Came a question from an \u201cEmail Players\u201d subscriber.<\/p>\n
I know you talked about how you don\u2019t pay attention to open rates.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Still\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
Even with my tiny-small list I can see, let\u2019s say tendencies, with regard to ORs.<\/strong><\/p>\n
At what point (what list size) can I take those parameters serious?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The short answer:<\/p>\n
Almost never.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an almost completely pointless vanity metric, possibly only a little more useful than your last Frogger arcade game score from 1981. There is far more power in the consistency you send emails and in focusing on getting better each day. And while I won\u2019t say open rates have zero value \u2014 as there are a few times where it makes sense to track them, like to monitor the overall health of your list for example \u2014 don\u2019t fool yourself into thinking they have anything to do with sales or anything but maybe an ego boost or bragging points in a Facebook group full of copywriters who find such vanity metrics worthy of getting excited about.<\/p>\n
On that note:<\/p>\n
Following are 12 far more important markers than open rates.<\/p>\n
1. Sales \u2014 the ultimate engagement (see the next one), plus if money is the game, sales is the scoreboard<\/p>\n
2. Replies\/engagement \u2014 ESPs like Gmail & Yahoo tend to give more inbox delivery love (instead of shunting you to the spam or promotions folders) to you when you get replies from your list, since they see you as a person and not a worthless spammer<\/p>\n
3. Clicks \u2014 which means engagement, and are far more practically useful than opens<\/p>\n
4. Opt outs \u2014 probably don\u2019t count as \u201cengagement\u201d, but if you aren\u2019t getting lots of opt-outs you ain\u2019t doing it right<\/p>\n
5. Complaints\/trolls \u2014 which, ironically, help your overall delivery since they are engaging with you (i.e., why trolls are your unpaid interns if you let them be)<\/p>\n
6. Testimonials \u2014 not just for the engagement factor, but the practical factor too<\/p>\n
7. Questions \u2014 even more engagement, plus can make great fodder for future emails<\/p>\n
8. Customer service requests \u2014 yet more engagement, plus probably the greatest opportunity for selling there is<\/p>\n
9. Interview request reply to an email \u2014 not only means engagement, but interviews are great for list-building<\/p>\n
10. Forwards \u2014 if people are forwarding your emails to their friends, social media, etc, that can lead to referrals & a bigger list<\/p>\n
11. JV proposal reply to an email \u2014 not only does this mean engagement, but could also mean new business<\/p>\n
12. Spam complaints \u2014 not a good thing, but does tell you your lead gen & curation is weak, an important thing to know in the grand scheme of things<\/p>\n
The goo-roo fanboys won\u2019t like this list much.<\/p>\n
But if you care what they think, you got bigger problems than open rates.<\/p>\n
All right, on to the business:<\/p>\n
My \u201cEmail Players\u201d methodology is designed to get you far more of the 12 actions above than you are getting now. The evergreen info is in the \u201cEmail Players Skhema Book\u201d I give to new subscribers, with the ongoing stuff in the monthly newsletter.<\/p>\n
Speaking of which:<\/p>\n
The November issue is all about copywriting.<\/p>\n
And, specifically, mastering copywriting.<\/p>\n
Not just being good or even great at it \u2014 but mastering it.<\/p>\n
If that appeals to you, go here before the looming 10\/31\/20 deadline to get this issue:<\/p>\n