Help! My email open rates are plummeting

I’ve been having a similar conversation with several clients now, so it tells me something’s up.

In a nutshell, it goes something like this:

“I used to get [certain percentage open rate] on emails. But not anymore.”

Or: “The launch I used to do that worked really well doesn’t work anymore.”

Here’s the thing. This has happened in my business, too. You find a program or a theme that’s really popular, and it’s tempting to think that it will always be so.

But what I’ve learned this year is that, if you’re going to grow your business, you must be adaptive.

You can’t take previous successes for granted.
You can’t rest on yesterday’s results.
And you must must must pay attention – not only to your results, but your gut instincts about what’s not working.

And then you need to shift.

One of my clients runs a very successful business with a hardy email marketing program. But lately, she’s been watching her email open rates dip.

Now, I’ve got a couple theories for why this is happening:

1. Mailing too much. You can’t keep hitting people hard with promotional emails, week after week, month after month. Eventually, people will grow used to you – even if you are mixing in great content along with your offers. Changing it up is really key here – maybe add videos, change the format of your newsletter, send a curated collection of articles.
2. Dead weight on your list. Everyone likes to talk about how big their lists are (insert penis joke here), but really, engagement is where it’s at. If you’ve done some list building activities lately, consider doing some “bless and release” clearing of people who haven’t read anything since you gave them free stuff. We do this once a quarter. I only want people on my list who are excited about being there.
3. No longer fascinating. Your email list is list your own media channel – and it’s easier than ever to change the channel… or ignore you completely. Again, if you suspect this is your issue, start changing things up. If you’ve been heavy on information and training, can you share more of your softer, personal side as you teach? Think about how your message can evolve – or go beyond what you’re doing now. We call it “paying” attention for a reason… you must hustle to earn people’s focus.

I actually don’t buy the line that people like to trot out about how we’ve all gone short attention span. For a segment of the marketplace, they will give you plenty of attention, loyalty and money, if you say something interesting and useful.

My hunch is, dropping email open rates or launches that no longer work “like they used to” are nothing more than a signal: it’s time to change it up.

Which makes sense, right? As much as we seek out and require consistency and dependability as humans, part of us craves novelty. It’s one of those conflicts that runs through us, predictable as the tides. So wise business owners would do well to accept this, and use it as fuel for the next pivot.

Mighty thanks to Roger Grant flickr photostream for the e-mail marketing image.

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