Archive for category Sales Letter Template
The Best Advice I Got On Writing Sales Copy
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Direct Mail, Free Sales Letter, Sales Cover Letter, Sales Letter Template, email advertising marketing, marketing letters, sales letters, sales prospecting on September 7th, 2009
I’ll admit I sometimes have a bit of a snarky streak to me. Different things bring it out. Last week I did a favor for a friend and spoke to a bunch of business owners about website copy and sales letters. I shared with them the advice I’m about to share with you.
At the end of the talk a lot of of them came up to me, and in that uniquely Southern condescending/pious manner (that just makes you want to slap someone) said, “It was nice to have you provide that nice little refresher for us.”
Here’s where the snarky comes in. I decided to look at each of their websites (I even grabbed their sales brochures on the way out). Thought I’d see how they were incorporating “my nice little refresher”. And guess what I found.
Copy that was just basically a bunch of crap. I’m sorry but there’s just not a polite way to put it. Anyway, here’s the advice I gave the group…perhaps you’ll find it more useful than the dweebs I spoke to.
>>>>
If you want to write sales letters or website copy that will actually get read and motivate people to take action, here’s an often overlooked step.
I know this is just my option, but I’m a believer the far too much time and effort is spent on writing and far too little is devoted to identifying the facts about your product or service. For example, the more that you develop a detailed list of facts and their corresponding benefits, before you sit down and write, the better the final result will be.
But hardly anyone is willing to do that. Why? Probably because it takes time, it takes thinking, and we’re a society in which patience is in extremely short supply. But I’m a believer that if you’ll take this step, your sales copy will have a richness to it that will enable your readers to visualize the results that your product or service promise.
Marketing mastermind Garry Halbert used to suggest writing down one feature or fact about what you’re selling on a 3X5 index card. He’d make fun of you (an believe me that wasn’t a pleasant experience) if you weren’t able of come up with at least 3-dozen. I always found that the first 5 or 6 were pretty easy to come up with. But by the time I got to 24 I felt the well had run completely dry. But there would be Gary, pushing, pushing, pushing. “Come on you poor excuse for a marketer” he rasped, “Dig, what else do you offer?”
And the interesting thing was this. The most compelling facts, the ones that actually resonated the most with the reader, the ones that hooked their attention and motivated people to take action, were invariably among the last group of facts I came up with.
Everyone thinks that copywriters sit down and just “start writing”, As if they had a magic pen or something. Or they think that “anyone can do it.” A mindset similar to-I can boil water therefore I am a chef. Hardly anyone gets the hard work, that goes into writing sales copy that actually achieves it’s purpose of motivating people to take action.
But I digress.
Now once you have your list of features or facts prepared you need to turn them into something that will interest your reader. Remember the old saying, “Nobody buys grass seeds, they really buy the promise of beautiful lawns”. So for each fact we need to turn them into benefits. Or, as one wag puts it, the answer to, “Why should I care?”
For example I am working with a HR consultant who offers a brand new assessment tool for hiring sales people. Suppose to be a good predictor of sales success. One fact about this assessment tool is that it has been tested (or as they say in psychological terms, “validated”) on over 15,000 sales people. OK, that’s an interesting fact. So now we have to determine what the benefit is, the “why should I care?” factor.
*You should care because this means that you no longer have to rely on your gut instinct.
*You should care because if the big boss wants to hire some jerk but the assessment says you shouldn’t, you’ve got evidence to support your decision.
*You should care because this means that whether you’re hiring one or 100 reps it’s a good predictor of success.
*You should care because it means that the test has been around a while unlike all those other assessment tools that pop up and then disappear into the morning mist.
Validated by 15,000 sales people is a fact. OK, but not a compelling reason to use it. No longer having to rely on your gut instincts (which make most anyone who has to hire someone very uncomfortable) is a real benefit. That’s the stuff you want to emphasize in your sales letters and on your website.
OK, as I said in the beginning…I realize that you’ve heard all this before. But before you dismiss what you just read as a “nice reminder of something I already know”, let me ask you to take a look at your sales letters or website home page. How compelling is it? How chocked full of “why should I care?” benefits does it contain? Remember that there’s a world of difference between knowing something and actually implementing something. So if how you’re presenting your business in print needs a tune up keep these thoughts in mind (or even get someone-like me-to write something great for you.)
How Long Should A Sales Letter Be? The Ideal Length Of Your Next Lead Generation Letter.
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Direct Mail, Free Sales Letter, Sales Cover Letter, Sales Letter Template, marketing letters, sales letters, sales prospecting, sales tips on September 1st, 2009
One of the more common questions that I get asked in my sales training seminars on lead generation is “How long should a sales letter be?”
Although there are no hard and fast rules, and no shortage of conflicting opinions, here’s what has worked best for our clients.
First, it’s important to differentiate between writing sales letters in the business-to-business market vs. writing letters directly to consumers. Although there is a natural overlap, there are some crucial distinctions. One of which is that consumers tend to have more time and willingness to read a lengthy sales letter than those who are perusing your letter while they’re at work.
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***In the consumer market, the old saying that “the more you tell, the more you sell” has some bearing on how long your letter should be. When marketing to consumers, a 4-page sales letter out-pulls a two page. A 8-page letter does better than a 4 page. At what point are there diminishing returns? There really doesn’t appear to be one as long as two variables are kept in mind. 1) Mailing to a list of highly targeted prospects, and, 2) Writing in a style that engages readers. In other words, “If I’m interested in the topic I’ll read what you have to say (as long as it’s interesting) but if I’m not interested than one page is probably too much.”
There are tactics copywriters use in terms of format and structure that make longer letters more likely to get read. The first is the use of stories. As one successful writer of fund raising letters (probably the most difficult and competitive market for copywriting) commented, “Tell me that 1,000,000 people died of starvation in Africa, and I’ll probably just throw the letter away. However, tell me the story of Sam, who’s an orphan, reduced to eating bugs to survive, and I’ll whip out my checkbook.”
A second suggestion concerns layout. With a lengthy sales letter it’s likely that it will be initially quickly scanned, rather than read in detail from the very beginning. That’s why sub-headlines are so important. They propel readers from one section to the next, and for the reader who is just scanning, they indicate areas that may be of particular interest to specific readers.
However in the world of B2B sales letters the rule of “the more you tell, the more you sell” doesn’t apply so neatly. It’s still important that your letter be targeted to a very specific niche. The more the reader sees a reflection of themselves in your opening sentence the greater the likelihood is that they will read further into the letter. And, it should go without saying, that the tone and prose of the letter should be welcoming and appropriately informal so that it engages the reader.
This is why letters that are one or two pages in length tend to do the best.
This makes a great deal of sense when one considers the environment in which the B2B letter is read. It’s quite different from reading a letter in the comfort of your home. In consumer mailings the initial decision on whether to pay attention to the letter is done over the trashcan and largely based on what appears on the envelope. Once the letter makes it into the “read” pile, it stands a good chance of actually getting read in its entirety.
That’s different than letters that are received at the office. First, they may not actually arrive to the intended reader in their envelope. It is far more likely that they are in a pile in an in-box. (What to put on the envelop to get it past the screener has been discussed elsewhere.)
But the main difference is the level of distraction that exists in the B2B environment. As the letter is read, the phone is ringing, there is someone waiting outside the office and the prospect’s mind is trying to juggle multiple tasks. Thus it is imperative (even more so than in writing to consumers) that the first sentence hooks the reader’s attention. There are multiple ways of doing this but my favorites are here:
There is another factor that must be considered when writing any sales letter but one that is critically important in the B2B market. “What do you want the person to do once they have finished reading the letter?”
With a 6/8/10 page letter we can actually sell products (albeit low priced ones) to readers. However in the B2B market the level of services that are being offered doesn’t make this practical. Unfortunately the “call to action” of asking for a meeting tends to be too much-too soon and usually fails to elicit a positive response.
The calls to action that work the best in B2B are either 1) offers of additional information or, 2) a statement that the writer will be calling to arrange for an appointment in the next few days. Offers of free information will result in a higher response rate, but using the letter as a lead-in to an appointment setting call can work well also. When I was an executive at Kraft, if a letter seemed on point, I would give it to my secretary with the directions that “If this person calls go ahead and schedule a brief meeting.”
Naturally if you want more information on what to say in those follow up calls my telephone marketing scripts will be helpful. Find out more here.
Sales Letter Tips-”Live” Stamp Or Not?
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Direct Mail, Free Sales Letter, Sales Letter Template, marketing letters, sales letters, sales prospecting on August 28th, 2009
Jason Holcheck writes, “Is it better to have a live stamp or run the letters through a machine? Also, I’m mailing a lot of letters, will my response rate be hurt if I bulk mail them?”
My response: Remember, the first goal in any direct mail campaign is to get the letter opened. Thus it is crucial that we make the letter look like personal business correspondence.
I don’t know about you, but one of the criteria I use when sorting my mail is to look a the stamp. If it’s a bulk-mail stamp I know that the contents are probably just promotional so more times than not-it goes directly in the trash.
A live stamp makes the recipient pause and say to themselves, “I wonder if this is something important?” It’s that moment of uncertainty that we’re looking for so that they will open the envelope and at least read the opening sentence of our letter.
So, without a doubt, using a live stamp will increase the response rate you get from your mailings.
Free Sales Letter Writing Secrets-What You Need To Do First
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Free Sales Letter, Sales Letter Template on July 29th, 2009
As I was preparing today’s free sales writing secrets blog posting for you, I started thinking about my least favorite aspect of writing a sales letter. What I came up with is that I dislike the “planning” that needs to take place before you begin writing. If you’re like me this is the least enjoyable part of the process but it’s crucial if you want to get lots and lots of people responding.
So why is “planning” so important?
Have you ever received an email or a letter that you felt was written with you in mind? Even though you knew that it went out to lots and lots of other readers, it was written in a way that made you feel like the writer was writing just for you.
I’m also pretty sure that you’ve gotten a ton of emails and letters that were written in a highly impersonal style. I call them “corporate-speak”. It didn’t make you feel that the writing really cared about you. Obviously that’s a huge mistake.
I remember a former boss letting me in on an important lesson, “Remember, companies don’t buy things from companies, PEOPLE buy things from PEOPLE.” That’s why it’s crucial that we focus on building one-to-one relationships whenever we send out emails or sales letters.
Here are the 3 questions I always ask myself before I sit down and write.
1) Who’s the reader? Try to describe the reader as an individual even though you are likely to be sending this out to dozens, hundreds or perhaps even thousands of readers.
2) What’s the problem they’re facing? Remember, everyone thinks their problems are unique. The more you’re able to target specific issues, the greater the probability that your letter will get read.
3) What are the CONSEQUENCES if the problem isn’t addressed? This is where we address the “So what?” issue. We have to make the reader CARE about finding a solution. That’s done by communicating the consequences that are likely to occur if it isn’t addressed.
These are the three questions I try to answer before I start. I find every time I don’t do this, I regret it.
How do you prepare?
Some Free Sales Letter Advice For What To Put On Your Envelopes
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Cover Letter, Sales Letter Template on July 25th, 2009
Without meaning to belabor the obvious, the first step in any successful direct mail campaign is to get the letter opened. Seems like it should be simple enough. Just address it to the person and now you’re done.
Ah if only it was so easy.
So let’s start with the envelope. What you put on it (and conversely what you leave off) will have a significant impact on your response levels.
If you’re in the B2B market, your goal is to make what you’re sending look like professional business correspondence. B2B differs from the consumer market in one important area-there’s usually a screener involved. What we want the envelop to communicate to the screener is “This is something I should pass along” rather than “This is something to pitch.”
In order to do this we need to eliminate anything that might indicate that what’s inside is promotional in nature. For example, I’ve tested plain white envelopes against cream colored ones, and the “non-generic” envelopes outperform the “Buy 10,000 for a buck” envelopes by a wide margin.
This is even more important if your prospect is a senior level executive at a big corporation. If that’s your target you’ll want your envelop to mimic the look of personal business stationary. You’ll want a heavier weight which gives the envelop greater stiffness and a certain gravitas of importance.
What about envelope size? Interestingly, slightly smaller than normal envelopes outperform standard or larger sizes. The exception is if you are marketing to consumers which has an entirely different set of guidelines to observe. I’ll write about that sometime later.
Although this would appear to be obvious, the address needs to be printed in a type that is consistent with the look of personal correspondence. The good news is that most letter shops are equipped to handle this task. However make sure you have a small trial run done before you launch the whole campaign. I’ve found on occasion, the print on the envelopes looks “washed out” which sends a clear message that this is a mass produced mailing.
This next point is important and it can as a surprise to me.
If you’re buying a mailing list from a list broker, make sure that address is in standard Title Case, rather than ALL IN CAPS. Apparently the post office prefers CAPS in addresses thus a lot of the mailing list services provide their lists in this format by default. Obviously no on in their right mind would send personal correspondence addressed to someone in ALL CAPS. I had one mailing that got a great big ZERO response because I didn’t catch this.
Finally pay attention to the return address. I’ve tested a variety of options and have found that simply having your mailing address with no name and no company mentioned performed the best. Having just your name and address sends the message that a resume is enclosed. Not what you want.
Is Your Persuasive Sales Letter Really Communicating Something “Persuasive”?
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Letter Template on July 22nd, 2009
The phrase “too close to the forest to see the trees” comes to mind when many of us sit down to write a sales letter or marketing email. What do I mean by this?
Let me backtrack slightly…
Obviously the most important question we try to answer in any marketing communication is, “Why should someone buy my product or service?” On the surface that’s rather obvious. However, if what we’re trying to communicate is so obvious, why do we so often miss the mark?
Here’s what I think.
It all boils down to the fact that we so often overlook the fundamental problem that our prospects are trying to solve. Instead of hitting that on the head, we miss it by focusing on things that we think the prospect should be impressed with.
Fundamentally this gets back to the issue of Features vs. Benefits. And “Yes” I know you’ve heard this a million times before, but bear with me a moment. Understanding something intellectually, and actually putting it into practice are often too very different things.
As you’ve undoubtedly been told, features are the technical aspects of a product or service. It might be things such as “There are 7 steps in the Gentle Rain Marketing system”, “The shredder offer 3 variable speeds”. These are both features, although if we’re selling these products or services, our mind immediately imagines the “benefits” that these features offer.
That’s the problem.
We’re so close to what we sell that we feel the “benefits” should be obvious. That assumption is what kills far too many sales presentations.
Granted the difference between features and benefits can be subtle. Financial advisors who focus on performance and fees, although they think they are talking about “benefits”, are in fact talking about features.
So what? Why is this a big deal?
Unless you communicate what you offer in a way that resonates precisely with the needs of your prospect, your message will get ignored. It’s that simple. The difference between a “feature” and a benefit” although often subtle, is very real, and will make a significant difference on whether someone takes action on your message.
The key to converting features into benefits is to think about two simple words. Anytime you write down something that you think is a benefit you want to ask yourself this basics two-word question.
“So what?”
Or, the variation on it, “Why should I care?”
Let’s take a look at a couple of examples for how we can incorporate benefits into an otherwise “Why should I care?” features statement.
Remember the first example? The Gentle Rain Marketing system has 7 steps to it. So what? If don’t answer the “so what?” question I haven’t given the reader any particular reason to care about why having 7 steps is something that benefits them.
So let’s take another look. There are 7 steps to the Gentle Rain Marketing system that makes it simple not get overwhelmed and ensures that you get a steady stream of brand new clients.
Or
There are 7 steps in the Gentle Rain Marketing system which ensures you can get your marketing system up and running getting you more new business in less than 45 days.
Lets take a look at my earlier example from the financial services field.
Financial advisors often focus too much on performance and fees. Granted these are important features, but features none-the-less. What is the prospect really most interested in? What are they most concerned about? What do they MOST want to know that will make them willing to invest in your solution?
What they really want to know is “Where should I invest my hard earned savings in order to ensure that I can have a comfortable retirement that it cannot outlive?”
That’s the core benefit that they want. Everything that you communicate should “link” to that benefit.
Never forget the old maxim, “People don’t buy grass seeds, they buy beautiful lawns.” Always state (don’t assume) the ultimate benefit that your products or services offer. That’s how you build relationships and ultimately make more sales.
Do Headlines Make A Sales Cover Letter Better?
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Letter Template on July 21st, 2009
A question that’s often asked is “Do headlines make a sales cover letter more effective in getting opened and read?’ As with many things in life, the answer is, “It depends.”
Without a doubt, adding a headline to a sales letter immediately makes it apparent why you are writing, and why the reader should read on. Thus, it’s important that the headline focus on a specific group and communicate a very specific benefit.
“This Chiropractor Just Paid A $179,000 Claim Out Of His Own Pocket. Why The Having The Right Amount Of Liability Insurance Is More Important Than Ever.”
Most of the top copywriters who I respect advocate the use of headlines in their sales letters. However, as with many things, I think the effectiveness of headlines depends upon who you are writing to.
In cases in which the intended reader is either a consumer or a small business owner who opens his/her own mail, I think that a headline pays enormous benefits. However the key phrase here is, “opens their own mail.”
The role of the screener is to save their boss time. Thus they are zealously (sometimes overly so) looking at the mail with an eye towards what they can screen out. After all, the boss is unlikely to complain about not seeing mail that never makes it to his desk. The opposite is not true. Too much junk mail in the in-box, and the screener will quickly be looking for a new job. Thus from the screener’s perspective, it’s better to err on the side of “screening out” rather than “screening in”.
That’s when headlines work against us when there is a screener involved. Despite how compelling or intriguing the headline is, the one thing that it definitely communicates is that “this is not personal communication”.
As a result, it’s easy to screen out.
The trick with getting senior level executives, corporate big shots and other hard to reach decision makers to read your letter is to make it appear (at least at first glance) as if it is written from one executive to another. As much as I wish it was otherwise, the headline flies in the face of that objective.
However if I was writing to small businesses, in which the owner usually opens his/her own mail or to consumers, then I definitely would include a headline.
What do you think?
Marketing Fear
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Letter Template on July 20th, 2009
I’d like to spend a few minutes talking with you about Fear.
It’s probably one of the most powerful tools in our marketing arsenal.
But, it’s also the biggest obstacle when it comes time to actually implement “good marketing ideas” into a marketing system that gets us more new clients. More about that in a second.
As Seth Godin points out, “Fear is a powerful driver of decisions Without fear, no one would use seatbelts… you don’t use them because they’re fun, you use them because you worry about what would happen if you crashed without them.”
As numerous studies have shown, “pain” (which leverages the fear factor) out pulls “gain” (the benefits that someone will get by doing something) by a wide margin.
Obviously fear is easy to overdue, with the result being that one sounds like a deranged Chicken Little. However when you are preparing your sales letters or marketing emails and you are debating on whether to be the Sounder-Of-Good-News or the Deliverer-Of-Dire-Warnings, you’re going to get a far better response if you dawn the cloak of the Grim Reaper. (My aren’t I having fun this morning with my literary terms-who said that the BA in English Lit wouldn’t come in handy?)
But you probably heard about Fear as a motivator before.
What I really wanted to write about today is how FEAR turns otherwise confident business owners and consultants into incredibly wimps when it comes to marketing.
And what made me think about this was an article in today’s USA today about poker. Now in all candor, I’m not a big poker follower but the interview with Annie Duke who apparently is both a good poker player and astute business person (got to the finals in one of Donald Trump’s Apprentice programs if that’s any sort of criteria) made a comment that really resonated with me.
“People want to be right. They are afraid of being wrong. It’s not about being right; it’s about being right often enough. If you make a $1000 investment and the return is $10,000 you need only be right 10% of the time. Shrug your shoulders when you are wrong. Great players free themselves form the worry about being wrong.”
I think you get the lesson, but in case you don’t allow me the opportunity to hammer the obvious stake into the already dead cow. (Fun with mixing metaphors!)
I talked with a fellow I’ll call Sam. I have these conversations a lot. A new client for him is worth about $25,000 in profit. I suggested some ways he could get some more new clients that would cost him about $1000. Pretty good return.
But…Sam wanted to KNOW…needed to know…was desperate to know…was that what I suggested he do would work. “Who else has done it?” “What returns did they get?” “How quickly did they see results?”
Nothing inherently wrong with the questions, but they underscore Sam’s complete inability to accept risk. Making prudent decisions is one thing…doing your due diligence can never be faulted…however, that’s different than not taking action unless the results are guaranteed.
And a lot of business owners and consultants never take action on implementing a marketing system because they’re afraid. “It might not work, so I’m better off doing nothing.”
The reality is that if you’re only going to travel down the well-trod road, and the rewards aren’t there.
In fact that’s precisely why most of your marketing doesn’t work. It’s been done before. Lots of times. So by the time you finally decide that it’s “safe” enough to do something, guess what? Your market isn’t interested in that approach/message anymore.
But you try anyway with the “proven” system. The one that everyone else has used. And guess what? You don’t get the response you wanted. Which (in your mind) reinforces the concept that marketing is too risky and doesn’t work.
But you miss the real lesson.
It’s not that it doesn’t work. It’s that you waited too long. And decided just to repeat something that’s already had its day in the proverbial sun.
Rather than trying something new. Perhaps a marketing approach that works really well in another industry but hasn’t yet reached your niche.
But that requires COURAGE. Something that’s in short supply.
Worth thinking about though…
Your thoughts?
A Really Boring Sales Letter
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Cover Letter, Sales Letter Template on July 7th, 2009
I think most sales letters don’t work because they’re boring…or so obviously “sales letters” that the reader immediately turns off.
Do you ever notice that most sales letters never sound like someone talking? It’s as if someone all of a sudden goes into “sales letter writing mode” and all their natural communication skills go out the window.
However, every now and then I stumble across what (at least in my own mind) is a great sales letter. Here’s one that was written by a partner at a very large consulting firm which I think is terrific. It has a real down to earth style and I’ll bet it did real well. (I’ve omitted the relevant names to preserve confidentiality):
“Dear Prospect,
I ‘m a Partner with Flotsum & Jetsum and the leader of our Consumer Products and Retail Practice in New York … and I’d like to find an opportunity to introduce myself to you.
I’m sure you are deluged with consultants – and I’m equally sure that you know how to fend them off. Nevertheless, I think understanding our capabilities could be of great value at some point down the road.
Flotsum & Jetsum is a world leader in the operationalization of retail strategies. We have recent cutting edge experience – for apparel retailers – on private label sourcing, global supply chain transformation and category profit improvement. Our clients highly value our pragmatic, pick-it-up, put-it-in-your-pocket approach to performance improvement.
Let me be specific … with real, past 18 month successes:
• For a leading fashion retailer, we identified $100 million of EBITDA improvement through store operations improvement, indirect sourcing, and improved cycle time.
• For a leading consumer electronics retailer we improved store operating productivity by 15%, including a 40% improvement in Receiving processes.
• For a leading office supplies retailer we achieved $150 million in savings through NFR sourcing.
• For a youth fashion retailer, achieved >$40 million in EBITDA improvement through consolidation of their distribution system and an improved import supply chain.
I’m sensitive to sounding like a consultant ambulance chaser, but I guess I’ll take the risk. Assuming your willingness to allow me a few minutes, I’ll call your office to find a convenient time to meet. I promise to be efficient with your time and to leave my “sales hat” at home.
With best regards,”
Obviously this is written to very targeted audience (as any good marketing letter should be) and I really like the tone and the honesty. It made me believe that the writer was both highly experienced in the field but also a “real” person. Not a lot of pretense (which is a pleasant difference from so many consultants).
Do you have an interesting sales letter? Something new and different that’s worked for you? Send it over I’d love to take a look. My email is mark@gentlerainmarketing.com or just post it here.
Talk soon
Mark
PS Are you getting my frequent newsletter? If not you can sign up here
Email Advertising Marketing-Getting Your Email Opened
Posted by Mark Satterfield in Sales Letter Template on July 1st, 2009
Obviously in order to get your email read, it first has to be opened, which is why the subject line is so crucial. The normal process by which people decide whether to open an email is to see if they recognize the sender. Since we are assuming that your email address won’t mean a great deal to the intended reader, it’s up to the subject line to create enough curiosity that the reader will overcome their skepticism and say to themselves “OK I’ll take the next step and see what this is all about.”
So what type of subject lines works the best? The more it is tailored to the specific needs of a particular group the greater the likelihood is that it will get opened. Thus a subject line of “What Clothing Retailers Need To Know To Reduce Their Inventory Costs” will draw a greater level of curiosity that one that says, “How to lower inventory expense.” This is what is often referred to as the “message to market” match. The more your prospects sees a reflection of him or herself in your subject line, the more effective it will be at getting your message read.
Other subject lines that work well are those that have high curiosity value. Frank Kern had some great results (until everyone started copying it) with a subject line that simply said “Bad News”.
Recently, I had one of my most successful promotions with a subject line that said, “This sales letter made me a lot of money. I want to share it with you.” That directed them to this page which offered a 10 part mini-class.
Another good piece of advice that I received from someone whose name I can’t recall, is to keep a record of which subject lines make you open an email (even though your better judgement tells you that it’s probably just a bunch of spam). If it works on you, there’s a great likelihood that it will work on others.