Ben Settle

People make email WAY too complicated.

Especially people obsessing over open rates, click thru rates, opt out rates and deliverability rates.

You’ll waste your life doing that.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Yes, there are *some* things you can do for deliverability.

But, delivery is mostly outside your control — dependent on your auto-responder’s relationship with ISP’s, staying off black lists, deleting accounts that get lots of spam complaints (when other people using your auto-responder get high spam complaints, it can hurt your deliverability), etc.

2. If you take the long view today’s open rates are irrelevant.

Why?

Because silly, you can come at them again tomorrow…

3. Open rates are hard to accurately track.

Especially with smart phones which don’t usually have images turned on (and thus, aren’t tracking opens).

4. Higher click-thrus don’t necessarily equal higher sales.

Nor do higher open rates.

Spammers sometimes get huge click-thrus and opens, but few sales. A guy once asked me how I track my ROI if I don’t track opens.

Which was odd.

I mean, how would you track ROI with opens?

Opens aren’t sales…

So, what’s the solution to all this?

It’s simple:

Instead of obsessing over things mostly outside your control like better email deliverability… focus on writing better emails.

Building a *responsive* list.

And, yes, learning to sell.

(In a way people like buying from).

You’ll make more sales.

Waste less time.

And there will be peace in your world…

Speaking of peace:

The next “Email Players” issue delves deep into the psychology behind our Nobel Peace Prize winning president’s 2012 campaign fundraising emails. (Most of the $690 million online donations were via email, NOT social media.)

Lots of cool insights.

And, lots of profitable insights, too.

Subscribe in time here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

So I heard another Internet “death of” prediction.

What happened was, my droog Jon McCulloch was listening to a CD from a (very well known) Internet marketing guy. Someone probably 95% of online marketers would recognize. And, yes, a guy whose name I won’t tell you (dontcha hate when I do that, ya little gossiper?)

The “who” doesn’t matter anyway.

It’s the “what” he said I want to skewer.

And that is:

“Email marketing is dead”

Riiiiight.

I guess I didn’t get that memo.

As my sales (and those of many of my “Email Players” subscribers) are higher than ever using good old “retro” email.

Anyway, people are always pronouncing email dead.

Usually they blame social media.

And spam.

And lower open rates.

Yada, yada yada…

In a way they’re right, though.

Email IS dead for most people.

Like people who give away lots of “content.”

Who write emails as if they’re static sales letters.

(Which is a big mistake, BTW).

And, who simply don’t know how to sell.

For them?

Yes.

Email is dead as a hammer.

For the few of us who know how to use it?

It’s alive and kicking.

Who knows?

Maybe one day we’ll see the death of goo-roo predictions.

Until then, realize this:

Whenever someone (especially a goo-roo selling an alternative to whatever death he’s pronouncing) says a media, format or platform is “dead” (i.e. long form sales letters, email, plain text, etc), you can be sure it’s alive and breathing.

Although I gotta admit:

I kinda dig my competition believing email is dead.

It’s less competition for me.

And, less competition for my “Email Players” subscribers.

(Not that we have “competition”…)

So keep predicting, ye goo-roos.

And we’ll keep profiting.

Subscribe to “Email Players” here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Never a dull moment ’round here…

Yesterday I was forwarded a Facebook group message where some dude critiqued my email “sequence.”

Apparently, he recently got on my list.

Read a grand total of two emails.

(He mentioned my “welcome” email and lawyer email.)

And from those two emails pronounced I’m doing everything wrong, have no credibility and am “screwing myself” by not giving away lots of videos, content and reports. In fact, he was particularly hung up on lack of content and “proof”, and lamented how I did not build any “rapport” with him, show any desire to help him, or give him any reason to trust me.

Is he right?

Am I doing it all wrong?

Should I renounce my wicked ways?

Uhm, no.

Just the opposite, in fact.

For one thing, right off the bat he was confused:

I don’t even have an email “sequence.”

Only the “welcome” email is auto-respondered.

And that has a pdf of the first “Email Players” issue.

Pure content.

And, valuable content, too.

Same with his lame “proof” complaint.

I use 13+ ways to prove claims or build my credibility in my emails (and 2 of them I use in almost every email I send out, including THIS email). I’ll probably do an “Email Players” issue about this eventually.

But, they’re “invisible.”

That’s kinda the point.

I’m not trying to impress “advertising critics.”

I’m trying to sell my product.

And speaking of which…

Yes, of course I’m always selling.

After all, I *believe* in my products.

And in my way of thinking, if you believe your product can truly help people, then it’s your moral and ethical duty to at least tell them about it, yo?

More:

There are lessons (i.e. content) in all my emails.

Some obvious.

Some not-so-obvious.

But you can find value even in my emails aggressively making the sale. (Even if it’s just to see an example of how to sell with email — in that sense, I give more “for real” value than 99% of Internet marketers).

Anyway, enough.

Time to bottom line this:

My “Email Players” newsletter isn’t for advertising critics.

It goes against most mainstream email instruction.

And, it won’t make you popular with your peers.

But, it works for me.

It works for my subscribers.

And, I believe it can work for you, too.

More at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Never a dull moment ’round here.

Check out this question:

“Instead of buying your products, my guess is you apply your same products to your own daily emails. This is why i reverse engineer your daily emails and extract the good stuff out from them. My question is why should I buy your products if they are already applied to your daily emails (if they arn’t – then wtf)?”

The goo-roo fanboyism is strong with this one.

For one, you can’t “reverse engineer” what I’m doing.

You can try to.

And, you may even think you are doing it.

But I can assure you, you’re not.

And any one of my long term “Email Players” subscribers will tell you the same thing. This is why swiping my emails will not do you any good long term — you don’t even know what you’re swiping.

Example:

Sometimes I do things WRONG on purpose.

Yes, sweetie, I do this to you.

And all the “reverse engineers” like you.

Why?

Because it amuses me.

And because I know that in the long run it doesn’t hurt my sales since I do things the right way enough times where it doesn’t matter. This is why all the idiots who ripped off my “Avengers” email last year (apparently the goo-roo fanboys were scrambling for an original thought that day) will never make the money they could be making — while completely demolishing their credibility with long term customers, even if they get a few short term buyers.

As for should you subscribe?

No!

You should continue to fool yourself into thinking I’m giving anything even CLOSE to my best, most profitable tips away in my free emails. You should also continue to “reverse engineer” my emails where I do things purposely wrong. And, you should continue to sign up for free lists thinking that’s all you need.

That’s the ticket.

The rest of us will have the best customers.

Make the most sales.

And, build the biggest businesses.

To take off the training wheels, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ta,

Ben Settle

By far my all-time favorite movie on Planet Earth is…

The Matrix!

I can watch it over and over and over.

(And I have…)

The best part is the “red pill” scene.

This is when Neo (the main character, for all ye cavemen who have been living inside a rocky conclave since 1999) is given the choice between taking two pills: A red pill and a blue pill. If he takes the red pill he will know the truth — that reality as he knows it is a big lie, and all humans are jacked into a giant computer, with their living bodies being used as bio fuel for machines that rule the world. If he takes the blue pill, he goes on in sweet, blissful ignorance, thinking he’s free, while really he is being enslaved, consumed and ultimately killed by the machines that control his reality.

So he takes the red pill.

Becomes disconnected from the machine.

And sees reality for what it is.

Well, guess what?

Every day I make YOU a similar choice:

Take the red pill or the blue pill.

I make you this offer every time I plug “Email Players.”

When you stubbornly refuse to subscribe, you are gagging down the BLUE pill. You go on unaware of the power of email. How it can near-instantly increase your sales. And how it can bring you a kind of peace of mind you’ll never find lobbing tweets and FaceBook “likes” into cyberspace.

Then, there’s the red pill.

That’s what “Email Players” is.

Only a few swallow it, of course.

Hey, a lot of people are scared of success.

(It’s a huge problem in society.)

Now, I cannot make you any guarantees.

I don’t know the future.

And didn’t write you today to tell you how it’ll end.

I’m writing to tell you how it begins.

Now I’m going to plug “Email Players”, and a few will subscribe. When that happens, I’m going to show them what the rest of the blue-pill goo-roos don’t want them to see.

A world where’s there no real competition.

A world without “profit borders” or controls dictating your income.

A world, NEO, where you succeed.

And, succeed BIG.

Where you go from there…

… is a choice I leave to you…

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“You’re going to have your critics. Screw ’em”

-Mike Ditka

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…

A day without a scolding piece of crap-hot HATE mail is like a day without sunshine around here. If I don’t get at least one pointlessly negative mindless rant email about what an arrogant SOB I am or whatever, well, I get a bit disappointed.

And you know what?

There’s a reason for this.

A reason that’s also a lesson.

A lesson that’s also an opportunity for you, dear one.

You see, once upon a time, I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh talking about how at least HALF of his audience hates his guts.

No… not just disagree with him.

Not just dislike him.

And not just can’t stand him.

But HATE him.

Yes, them h8’ers sure do love to hate.

And the irony is, all that hate turns into love for elrushbo because that polarization serves to turn on his fan base, who then come to his defense by tuning in and then buying from the advertisers on his show.

It’s the exact same with email, amigo.

Email is just talk radio.

At least, if you do it the right way.

So don’t be afraid to rattle some cages.

Get people MAD.

And, yes, even have people hate you.

It’s good for the soul.

(And also, for your bank account.)

More at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Lately, I’ve been getting this question a lot:

“Ben, what kind of conversion rates do you get?”

I get why people ask this.

Especially newer people.

But really, it’s the wrong question to ask.

Truth is, my answers to this question are 1000% irrelevant to anyone else but me, just as someone else’s answers to this question are 1000% irrelevant to anyone else but them.

Why?

Think about it this way.

Imagine two businesses tracking conversions.

Let’s assume all sales are 100% profit, and business A sells a $19 product to a list of 1000 people, and gets 100 sales — that’s a whopping 10% conversion rate and $1,900 in profit.

Not too shabby is it?

Let’s face it… that’s a HUGE conversion rate!

Business B, on the other hand, sells a $1,900 product to a list of 1000 people and gets just 3 sales (a nearly non-existent “conversion rate”) — but banks $5,700 profit.

Which would you rather be?

Which makes the most money?

This is why the ONLY person your conversions mean anything to is you. Especially since, for example, raising your price might result in less conversions but MORE profit.

Even looking for a “benchmark” conversion is pointless.

There is none.

The only conversions that matter are yours.

Not mine.

Not some goo-roo’s.

And not anyone else’s for that matter.

More:

I’m also convinced that almost everyone who does reveal their conversion rates (I never trust anyone who does — unless they have a legitimate reason to) is flat out lying or, at the very least, being intellectually dishonest. (i.e. they claim huge conversion rates, but fail to mention how it was to a list of 100 people or something statistically irrelevant).

Bottom line?

Focus on your sales and ROI.

Not necessarily your conversion rates.

Everything else will take care of itself.

And yes…

I believe the fastest and most reliable way (in my opinion) to increase your sales and ROI online is with the lowly email.

It’s fast.

It’s cheap.

And, once you get the hang of it, easy.

You can learn my system at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Got a great email question while back.

Here it is:

“Ben, I have a list that I have been sending emails to monthly or bi-monthly when I have something to say. I do not want to annoy them! And yet I still get people complaining and calling me a spammer. I heard you say that doesn’t happen when mailing daily. How is that???”

That’s an excellent question.

Maybe think of it like this:

Your list is basically like an organism.

You created it, and you built it.

But then you starved it by not REGULARLY sending anything cool and fun and interesting to it, and so it turned against you.

You gotta feed it, son.

Don’t OVER feed it, of course.

But you should feed it regularly — and yes, every day is ideal.

Sure, maybe sometimes it will have indigestion and burp or fart on you, and make a stink over something you feed it, but mostly it’ll be happy and content and want more.

Anyway, that’s my take on it.

The trick is the KIND of food you feed it.

That is where my email system fits in.

I always get amused by people who are on my list and think they can “reverse engineer” what I’m doing.

They ALWAYS get it wrong.

Every time.

No exceptions.

And it’s interesting watching people play email “T-ball” like that, when they could be playing in the big leagues, making real sales, regularly.

Why mess around?

Ain’t nuttin like the real thing, baby:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

About that swipe file page from Friday…

All weekend long people have been asking me to explain the story behind it, why I put it up, and should they hire an attorney like that and do something similar. (Not surprisingly, the people asking this have mostly been “Email Players” — www.EmailPlayers.com — subscribers, as once they learned my system and started kicking bootay, they were suddenly “targets” for swipers and thieves, too).

Incidentally, I can’t help but wonder:

Will someone be dumb enough to swipe the copyright lawyer’s letter?

Only time will tell…

In the meantime, here’s the story behind it:

A few weeks ago, some shmuck who positions himself as a 7-figure guru in the fitness niche used one of my emails 95%+ word-for-word to sell someone else’s email product.

(Which doesn’t say much for that email product…)

I wasn’t just PO’d.

I was like a mushroom cloud-laying mo’ fo’.

But, that soon turned to gratitude because it *finally* motivated me to consult a copyright attorney about how I can go after these bastards.

It was a very edu-ma-cational experience, too.

When someone steals your emails or sales copy, you got rights.

Including the right to collect damages.

To get attorney fees.

And, even press criminal charges.

Don’t let the “swipe & steal” goo-roos fool you, either.

It’s like the attorney’s letter says:

There’s no such thing as “innocent” copyright infringement.

It doesn’t matter if you’re “in a hurry” or are “sorry” or simply stoopid enough to think it’s okay because your favorite goo-roo does it. It’s no different than stealing money right out of someone’s wallet. And if you have copy and emails and informational products that are making you sales, I HIGHLY suggest consulting a copyright attorney about how you can not only stop the pirates… but maybe even profit from the situation by going for damages (and it’s not nearly as hard as it sounds — especially in blatant cases, like mine was).

So that’s the story.

I know, I know…

The standard line is not to worry about this stuff, right?

Just send some outdated boilerplate “cease & desist.”

I think that’s insane.

If enough people start hitting back, you’d see a LOT less theft.

A LOT less competition.

And, a LOT more profits overall.

Ben Settle

P.S. I would not recommend “swiping” that cease & desist letter. For one thing, that was unique to my business and situation. I have recently learned how idiotic it is to use “boilerplate” legal documents. People have no clue how their “swiped” legal documents are not only worthless… but could land THEM in some serious legal trouble. And for another, these things have much sharper “teeth” coming from a law firm, rather than Joe Internet Marketer.

But, I realize this falls on mostly deaf ears.

Everyone wants to swipe.

It’s all “cheap, cheap, cheap” online.

But, as I always say, cheap is the new expensive.

Especially when it comes to things like this.

So SPURN my advice at your peril…