Did We Speak? A New Low [from my inbox]
I get cold emails from vendors that want to work with me all the time – I bet you do too. But this one really bummed me out. Read on to learn why (it’s probably not what you think!). The full email is below – but this is what I saw in the inbox (I’ve […]
10 Ways This Reactivation Email Could be Improved [From My Inbox]
Sending an email to reactive subscribers? Here’s an example of how not to do it – with tips for improvement. I got an email tonight – from a brand I’m not familiar with. I’ve blurred the identifying details to avoid publicly shaming them. But I do hope they see this post – there are so […]
6 More Great AI Ideas
Tamara Gielen, Be Relevant, and I were really excited about the positive response our presentation ’35 Great AI Ideas in 35 Minutes’ received at Email Innovations World 2024! For those who missed it, I’m sharing my 18 ideas in a series of 3 blog posts. You can read the first one now on the Only […]
Why Open Rate isn’t a Good Key Performance Indicator for Subject Line Tests
“We’re testing a subject line, so we’ll use open rate as our KPI, since the subject line impacts the open rate. Whichever version gets the highest open rate will also likely have the highest conversion rate or revenue-per-email, right?” As an email marketing consultant and trainer, I hear this a lot. I get it. It […]
AI and Email: Subject Lines and Preheader Text, Part 1
Back in late January 2023, when Chat-GPT was just beginning to take off, an acquaintance invited me to try his company’s new AI product, which was in Beta. You input information about the content of the email and it provides subject lines and preheader texts for your email message. We had an Only Influencers […]
6 Tips for Better Subject Lines, Preheader Text, and Headlines
I am a numbers person. When I work with clients, I always want to start with the data. The data helps me understand how subscribers are interacting with the email program. And how they interact with the email messages, what they think about the program, is more important than what I think, or even what […]
43% increase in revenue with a holiday campaign! Here’s how we did it…
I’m not a big fan of subject line tests for a couple reasons. They’re overused and many don’t have a good chance of success because they lack a sound hypothesis. If I undertake a subject line test with a client I’m going to do it strategically, to give us our best chance at a significant […]
Case Study: Subject Line Change Increases Revenue by 9%
Nine-percent may not sound like much, but if you can get a 9% compound lift send-after-send, you have a 100% increase in revenue after 10 sends…
Case Study: Big Boost from Subject Line Testing
Lots of email marketers test subject lines, but the key to long-term success is testing formulas rather than specific copy. In this case study, the winning subject line formula generated an open rate lift of 70% and a lift of 56% in click-through rate. Best of all, because we tested formulas instead of copy, they’ll […]
From My Inbox: Gentle Critique with Simple Fixes
Most of my consulting work is with large organizations, but I really love when I see smaller companies doing big things with the channel. And it also makes me sad when I see smaller companies trying, but not quite hitting the mark. This post is about the latter, with constructive advice for this company (I […]