5 Best Practices To Use Immediately So People Want To Open Your Emails

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November 29, 2021

 

You want to reach more people with your personal development or spiritual teaching business. With the angry divisiveness in our world and all the pain people hold onto, your compassionate listening is more important than ever. 

Expanding your business–helping more people–is still done most effectively through email. Yes, there are lots of other communication options, but email will get you the highest return on your investment. Like $40 for each $1 you spend on it. Nothing else compares.

But, you know how many emails you get in a day. If you’re like me, you click the trash icon on most of them with just a glance at the sender and subject line. 

So, whether you’re expanding your business with webinars or e-courses or retreats or a great information-packed blog, getting people’s attention is your most important first step. 

How do you get people’s attention? With a captivating email subject line. 

A few months ago, I was checking the Inbox on my 4 email accounts in the morning. There were usually about 60 emails waiting to be opened. I’d check again at lunch time and deal with 25 more. By late afternoon, there were another 60. In the evening, another 35. I typically had 180 or more each day. 

I got pretty good at glancing at the sender and subject line. The experts say we give each email about 3 seconds before we decide to delete or open. 

That seems obscenely long.

Recently I shut down one of the email accounts. I unsubscribed from several lists. I’m down to about 115 emails each day in my main Inbox now. Less on weekends. 

I seem to have 2 speeds for perusing my Inbox. One is my whoosh-through, ”Oh, for heaven’s sake, let’s get rid of these.” speed. The other is a more thoughtful “I wonder if there’s anything in here I need” pace. I might give each of those latter emails a 3-second consideration.

What gets my attention? The sender and the subject line. 

Quite frankly, I care more about some senders than others. Some subject lines pique my interest while others don’t. 

What’s important as a persuasive writer of copy and content is to find the subject line that serves the reader. How many characters are best? I’m imposing on someone’s Inbox–and their time. How do I make it worth their while? What benefits them? What do I have to offer them?

As I have explored this particular aspect of my craft, there are 5 best practices that seem to keep recurring. 

Use these best practices and you can expect a higher response to your emails.

• Include one clear benefit to your reader–write emails they will want to read.

Think about how you work your way through your Inbox. Some subject lines don’t tell you enough. Or they tell you about the business sending the email to you. But your mindset is probably like most people’s . . . “Why do I want that?” or  “What’s in it for me?” or “Why would I take time right now to read this?”

The subject line must answer those questions for your readers. That means you have to know what it is they want and provide the first indication of a response to their need in your subject line. 

Marketing is about meeting the needs of your audience. Provide them what they are looking for. Make their lives a little better. The world becomes a better place and you’ll make a little money along the way.

• Limit character count to about 60 (including spaces) for desktop users.

Much longer than that, and the words get cut off. People won’t read the rest of what is written. It’s estimated about 45%-60% of email users check their emails on their mobile devices. In that case, about 40 characters for the subject line is all that will fit in the smart phone app’s subject line. 

• Use the SAUCE method

This is a simple memory tool to double-check the content of your subject. Make sure it is

S pecific

A ctionable

U rgent

C ompelling

E motional

Keep all 5 of these elements in your subject line to help people recognize the value you bring them. 

• Test headlines to see which one people open the most

You might be familiar with A/B testing. If not, there is a mechanism (you usually have to pay a bit for it) that will allow you to try out 2 different subject lines. 

Put them both out there to a sample of your readers. One of the subject lines will likely get a better response than the other. 

Let your readers tell you which subject line works better! You can test again if you’re inclined to. Then send out your email with the “winning” subject line. 

• Avoid words that could land your email in someone’s spam folder

Hopefully, you are only emailing people who have asked to be on your mailing list. Even then, sometimes your email will end up in their spam folder. It’s good to ask them to add your email address to their contacts so the chances of being considered spam are reduced. 

It’s also smart to avoid spammy words. Check out this article about 455 Spam Trigger Words To Avoid in 2021.

Let your emails work for you

You’ve got important work to do in your personal development or spiritual teaching business.Whatever methods you use to support people in their journey for a better life, email is still the #1 way to reach out to them. 

Put significant effort into building your subject line. You’ll improve your response rate and, therefore, your impact in the world.

 

Carmala Aderman is a spiritual director and writes content and copy for coaches, guides, and teachers in the personal development and spiritual formation fields. Contact her at carmala@carmalaaderman.com or on LinkedIn if you’d like to have a conversation about reaching more people with your business.