosity is pretty easy to achieve. All you have to do is make the person want to know more or leave something out.

Here are some sample, purely curiosity headlines:
GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLEY.
Did you see this?
Bad news.
Can you believe food suppliers are doing this?


If you're using purely curiosity headlines, you may get a lower click through rate on the inside or higher unsubscribe rate.

To counteract that you have to REALLY deliver on the inside, and make sure your subscriber doesn’t end up feeling like they've been misled or let down.


The second email open motivator is benefits.


Benefits answer the question “What do I get out of it?”

The good thing about benefits headlines is that they’re laser targeted. Your users will have an idea of what to expect on the inside. Then you just need to deliver on it.


“How to” or “List” headlines work well, but you can also just create a straight up “what is it” headline… meaning what they get out of it, IS the headline.

However you can’t just be bland about it. That’s not going to get people to open your emails. You have to be COMPELLING.

Here are some sample, benefits driven headlines:

Attracting Women – No Money Required
How to Get Her Number FAST
5 Warning Signs for Low Testosterone
How To Be The Man Every Woman Wants


These headlines have impact… and they even invoke curiosity. They make you want to read MORE.


It seems to me that the easiest way to get a headline that gets opens and still has a good click through rate... is to deliver on what you claim.


With curiosity headlines, it can be difficult to get really good click through rate, because you rely heavily on your body copy.

You’re basically relying on your ability to make a broad group of people take action that have no idea what they’re showing up for.

But much more easily, you can convince a bunch of targeted people to take action, by creating a benefit headline, making it compelling, and then making them feel curious to read more.

Just be interesting and be emotionally stimulating.

No one is going to open your email because you logically convinced them to. They’ll do it because they feel they want to.

That’s really all there is to it. Best of luck! And feel free to PM me if you need a bit of help.
#email #email headlines #headlines #open #open rates #reasons
  • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
    Banned
    Originally Posted by amorphous View Post

    Here are some sample, purely curiosity headlines:
    GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLEY. = Email deleted!
    Did you see this?
    = Email deleted!
    Bad news.
    = Email deleted!
    Can you believe food suppliers are doing this?
    = Email deleted!

    Here are some sample, benefits driven headlines:

    Attracting Women - No Money Required = Email deleted!
    How to Get Her Number FAST
    = Email deleted!
    5 Warning Signs for Low Testosterone
    = Email deleted!
    How To Be The Man Every Woman Wants
    = Email deleted!

    These headlines have impact... and they even invoke curiosity. They make you want to read MORE.
    I find it impossible to believe that anyone would open any of those emails. I could be wrong. All I know is I would never open them. Not even if you paid me.

    Cheers. - Frank
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    • Profile picture of the author amorphous
      Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

      I find it impossible to believe that anyone would open any of those emails. I could be wrong. All I know is I would never open them. Not even if you paid me.

      Cheers. - Frank
      These are actually email headlines sent from some of the most successful marketers around these days. Eben Pagan, Ryan Deiss, and Frank Kern

      But to each his own.
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      • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
        Banned
        Originally Posted by amorphous View Post

        These are actually email headlines sent from some of the most successful marketers around these days. Eben Pagan, Ryan Deiss, and Frank Kern

        But to each his own.
        And none of those guys could sell me anything. lol

        Cheers. - Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author jason1985
    I agree with amorphous. Those are good headlines and they match what is bring promoted. Maybe you bigfrank may not want to, but then you never opt into the dating squeeze page in the first place , so your head is not there or even intrested in being good in that niche vs someone whos mentally invested trying to get a girl. In your case you wouldnt of opted in the first place or you would of been taken off if you because unresponsive over time.
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  • Profile picture of the author swiftpantha
    My 2 cents.
    It's important to acknowledge the different behaviour of segments.

    What make me open an email is likely very different to you or someone else. You in turn will likely respond to headlines very differently to the general populous, simply because you pay attention and are actively interested in email marketing.

    Also consider the importance of expectations when it comes to email. If I've been constantly receiving good emails from someone that I feel are beneficial to me there's a reasonable chance I'll stop reading headlines and simply open them as part of my morning routine. If people signed up to a list with an expectation and you're not meeting that expectation you'll likely burn that email list.

    Shout out to Chris Hexton at getvero for a great data driven email case study.
    How to Write Email Subject Lines That Get Opened
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