MBA2726 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Increase My Email Open Rates?

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1:27becoming someone worth opening.

1:35Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.

1:49I got a quick favor to ask. If this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review. You could do so wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps me and my team reach even more people who need the same no-fluff practical business advice that you're getting from the show. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey. Today on Q &A Wednesday, I'm answering a question from Peter who asks, how do I increase my email open rates? And I'm going to do that by sharing everything I know about how to get people to open your emails.

2:25Most of it I learned from a friend of mine who's an incredible copywriter. His name is Matthew Kimberly, and he's one of the best email communicators on the planet. I'm going to be sharing with you all the strategies that he taught me about how to get people to really love opening your emails, be rushing to open your emails, and it has nothing to do with spammy subject lines. I'm going to be giving a ton of shout-outs to Matthew Kimberly because, really, he's taught me everything I know on this topic. And if you've ever seen this guy go to work, he's incredible. His emails get opened. They get read.

2:59But most of all, they get remembered. People actually reply to him. They ask for more. They literally complain if he's not sending them emails, which is crazy, which is the opposite of what most people experience, like people unsubscribe. When I learned from him what I'm going to share with you today, I just came to the realization that this guy cracked the code. He figured this out. So let's get started. And let's start with the truth, a truth that really shocked me, which is your open rights have nothing to do with your subject lines. Your name does. People don't open emails because the subject line is clever.

3:34They open emails because you are someone they want to hear from. Do a little exercise with me. I want you to just think about this. If your best friend emails you, you don't care what the subject line is. You are opening that email because you want to hear from them. You want to see what's going on. When the love of your life sends you a text, somebody you're madly passionate and love with, you don't look for the hook in the opening line, right? You are just happy to get a message. You can't wait to unlock your phone to see what that message says. If your hero or your favorite celebrity sends an update on social media, you click immediately.

4:12You want to find out when's their next tour, when's their next album dropping. Why? Because the sender is valuable, not the subject line. This is a real mental shift. Stop trying to write valuable emails. Start becoming a valuable person in their inbox. That alone will increase your open rates more than anything else. And don't worry, we're going to talk about how to become a valuable person later in the episode. Next thing I learned from Matthew is three big reasons why your emails aren't getting opened. The first reason is your emails don't sound like you. They sound too corporate. They sound too guru.

4:52They sound too vanilla. They sound like you are putting it on, like you are trying to impress them. People want you, not a version of someone else. So the best advice I can give you is write your emails, your newsletters, your copy, like you're writing to a friend, like you're writing an email to a friend, like you're writing a text message to a friend. By the way, this works on video too. Pretend you're FaceTiming a friend if you're on video. This one thing will revolutionize the way people perceive you in emails. Number two, don't write inconsistently. If you're infrequent with your writing, you are asking for trouble because most people feel like they don't have anything to say, so therefore they don't write enough or they don't write every single week or with any cadence.

5:37So don't wait too long between emails because when subscribers don't hear from you often enough, they forget who you are. You're out of sight, out of mind. And this causes lower open rates. And the third thing that absolutely kills your open rates is that you forget to make your emails delightful. That's what Matthew calls it, delightful. And what encompasses delightful or delightful emails are emails that entertain, that challenge, that provoke, that actually cause some emotion. You got to make people feel something when they read your emails. If your emails are not doing that, they get ignored.

6:14Another thing I want to share with you is the delight rule that Matthew taught me, which is you should try to delight people three times in each email that you send. The first time is when they see your name, like, oh, Omar emailed me. That is a moment. The second time is when they're reading the actual email and they feel like, oh, that's fun. That's interesting. That's insightful. I never thought of it that way. oh that's really courageous of him sharing something that's kind of vulnerable and the third time you delight them is when they remember it later this is huge you know that you've won the game of email when the email sticks with them and they think about it later in the day when they tell somebody else about what they read about what they experience if you can delight people you'll always be able to get them to open the emails especially if you hit all three when When you open the email, they're like, oh, cool, this person's emailing me.

7:06Second, when they're reading the email, they're like, wow, this feels incredible. Or this is insightful. This is useful. And the third time is when the email's closed and they're not looking at their phone or their computer and they think about what you said later on. It lingers a little bit. And that's how you can judge, is my content that valuable? Is it valuable enough for them to be thinking about it later on in the day or talk about it with somebody else? Investing with Schwab is like spending a Saturday at a great farmer's market. You can fill your reusable tote with a bit of everything.

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9:40This is really the biggest mindset shift I got from Matthew is to stop trying to create valuable content. I had to really resist this because for over a decade, I was a school teacher and teachers give valuable content. And that's kind of part of my identity. And I had to stop focusing on that and instead become a person my audience values. Think about the people whose emails you always open. This is a good practice. For example, I'm on Arnold Schwarzenegger's email list. I open all his emails because I love Arnold Schwarzenegger. I have his app. I've been following his workout routines forever.

10:19He's an inspiration. I open Seth Godin's newsletter. Religiously, they're short, they're sweet, they're valuable. I respect him as a person. He's incredible what he's done. I opened Matthew Kimberly's emails because they're so well written. I can't wait to devour them. I opened my emails from Nicole, my wife. I opened my emails from close friends and family because they're important to me. So they could literally send you anything, these people. They can send you a poem about potatoes and you would still open it and you would still read it because you care about this person. You see them as a valuable person in your life.

10:54You're not opening it because of the email necessarily. You're opening it because it's them. So you see what I'm saying here? A lot of us are trying to value stuff for our emails instead of trying to build a relationship with our audience to be somebody of value to them in their life. So when you start thinking in this lens, I need to be valuable to my audience. That means I need to invest in building a relationship with my audience. I need to give them good content, but at the same time, I want to be able to change their life in the most economical way, word count wise, but also in a way that makes me feel like we're friends, right?

11:31I'm not trying to talk down on them. I'm not trying to just be the encyclopedia for them and give them all the information. I actually want to invest in that relationship between us through email. When you become valuable in the eyes of your readers, your open rates will skyrocket. No question about it. You know this is true as I'm explaining this to you. You're seeing the scenarios in your head. You're like, oh, he's making some really strong points because it's the truth. That's why they're strong points. Now, what's great about this is that you are going to feel a sense of relief very soon because you're going to start to realize what I actually write about doesn't actually matter as much as I thought.

12:07It doesn't matter as much as you think. It doesn't. And I know that sounds strange, but this is where a lot of people get stuck. They believe they need to go for 10 tips or 5 hacks or 7 lessons every single time. But the genius of this is that you can write about absolutely nothing in your emails and still get massive open rates if you're a person they love to hear from. You can literally tell jokes. You can literally open up your heart and talk about a challenge you had. You can literally just share a story that happened during the week. If people find it endearing, funny, interesting, entertaining, they're really enjoying who you are as a person and being a part of your life, they're going to open your emails.

12:48And by the way, what a paradigm shift. What a crazy juxtaposition. You are going to be so different from all the emails that they open up in the business world or in the marketing world or in the fitness world or whatever world you're in. because your emails aren't instruction manuals. They're actual personal emails, emails that go out with a bit of heart, with emotion, with reality. They're really like a correspondence. You're writing to pen pals, not leads. You're telling stories. You're sharing moments. You're giving your opinions on things. You're giving your takes. You take people on a journey.

13:24You take them somewhere through that email. One of the things I try to remind myself is that my job is to communicate and not just to strictly deliver value. I like to tie what I'm communicating to a point so that it makes sense and it's something that is interesting to them, but it doesn't mean it has to be like bullet point after bullet point of factual information. You could tell a fictional story to prove a point. You can tell a joke. You can share your insights on what you just watched on Netflix and what it made you think about. These are real conversations that you would have with a friend.

13:58This is the type of things you talk about over a dinner. And these are the things that would really get people to get to know you and enjoy knowing who you are and seeing the value of having a relationship with you. Now, you might be saying, hey, Omar, this is great and all, but what if I need my reader to take action? I need him to click a link to subscribe, to buy my product or something. How do I do all this and have a CTA? Well, I learned a great segue technique from Matthew himself I want to share with you. So I'm going to share with you an example that he shared with me. And this example is him talking about one thing and then segueing into learning more about his course.

14:35He sells a writing course, by the way. This is not a sponsored episode. And if you want to check out his course, check out his website, Matthew Kimberley, you can Google him. But I just want to share what I learned from him and give you this example. So here's the example. He writes, I hate socks with sandals. I also hate chocolate ice cream and people who text and drive. I know a lot of people also hate writing emails. And then he segues into, if you're one of those people, I can help you out. Isn't that fun and entertaining and actually enjoyable to read? So that segue technique is a great one to use.

15:08And you could talk about anything. You could talk about what you saw at the grocery store, a show that you watch, a conversation that you had with a friend, a memory from childhood, something totally random. Like I got off the bus today and the bus officer was checking everybody's cards to see if we tapped on and tapped off. It felt really official. We all kind of felt like we're in trouble, but only because it doesn't happen that often. Actually, it's the first time it happened in six or seven years. You know what also doesn't happen very often? Me asking you to subscribe to the podcast and see how I'm segwaying into it.

15:39And it's a kind of nice way to make your reader laugh a little bit. This makes you sound real. It gives you some personality. And again, it makes the person chuckle a little bit and say, okay, this person's going to take themselves too seriously. Now, I left this part of the episode till the end because honestly, it's going to sting a little bit. It's the truth about why people don't open your emails. And the real truth that I found out about my own emails is that people don't open your emails because they forget who you are. Why? Because usually you don't email enough. And when you do email, it's always a sales announcement.

16:14It's always a memo. It's always some boring lesson. It's always a newsletter. or it's always a wrap-up and there is no delight. There is no entertainment. There is no enjoyment. The key here is to make sure that you are showing up with a bit of personality and just showing up like a human being would show up to a party with some conversation, with some anecdotes, with some stories. This approach alone will change your open rates dramatically. So this is what I want you to do this week. I want you to email more often, at least once a week. I want you to make your name an asset. Okay, see your name as an asset.

16:54How can I improve my asset, increase the value of my asset? Each email should bring your personality into it so people can remember, oh, this is Omar, or this is John, or this is Sally. And when I see Sally's name, I gotta open it up because Sally's pretty cool. Three, tell stories, small, short stories. It could be 30 to 100 words, super simple. Whatever happened today is enough, right? Don't overthink it. Number four, if you have a CTA, use the segue method we talk about. Tie any story into a point that you want to make in the email or a CTA you want to make in the email. Number five, stop overteaching.

17:29Something I had to overcome. You're not writing a textbook here. You're writing a letter, right? You're writing an email. You're writing a message to somebody that you should care about. You're building a relationship. Number six, focus on delighting your reader. Make people smile. Make them nod. Make them think. Make them feel seen. Make them feel anything. And you'll find your open rates will rise naturally without any stupid gimmicky hacks. So if you found today's episode delightful in any way, share it with somebody else and delight them. I'm sure they'll thank you for it. Peter, who asked today's question, and everybody else who's listening, I want to leave you with this.

18:07If you want higher open rates, don't chase tricks. Don't trace hacks. They all have a shelf life and they all just are lame at the end. Okay? Chase connection. That's never going to change. Be someone worth hearing from. Be someone your readers really value. Be someone whose emails are a bright spot in their day. If you do that, you're going to see incredible results, not just in your email open rates, but in your whole business. Big shout out to Matthew Kimberley, who taught me many of the things I shared with you today. If you want to check out his work, go to MatthewKimberley.com. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow, and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast.

18:48Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

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