Hey Reader!

Remember that client I told you about?

The one whose subject lines we're working on improving?

I wanted to give you some behind-the-scenes insight into what exactly we're planning to do...just in case you're struggling to improve your open rates too.

As a reminder: this client is selling a digital course.

Most of this client's emails are performing really well in terms of opens and clicks – especially considering this is a sales sequence that is hardcore selling in every email.

That would usually mean lower engagement rates, but the numbers are looking good so far.

They range from 56.6% to 42.6% with the lowest at 31.3%.

The issue is that we need to improve the sales stats.

So why start with subject lines if it's the sales we really need to improve?

Let's talk about how subject lines directly impact your sales

Sales conversion is ultimately a numbers game.

We want as many people as possible to engage with these emails and see this offer. The more people who see the offer, the higher the number of people who'll buy it.

It's really that simple (assuming the offer, audience, and copy are all aligned and working – which, in this case, they are).

People will only see the offer if they open the emails. And they'll only open the emails if the subject lines are enticing enough.

So the open rates that are performing well, hurray! We'll leave them alone for now.

But the ones in the 35% or below range, we want to improve.

How do you improve a subject line?

You experiment. (I told you about that last week, remember?) :)

More specifically, you A/B (or split) test.

Sales Force defines A/B testing as "a method of comparing two versions of an email...to see which one performs better."

There are a lot of things you can test in an email, but for the purpose of keeping things simple, we're only going to talk about A/B testing subject lines.

That’s what we’re going to do for our client. We’re going to send the SAME email, but with two different subject lines.

A small portion of the email list will get the email with subject line A, another small portion will get the email with subject line B…then, after a few hours, my email service provider (Kit) will determine the winner. (<< That link is an affiliate link).

The subject line (i.e the winner) that gets the most opens will then be sent to the rest of the email list.

That way, we’re sending the better-performing subject line to the majority of subscribers, we’re optimising our open rate performance, and we’re setting ourselves up for sales success.

Most email service providers allow you to A/B test at least two different subject lines.

Kit lets me test up to five. I guess that’s what we'd call an A/B/C/D/E test 😂

How do you A/B test effectively?

Here's where most businesses get it very wrong.

You don’t just choose two random subject lines and hope for the best.

Don’t do that!

Once you understand your audience, come up with a hypothesis.

A theory that can be proved right or wrong. Then you base your two subject lines on that theory.

Here’s the hypothesis we’re working with for our client:

When we looked at her open rates, the email that was most opened was the second one in the sequence, with the subject line: “Worried you’re not cut out for business?”

This tells us that her audience reacts strongly to pain. The stuff we’d call “negative emotions”. They’re driven by their fear, worry, and concern rather than their hopes, dreams, and potential.

Our hypothesis is that if we change a subject line to reflect the audience's pain, fears, or worries, they’ll be more likely to open that email.

So, going back to our hypothesis, we’ll be testing more pain/worry-focused subject lines because we believe this audience wants to know their fears and struggles are understood by the coach whose course they choose to buy.

Stay tuned to see if we're right or wrong.

By the way, your hypothesis can be pretty much anything.

Take this email, for example. I've sent out two versions with the subject lines:

A: THIS is how to improve your open rates

B: Low open rates? Let's fix that

My hypothesis is that my audience (i.e. YOU haha) is driven by pain more than curiosity.

I believe the second subject line (pain-driven) will outperform the first subject line (curiosity-driven).

I'll let you know which subject line wins the test in next week's email.

In the meantime, let's play a game! Reply and let me know which subject line you got? 😆

Eman

PS. I'm creating an email marketing course and would love to get your thoughts on you/your email struggles/what you want to learn from me. Complete my survey and be in with a chance of winning a 1:1 call with me

You get to set the agenda ;)

PPS. You can join the waitlist for that email course right now, so you're first in line to get my waitlist-only bonuses.

Find me online, Reader? 😍👇🏽

​​​​​