October 20, 2023 • 12 mins
Introduction:
This podcast episode is hosted by Jay, who discusses the importance of the first email you send to new subscribers or customers. He explains why this initial email is so critical for establishing a relationship and getting your future emails delivered to the inbox. Jay also shares tips on crafting compelling subject lines and content to get high open and click rates.
Main Points:
- The first email you send when acquiring a new subscriber establishes a technical relationship between you and the recipient's email provider. If they open and click, future emails are 80% more likely to go to the inbox.
- Thank you emails get low engagement. Craft compelling subject lines like "VIP gift inside" to increase opens.
- Include awesome content in the first email to get them to click and fully engage - this "closes the loop".
- Send the first email within 15 minutes or open rates drop 50%. People check to see if it went through.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign welcome to do this,not that, the podcast for marketers.
You'll walk away from eachepisode with actionable tips you
can test immediately.
You'll hear from the bestminds in marketing who will share
(00:22):
tactics, quick wins andpitfalls to avoid.
We'll also dig into life, popculture, and the chaos that is our
everyday.
I'm Jay Schwedelson.
Let's do this, not that.
Do this, not that.
Yes, here we are, another episode.
(00:45):
And today we are going to betalking about literally the most
important email that you sendas a marketer.
Whether you're a businessmarketer or a consumer marketer.
And you probably don't evenrealize that this is the most important
email that you sent.
And I'm not exaggerating.
(01:05):
Well, I might be exaggerating.
No, I'm not exaggerating.
So it's not the email you sendpromoting some amazing offer?
It's not your Black Friday email?
It's not an email about themost important webinar of the year?
No, it's none of that.
The most important email anymarketer sends is the first email
that you send to somebody whenthey come into your organization
(01:28):
from any area.
If they buy something and youget their email address.
If they react to a social postor search ad or anything and they
give you their email address,okay, and you email them for the
first time.
Doesn't matter if you're asalesperson emailing somebody for
the first time, or if it's atrigger based email and you're sending
(01:49):
out an email for the first time.
Why is that email so importantand what do we need to be doing in
that email to make sure thatwe're getting the best possible outcome?
The reason that email is themost important is when you send that
first email to somebody, thereis a technical relationship that's
being established between you,the sender, your infrastructure that's
(02:14):
sending the email, and thenthe recipient infrastructure that's
receiving the email.
Maybe it's Outlook, maybe it'sGmail, maybe it's whatever.
And when you send out thatemail to that person for the first
time, if they open and clickon that first email, there is over
an 80% higher likelihood thatyour future emails that you send
(02:39):
to that person will go intothe inbox rather than junk folder
or spam.
Why is there such a hugeincrease if the person opens and
clicks?
Because the first time yousend that person that email, if the
person opens and clicks onthat email, what they are doing is
they're telling their emailinfrastructure, the email system
(02:59):
that they're using to checktheir email, they're telling that
system, hey, I know I nevergot an email from this company or
this person before, butclearly I like it and I opened it
and I clicked it.
So from a technicalperspective, you're telling your
system, hey, in the future,make sure these emails go to my inbox
(03:19):
and not the junk folder.
Now, if the first time someonesends you an email, okay, you don't
open it, you don't click it,what you are telling your infrastructure
is that, yeah, I don't reallyknow who this is, don't really care,
not that interested, came outof left field.
I don't know who they are.
Right, because yourinfrastructure doesn't know you just
bought something on thatwebsite, doesn't know you just signed
(03:41):
up for something, doesn't knowyou just reacted to a social post.
They don't know that.
Right?
So you opening and clicking isthat determining factor.
Now, why am I tellingeverybody this?
I'm telling everybody thisbecause we make a giant mistake all
the time.
And this is where in marketingwe have to be looking at everything.
(04:02):
Somebody goes to your site,they sign up for something, what
do you do?
You send them an email thatsays, thank you, thank you for signing
up, thank you for registering.
You're sending them literallylike a receipt on what they did.
And you're checking a box thatyou sent them, an autoresponder that
(04:25):
you sent them this automatedemail that says thank you.
And you're failing as amarketer because thank you, it's
not going to get that email opened.
That first email you send, youneed to squarely be focused first
off on that subject linebecause we need that email to get
(04:45):
opened so we have that 80%higher likelihood of staying in that
inbox.
So instead of just sayingthank you for your subject line,
okay, what you want to say issomething like this, thank you, VIP
gift inside.
Oh, my goodness.
What is it?
There's something inside.
I need to open this email andsee it.
(05:07):
Or how about you're inexclamation point.
We have something for you.
What is it?
I need to know.
I need to open up this emailor even.
You gotta see this.
Anything that you can do,whether you're a business marketer
or a consumer marketer,anything that you can do to get that
(05:30):
email open.
That first email.
Email open is so, so, so important.
And then when they open it up,you gotta have some awesome sauce
in there, right?
Get them to click that VIP gift.
Click on it.
Whatever takes them to a page,they get Some piece of content, they
get some sort of coupon, theyget some sort of something, anything.
(05:52):
All right?
Your job does not end whenthey sign up for the thing or buy
the thing on your site.
You need to then close theloop on that engagement.
And so when the person thengets that follow up email, you're
doing something awesome to getthem to open it and then you're doing
something awesome to get themto click on it.
(06:14):
The other critical thing aboutthat first email, it has to get there
fast, fast.
If it does not get therewithin 15 minutes, that's the window,
an automatic email triggerbased email.
And anything that somebodydoes, they buy something, they react
to, a social post, a searchad, anything.
I don't care what it says, Idon't care if it says, hey, you just
(06:35):
won $5 billion, open up this email.
Doesn't matter after 15minutes, nobody cares.
The likelihood of somebodyopening up that first email, if it's
received after 15 minuteperiod from them doing the thing,
drops by almost 50%.
Have you ever, you know, goneto a site, done anything, whatever,
given your email address andthen you go to your inbox and you
(06:56):
wait for that autoresponder,the thank you email, and then you
don't get it immediately.
What do we do?
We're like, did it happen?
Did it go through?
Is this all working?
And then you go back to thesite, oh my God, I have to call customer
service, be on hold for four hours.
That 15 minute window is everything.
So think about that initialemail you're sending.
(07:20):
All right, so the mostimportant email that you send is
the first email that you send.
I don't care if it's a one toone sales email, do not try to sell
something.
Like if you're a sales sendingout a sales email, right?
And you're sending somebody anemail for the first time, do not
try to sell something in thatfirst email.
(07:42):
What you want to do is get itopen, say really cool stat.
I wanted you to see, right?
New trend report I wanted toshare with you.
And they open up and don't tryto sell anything.
Here's a link to the trend report.
Great, get them to click on it.
Then you will have the licenseto email them forever and stick in
their inbox.
Oh, now I take a deep breath.
(08:04):
Now's my yoga moment.
I don't do yoga.
I try to do yoga.
I did try to do more than once.
That's not what I plan to talk about.
But when I try to yoga, I'mthe least flexible human being on
the planet.
Okay.
And I mean, touching my toesis like, I need seven people involved
(08:24):
with that.
Anyway, my yoga moment wasthat now we're going to get to the
portion of the podcast called,since you didn't ask where I talk
about things that aren't workrelated, business related.
I think I just did that withmy inability to touch my toes, which
is just horrible to see.
The visuals terrible.
Anyway, so what was on my mind.
(08:45):
What's on my mind is I wantedto talk about the TV I'm watching
because it's very important to me.
It is very important to me.
So I'm watching the Golden Bachelor.
It is fantastic.
I did not think a reality showabout senior citizens was going to
be my jam.
(09:05):
I don't know why.
I mean, I'm all for senior citizens.
I don't know.
Hopefully I get there one day.
But for some reason, theshow's great.
It might actually be betterthan the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.
So watch the show.
Of course I'm watching Love isBlind, which is just.
I don't even know how todescribe that show.
(09:26):
It's like I lose my faith inhumanity, but it's a great show.
And then last night I realizedI watch an inordinate amount of the
Food Network.
I do.
Does anybody else do this?
And my happy show is Dinersdrive ins and dives.
I love that show.
Nothing bad ever happens andthe food looks phenomenal.
(09:50):
And then wherever I travel to,I try to go to, like, the restaurant,
if they've been to one, andit's great.
And I love.
I'll tell you what, though,man, I never even know what I'm about
to say, what comes out of my mouth.
There is a show on the FoodNetwork that is so boring that I
watch.
It's called the Kitchen.
I don't know if you've everseen this.
On the weekends, I don't knowwhat happens.
But it's like on all weekendlong, it's called the Kitchen.
(10:11):
Who's on it?
The guy.
Jeffrey Zakarian's on it.
And the.
The woman who used to bemarried to Billy Joel, Katie Lee
Joel is on it.
These other random people areon it.
It's the most boring showthat's ever been created.
They literally sit there andthey're like, today we're gonna make
a healthy sandwich fromavocados and turkey.
(10:31):
And they make the most boringsandwich and then they eat it and
they go, oh, my God, this isso good.
It's so good.
And I watch every.
It's like why am I notchanging the channel?
It's terrible.
But I watch it.
So you could check out thekitchen if you're want to be bored.
If you don't want to be bored,you check out the Golden Bachelor
(10:53):
and Love is Blind and that's it.
I don't know.
I don't know why we're talkingabout what we're talking about.
So there you go.
And since we're talkinganyway, please go sign up for Guru
Conference.
What's wrong with you peopleif you haven't signed up for Guru
Conference?
It is the free two day virtualemail marketing conference.
Okay?
(11:13):
It's coming up November 8thand 9th.
I'll be there.
Martha Stewart will be there.
It's going to be bananas.
Please go sign up.
Don't not have a spot.
Guruconference.com thanks forchecking this out.
I hope you can touch your toesbecause I can't.
(11:34):
You did it.
You made it to the end.
Nice.
But the party's not over.
Subscribe to make sure you getthe latest episode each week for
more actionable tips and alittle chaos from today's top marketer.
And hook us up with a fivestar review if this wasn't the worst
podcast of all time.
Lastly, if you want access tothe best virtual marketing events
(11:55):
that are also 100% free, visitguruevents.com so you can hear from
the world's top marketers likeDaymond, John, Martha Stewart and
me.
GuruEvents.com check it out.
Foreign welcome to do this,not that, the podcast for marketers.
You'll walk away from eachepisode with actionable tips you
can test immediately.
You'll hear from the bestminds in marketing who will share
(00:22):
tactics, quick wins andpitfalls to avoid.
We'll also dig into life, popculture, and the chaos that is our
everyday.
I'm Jay Schwedelson.
Let's do this, not that.
Do this, not that.
Yes, here we are, another episode.
(00:45):
And today we are going to betalking about literally the most
important email that you sendas a marketer.
Whether you're a businessmarketer or a consumer marketer.
And you probably don't evenrealize that this is the most important
email that you sent.
And I'm not exaggerating.
(01:05):
Well, I might be exaggerating.
No, I'm not exaggerating.
So it's not the email you sendpromoting some amazing offer?
It's not your Black Friday email?
It's not an email about themost important webinar of the year?
No, it's none of that.
The most important email anymarketer sends is the first email
that you send to somebody whenthey come into your organization
(01:28):
from any area.
If they buy something and youget their email address.
If they react to a social postor search ad or anything and they
give you their email address,okay, and you email them for the
first time.
Doesn't matter if you're asalesperson emailing somebody for
the first time, or if it's atrigger based email and you're sending
(01:49):
out an email for the first time.
Why is that email so importantand what do we need to be doing in
that email to make sure thatwe're getting the best possible outcome?
The reason that email is themost important is when you send that
first email to somebody, thereis a technical relationship that's
being established between you,the sender, your infrastructure that's
(02:14):
sending the email, and thenthe recipient infrastructure that's
receiving the email.
Maybe it's Outlook, maybe it'sGmail, maybe it's whatever.
And when you send out thatemail to that person for the first
time, if they open and clickon that first email, there is over
an 80% higher likelihood thatyour future emails that you send
(02:39):
to that person will go intothe inbox rather than junk folder
or spam.
Why is there such a hugeincrease if the person opens and
clicks?
Because the first time yousend that person that email, if the
person opens and clicks onthat email, what they are doing is
they're telling their emailinfrastructure, the email system
(02:59):
that they're using to checktheir email, they're telling that
system, hey, I know I nevergot an email from this company or
this person before, butclearly I like it and I opened it
and I clicked it.
So from a technicalperspective, you're telling your
system, hey, in the future,make sure these emails go to my inbox
(03:19):
and not the junk folder.
Now, if the first time someonesends you an email, okay, you don't
open it, you don't click it,what you are telling your infrastructure
is that, yeah, I don't reallyknow who this is, don't really care,
not that interested, came outof left field.
I don't know who they are.
Right, because yourinfrastructure doesn't know you just
bought something on thatwebsite, doesn't know you just signed
(03:41):
up for something, doesn't knowyou just reacted to a social post.
They don't know that.
Right?
So you opening and clicking isthat determining factor.
Now, why am I tellingeverybody this?
I'm telling everybody thisbecause we make a giant mistake all
the time.
And this is where in marketingwe have to be looking at everything.
(04:02):
Somebody goes to your site,they sign up for something, what
do you do?
You send them an email thatsays, thank you, thank you for signing
up, thank you for registering.
You're sending them literallylike a receipt on what they did.
And you're checking a box thatyou sent them, an autoresponder that
(04:25):
you sent them this automatedemail that says thank you.
And you're failing as amarketer because thank you, it's
not going to get that email opened.
That first email you send, youneed to squarely be focused first
off on that subject linebecause we need that email to get
(04:45):
opened so we have that 80%higher likelihood of staying in that
inbox.
So instead of just sayingthank you for your subject line,
okay, what you want to say issomething like this, thank you, VIP
gift inside.
Oh, my goodness.
What is it?
There's something inside.
I need to open this email andsee it.
(05:07):
Or how about you're inexclamation point.
We have something for you.
What is it?
I need to know.
I need to open up this emailor even.
You gotta see this.
Anything that you can do,whether you're a business marketer
or a consumer marketer,anything that you can do to get that
(05:30):
email open.
That first email.
Email open is so, so, so important.
And then when they open it up,you gotta have some awesome sauce
in there, right?
Get them to click that VIP gift.
Click on it.
Whatever takes them to a page,they get Some piece of content, they
get some sort of coupon, theyget some sort of something, anything.
(05:52):
All right?
Your job does not end whenthey sign up for the thing or buy
the thing on your site.
You need to then close theloop on that engagement.
And so when the person thengets that follow up email, you're
doing something awesome to getthem to open it and then you're doing
something awesome to get themto click on it.
(06:14):
The other critical thing aboutthat first email, it has to get there
fast, fast.
If it does not get therewithin 15 minutes, that's the window,
an automatic email triggerbased email.
And anything that somebodydoes, they buy something, they react
to, a social post, a searchad, anything.
I don't care what it says, Idon't care if it says, hey, you just
(06:35):
won $5 billion, open up this email.
Doesn't matter after 15minutes, nobody cares.
The likelihood of somebodyopening up that first email, if it's
received after 15 minuteperiod from them doing the thing,
drops by almost 50%.
Have you ever, you know, goneto a site, done anything, whatever,
given your email address andthen you go to your inbox and you
(06:56):
wait for that autoresponder,the thank you email, and then you
don't get it immediately.
What do we do?
We're like, did it happen?
Did it go through?
Is this all working?
And then you go back to thesite, oh my God, I have to call customer
service, be on hold for four hours.
That 15 minute window is everything.
So think about that initialemail you're sending.
(07:20):
All right, so the mostimportant email that you send is
the first email that you send.
I don't care if it's a one toone sales email, do not try to sell
something.
Like if you're a sales sendingout a sales email, right?
And you're sending somebody anemail for the first time, do not
try to sell something in thatfirst email.
(07:42):
What you want to do is get itopen, say really cool stat.
I wanted you to see, right?
New trend report I wanted toshare with you.
And they open up and don't tryto sell anything.
Here's a link to the trend report.
Great, get them to click on it.
Then you will have the licenseto email them forever and stick in
their inbox.
Oh, now I take a deep breath.
(08:04):
Now's my yoga moment.
I don't do yoga.
I try to do yoga.
I did try to do more than once.
That's not what I plan to talk about.
But when I try to yoga, I'mthe least flexible human being on
the planet.
Okay.
And I mean, touching my toesis like, I need seven people involved
(08:24):
with that.
Anyway, my yoga moment wasthat now we're going to get to the
portion of the podcast called,since you didn't ask where I talk
about things that aren't workrelated, business related.
I think I just did that withmy inability to touch my toes, which
is just horrible to see.
The visuals terrible.
Anyway, so what was on my mind.
(08:45):
What's on my mind is I wantedto talk about the TV I'm watching
because it's very important to me.
It is very important to me.
So I'm watching the Golden Bachelor.
It is fantastic.
I did not think a reality showabout senior citizens was going to
be my jam.
(09:05):
I don't know why.
I mean, I'm all for senior citizens.
I don't know.
Hopefully I get there one day.
But for some reason, theshow's great.
It might actually be betterthan the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.
So watch the show.
Of course I'm watching Love isBlind, which is just.
I don't even know how todescribe that show.
(09:26):
It's like I lose my faith inhumanity, but it's a great show.
And then last night I realizedI watch an inordinate amount of the
Food Network.
I do.
Does anybody else do this?
And my happy show is Dinersdrive ins and dives.
I love that show.
Nothing bad ever happens andthe food looks phenomenal.
(09:50):
And then wherever I travel to,I try to go to, like, the restaurant,
if they've been to one, andit's great.
And I love.
I'll tell you what, though,man, I never even know what I'm about
to say, what comes out of my mouth.
There is a show on the FoodNetwork that is so boring that I
watch.
It's called the Kitchen.
I don't know if you've everseen this.
On the weekends, I don't knowwhat happens.
But it's like on all weekendlong, it's called the Kitchen.
(10:11):
Who's on it?
The guy.
Jeffrey Zakarian's on it.
And the.
The woman who used to bemarried to Billy Joel, Katie Lee
Joel is on it.
These other random people areon it.
It's the most boring showthat's ever been created.
They literally sit there andthey're like, today we're gonna make
a healthy sandwich fromavocados and turkey.
(10:31):
And they make the most boringsandwich and then they eat it and
they go, oh, my God, this isso good.
It's so good.
And I watch every.
It's like why am I notchanging the channel?
It's terrible.
But I watch it.
So you could check out thekitchen if you're want to be bored.
If you don't want to be bored,you check out the Golden Bachelor
(10:53):
and Love is Blind and that's it.
I don't know.
I don't know why we're talkingabout what we're talking about.
So there you go.
And since we're talkinganyway, please go sign up for Guru
Conference.
What's wrong with you peopleif you haven't signed up for Guru
Conference?
It is the free two day virtualemail marketing conference.
Okay?
(11:13):
It's coming up November 8thand 9th.
I'll be there.
Martha Stewart will be there.
It's going to be bananas.
Please go sign up.
Don't not have a spot.
Guruconference.com thanks forchecking this out.
I hope you can touch your toesbecause I can't.
(11:34):
You did it.
You made it to the end.
Nice.
But the party's not over.
Subscribe to make sure you getthe latest episode each week for
more actionable tips and alittle chaos from today's top marketer.
And hook us up with a fivestar review if this wasn't the worst
podcast of all time.
Lastly, if you want access tothe best virtual marketing events
(11:55):
that are also 100% free, visitguruevents.com so you can hear from
the world's top marketers likeDaymond, John, Martha Stewart and
me.
GuruEvents.com check it out.
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