I found the WORST subject line of all time

Published: Tue, 04/21/15

Wow. 

Yesterday I sent out an email that got ZERO opens
and one unsubscribe.

How's that for email marketing?

I think I win a prize for that :P

So you might ask, what was the subject line?

I mean, you didn't open it, so I suppose you didn't
even see it. Or maybe you did...

It was--get this for creativity--

OPEN OPEN OPEN

That direct plea obviously didn't work. Let's see ​if
anybody opens this one. Hehe.

Anyhow, in yesterday's email, I was making the point
(irony is such a mean drunk) that email marketing is
only good if you have engaged subscribers.

(Obviously, I don't.) Here's the email from yesterday:

*******************************************

One of the keys to effective list building is making sure 
your subscribers OPEN your emails.

Otherwise, you're wasting time, money, and resources.

Many email service providers charge you based on 
your "list size", so a bigger list that doesn't read your
emails is a lot worse than a small list of actively 
engaged subscribers.

Hence, my plea to you - OPEN OPEN OPEN this email.

Of course, you opened this because you're reading it
now :) - edit, no, you didn't.

Email service providers like Aweber allow you, the list
owner, to see who has--and who hasn't--opened your 
emails.

That's a critical stat to know.

If you find that a number of subscribers aren't opening
your emails, you can do one of two things - in this order:

  1. Email only them to remind them of the benefits 
    of opening your emails. You will probably need 
    to get creative with your subject lines, maybe 
    offer a bonus.
  2. Prune your list.
There's no sense in continuing to mail subscribers
that don't open your emails. You're wasting your time
and money and resources.

Pruning your list is a manual thing in Aweber. However,
you can use tools like AW Pro Tools to make pruning your
list easier.

It really doesn't matter how you do it, though. What matters
most is that you build a list of engaged subscribers.

If you're finding that some subscribers never even open
your emails, just cut them. Give them a chance first, but 
cut them off. You probably won't win them back. You've 
conditioned them to disregard your emails.

Bill

PS - I just had an unbelievably awesome chat with Aweber
support. I'd bought my current plan over 4 years ago and
was missing some of the newer features. 

They upgraded me for free and honored my price plan 
(that I'd bought through another source, as a white label
product).

I really didn't expect that. Aweber is good people.