I started with the most important email in my arsenal- the one sent to email blog post subscribers

The reason I did it? Simple really- I knew the existing design was not enticing people to open the email, let alone click all the way through to the post. And let’s be honest for two seconds here- when we write, we usually want a reader or two 😉

Because for most writers it’s usually a two-step process right? Crafting a headline that gets them to open the email, AND making the content of the email itself interesting enough to make them want to click through to the actual post. So you’ve got double the work cut out for you. Read on and you’ll see I’ve done a lot of the work so you don’t have to  🙂

Here’s what you’ll find in this post:

• Graphics showing what the email blog post format looked liked BEFORE my changes and AFTER
• A “tour” of the major differences
• What the changes did for my open and click rates
• A template you can use to create a similar email blog post

Email blog post format- BEFORE and AFTER

My email service, like many, offers an “RSS to email” option. The idea is to eliminate a lot of the background work by letting the email software pull the RSS feed and plop it into an email. So I did that for a while. But honestly the format just wasn’t getting it for me. I knew I could put out something way more appealing that would also encourage people to go read the entire post.

Here’s the before and after versions:

 

 Here’s the major differences between the two email blog post versions:

• In the Before version, my software was unable to pull the title of the post and use it as the subject line of the email. In my opinion, a major fail. So my default subject line was “The latest from Confessions of an Insurance Goddess.” Not very intriguing is it?
• With the After version, I could easily insert the title of the blog post into the subject line of the email template I designed. This meant I discontinued use of the RSS to email option.
• The article section is where the meat is. But the RSS to email option only allowed for the title and the first few lines of the post with a “Read More” link. Again, not very effective.
• The After version is structured to provide a powerful opening statement or question, then offer a brief description of the post itself. Most important- I offer a compelling reason why they should read the post. Here the curiosity of wanting to know what the popular gifts are, followed by wanting to avoid a nasty claim are supreme. For those that are curious, I basically took the Meta description for the post and inserted it into the body of the email.
• I altered the contact info section in the After version to direct people to remind them I’m an insurance agent and to check out my book. A little more “sales-y” than the Before version for sures, but I know what puts food on my table and need to make sure it’s communicated. This is a minor issue and not what ultimately contributed to the open and clickthrough rates, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

Open and Click Rates- BEFORE and AFTER

 

How about that click rate eh? I am confident that the changes I made to my template caused the increase.

Swipe this template to achieve results

Although I briefly described the template above, I’ll list the components here to make it easy for you:

• Use the blog post title as the subject line of the email. It stands to reason you need to have an interesting headline right off the bat. I recommend any of several articles from Copyblogger– clicking the link will take you to the “Copywriting 101” page. Scroll down the page for the section on “How to Write Magnetic Headlines.”
• Begin the email with a thought-provoking question or powerful statement. My classic opening is to present a problem.
• Include a one to two sentence summary of the post’s main ideas, referencing the problem if possible.
• Provide the solution to your opening statement via a clickable link to the post.
• Provide contact information at the end- whether it’s a phone number, email address and/or social media links, people need to know how and where to find you. I also included links to two landing pages on my site- my book info and my work as as insurance agent.

Have you experienced a similar process on your own blog? What changes have you made that have been particularly successful in getting subscribers to open and click through your emails?