I've heard e-mail marketing IS dying ...What do I do about it? and How to use "list conversion"

Look at your numbers compared to the last few years.

A simple question: Have your open rates and click through rates risen or fallen?

My guess is that most of you have seen a MASSIVE decline.

Now, maybe some of you are sitting in your underwear at home just watching this happen and simply ignoring it.

"Maybe it'll turn around," you think optimistically to yourself.

The COLD, REALITY is that it's a losing battle. It IS dying.

"So what can I do?" You may ask...

My following answer may NOT be right for you. Evaluate your business and your goals and adjust accordingly.

I really believe that for the majority of you, the following suggestions will help solve your dwindling open rates and click-through rates.

In a nut-shell, here are my suggestions:

1. You NEED to write good headlines. Now, most of you "think" you write good headlines, and I could write a whole product on headlines, but the headlines that convert the best for me are ones that are written as a result of me "knowing" the desires of my list.

"What are the questions that the people on your list are asking themselves?" If you write these as headlines, they WILL open them.

You also want to use headlines that DELIVER on the promise, not "deceive" your list into opening your e-mail, only to be disappointed once it's opened.

So writing "You just got a sale" is a LIST KILLER. DON'T DO IT.

An example of a winning headline could be in question form, then in the e-mail, answer the question.

An example of a winning headline for your e-mails could be: "How do I get more sales this month?" or "How do I get more subscribers?"

2. My fiance' works at a large company and they contact their prospects via, phone, mail and e-mail. The BEST way is to NEVER put all of your eggs in one basket.

This is a way to diversify your contacts, so if you're e-mail list's delivery starts to hurt enough that your business can't survive, you've already started contacting your list in other ways.

YOUR EGGS ARE NOT ALL IN ONE BASKET.

MAIL IS "COOL AGAIN." Who doesn't LOVE getting a package from their mentor? I'd LOVE a package sent to me from ryan deiss, frank kern, sean mize, etc.

Create a physical e-book or cd you can send your list for FREE in exchange for their address. Then deliver a printed form of that e-book. People like Brendan Burchard are doing this for a reason. They charge you "shipping" so they can recoup some of the costs of converting your e-mail list into an off-line list.

I KNOW from experience that if you can handle the up-front cost, it will pay you back handsomely.

The benefits, such as the instant credibility you gain by doing this far out-weigh the up-front costs.

What I've found is that once someone gets a "physical" product from you in the mail and you've really delievered, they are MUCH more likely to pay you more money for a high ticket item, because you have proven yourself to be someone who delivers.

MAKE SURE that you deliver the item quickly.

3. Have your list join your "secret" Facebook group and give valuable content that is exclusive to this group, "meaning, they NEED to join your Facebook group to get this content."

You can promote this to your e-mail list. This is yet ANOTHER way to diversify your list and if your prospects are exposed to you in more than one way, such as mail, e-mail, Facebook, twitter, etc. They look at you differently, especially if you are always giving them cool free stuff with an opportunity to give you money at the end if they want even more from you.

While you may not be able to "fix" e-mail marketing, it IS DYING, you CAN diversify your leads so that you are not dependent on only one source of communication. And diversifying your lists will give you a greater presence in the mind's of your prospects proportionately to the value you give them.

Derek J. Soto