Your headline/subject is the most important part of your email. If you don’t have a good headline, your email won’t be opened and the rest of the email won’t even matter. Here are a few tips to writing headlines that are guaranteed to get your emails opened:

Start a Swipe File

Every list owner should have a swipe file of email headlines. It is so easy to start a swipe file that there’s absolutely no reason not to. All you need to do is create an account with a free email service such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail or MSN Mail and then sign up for all the email lists in your industry that you can find.

You will soon be receiving dozens of marketing emails every week. Check this account periodically for headlines that grab your attention and “star” or “favorite” them for later use. When it is time for you to write a headline, all you need to do is go back to your starred emails for ideas.

A Few Proven Headline Formulas

Here are a few email headline formulae proven to generate extremely high open rates:

* The challenge – This one works by directly calling out the user in a challenging manner. Example: “[Name], I’m Putting You on Notice!”

* The controversial opener – Hint that you’re going to share something very controversial in your email. Example: “I’m Gonna Tick Some People Off…”

* Answer a question on their mind – Answer a question people have been wondering about. Example: “Is Good Customer Service REALLY Important?”

* The compelling story – Make the catch phrase of a story the headline. Example: “The Man Who Divorced His Wife to Become a Spammer.”

* A promising how to. Promise to teach the user something they really want to learn. Example: “How to Conquer Your Greatest Creativity Killer.”

* Give against the grain advice – Give someone tips that contradict what everyone else is saying. Example: “What you think is safe is risky – What you think is risky is safe.”

* Important news (or commentary) – Report on an important piece of news or give your opinion on an important piece of news. Example: “Why Facebook’s $50 billion valuation is inflated.”

These are just a few examples of proven headline templates. Writing great headlines is just a matter of figuring out what your users want and learning a few subtle switches that can help catch their attention.

Controversy tends to get email opened. So do how-tos and direct benefits. In other words, if the user believes they will get something by opening the email, they are much more likely to open it.

Get as many emails into your swipe file as possible. Cultivate it, as it can become one of your greatest assets in time. Use your swipe file along with your knowledge of copywriting and who your customers are to write headlines that catch attention and get emails opened.

The best way to sell anything by email is to create a compelling email marketing campaign. A campaign is sending a series of emails to your list and lists of your partners promoting a product. Here is how to craft a successful email marketing campaign in just a few easy steps:

Step 1: Identify and Recruit Partners

You can launch a campaign on your own, only to your own list. Or, you can launch your campaign through your own list and the lists of your partners. Identify who you plan on working with and contact them. A campaign planned just for your list will look very different than a campaign built for the lists of other businesses as you usually have a limit on the number of emails you can send to other lists.

Step 2: Build a Timeline Based on How Many Emails You Can Send

If you are building a campaign for your own list, you might send out 2-3 emails on a minor email campaign and up to 10 emails on a major campaign. If you are building campaigns for the lists of other businesses, you will want to limit your campaigns to 2-4 emails, no matter how large the campaign is.

In the next step, we will go over all the most important phases of an email campaign. For your own internal lists, you will likely go through these stages much more slowly, possibly even one email per stage. For the lists of other businesses, you will condense the process a lot, fitting several steps into a single email.

Step 3: Walk Them Through the Emotional Buying Process

Here are the emotions you want to walk customers through in a successful email campaign:

* Supply proof and credibility. If people have never heard of you, or if they don’t know you enough to trust you, the first and most important step is building up your credibility. People need to know who you are and why they should listen.

* Hint at why this new product or service is so amazing. Give them “the hook,” the most amazing selling point up front.

* Sell the problem. Once they are hooked and want to learn more, dive into the main problem that your product or service will solve. Really bring out the pain of the problem and make it seem like nothing else on the market really addresses the issue.

* Introduce the solution. Again, emphasize why the solution is so amazing. Remember that the sell is both emotional and logical. It should make sense logically why the solution works, but you can also be getting them emotionally excited by painting them a beautiful picture of their potential future if they used your product.

* Keep building up excitement. “The more you tell, the more you sell.”

* Close. Give them a reason why they should buy now rather than later. That can be a time-sensitive discount, or a limit on orders, or any reason you want, but make the close powerful and urgent.

If you follow these steps for launching your email marketing campaign, you will be able to get people excited and ready to buy your product. This formula works for your own list as well as when you’re working with partners.

Maintaining your list

1- Use your list right away

One of the biggest mistakes online marketers make is to focus on building a large list, but in the process not paying much attention to the new people on their list. Make sure you begin building that relationship with your subscriber right away. Send them a welcome message which tells them what to expect. Send them value in the form of links, downloads and information. Also be aware that they will be at their most enthusiastic when they first sign up. Therefore, don’t be afraid to try to monetize them right away. Let your free content lead to your paid content.

With a professional website and professional looking email communications, you will build authority and credibility and get your prospects to trust you. The easiest email marketing service we know of is Aweber, which can help you get set up with a fantastic squeeze page, template, and complete email marketing system if you follow their tutorial and have good content all ready to queue up for your new list of readers.

2-Create a communication plan

Make sure you’re communicating with your subscribers on a regular basis. An auto responder is a wonderful tool because it enables you to create and schedule your messages in advance. Each new subscriber can receive the same messages in the same order, regardless of when they signed up. This gives you control over the relationship-building process.

Also remember to offer valuable content, not just promotional messages. An auto responder automates the process, including the subscribe and unsubscribe management. You don’t need to hire anyone to manage the task for you. Your time is free to build your business in other ways. List members can register and unregister at will, and you can preload messages years in advance if you like (for example, it is never too early to start thinking about the holidays. Write one email and use it year after year!)

3-Partner with others to grow your list

Once you have your list building and management process in place, and you have got an idea of how good your offer is (are you getting a large number of registrants each day, or not?) out, consider partnering with others to continue to grow your list.

You can really boost your subscribers by entering into strategic partnerships with other similar or complementary business owners. For example, the website owner who markets to pet owners might partner with a website that sells pet toys. They can help market your opt-in list by including a link to your form in their newsletter and vice versa. You can support each other to succeed.

Your opt-in list can mean the difference between thousands of prospects and only a few. Having a regular number of subscribers on your list to whom you can make regular, interesting offers, can really boost the bottom line of your business. If you don’t have an opt-in list, start creating a plan to build one. Create a great offer, produce the content. Register for AWeber and create your squeeze page. Then nurture your relationship with your new subscribers, and when your list is large enough, look for joint venture partnerships.

Email marketing, done in an informative and non-spammy way, is one of the best ways to build a loyal following of customers who will turn you time and effort into profits.

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For more in-depth, step by step information on how to set up your own email list, you might like:

Mastering Email List Building

Email marketing is one of the tactics with the most potential for profit. You’re sending messages to people who have expressed an interest in your business. However, many email marketing campaigns fall short of expectations. Here are nine strategies to increase your conversion rates in email marketing campaigns.

1. Start off on the right foot – Many business owners do a great job of motivating the sign-up and then they immediately drop the ball. Email marketing is about building a relationship. As soon as someone signs up for your email list, send them a welcome email. If you can include links to valuable content and resources, you’re setting the groundwork for a great relationship. Your prospect will look forward to opening emails from you and receiving value and benefit.

2 Share your enthusiasm – In order to make an impression and have an impact, share your enthusiasm for both the information you’re sharing and the offer. When you love what you’re doing, it shows. It also shows when you don’t believe in your message.

3. Write a great headline and subject line – Learn some basic copywriting skills. Learn to write a great headline. And take the time to test various headlines to see which ones generate the best results. You want your subject line to motivate recipients to open your email. You want your headline to motivate them to read your message.

4. Proof positive – People make buying decisions based on their emotions. They reinforce these decisions based on logic. Use testimonials, data and even case studies or endorsements to offer proof. Help your prospect justify their decision to buy.

5. Can you guarantee? – A guarantee minimizes and often eliminates any risk. And if you’re hesitant to offer a guarantee, remember this… most people do not return their products even when they’re not 100% satisfied. Sure, you’ll have a few people who return it. However, the results you’ll receive in conversions will more than make up for those few returned products.

6. Ply them with gifts – Continue to build your relationship with your subscribers by giving them stuff for free. In addition to sending regular newsletters, also give them unexpected gifts. Consider sending a free e-book or report.

7. Make it professional – Make sure your email messages look professional. Create a consistent theme or format. Brand your messages. And include a signature box. It adds credibility, awareness and personality to your message. Additionally, your prospects begin to know what to expect from you. Establish a relationship with them and they will buy.

8. Call to action – Always include a call to action, even if you’re only sending valuable content without a promotional message attached. Send recipients to your website for more information. Inspire them to check out a video or blog post. Share a free resource with them. Each message you send should have a purpose and a call to action to support it.

9. Test and track – Finally, test and track your email marketing efforts. Review your analytics. Learn which messages convert higher than the others. Test subject lines, calls to action and even the design of your message.

Email marketing is too important a tactic to simply let it go to waste. Use these tips, test and track and fine-tune your email marketing strategy today. Even a small increase in conversions is worth the effort.

One of the main things small businesses now have to consider online is not only their branding, but their online reputation. In these days of social media, one stray comment can mean the difference between success and failure. Fortunately, customer relations management, or CRM, and good customer service, have never been easier, thanks to all of the online tools available.
So if you want to start managing your online reputation, you might want to sign up for a FREE 30-day RatePoint trial for your business.

They offer email marketing, online customer surveys, and more.