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The Three Key Elements of Irresistible Email Subject Lines

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Email is back. Despite repeated proclamations of its extinction, rumors of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated — especially since email and social media are a powerful combination. You might not reach the average college freshman , but for slightly older types (you know, the ones with the money), email is still the way to go in many lucrative mainstream niches. You must first, of course, get your emails read. And it all starts with the subject line. Email subject lines are a form of headline . They perform the same function as a headline by attracting attention and getting your email content a chance to be read. So, headline fundamentals still apply. But the context is different, with the email space having its own funky little quirks that need to be accounted for. Here’s the good news — email also implies a special relationship with the reader; a relationship that will get more of your messages read, even with subject lines that wouldn’t work in other headline contexts. Let’s take a look back at headline fundamentals, the specifics that apply to subject lines, and the “secret sauce” that makes email your top conversion channel. 1. The Fundamentals: When you’re writing your next email subject line, run it through this checklist, based on the Four “U” Approach to headline writing : Useful : Is the promised message valuable to the reader? Ultra-specific : Does the reader know what’s being promised? Unique : Is the promised message compelling and remarkable? Urgent : Does the reader feel the need to read now? When you’re trying to get someone to take valuable time and invest it in your message, a subject line that properly incorporates all four of these elements can’t miss. And yet, execution in the email context can be tricky, so let’s drill down into subject-line specifics for greater clarity. 2. The Specifics: Beyond headline fundamentals, these are the things to specifically focus on with email subject lines: Identify yourself : Over time, the most compelling thing about an email message should be that it’s from you . Even before then, your recipient needs to know at a glance that you’re a trusted source. Either make it crystal clear by smart use of your “From” field, or start every subject line with the same identifier. For example, with our own Internet Marketing for Smart People newsletter , every subject line begins with [Smart People]. Useful and specific first : Of the four “U” fundamentals, focus on useful and ultra-specific, even if you have to ignore unique and urgent. There are plenty of others who work at unique and urgent with every subject line — we call them spammers. Don’t cross the line into subject lines that are perceived as garbage. But do throw in a bit of a tease. Urgent when it’s useful : When every email from you is urgent, none is. Use urgency when it’s actually useful, such as when there’s a real deadline or compelling reason to act now. If you’re running your email marketing based on value and great offers, people don’t want to miss out and need to know how much time they have. Rely on spam checking software : We all know that certain words trigger spam filters, but there’s a lot of confusion out there about which words are the problem. Is it okay to use the word “free” in a subject line? Actually, yes. All reputable email services provide spam checking software as part of the service or as an add-on. Craft your messages with compelling language, let the software do its job, and adjust when you have to. Shorter is better : Subject line real estate is valuable, so the more compact your subject line, the better. Don’t forget useful and ultra-specific, but try to compress the fundamentals into the most powerful promise possible. 3. The Secret Sauce: Getting someone to trust you with their email address is not easy. Twelve years ago when I started in email publishing, people would sign up for anything remotely interesting. No longer. But if you do gain that initial trust, and more importantly, confirm and grow it , you can write pretty lame subject lines and people will still read your emails. Just as with that ditzy friend from high school who nonetheless always has something interesting to say, trust and substance matter most. Don’t get me wrong, writing great subject lines combined with the more intimate relationship email represents is much more effective. And you have to get your initial messages read to establish the relationship in the first place. Regardless, your open rates will improve based on the quality of your subject line. But there’s something special in this jaded digital age about being invited into someone’s email inbox. You just have to over-deliver on the value to ensure you’re a treasured guest who gets invited back. The inbox can be a stressful place. How do you make it brighter? About the Author : Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of the writer-friendly Scribe SEO software . Get more from Brian on Twitter . P.S. Have you checked out Internet Marketing for Smart People , the Copyblogger email newsletter? It features a free 20-step course that builds your business, so click here and subscribe today .

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How To Write Eye-Catching Headlines that Transform Browsers into Buyers

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For your headlines to stop readers in their tracks, capture their attention through every word of your copy, and persuade them to click that “Add to Cart” button without a second thought, you need to master the “headline reading psychology” of your soon-to-be customers. Once you understand why magnetic headlines pull readers in, you’ll know how to do it for your own sales pages, every time. Follow along with me for the next ninety seconds and I’ll show you exactly how you can turn a casual browser of your sales page into an avid reader, curious to drink in your copy until ultimately hitting the “Buy” button. First, get relevant: Tell your readers’ they’re in the right place So many people create clever turns of phrase hoping to pull people into their sales copy and wonder why their catchy headlines just don’t work. The answer is simple: Readers are busy people, and they don’t have time to study your sales letter to see if it’s relevant to them. Instead, they rely on you to do that work for them. But how do you do that? The answer to that is simple as well: You ensure your headline is clear, not clever, telling the reader exactly what your sales copy is poised to deliver. Use specific keywords that show without a doubt that your page is relevant to people with a specific need or a specific problem – and don’t over-think it. If you’re a blogger, you probably already do this with your post titles, so apply that same thinking to your headlines. For example, look at the title for this post – it’s about “how to write headlines.” (Ever wonder why you always hear such high praise for “How to” headlines ? It’s because they’re extremely relevant by nature. Keep in mind, however, that a “how to” headline might not be the most powerful choice for your particular sales page. When it’s time to write your headline, think of the primary, top-of-mind problem or result your readers are after and make that the foundation of your headline. Do this right, and your readers will automatically know that they’re in the right place – and save your cleverness for later. Next, add the carrot: Attach a powerful result to your headline After you establish relevance to your readers’ immediate needs, you need to help your readers connect to a mouth-watering result that comes from addressing that need. The often quoted “How to ____ so you can ____” is a great example of bridging relevance to result. Never forget that your readers aren’t looking for products or services – they’re looking for beneficial outcomes, and the relevant keywords you write into your headline are often the means to that outcome. So ask yourself why your readers want to take that relevant action, and you’ll be guided to a promise or two that you can make in your headline. I’ll use this post as an example again – you’re reading this far because you want to know how to write headlines, but what you’re really after is getting people to buy from your sales page. Look at your browser title bar and you’ll see I worked that into this post’s headline as well. Finally, dress it up: Add emotionally stirring and action words to your headline Once you’ve married relevance to outcome, it’s time to add a little flavor to your headline by hand-picking compelling words to make those two features “pop.” In this post I modified “headlines” with the adjective “eye-catching” to add some life to the text. I’ve also used the powerful transitive verb “transform” to suggest actionable change, which intensifies the promise of desired results. Pick words that make the relevant keywords or the desired results seem more powerful and attainable – or simply add a third component to the headline like a timeframe or a variation of “easy” or “simple” (if it applies). I could go into additional examples here, but you’ll find all that you need in the Magnetic Headlines series. Take a few moments to read through the posts there with a more educated eye, looking for how each example uses relevance, results, and powerful modifiers to make you want to read each post to the very end. Which, now that you think about it, you’ve just done with this post. Sharpen your skills – how can you improve your own headlines? If you want to get better at writing sales page headlines today, take another ninety seconds right now and use these three tips on a recent headline you’ve created. In the comments below, show us your original – and improved version – and get those headline writing muscles working! About the Author : Dave Navarro is a product launch manager who can’t wait for you to join the 7,000+ people using his free workbooks in the Launch Coach Library (a crowd favorite in the Third Tribe forums).

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Four Sales Page Elements That Get People To Buy Now

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When your sales page isn’t converting the way you need it to, it doesn’t just hurt your bottom line – it can cripple your confidence as a writer and make you doubt your future as a marketer. On top of that, the frustration of having to rewrite underperforming copy can make copywriting seem like a tedious chore instead of the enjoyable exercise in persuasion it’s meant to be. Fortunately, there are simple (but powerful) ways to write highly effective copy the first time – copy that gets readers emotionally invested and ready to click that “Add to Cart” button. Read the next few paragraphs, and you’ll have a step-by-step, can’t miss foundation that will make your next sales letter a whole lot easier to write. 1. Get in touch with the pain your reader brings to the table Features aren’t what sell your product – solution-oriented benefits are. You know, the kind of things that say “That thing that’s keeping you up at night? This will fix it.” Before you even begin to try and impress your readers with how incredible your offer is, you’ve got to establish situational relevance with them. You absolutely must get yourself in tune with the pain points that are bringing them to a buying decision. Why are they searching for the kind of thing you’re writing about? What’s holding them back, causing them stress, or making them break out into a cold sweat? Take the time to step into your future customer’s shoes and get a sense of what they’re feeling. What are the most important pain points that they care about, the ones that make them say “If only this could be taken care of, I’d buy that solution in a heartbeat?” Then you can begin framing your product not as “impressive,” but as “the thing that makes their pain go away.” 2. Understand their frustration with “so far” and “out there.” Chances are, your reader has tried to find a solution on their own. They may have tried everything and seen no meaningful result – or worse yet, they could have seen their efforts blow up in their face. This is the “so far” element you have to look into (and if you’ve already stepped into your customer’s shoes, you’ll probably have an idea of how this could play out). This is your chance to think about how your product or service can work for them, even if they’ve failed “so far.” Consider how you’re going to position what you’re selling as a way to make sure those mistakes don’t happen in the past. This time, it’s different. Why? It’s your job to figure that out and express it. The same goes for the “out there.” Your customers may be feeling frustrated that others have it easier in terms of having this problem solved, because other people are smarter, or more established, or naturally have the deck stacked in their favor. There’s a lot of “if only I had what they have …” thinking going on in your customer’s head, and if you can demonstrate how your offer closes the gap, then you’re halfway to the sale. 3. Step them into their “Dream Situation” Once your reader understands that your offering might just be what helps them get away from their pain and frustration, it’s time to take them a step further. Envision what your customer’s perfect outcome would look like as they use your product or service. What problems go away? What new opportunities appear? What changes happen in their life? People don’t buy products – they buy outcomes. Look closely at the outcomes that your offer can produce for your customers and help them see themselves there. Phrases like “Imagine if …” and “Just think of when …” contain powerful words. Let them taste their future, and craft your sentences in such a way that they can immerse themselves in the feeling of being there. When you do this part right, you’ve helped them vividly see how your solution can move them away from pain and frustration and toward their desired outcome. 4. Close the deal with an “Ideal Solution” By this time your reader is excited at the prospect of making their outcome happen – and now’s your chance to position your product as a slam-dunk solution. This is where you bring the features of your offer into play, stepping them through the specifics of why what you’re offering is perfectly suited to helping them achieve that desired outcome. Maybe it’s the format you’re delivering it in – audio, video and PDFs are a great way to guarantee hitting the top learning modalities customers want. Maybe there’s one-on-one consulting tied into the offer, or a Third Tribe-style online community … or maybe it’s all of this. Since your customer’s shoes are still on, think about how your he or she would view the ideal delivery method of your solution. Ask yourself what would make it easier for a customer to tap into the power of your offer , and then make sure it’s worked into your product or service. Once you’ve done that, all that’s left is communicating just how well-suited your offer is to easing their pain, ending their frustration, and helping them finally get closer to their dream situation. Use these four steps to make your next sales letter much more powerful There’s no denying the power of a solid headline and a killer set of opening paragraphs . But the source of that power comes from these four elements – wrap them into the headlines and teaser text at the beginning of your sales letter, and your chances of having readers stick with you to the end go through the roof. Need proof? No you don’t – because I worked these four steps into the introduction of this very post … and you’re still here. The question is, where will these four steps take you next. Take a moment in the comments to share which of these points resonated with you the most, and how you can use them to make your next offer more enticing than ever. About the Author : Dave Navarro is a product launch manager who can’t wait for you to join the 7,000+ people using his free workbooks in the Launch Coach Library (a crowd favorite in the Third Tribe forums).

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The 7 Secrets of Running a Wildly Popular Blog

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Did you ever wonder why some blogs attracts tons of readers and others don’t? Of course you’ve wondered. We all have. Because if you’re reading this blog, you almost certainly have a blog of your own. You think it’s great, and you want lots of other people to think it’s great too. So what’s the answer? Why do some blogs become more popular than others? There are lots of reasons why people flock to certain blogs, but I think one of the most important is that popular blogs are written by popular people — the sort of people who attract others. And becoming a popular person isn’t just a matter of fate or genes. It’s something you can work on. I’m not saying content isn’t important when you’re creating a popular blog. Content for the best blogs is almost always top-notch, interesting, and informative — and that takes work. But a blog isn’t just about work or great content. Think about the most popular person you know in your personal life. What is it about them that attracts other people? Brains? Skill? Knowledge? These things could be part of it, but don’t you also know popular people who aren’t the smartest, the most skilled, or the best-educated? When giving the commencement speech to the Vassar class of 1983, Meryl Streep said this: Real Life is actually a lot more like high school. The common denominator prevails. Excellence is not always recognized or rewarded. What we watch on our screens, whom we elect, are determined to a large extent by public polls. Looks count. A lot. And unlike the best of the college experience, when ideas and solutions somehow seem attainable if you just get up early, stay up late, try hard enough, and find the right source or method, things on the outside sometimes seem vast and impossible … In other words, success isn’t necessarily about competence. It’s often about likeability. People like to spend time with people they like. The same applies to blogs. Success often depends on likeability. How you come across. Your vibe. Your attitude and personality. And if I were to break this down into specific tips, I’d say there are 7 secrets for making your blog (and you) more popular. 1. Have a conversation People don’t like to be lectured or talked down to. They just like to talk. And a blog is really a form of conversation between you and your readers. Even if people don’t always directly communicate with you or leave comments, the tone of your posts should be more or less conversational. Don’t write like you’re delivering a sermon. Write like you’re chatting with a friend. Keep it easy and informal. 2. Lighten up You don’t have to tell jokes, but it’s smart to keep things light-hearted. Consider the Men with Pens blog. James always has a lot of fun when writing a post, and her sense of humor makes the information more readable and entertaining. Your readers are probably having a tough day. Their desk is groaning under the weight of all their projects. The economy is crappy and their life is full of responsibility. If they read your blog and come away feeling just a little happier, they’ll keep coming back. 3. Be yourself After all, people are not coming to your blog just to acquire knowledge. They’re dropping by to visit you . Which means you have to be there. That means revealing a little about yourself, sharing the occasional personal photo, posting videos where you talk to your readers, letting people know what’s going on with you. For example, in a recent Pro Copy Tips post, I mentioned that I visited Las Vegas for my sister’s wedding. I show a photo of me standing in front of the famous welcome sign on a sweltering afternoon. I mention playing the slots and losing a little money. (Only a buck. I’m not much of a gambler.) And all this served as an introduction to thoughts about how writers take risks, so it remained informative and focused on the reader. 4. Be nice Yes, your mom was right. You have to be nice. Don’t be a diva. Answer your emails. Respond to comments. Be polite even when a reader makes the occasional stupid remark or a troll flames you for no good reason. The people who are rude to you are having a bad day, or a bad life, and they want to share their frustration and anger with you. But it’s their problem, not yours. They want to provoke you. Don’t let them. If anyone gets out of control on your blog, don’t bicker about it. Just delete the comment and move on. 5. Get over yourself When you think about it, blogs are really kind of egotistical . You have to think pretty highly of yourself to assume other people want to hear what you have to say day after day. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy ego, but your blog really isn’t about you. It’s about your readers. It may seem counterintuitive, but the more you cater to your readers needs, the more popular and profitable your blog can become. The more you give, the more you get. The world is full of self-centered and stingy bloggers. Don’t be one of them. (I realize this might seem to contradict #3. There’s a delicate balance there. You want to share enough of yourself to make a connection, but still keep your focus on your audience.) 6. Help people Isn’t this the whole point of a blog, especially one that’s wildly popular? Why do you visit Copyblogger or Lifehacker or Chris Brogan , or any of the other top blogs? Because they offer you lots of stuff without necessarily expecting something in return. The people who run these blogs are constantly thinking about how they can help you. Again, think about the people in your personal life. You probably know that one person who is always willing to help, no matter what you need. Why do you keep going back to that person? Because you know they’ll say “yes” when most others will say no. Helpful people are popular people. 7. Stop trying so hard Yes, you need to work at your blog. You should write good posts. You should offer solid information. You might even put in long hours. But don’t push too hard. Relax. Enjoy it. Make it part of your life. If you’re desperate for success, that desperation will show. It’s like dating: there’s a fine line between wooing someone and stalking them. I mean, have you ever had someone get a crush on you and start trailing you like a puppy? It’s annoying. And a little creepy. No matter how much you want success, just remember that it comes fast for some and slower for others. There’s a moderately popular blog I used to enjoy. Then the people who run it announced a product. From that day forward, every post was about their product. Every link pointed to a sales page. The blog was no longer a conversation. It was a relentless sales pitch. I don’t visit any more. Meryl Streep was right. Life is like high school. And success has a lot to do with being popular. So … be popular. About the Author: Dean Rieck is one of America’s top direct marketing copywriters. He shares his writing and freelancing know-how at the wildly popular Pro Copy Tips .

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The Insider Guide to Creating An Audience of Raving Fans

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There’s a scene in the animated series Futurama that cracks me up every time I think about it. The show’s characters are at the horse track of the future, but there’s controversy when a race ends very, very closely — so closely that the race officials need a powerful electron microscope to judge the “photo finish.” The track loudspeaker eventually announces, “And the winner is … Number Three, in a quantum finish!” And Professor Farnsworth, who had bet on the other horse, tears up his tickets in a rage and yells, “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!” Didn’t get the joke? Don’t worry, neither did most of the viewers. I’m quite sure that the writers laughed out loud when writing that scene. They were a bunch of nerds, and thought that applying the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to horse racing was the height of hilarity. But 99% of the viewers probably didn’t find it the height of hilarity. I’d guess that 75% didn’t even know that the line was a joke. So why did the writers include the gag? Because the remaining 1% who did get it became fans for life. How to lay eggs (like a platypus … they don’t do much, you know) I call hidden gems like this “Easter eggs” — a video game term referring to hidden areas, rooms, or events that developers add to games to amuse themselves. Animated humor shows like Futurama , The Simpsons , and many others are absolutely stuffed with Easter eggs, and they’re an important part of building the massive cult followings these shows enjoy. When I recognized Farnsworth’s line for what it was, I felt like I was part of an exclusive club. In fact, I felt like that joke had been placed there for me and me alone . I could immediately imagine hanging out with those writers. That Easter egg made me feel like we were buddies, that we had so much in common. I became hooked on Futurama . I never missed an episode. I told all of my friends to watch it. I bought all of the DVDs. Then, when I realized how effective those obscure little jokes had been on me, I started including them in my own writing. If something amused me, I didn’t worry about the people who wouldn’t get it, unless not understanding it would ruin the reading experience. So I let those oddball references fly … and I credit them with a lot of my recent growth. Here are two examples of Easter eggs I’ve placed recently here on Copyblogger: In a recent Copyblogger wrap-up , I made passing reference to “ruling the tri-state area,” “setting fire to the sun,” and “big laundry.” All three were lines said by Heinz Doofenschmirtz, the ridiculous villain of the children’s animated series Phineas and Ferb. In an earlier wrap-up , while recapping a story about how overcoming purchase paralysis is like saving people from a burning building, I mentioned hanging from the arm of Kurt Russell while he says, “You go, we go!” in a heroic fashion. That’s a line and scene from the firefighter movie Backdraft . Luckily, Brian is in that small group of people who finds most of my Easter eggs, and he lets me continue to hide them. And when I wanted to be replaced by Johnny Marr , his comment was, “It doesn’t matter if anyone else gets it. I think it’s hilarious.” I thought it was hilarious too. A small group of people who read it thought it was hilarious, and proceeded to swap Smiths and Johnny Marr references in the comments. If you’re thinking, “I don’t want only 1-5% of people who read my writing to appreciate it!” I have a clarification to add: As long as your post works without the Easter egg, people will still read you and like you even if they don’t get your hidden gags. This is an important point, so I’ll make it one more time. The post has to stand alone. It has to work even if they don’t get the Easter egg. That Johnny Marr post on Copyblogger? While a small group got the gag and joined in on it, a much larger group read the wrap-up the way they would read any post, and clicked through my teasers to read the full posts. The post did what it was supposed to do, whether or not you know (or care) who Johnny Marr is. If you place your Easter eggs well, you’ll get a cloud of people who read your stuff the way they would read anything else they were interested in. But at the center of that cloud will be your core fans . Your insiders. Your “club of you.” I love my club. The people who truly “get” me with all my oddities and foibles are like old friends. I bond with them. They bond with me. We interact in my comments and on Twitter. But they also want to read more of what I write, wherever and whenever I write it. They spread the word, tell their friends, become ambassadors and raving fans … and often buy everything I sell (as well as taking advantage of my free offers, for that matter, like my current free blog setup promotion .) The smaller the group who takes something from your writing, the more exclusive those people feel. You don’t have to settle for a small audience, but there’s a lot of value in having a nucleus of core fans surrounded by what I might call an “interested horde.” You can build both the nucleus and the horde at the same time. Here’s how. Six rules for hiding Easter eggs 1. Don’t confine yourself to humor I’m an animation geek and have always liked humor in most forms, so the Easter eggs I hide tend to be jokes or references that are meant to make the reader chuckle. But anything obscure will work. If you’re an alternative music fan, you might observe how Darren Rowse looks a little like Moby . If you’re a Starbucks barista, you might mention that tech skills need constant adjustment and sharpening — just like a burr grinder that processes a lot of low-quality beans. 2. The post has to work even if they don’t get the reference I know we already said this. It’s important. The Farnsworth line in Futurama wouldn’t have worked if the rest of the episode had revolved around the intricacies of why quantum uncertainty had foiled Farnsworth’s horse bet. It worked because it was a throw-away line. You either caught it or you didn’t. Either way, the action marched on. 3. Don’t be a pretentious jerk A few Easter eggs are fun. A diet of Easter eggs will give your readers heartburn. If you stuff your writing full of references and jokes that are so obscure that nobody will get them, you’ll just come off as pretentious. (An example of someone who doesn’t listen to this rule: former comedian Dennis Miller. Yeah, he used to be funny.) 4. Don’t over-explain If you have to explain it, it’s not an Easter egg, it’s just a joke that fell flat. You’ll have to walk a fine line to balance clarity with inside jokiness. Sometimes you’ll need to add a few clues, but don’t overdo it. 5. Make it natural I’ve failed here if all of a sudden, we see a rash of blog posts into which writers have used a crowbar to insert obscure references and inside jokes. Don’t think of them as something you add; think of them as something you allow to remain. It should feel natural. Write what comes to you — and then stop yourself from editing all of the gems out. 6. Amuse yourself first I use Easter eggs because I love finding them myself. It’s a game. If something doesn’t make you chuckle or smile or think when you write it, don’t include it. Some things are meant to be edited out because they simply don’t work. Let those go; no one likes a bad Easter egg. The name of the game is connection, and like so many other pieces of advice in the blogosphere, much of this boils down to finding your right people . Using Easter eggs is kind of like when a punk fan wears a shirt with a certain band’s logo on it. Other punk fans will see it and will say, “I know what that logo is!” And if those two people strike up a conversation, there’s likely to be instant rapport. Think of your Easter eggs as a way of creating specialized rapport. Great content builds a wider audience. But leave in a couple of Easter eggs, to build your “club of you,” too. About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is setting up self-hosted WordPress blogs for free until July 23rd . Learn more about Johnny at his blog, JohnnyBTruant.com .

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