@John – Making your email unique is very important. Whenever I’m writing copy for affiliates, I always add a phrase in the affiliate resource area that says something like, “Here are some emails you can use to promote _____. Feel free to cut, paste, and send. Of course, the best affiliates modify these emails or write their own.”

@Note Taking Nerd – Thanks for mentioning Matt Furey. Love him or hate him, the guy knows how to use emails to generate sales.

@Dean – You should probably unsubscribe from a list or two. Just a hunch. ;-)

@Anita – Interesting experience you had with 4-Day Cash Machine. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for the link to the Colonel Littleton email. (By the way, I live right next to Littleton, Colorado… and I thought that’s what you were referring to at first!)

As Matt says, marketing is ultimately about connecting with people. A marketer’s emails are a reflection of his/her ability, or inability, to connect with people. Most marketers can’t do it with email alone like Matt can and need a blog and Twitter as well.

A client recently asked me to put together a 4 day email campaign based on Frank Kern’s 4 Day Cash Machine. I used his templates and 3 days into it the campaign was a flop. So I rewrote email #4; I wrote it straight from the client’s heart and changed the offer and said to heck with piling on bonuses and the other things in the original template and left all that out. That email saved the day and overall the campaign ended with a good response rate. It was yet another reminder to focus on connecting with people when marketing.

One thing more internet marketers should do is use HTML email. You don’t have to use as many words. This recent email from Col. Littleton is a perfect example:
http://www.anitaashland.com/littleton.html

As a subscriber to numerous lists, I know for a fact that “name” can make a big difference in getting emails opened.

Actually, I made a post on my blog a couple of days ago about how I had 4,342 unopened emails in 4 of my email accounts combined. :-)

See, I am subscribed to more lists than I can remember. Most of these emails I delete without reading. Some others stay unopened in my account for ever.

But some specific emails, I make sure I do not miss even a single issue.

One of them is John Forde’s Copywriter Roundtable newsletter.

The content in this email is simply amazing. So I make it a point to open it…regardless of what the subject line is.

So I think “your name” is eventually the bigger factor in deciding whether your emails get opened or not in the long-term.

Dean Dhuli.
http://HighPowerCopy.com/

I especially like the story one.

You know who else is infatuated with the story driven email?

Matthew Furey.

Love him or hate him, Matt Furey is someone you might want to look to for learning how to make money with email.

Michael Masterson loves him and as a by product of being his #1 fan, he had Matt host a seminar for AWAI. I think he called it “The Furey Formula For Making A Fortune With Email”. Something like that.

I own it and I vouch for it.

What was interesting about this seminar was that he had the people actually writing emails there in the room in 15 minute chunks of time.

He put the student under the gun and then…

…he pulled about 5 or 6 of em up on stage and had them read what they wrote.

Yeah some people were stifled and nervous and their copy sounded that way but there were some good ones in there too.

What was beneficial was hearing Matt play doctor on the peoples emails that needed help.

Ryan has a great handle on this subject and using what he showed you today will definitely help and if you’re looking for more support I’d recommend picking up that Furey seminar.

Note Taking Nerd Numba 2
http://www.mynotetakingnerd.wordpress.com

BTW, I did a four-part series in Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips on writing e-mails that get opened. Covered not only from and subject (on which you and I share some insights but I also talked about some different stuff) but also two other factors: how to get past filtering software and whether to use HTML. They are the bottom four articles at http://www.frugalmarketing.com/marketingtips.shtml#email

I can’t believe I’ve been publishing that tipsheet for 11-1/2 years!

Make your email unique

I’m sure you’re on a bunch of the lists as well and get a pile of emails every time there’s a big product launch in the “internet marketing” space.

I always laugh when I see the same email come from numerous people, with absolutely no changes (and sometimes talking about something they supposedly did personally) to promote some product or another.

If you’re promoting something, the least you can do is spend 5 or 10 minutes crafting your own message.

I also got a kick out of your example in #5:

Example: “urgent message (open immediately)”

This reminds me of CNN’s “Breaking News” banner that seems to have a permanent place on the screen these days. If I’ve already heard them talk about the story several hours or days earlier, it’s no longer breaking news. Suddenly that “breaking news” notice seems a lot less important the next time I see it.

The same thing happens when I get an “urgent” email that’s telling me the same thing I’ve already seen a dozen times. I’m a lot less likely to open the next one I get from that person.

A great way to do that is using questions they can’t answer.

For example, this email got a 36% open rate…

“Are You Willing To Sacrifice For This?”

When someone reads that, they think…sacrifice for what? And it makes them want to see what they may or may not be willing to sacrifice for.

Actually Ryan, I was promoting your ebook on getting copywriting clients when I sent that, and was talking about the “copywriters” lifestyle.

Jeremy Reeves
http://www.controlbeatingcopy.com