3 strategies to get readers to open every email you send

How to create remarkable content that gets read and shared

Have you ever wondered how your favorite bloggers crank out amazing blog posts time after time? It’s not raw writing talent or laboring over a draft for 8 hours a day.

They all follow a process to go from blank page to compelling blog post. These steps almost guarantee that anything they write will be read and shared.


Today’s question is from Neil Patel. He asks:

“You’ve sent thousands of emails, and after a while, your readers will naturally open your emails less and less. What’s your number one strategy to keep your list hot so that people always want to open your emails?”

I LOVE this! For those of you not familiar, Neil is a master at online marketing. He knows a lot about this. But you’ll notice that masters always want to learn more.

And this is an important question.

Sure, you’re thinking about your business all the time. But your email list isn’t. You’re just a blip in their day if you don’t give them something to care about.

Today, I’m going to suggest three strategies to keep your subscribers engaged.

Strategy 1: Give them what they want

This sounds obvious, but it’s actually a lot subtler than you think. I see most beginners writing content that they think people need.

For example, when I started writing about personal finance, frugality nuts said, “You need to save 60% of your income. You need to stop spending money on XYZ. You need, you need, you need!”

They lectured people and told them what they needed.

And I would sit there and wonder, “How do you deal with a cheap friend who never chips in for a tip?” That’s what people want to talk about. So you could start there.

You could also write about how people get to the end of the month, look at their bank account, and wonder where all their money went.

That’s giving people what they want.

If you’re talking about health and fitness, you’re not going to say, “Let’s break down your chest and back split.” That’s way too advanced.

Where are they at? They’re probably asking things like, “How do I get rid of this belly fat?”

That’s what they want.

How do you find this? You can do surveys. You can ask them. You can look at what other sites in your niche are writing.

Study what’s controversial and interesting. Anything like that is probably getting a ton of shares.

I also like to look at Amazon reviews, other blog comments, and news articles.

Strategy 2: Challenge people once in awhile

It’s easy to only write what people want. But it can be a quick descent into hell, where you’re always telling people, “14 Ways to Cut Your Belly Fat!”

How many times can you really say that? Sometimes you need to challenge people. Get them to think about things they normally wouldn’t. This is what I did in personal finance.

One day I would write about a cheap friend who didn’t tip — what people want.

The next day I would write about the importance of a Roth IRA — something they don’t think about.

You can see that the first topic is a little bit easier to digest. It’s like an appetizer. The other one is the main course. You have to build up to it.

This is a very different way of looking at your content. Sometimes you give people a taste of what they want. Other times you challenge them and get them to sit down for a full meal.

Strategy 3: Make it interactive

The third thing, which a lot of people miss, is to make emails interactive. When you are writing, ask readers to reply. You’ll see I always do that at the bottom of my emails. I write, “Just reply to this email. I read every response.”

Those emails go out to hundreds of thousands of people. And I do read every response.

So don’t think that you have too many people on your list. You’re lucky if you’re overloaded with responses. That’s a good problem to have. It means you have a super-engaged audience.

At the end of the day, people want to know they’re being listened to — not just being marketed to. So if you do all of those three strategies, your list is going to stay engaged. You’re going to be somebody they look forward to opening emails from.

How to create remarkable content that gets read and shared

Now that you have these 3 strategies, I want to show you how your favorite bloggers use them to crank out amazing blog posts again and again. It has nothing to do with raw writing talent or laboring over a draft for 8 hours a day.

They all follow a process to go from blank page to compelling blog post. These steps almost guarantee that anything they write will be read and shared.

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