7 Tips to Boost Email Marketing Engagement
Written by Michael Cheney. Last updated on 11th January 2021
Email marketing engagement is critical to the success of your business.
If people are not receiving, opening and clicking your emails you are in trouble.
The Boomerang Boost method solves this.
It's a cool method I've used over the past 20+ years in my email marketing campaigns.
"I call it the Boomerang Boost method because it involves sending emails which get people to reply back to you - this is super important for email engagement..."
Oh, if you're new to all this email marketing malarkey this is a basic starter video for you:
So let's now talk about the power of using email replies to get in people's inbox more often...
One of the main problems that people face when they're doing email marketing is to get their emails, into the inbox.
With so many businesses all competing for attention it can be a real battle to get email engagement up.
Of course, writing the best email subjects lines that stand out is important.
As is the content of your email.
But one of the most important things of all, in terms of improving your email marketing engagement, is to make sure your email is even received in the first place.
One of the best ways to do this is to start a Boomerang Boost campaign so let's dive into this;
TABLE OF CONTENTS
#.1 How To Boost Email Marketing Engagement
#2. Email Marketing Engagement and Autoresponders
#3. How to Increase Email Marketing Engagement by Getting Your Subscribers Involved in Your New Product
#4. How to Revive an Unresponsive, Dead Email List and Bring it Back to Life
#5. Get Your Subscribers to Vote on Something to Encourage Interaction
#6. Encourage People to Reply to Improve Email Engagement
#7. How To Boost Email Engagement as Your Business Grows
Conclusion
Now, sure...
You can also spam-check your emails, make sure you don't use junk type email subject lines and trigger words, which will also help.
These things will all help you try and get into your prospect's inbox rather than their Trash or Junk.
Using the Boomerang Boost method ensures the autoresponder service you use and common email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. will see your emails as highly valuable and responsive.
This, in turn, means they will land in the inbox more and get more engagement with your subscribers.
The more your emails look and are responded to like personal emails the better they will be treated by email providers and the more chance you have of escaping the dreaded Trash, Spam, Junk and Promotion filters of doom!
How this works is simple...
"When you encourage your subscribers to reply to your emails, you actually get a better score in the inbox."
The email providers see that you are providing real value and real emails which people are actually replying to.
Because yes, as we all know, Google and other big companies see everything.
They know if your email are being looked at or not.
They know if they are being ignored, deleted or filed as Trash.
Getting people on your email list to occasionally reply to your emails improves your rating with the big tech companies.
It increases your chances of getting your emails delivered direct into the inbox, instead of to spam trash or junk.
There are multiple ways you can achieve this, and I'm going to explain them in this training.
It all starts with...
If you're just starting out and don't know what an autoresponder is I'll explain real fast;
An autoresponder a paid service you use which lets you build an email marketing list and they send out the bulk emails for you.
(You'll get in trouble fast if you try to email lots of people yourself from Gmail or Outlook etc.)
An autoresponder does all this for you.
Now what you need to know is many autoresponders will have different servers they use to send emails from.
Think about it;
They may have thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of clients.
And each one of those clients could be sending hundreds of thousands of emails.
Because of this the autoresponder companies are in a constant battle and in communication with the likes of Gmail, Hotmail and other email providers to make sure their messages go to the inbox and not spam.
The email providers therefore ask the autoresponders to jump through a lot of hoops to make sure their emails are legitimate and follow all spam regulations.
This is why the autoresponder you use should include things like a spam checker, an inbox preview tool, and so on.
I use the Getresponse autoresponder, which in my opinion is the best autoresponder on the market (and you can get a 30-day free trial to start).
It includes these spam-checking tools and a way to preview and test all your emails, before you broadcast them live.
An insider secret you need to know is that autoresponders put different clients on different email servers.
This sounds technical, but all you need to know is;
If you're getting good engagement with your emails (i.e. people are opening them, reading them, clicking them and especially replying to them) then you will be put on the good server by the autoresponders.
Autoresponders have their favourite servers, which are held in high esteem by the email providers like Gmail.
This means any clients who are on the good server and send out emails are more likely to get those emails into the inbox, rather than spam or trash.
"If your emails have low engagement, and people are not replying to them, not opening them, not reading them and not clicking then your entire autoresponder account is likely to be put on the less-valued server."
This lower-esteem server is held in a lower regard by the email providers.
So?
The email providers can tell which server your emails have been sent from.
And if your emails are being sent from the lower value one this means your emails are more likely to go to spam trash or promotions filters.
This is why it is super critical that you boost your email marketing engagement by getting people to reply to some of your emails.
This is what the Boomerang Boost method is all about.
Here is...
If you sell digital products (or indeed any type of product) it's a great idea to ask your subscribers for help when creating it.
This achieves a number of things, all of which benefit your business.
The first of which is planting a seed of expectation, excitement and anticipation, with your email list.
It means you can start telling them about a product, and a future offering before it's even ready.
It also helps you get over writer's block, so to speak, and not knowing where to start with the creation of a new programme or offer:
SUBJECT: HELP
Please can you help me?
I've felt disconnected from my subscribers over the past few months and want to make sure I'm helping you as best I can.
Please can you REPLY to this email and answer this question;
Q. How can I best help you and what type of information and training would you like from me?
Thank you.
I will personally reply to every message.
Best,
Michael Cheney
You can actually ask your email list for ideas, suggestions, and directions for what product they would like to buy.
Once you've done that you can take it a step further:
You can give your subscribers a list of alternatives to choose from.
This can be done through a simple survey using surveymonkey.com or you can simply offer them, two or three alternatives to choose from inside the email and ask them to reply.
Either way, people are replying to your emails, getting you more interaction, making people feel listened to and improving your chances of hitting people's inbox, rather than that promotions or trash filter.
Let's talk about...
One of the best things you can do to inject life back into a dead email list is to use this Boomerang Boost method.
Not only does it get people to interact with you and realise that you are actually a real person, wanting their input, but also it boosts your responsiveness, in the inbox.
Because the autoresponders see that people are replying to your broadcasts.
How's it done?
One of the easiest ways to do this is to just ask people for feedback, or for their ideas on where you should take your business next:
SUBJECT: Tell me what you want (seriously)
I'm trying to put together
a done for you package to
help you achieve the highest
level of financial success
online but I need your help;
If you could wave a magic wand
and have ANYTHING done for you
or already done for you and handed
to you on a silver platter,
what would it be?
Tell me here;[LINK TO A SURVEY WENT HERE]
Thanks for the help.
Best,
Michael Cheney
If your list has gone stagnant then it lends itself very naturally to this approach;
You just ask people what they want to learn from you.
I've done this on numerous occasions to great effect - all you do is ask people to reply to your email and tell you what they want.
Simple.
You don't even need to use fancy survey software or any kind of application to do this, you just send a simple email and ask people to reply with their opinions.
"This is a really cool way to grow your business, because it gives you direct input from your prospects themselves."
It lets you understand them and get inside their head.
It also makes your prospects feel valued listened to and understood.
All these things mean that your email engagement, open rates, and click through rates will improve.
But the side benefit is email providers like Gmail and Yahoo etc. will also monitor the fact that your emails are being opened and replied to.
This puts them above, and in a higher esteem than normal promotional emails, which often get ignored or trashed.
Okay cool, let's move on - here's how to...
Getting people to choose your future logo or graphic design for your product is also a great way to encourage interaction with your emails.
I've used this one on a number of occasions where you have a number of possible designs you wish to choose from, and then you email your list and ask them which they like best.
This way it gives them a heads up about a future product.
And also starts to get them excited about its release.
It's very easy to do.
All you do is include the images in the email of the different logos or give them a link to a web page, where the logos are shown and then ask them to choose their favourite one.
Then you count up the responses.
And of course, send another email with the results.
"This makes your prospects feel part of the development process in your new product."
So rather than you just preaching to them and saying;
"Here's my new thing come and buy it."
You're actually involving them in the entire process.
And, of course, you're getting them to reply to your emails, which is all critical when it comes to this Boomerang Boost method.
Let's move onto...
A more general approach is just to be open to anybody replying to your emails.
So rather than having a specific way or idea for them to reply to you, you are just inviting them to reply to ANY of your emails.
This gets them comfortable with communicating directly with you, which is something you want as a business owner.
"Lots of businesses make the mistake of shying away from contact with their subscribers by using a 'do not reply' - this is a very bad idea."
Think about how crazy this is!
As a business owner you strive long and hard to develop relationships with your customers and prospects.
You spend a lot of time and money, building this relationship up so that people will buy from you.
So surely you want to hear from them as often as possible right?
This way, it lets you understand what they're thinking, how they feel and what their fears, desires and needs are.
You can create offerings, and emails, which appeal to them more directly.
Basically, you get to step inside their head and get to know your customer and your prospect much better.
So don't hide behind a "do not reply" email address.
Instead, what you should be doing is positively encouraging people to reply to you.
Now yes, admittedly, this is a lot of work, but it reaps huge rewards.
The people who hide behind a "do not reply" email address, really are missing out on 1000s and 1000s of dollars of business - even a single person replying could lead to a high ticket sale for you...
You need to take time out of your day to reply to everybody who replies to your emails.
At first you can do this personally, but as your business grows you may need to set up a helpdesk to enable you to do this.
The way this works is really cool;
Whenever somebody replies to one of my emails, it automatically creates a new support ticket on the Help Desk.
This then fires an email to me so I know that somebody replied.
You might think this is over the top...
But if you have people actually replying to your personal email address this can get lost in your inbox.
It can go to spam or trash, and the communication thread is often lost.
By setting up a support desk ticket system this way everything is tracked, recorded and kept safe.
The person who replies to my original email also gets an extra email telling them that a ticket has been created.
They can go and follow that ticket, look at my replies, post their own reply, and so on.
This way, I'm able to use template responses for common questions.
PLUS:-
I can look back at previous tickets which have the similar topic.
And I can search by user to see what other questions that person has asked in the past.
And, of course, when your business grows you can take on staff to help you answer email replies on your Help Desk.
All of these things help you build a better relationship with your prospects and customers and...
Better relationships equals better revenue.