Everyone talks open rates these days. Email open rates. How many of your subscribers open your emails? How can I increase my open rates? Write a good subject line to get people to open your emails!
I know that the actual majority of my subscribers don’t even open my emails. A good 60%.
You opened this one, but are you reading it? You’ve made it to the third paragraph so I’m going to go with yes on this one. And are you opening and reading every single one? Probably not. (If you are, please hit reply and tell me why. I love to know what keeps you reading).
But here’s my thing: why does that even matter? It doesn’t one bit for me. And I’m going to tell you why your open rates shouldn’t matter for you and what really should.
Here’s my personal newsletter strategy (for the ones I subscribe to):
– sign up for newsletter
– get double opt in and setup filter so all newsletters are out of my inbox
– go thru newsletter folder weekly and read a few at a time
– click thru to their blogs and read several weeks worth of posts outside of my inbox
…and that last point contains two crucial bits: I click thru to their blogs and read several weeks worth of posts outside of my inbox
See, while your subscribers might love every word you write, you aren’t making the connection between your words and your business unless your readers are clicking thru to your website.
Secondly, your readers could be doing exactly what I am and batch reading your posts by clicking thru from one post and then reading several on your blog all at once. It’s a time saver for them and you’ll see those results in your Google Analytics (more on that next week).
So does that mean you shouldn’t care one bit about open rates and list size and all of those other “good business” things you’ve learned from every free webinar you’ve ever been on? No. Care, go ahead. Let it matter to you. It’s your business and your newsletter and your time writing so it should matter.
Just don’t let it be the only thing that matters.
Long ago it was discovered that the world is not flat. Well, neither is your business. You can’t take things for black and white. Dig in. Learn about your people. Connect with you community. See the (entirely un-flat) whole picture.
And don’t let those open rates get to you (but, hey, thanks for reading this today).
xo
