Got this question about open rates:<\/p>\n
“Is an Open rate of 20-25% actually good? Is a Click rate of 5-10% amazing? Somehow, this seems paltry for a quality list, folks begging for more…”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The answer:<\/p>\n
Yes, no, maybe.<\/p>\n
(How’z that for a politician answer?)<\/p>\n
You see, I couldn’t care less about open rates or click thru rates in most cases. Yes, there are times when the intel comes in handy. But what I mostly care about are sales<\/em>.<\/p>\n
How many sales did the email get?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Let’s put it this way:<\/p>\n
If you did a split test and got a 50% open rate and 5 sales on test A, but a 45% open rate and 9 sales on test B, which email did better?<\/p>\n
Which put more $$ in your hot pocket?<\/p>\n
Which added more names to your buyer’s list?<\/p>\n
(Where the real $$ is made.)<\/p>\n
Clickthru rates are more useful.<\/p>\n
But open rates?<\/p>\n
Not so much.<\/p>\n
Especially since, due to smart phones and a few other technical factors (a computer scientist friend has explained to me recently), your open rates are not accurate anyway.<\/p>\n
More:<\/p>\n
There’s a danger to tracking open rates, too.<\/p>\n
Not a big danger.<\/p>\n
(No need to get paranoid<\/em> about it.)<\/p>\n
But, in some cases, just tracking opens might get your email flagged as spam and wind up in the junk folder.<\/p>\n
Again, tracking opens does have its uses.<\/p>\n
But mostly I care only about sales.<\/p>\n
After all…<\/p>\n
Sales pay for your food, shelter and toys, not open rates.<\/p>\n
Anyway, my too many cents.<\/p>\n
To learn how to write emails that drag in lots and lots of sales, check out the “Email Players” newsletter.<\/p>\n
The January issue mails next week.<\/p>\n
The topic:<\/p>\n
Making more sales by being entertaining.<\/p>\n
Here’s where to go:<\/p>\n