It took me a while to get the hang of email marketing. It turns out there is actually a lot more to it than I ever imagined. However, after many errors, failures and ultimately successes, I have discovered a few things that are so simple, but make such a big difference to growing a loyal following.

I'm going to show you three things that will increase your email list's open rate, click through rate, and generate a lot more sales for your business.

Email List Building Secrets That Actually Work

If you haven't began building an email list for your business, you are missing out on what some say is over 90% of their revenues. Think back over the last few days when you first got out of bed. Did you check your email within the first hour of being awake? How about again at lunchtime? Maybe after work when you get home and finally get a chance to relax?

I sure do. Imagine if you had a list of email subscribers who actually wanted to listen to what you and your business have to say. They are excited to hear the upcoming blog posts, product updates and releases, new and exciting tools and resources, etc.

The problem is, many who are new to email marketing don't learn some of the most basic and simple email marketing strategies that are required to build this type of email list. If you follow three things consistently, I guarantee you your email list will have an above average open rate, click through rate and your sales will skyrocket.

The three secrets to building a highly responsive email list that converts are:

  1. Finding your loyal audience through relevant PPC ads to capture your target market.
  2. Creating reader interest and curiosity through captivating email subject lines.
  3. Properly using tags and segments within your email list to target readers interests and increase relevancy.

Yeah, you've probably heard of some or all of those at some point, but do you know what they mean and how to put them into practice, and let alone the results they WILL generate? Because if you did, you wouldn't be reading this right now. Let me explain in greater detail, and show you how they took my conversion rates and click through rates to new levels.

Finding your ideal subscribers through PPC ads

You're probably thinking about the money when you hear PPC ads (pay per click) with networks like Bing Ads and Google Adwords. Don't let that get in the way just yet, hear me out..

For those of you not familiar with pay per click ads, they are simply creating relevant ads and paying search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo to list your ad on desired search term results. When clicked on, these ads take your customers to your website, blog post, or landing page.

Ads can cost as little as a few cents per click to $20+ per click. The trick is finding relevant keywords that have lower competition, but high relevancy to the respective search term.

Why do I begin with PPC ads? Because rather than relying on organic traffic to your blog post (which can take months to build up, let alone sign up for your emails), you can skip the timeline of waiting for organic traffic, and get your desired landing page listed in the number one spot on a Google search result by paying a few cents on the dollar.

Obviously the more money you spend, the more emails you will capture, but this doesn't have to be a large expense when done properly. When starting out, I built my email list from 0-500+ readers in just a couple months (not many subscribes, but when starting out that was a HUGE milestone at the time) spending no more than maybe $30 per month ($1 per day).

How did I do this? I began by defining my ideal client and listing common questions they may have. I built a landing page that I could direct this customer to that would answer their question or satisfy their search, and I created a free offer such as a guide, ebook or helpful resource in exchange for their email address.

If your website or blog specializes in a diet plan for men over the age of 50, you may offer a basic diet plan as your free resource in exchange for their email.

You would begin by researching common keyword search terms for someone over age 50 looking for a helpful diet. You would create a landing page based on this specialized diet, list the benefits, results and create excitement in your customer. You then would offer the plan to them after they fill out your email form.

That's it! You just captured an email of a customer already interested in what your business offers, and this allows you to continue engaging with them time and time again about relevant topics, tools, resources and topics about diets for men over 50. And it only cost you $0.50! You will gain your precious $0.50 back times 20 over time, trust me.

⇒ The Ultimate Email Marketing Guide: Your One Stop Shop For Everything You Need To Know About Email Marketing ⇐

Increase subscriber engagement with captivating subject lines

Now that your list is starting to grow, the next hurdle is learning how to get your list to open your email out of the 100 other emails they receive each day. Think back to this morning when you opened your email to see what's new. Which emails did you click on and why?

If your like 99% of the rest of us, you open the emails based on the subject line, and possibly by reading the small snippet of content shown below the subject line. If they sound interesting to you, you open it to read it!

The goal here is to reverse roles now, and ask yourself “would I open this email if I were the reader?” Out of all the emails you scanned over this morning in your inbox, what made you decide to not open others? Most likely, it was due to a subject line that you didn't care to know more about.

The skill of creating relative captivating subject lines that is one that takes practice. The best way to improve your subject lines is through A/B testing. Create one email with two different subject lines, and measure which one has a higher open rate, and which one has a higher click through rate.

Stick with the better responding one, and repeat. Your open rate for your emails will definitely increase as you practice this over time.

One of the most helpful ways to speed up the process to creating great subject lines is using a book called “Words That Sell” by (author). He breaks down different ways to introduce subjects topics and good openings to get your readers attached from the first sentence.

How to use tags and segments to personalize your email sends

By tagging email subscribes that click on certain links, products and offers, you can keep track of each individual readers interests. Why would this be helpful? This allows you to send relevant emails catered to your subscribes interests.

When sending out a broadcast email about your diet for men over age 50, and keeping track of the subscribers who click on the link to your diet plan, you now know which subscribers are interested in diet plans for males over the age of 50.

Tagging your subscribers also allows you to track which subscribers are clicking links and which aren't. By knowing which subscribers who haven't engaged with your email list in the last 90 days, you can send out an email asking if they are still engaged and interested in being a part of your community. If not, its time to delete those emails. This will make sure your following is a loyal one, with high engagement and more sales.

Segments, on the other hand, are groups of subscribers based on interest. You may have sent out multiple emails about diets, sleeping habits, exercise habits, and the subscribers that clicked on those might be added to the “General Health” segment of your list.

Lastly, by using tags and segments properly, you can set up your list to be automated depending on what subscribers click and don't click. Your sequence of emails may automatically tag subscribers who click certain links, resulting in them being automatically added to another list, and vice versa for those who don't click certain links.

Do you see the power in using tags and segments properly? You learn about your list's interests, and cater your emails to their interests, needs and questions. The result? A very high open rate and very high click through rate, which equals more sales!

The importance of a good email marketing service

Not all email marketing services provide you all the tools needed to follow a strong marketing plan. And among the ones that do, some are more user-friendly and easier to work with than others.

That's why it's important you choose your provider carefully. Most likely you will test out a few and make a decision accordingly. We tested out multiple providers, and only one stuck with us that allowed us to build an engaging email list and automate our broadcasts catered to our readers interests.

ConvertKit is who we personally use and highly recommend to anyone starting in email marketing, or anyone frustrated with their current provider. With ConvertKit email marketing, you will be able to accomplish everything discussed in building a highly responsive email list, and much more.

==> Learn more about ConvertKit email marketing here.