Dead People Are Cool

I think what ticks people off the most, more than anything, is when a headline doesn't match the content.

Writing a good subject line to get open's is only half the battle. If the subject line doesn't line up, then people feel screwed.

So, for all the "Instant Sale Notification" emails, when they click, they expect to see a transaction receipt, not a "Hey Firstname!, Isn't it great to get those kind of emails! Well you can with my new spammy product!"

Of course, I'm just calling out the obvious here...lol

Rob

EDIT: To answer your questions, I try to make mine invoke curiosity, while relating to the message of the email, without being deceptive. It's like flipping pancakes, a little too much either way and it becomes ineffective.

Well, there's an element of truth in this: it certainly doesn't take long for a dead person to "chill out".

I agree with you, CC. This was obviously an exaggerated headline for the purposes of pushing my point. Had this been an actual email subject line for one of my mailings, you can bet that the content would include some reasons on why dead people are cool.

Yeah, dead people are cool. Thank you for the reminder.

E. Brian Rose couldn't be more right.

And as fate would have it, Bob Serling sent out an email today that illustrated this point perfectly.

What's even more interesting (and possibly more important) is the relationship between subject lines and

* open rates
* conversions
* ROI

Bob Serling's email this morning talked about how he tested 3 different subject lines, all used to promote a similar service. The three that he tested were...

1) Cut and paste email increases response 142%

2) Here's exactly why you aren't getting any traffic

3) What I taught the French about romance

One of these subject lines produced over 1,000% more revenue than the other two.

Think you can pick the winner?

Now before you see if your answer is right, there are a couple of things this test highlighted quite clearly:

1) Open rates don't matter
2) conversion rates don't matter

If you've been an internet marketer for any length of time I'm sure you've heard a 1000 times how important open rates and conversion metrics are.

What this test proves (once again) is that conventional wisdom isn't always the best information. Open rates and conversions have their place but it's not the true measure of how successful your subject lines are.

No, What matters the most is your ROI (return on investment). How much money your email earned you after the dust settles.

So lets take a look at Bob's numbers to get a better understanding of what this means.

Cut and paste email increases response 142%
Had a very strong response

Here's exactly why you aren't getting any traffic
Had the strongest response

What I taught the French about romance
Had the weakest response


Pretty much what you expected right? Before you pat yourself on the back lets look at what these subject lines helped to generate:

Cut and paste email increases response 142%
Generated approx $48k

Here's exactly why you aren't getting any traffic
Generated approx $62k

What I taught the French about romance
Generated approx $580k

Want to know why the weakest subject line generated more revenue than the other two by a margin of more than 1000%?

Doesn't that just seem so counter-intuitive? I mean according to conventional wisdom the one with the strongest response should have made the most money. Yet it was the one that had the weakest response that cleaned up.

Now I'm not an affiliate of Bob Serling and I'm not even sure he even offers a program. But none the less he released a video that explains all this in detail and which I thought made sense to share in regards to E. Brian Rose's point on subject lines.

I'm not sure if posting links to a website that could be interpreted as promoting a product is a violation of this forum's TOS so I'm not going to risk it.

Instead you'll have to google, yahoo or bing (in quotes) "Creating High Profit Subject Lines" yourself to find the video. It should be at the top of listings.

If you have a problem finding it just send me a PM and I'll send you the naked link.

I had to read this one:

Bears eat man at beer festival

i think its a reminder?

That's an awesome find, Grazina.

Here is a headline that will get your email read;

Naked Women Arrested...for concealed weapons?

Doesn't that get kind of annoying though? You probably get an insane amount of emails about products you would never consider buying.

Dead People are Cool...

That's what the necrophiliac told me as I rode the bus to work.

I wished I had taken my car to Mike's Auto Service.

Mike has free loaner cars.

Plus, Mike is not a necrophiliac mechanic. You know the type. Dead cars get them drooling and dreaming of running their fingers through your money.

Mike knows you'd rather keep your money safe in your pocket than spend it on repair bills. So, while your car is in his care, Mike and his team keep a sharp eye out for minor problems that will become major down the road. That way you can fix 'em while it's still cheap.

Big Mike won't tolerate necrophiliac mechanics around his place.

Send him a quick email at mike[a]mikesautoserviceDOTcom and tell him you're sick of necrophiliac mechanics slobbering on your wallet.

He'll send you a voucher worth $20.00 off your next oil change, plus a FREE bumper to bumper survey of all your car's vital systems.

Or do you prefer riding the bus?

Dead People Are Cool....
Thought this may be a thread on twilight ;0)

Here Are My 3 Tips For Writing Headlines

1) When I am thinking about a headline I write it down on a sketch pad, then I tweak it a little and write it again, I try and write a page some times 2 of headlines.
Using this method you start tapping into the right side of the brain (which is the creative side) and the side I want to be in tune with when writing wicked headlines or emails or whatever.

2) Swipe file - LOVE this, whenever I see something funny thought evoking or compels me to do the action it is asking, I keep it in a file on my comp so I can come back to it and put my own spin on it.

3) Rapping - My husband and I rap back and forth crazy, outlandish headlines, now this is fun! Its totally unplanned, it can happen anywhere at anytime. We might be out somewhere or at a friends or something, sometimes we are poking fun at an ad we just saw on tv, we usually end up laughing so much we cry..... then I gotta get to the comp to get down some of the little sayings down. By far this is my fav!

So in conclusion, dead people may be cool, but they are never online......

That is the funniest post I have ever seen on this board, Grazina! I needed a good laugh right now, so thank you!

I can't do that but maybe you can

Give me one day to finish something here, and I'll send you a PM.

Very catchy headline indeed! I was thinking about real story of dead people here. LOL. It is somewhat deceptive. People are sometimes using catchy headlines that doesn't really match with the content of the article. Just like in emails, spam emails in particular, they are using very attractive subjects like you won or something like that, and I really hate it. Now when I get those kind of emails I delete them right away without opening it.

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