This post is only for hardened marketers. If you’re anything but Arnie I urge you to click back now…
For those of you that are still here I salute you! If you’re here at the end of this report I deem you some kind of super hero!
Now I’m going to share 21 email marketing lessons that I’ve picked up along the way to making a nice online income and providing an ideal standard of living for my family. And before you ask, yes I do make a good portion of my income through my email lists! About 50% I’d say.
But I don’t mind admitting that my first six months of email marketing was pitiful. With a list of a few thousand I spoke to my readers having little idea how to get emails opened, how to structure them, how to connect, build trust and make money.
Hearing so many markets say “the money’s in the list” fueled frustration and confusion. But with enough pain the time had come to do some actual research into email marketing – The results have been pretty amazing and marked the beginning of a profitable online business.
What’s shared below comes from turning a cold list into a hot list (no buyers to buyers). This is not recommended and honestly should be avoided at all costs, as I’m sure you’re aware.
However what you read here makes money and if you’ve got a list of just 100 people you are good to go!
Here’s a taster of my email marketing tactics
Knowing Your MarketSub Listing Your Email MarketingHTML vs. TextFormat and ConsistencyCharacter WidthKiller Subject LinesTest and SubscribeOpening SentencesOpen the LoopWhat’s in it for MeCategories For Email Lead InEmail BodyMetaphors and PicturesUsing the P.S.LinksAutoresponder Follow UpSending EmailsOffersObjectionsTestimonialsGolden TipsLet’s do this…
With the majority of today’s marketers failing to make significant income online I’ve learned a core reason as to why – they resist knowing their marketplace.
There’s a big difference between thinking you know your audience and really knowing their biggest desires and numbing pains.
Knowing your market is number one on my list because of its importance…
What are your prospects fears, failure, desires, needs, wants, wins and losses?
Research (and work) deters people from progress and profit but as stated in the opening sentence this post is for hardened marketers. Investing time and effort into knowing your market intimately is perhaps the biggest leverage point I see a business owner can have.
Fact – researching your market is not so hard. Here are 3 quick and simple things you can do to get a better understanding of your lovely prospects and gorgeous customers.
Go to delicious.com… and check out the most popular links in your niche. Just type your main keyword into their search bar and find the hottest posts around the web. This will give you a good idea of what people in your market are interested in.Visit popular blogs… in your niche and see which posts get commented on the most. There is tons of valuable knowledge to be found spending just half an hour doing this.Go to Amazon.com… (my personal favorite) and find the best sellers in your niche. Check out the comments sections and see what people are saying. Note down their language, common problems and frustrations.There are tons more ways to discover your market but this blog post isn’t the place for that – I said Arnie not Superman! 
If you take just one lesson from this post then let it be…
Build your venture on the solid foundation of “knowing your marketplace.”
After all they’re the ones paying your wages!
This is always worth noting down because it’s powerful and so many people skip this necessary step.
One size fits all does not work if you want to profit from internet marketing.
We are talking about the keys to success here and optimizing your list through “understanding where your prospects are in the process” can have magical results.
Segmentation gets a lot of bad press, appears to be complicated and explains why people avoid it. But head over to Aweber (or which ever autoresponder provider you use) and check out their short, concise videos on segmentation. It’s a simple process to master once you’ve been exposed to the training.
Yes you have to track your links but that’s a must in today’s market anyway. (Tip)
This is regarded as basic stuff but certainly worth a mention in my opinion.
Do you send emails as HTML or Text?
There are pros and cons for both methods but first let’s understand their formats.
HTML messages can be tracked which is the big benefit of using this format. However tracked open and click through rates are recorded using a tiny 1px image. The problem with this method is that many email providers such as Gmail, Ymail and others have images switched off by default!
When images are switched off inside an email account the click through or open rates cannot be recorded. You don’t know if the emails have been opened and results are inaccurate.
Generally speaking when emails are sent with images they are regarded as commercial and less likely to be delivered to your subscriber. With no deliverability comes no value, no trust building or sales. And this is where text emails have the advantage. Their deliverability rate is far higher because they don’t contain images and other formatting options such as bolding and italics.
What I do?
Send emails in HTML and Text. Most autoresponder services have this option by default. This ensures the best deliverability and gives me some kind of trend as to which emails are getting opened and clicked through. This is critical information towards optimizing emails. I can see which subject lines are working and which are not.
Granted the stats aren’t 100% but some data is better than none whatsoever.
Another tip when sending emails to your list is to keep formatting (fonts, sizes, colors etc.) the same throughout your email sequences and broadcasts.
Building trust and relationships with your lists means being a little predictable with how you write and how you present. If you choose a theme template for your emails then try and keep that template throughout your sequence. If Arial 12 is your preferred font style and size then consistently present that formatting.
We want people to be eager to open our emails but not shocked by the way it looks!
I like to write emails with a maximum length of 65 characters. Ideally I will keep length at around 58 maybe even 55 characters.
This ensures bite size readability and that the sentences will be formatted perfectly in ALL client providers.
Under this link – Format Blue Software (not aff) you will find this neat little tool that will format your sentence length via their dashboard. Currently it’s a $19.95 one off license fee and well worth it. There are lots of other cool little tools with this software but we’ll save that for another day.
Tip…
Don’t write your emails using Word. There’s all sorts of weird code behind Word and your emails will not be formatted correctly if you cut and paste your info.
Test formats in as many email clients/providers that you can…
Most of us have more than one email account. It’s good to create new accounts with different providers. I have accounts with Gmail, Ymail, @Mail and Hotmail. When you’ve composed your email send a test run to all these providers to ensure the email is formatted perfectly.
Tip…
You might have built trust with me over time. You might be offering me the best deal EVER! But if the email does not appear correctly inside my email account it gets deleted immediately. – Game Over.
Ensure you take the important step of checking your finished article in as many providers as possible. Optimizing your emails is critical and we want to make our readers experience as pleasurable as possible!
This is where the rubber meets the road! Subject lines are the most important part of your email. Why?
To get the email opened. It’s their one and only purpose.
Tip…
Ensure the subject line is not more than 60 characters long. This way the reader will be able to see the whole of the subject line even if they don’t open your email. This improves open rates!
Ideally your subject line needs to include curiosity and benefit…
A great copy writer will tell you that your headline is 90% of the entire copy.
If that’s true then you headline needs thought and a good old fashion stabbing! Have a go and write at least 5 headlines to find the one that resonates.
Example (and I’m just making this one up, no promises here!)
“This creepy tactic gets your site on the front page of Google in 10 days…”To break this subject line down…
“This creepy tactic” (it makes the reader curious and wanting to find out what “This creepy tactic” is.)
“get’s your site on the front page of Google in 10 days” (this is a clear benefit that you will supposedly get if you open the email.)
Insider tip…
(Keep this to yourself) I’ve tested using the date in the subject line and it certainly improves open rates. Dates (in this format 06/18/2025) definitely draw attention and pull on the urgency strings. But use this neat tip sparingly else you’ll end up frustrating your subscriber.
Don’t get drawn into believing you have to write the subject lines first either. It’s fine to get your email together first and the subject line will often pop out at you later on…
Starting Place
The early 19th century author Robert Collier first spoke of “starting with the conversation that already going on in the head of your prospects, readers and clients.” If your subject line has curiosity, benefit and is related to what your readers are currently experiencing then your open rates will go through the roof!
Obvious though this may sound, the subject line needs to be congruent with the body of the email. Anything else will result in a lack of trust and a high unsubscribed rate.
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