Category: Learning Zone

How are your RocketResponder emails coming along?

If you have been following this series you should really be thinking about your subject lines now.

How many of these people put enough thought into their own subject lines do you think?

• What can we do for you? – I like this as it puts the recipient of the email right at the heart of the message. It got the email opened and once inside the sender wasted no time in explaining what his program could do. I would only have changed it to read “Look what we can do for you…” just to avoid someone answering the question with the answer “nothing” and clicking delete. My change avoids the negative altogether and turns the subject line into a call to action which has the subtext – “Open this email to find out what we can do for you.” Good subject line. Liked it a lot.
• Patrick Here is an Extremely Simple Business Model that WORKS! – Love the message, hate the grammar. The mixture of capital letters and lower case letters is off putting and the random all capital word at the end is even more so. This detracts from what is actually a very powerful marketing message. I will forgive the grammar errors and open it any way. Works for me.
• LibertaGia – If your subject line looks like a spelling mistake I won’t open the email. Deleted already.
• ListJumper == High CTR! – I know what ListJumper is and I know what CTR stands for. However take a step back when you write a subject line. If I didn’t already know these terms then this would mean nothing to me at all. As for the two equals signs in the middle I have no idea what that is all about. Not a great subject line by any means but I have seen worse. I wouldn’t be tempted to use it.
• WARNING .. highly addictive! – That is all it would take to get me to open this email. Remember all you want to do is build up enough curiosity to get the email opened. In this case three words is all that is needed. Best of the month.
• Let Me Show You The Way – Yes, this works too. Hooked in six words this time. The internet can be a daunting, scary place, especially for the new and inexperienced. Why would you not want someone to show you the way? Opened.

I am off on the look out for some more now, see you back here in a month.

Mastering email subject lines: It is the last Friday of the month which means it must be time for some more RocketResponder subject lines.

Here is another selection of genuine subject lines that people have thought fit to grace their emails.

As usual some work better than others:

• I had to read this twice… – This is a sure fire winner for me. You could use this about virtually anything and have a good chance of getting your message opened. Hints of something exciting, different, extraordinary…it has got me hooked.
• __________How_to_Make_50K_Monthly______No_Monthly_Fees____Pays_Weekly__ – Yes this is honestly how the subject line was written. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it before. What a mess. And, before you ask, no I didn’t open it.
• Patrick LUCK / KARMA do you BELIEVE? L@@K – If your subject line looks like it was written with a random word generator then I will give it a miss. Unopened. Dreadfully bad.
• Clixsense – Is that all you are giving me? I am all in favor of keeping things short but give me a bit better than that. What about this instead: “Want Cents. Make Cents. Clixsense.”
• No More Joining No Moere False Promises! – And no more spell checker by the looks of things either. Apart from the spelling mistake which should have been corrected, this is not a bad subject line. Anyone who has been online for any length of time will know that “false promises” are all too common. This writer knows their audience. Yes I would open this.
• Got a Minute? – No I am far too busy, go away. I think most of us could spare a minute or so if someone asked us nicely. Short. Catchy. Clever. It works for me. Best of the month (however the standard is particularly low this month.)

Let’s meet back at the same place in a month for some more.

mastering email subject lines: The RocketResponder email subject line series keeps on coming…it is hard to believe that another month has passed already.

Just where has this year gone? Hopefully your email marketing campaign is working well for you but there is always room to improve.

See what you think of these half dozen subject lines which were randomly culled from our inbox:

• Buy 1 year of hosting get the 2nd year FREE! – This is from the ‘tell it like it is’ school of subject line writing. You know exactly what you will get when you open this email. If you don’t need a hosting deal right now then there is no need for you to look at the email at all but if you do then you might be very tempted to take a look inside. Don’t be afraid to try out this approach from time to time.
• INVITATION to EARN thousands of DOLLARS ! – Since when does anyone need an invitation to earn money? Also the random capital letters and the unnecessary apostrophe make the entire message sound a touch desperate. I would pass this one by. It fails to excite me at all. #Fail
• We Just Went Viral!!! We Took The Only Top Spot In The World – Really? How very nice for you but what has this got to do with me and why should I even care? Let me put it another way. I don’t care about you, I care about me, so make the subject line about me next time. I wouldn’t have opened this email.
• Hurry ! Scurry ! best EVA positioning NOW – This started off really well and then they only had to go and spoil everything. I don’t know what EVA positioning is and I don’t have time to find out either. This one can pass me by. I think this opening would have been so much better if it said: “Hurry! Scurry! Never Have to Worry!” instead.
• ~~fname~Well Save You From the Sharks! – Oops someone didn’t use the test email function before pressing send. So you got the personalization wrong; I assume you mean “We’ll
  Save You…” and not “Well Save You…” which makes no sense. Also if you are going to use every word in capitals then the lower case “the” stands out for all the wrong reasons. Finally an unnecessary apostrophe just to make this subject line disaster complete. 0/10 Dismal.
• V TEN Leverages Traffic of TEs Mailers Blogs & Popular Sites – It very well may do but this subject line sends me to sleep. I would enter it in the “worst subject line of the year” awards but that’s about it. Another poor effort but still miles ahead of the previous entry.

Let’s meet back here in a month’s time and do it all over again.

Mastering email subject lines: Hopefully by now you are getting good with your RocketResponder subject lines.

Have a look at this latest selection and see whether you agree with our assessment or not:

• No Cost Leads – [Video] – Wow, someone really pushed the boat out with this one. So if I open this email I will have to watch a sales video of some sort. The only question on my mind is how much will these “no cost leads” really cost me. Totally off putting so I won’t be opening this one.
• Welcome to the Most Advanced Mailing System on This Planet! – I have been using traffic exchanges for long enough to know exactly what program this refers to. I would bet that this is copied and pasted from the “affiliate resource” section of the membership site in question. It is a good subject line but it is often a good idea to use something unique rather than a subject line which is shared with the entire membership. On the other hand if a subject line is good enough to get the job done then there is no harm in giving it a go. I like this subject line.
• This Little Ebay Selling Trick Blew My Mind… – I love this, absolutely love it because if you are the least but curious you will want to know: “What trick is this, tell me more. You must tell me more now.”
  Note that this could work with a variety of different subjects because it follows this formula: “This Little [insert subject here] Trick Blew My Mind…” So you could say somerthing like “This Little RocketResponder Tip Blew My Mind…” or “This Little ListNerds Secret Strategy Blew My Mind…”
• Patrick Joe Freyaldenhoven reveals the secret of his success – Maybe I am missing something here but who is Joe Freyaldenhoven? Also personalizing the message is confusing here unless the guy who is revealing his secrets is actually called Patrick Joe Freyaldenhoven. I would prefer something like: “I Am Ultra Successful: This Is My Secret…”
• A Must Have Tool for ANY Affiliate! – Seven short words and every one a winner. Would I open this? Of course I would. I really want to know what this email is promoting. #Winning.
• No Recruiting No Cost No Kidding – The repeated use of the word “No” gets a big “Yes” from me. It is catchy and has me asking what it is all about so I want to open the email and find out more. You can also use this for yourself. Just add your own subjects. No [x] No [y] No [z]

Don’t forget there will be another selection next month.