🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - November 6, 2024

How to improve your email open rates, a game for creative thinking, and a quote from Keynes

John J D Munn

Nov 06, 2024

Work Smart Wednesday

👋 Hey there!

Here is your fortnightly dose of Work Smart Wednesday.

In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter.

1. 📧 How to improve your email open rates

My email open rates for Work Smart Wednesday dropped by 15% last week.

I wondered why, until my partner told me they found it in their spam folder for the first time. Ah. Yes, that would make sense of the drop.

So, what did I do about it? And why does it matter?

Firstly, it matters because email marketing is still one of the highest ROI activities that any business can do (and shockingly few businesses actually use it, only around 30%). I particularly like email marketing as it is easy to automate.

The problem is that when you start getting marked as spam, it often leads to a death spiral of ignored emails which is difficult to return from.

What did I do about it?

1. Authenticate Your Domain (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC)

This one is techy, but it helps a lot. Reply to this email if you need help on this and I will recommend specific people who can help you get this set up properly for your business.

Set Up SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This lets email providers know who is authorised to send emails on behalf of your domain.

Enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a secret signature to your emails to verify they weren’t tampered with during transmission. Sounds needlessly techy, all you need to know is it improves trustworthiness and deliverability.

Implement DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): Provides instructions for email servers on how to handle unauthenticated messages.

These protocols build trust with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam.

2. Maintain a Clean and Targeted Email List

Remove Hard Bounces and Inactive subs Regularly: Hard bounces indicate an invalid email address. Remove them immediately.

Use Double Opt-In: This ensures that recipients actually want to receive your emails, reducing the likelihood of spam complaints.

Segment Your List Based on Engagement: Send only to engaged users by segmenting out those who haven’t opened an email in the last 3-6 months. Consider a re-engagement campaign before removing them.

I found that substack doesn’t have a re-engagement automation built in (which sucks!), so I created and implemented an automated re-engagement campaign using mailerlite myself. You can see it below:

A screenshot of my automated re-engagement email chain, this took me about an hour to build in mailerlite — A screenshot of my automated re-engagement email chain, this took me about an hour to build.

3. Pay Attention to Your Sender Reputation

Use Email Deliverability Tools: Tools like Sender Score or Google Postmaster provide insights into your sender reputation.

Monitor Spam Complaints: High complaint rates will impact your deliverability. Keep complaints below 0.1%.

4. Personalise Emails and Avoid Spammy Content

Avoid Trigger Words: Words like “Free,” “Discount,” and “Limited Time” can cause spam filters to flag your email. Instead, use clear, direct language.

Personalise Subject Lines and Content: Personalised emails have higher open and engagement rates. Address users by name and use past interactions to customise content. Avoid ChatGPT or generic subject lines, write like a real person.

Keep Your Text-to-Image Ratio Balanced: Too many images or all-image emails can flag spam filters. Aim for 60% text to 40% images.

5. Perfect Your Subject Lines and Preview Text

Write Clear, Non-Deceptive Subject Lines: Make sure the subject line accurately reflects the content of the email. Deceptive subject lines lead to higher complaints and unsubscribes.

Optimise Preview Text: Many people check their emails on mobile devices, where preview text plays a big role. Make it enticing and relevant.

6. Improve Email Content and Design for Engagement

Focus on Responsive Design: Use an email template that adjusts well on mobile devices to boost readability and engagement.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Make it easy for readers to engage with your content by adding ONE CTA that’s visible and relevant.

7. Add an Unsubscribe Link and Honor Preferences

Make Unsubscribing Easy and Visible: Hiding the unsubscribe link leads to frustrated users who may mark your email as spam instead. You WANT unhappy users to be able to easily subscribe, a spam complaint is far worse than an unsubscribe.

Offer Subscription Preferences: Let users choose the types of emails they want to receive (e.g., promotional, product updates) instead of making it all-or-nothing.

8. Use a Consistent "From" Name and Email Address

This one is underrated.

Establish Brand Recognition: Use the same "From" name and email address in every email to build familiarity and trust. I like using a person’s name, rather than just the business name (e.g. John, or John at JohnJDMunn.com)

Avoid Using No-Reply Addresses: Instead, use a monitored email address, as it signals transparency and accessibility to your readers.

9. Test and Analyse Each Campaign

A/B Test Subject Lines, Send Times, and Content: Regularly experiment with different elements to find what resonates most with your audience.

Monitor Key Metrics: Track open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes to see if deliverability and engagement improve over time.

10. Send at the Right Frequency and Time

Find the Best Sending Frequency for Your Audience: Avoid overwhelming your audience by finding a balance between frequent engagement and over-sending. BIG TIP on this one, avoid adding subscribers to multiple different “groups” or “segments” in your subscribers database as it often means they will get inundated with various different automations you have set up. One thing at a time.

Optimise Sending Times: Test different times of day and days of the week to determine when your audience is most active.

Email is an excellent tool, but you have to look after it properly. I strongly recommend you implement the first 2 steps of this email improvement process at least. It will help save you a lot of trouble, and help make your business a lot more money.

Any tips I missed? Let me know!

🆕 You can now earn my template “26 ways to promote your email newsletter”.

🎁 Receive rewards for referring your friends 🎁

📩 A PDF outlining the methods me and my clients use to grow our number of email subscribers. Email is almost always the highest ROI marketing you can do.
This custom template is not sold anywhere, you can only get it by sending Work Smart Wednesday to your friend. I rotate these templates monthly. This template is only available in November.

Refer a friend

2. 🤹‍♂️ A game for creative thinking

One of my favourite things about being an entrepreneur (and a consultant!) is thinking of creative solutions to problems. While every business follows the same fundamentals, every business and every entrepreneur is also unique.

Business “gurus” often give advice as though it is the only way you should be doing business - you must do ads, you should never do cold email, you have to work 60 hours per week, etc. The reason they present that kind of advice so confidently is often because they are telling you what worked for them. Unfortunately, that is also the same reason why their advice is unlikely to work for you: you are not them.

Your business is a little different to theirs, your personal goals are different to theirs, your life situation, contacts, relationships, environment, skills, are all different to theirs. What works for them isn’t necessarily going to work for you. You need to have a personalised plan (either via help from consultants like me, or by personalising the more generic advice you hear yourself following years of experience).

You need to correctly identify your root problem and then creatively adapt potential solutions to fit your unique situation.

Unfortunately, even self-proclaimed creatives struggle to think truly creatively. Us mere mortals hardly stand a chance, right?

Wrong. Thinking creatively is a skill. Skills exist on a continuum. We can improve.

Many years ago my partner and I started playing (and may have independently invented?) a game between us that has significantly improved our ability to think creatively. It can be played by anybody and anywhere. It may seem silly at first, or unrelated to business, but I promise you that playing this game regularly has helped me find creatively solutions to all sorts of problems and has improved my business immensely.

It takes 20 seconds to explain the rules, below is a video explainer (plus some examples to help you get started).

Find an item (any!). 2. Take it in turns to outline possible uses. 3. Whoever keeps going the longest wins.

When we usually do the exercise (1 min video)

Using the example item given in the video, how many uses can you think of?

1-5 uses: Aspiring Innovator. Great job on getting started! Keep practicing to develop your creative edge.

6-10 uses: Idea Scout. Great progress! You're identifying new angles and showing early entrepreneurial flair.

11-15 uses: Resourceful Strategist. Solid skills! You’re coming up with clever ideas that could benefit any business.

16-20 uses: Opportunity Architect. Impressive! You’re spotting inventive solutions and seeing opportunity where others may not.

21-30 uses: Disruptor. Exceptional creativity! You think like a true disruptor, challenging norms and seeing untapped potential.

31+ uses: Visionary Leader. Unparalleled creativity! You’re in the league of entrepreneurs who redefine markets and inspire new directions.

Some example uses given at the bottom of this email.

3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering

"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones" – John Maynard Keynes

We all have preconceived notions, prejudices.

The three most common ones I see are: assuming a lead or client can’t pay, assuming that because a lead already has a supplier that they won’t work with you, and assuming things have to be done a certain way.

Whether it is part of a creative thinking game, a business, or life in general, often one of the hardest things we must do is to escape our prejudices.

To see a person (including ourselves) or a thing not for what it is, but for what it can be.

That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know

Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊

Have a great week,
John

P.S. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here

P.P.S. Thank you for trusting me with your time. If these emails ever turn into a burden, I encourage you to unsubscribe. I strive to provide real value and I am here to help you to make the most of your time

👋 Want to work together?

When you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:

🔍 Clarity Call - We will discuss your situation and create a step-by-step action plan together so you know exactly what you need to do next for maximum impact

🧩 Are we a good fit together? - See whether you and I are a good fit together by answering this short quiz. You will immediately see whether or not we are a good fit, and receive a personalised answer for what the next best step will be for you based on your answers.