Email

Well, almost useless, at least.

Let me explain.

First of all, you’re not in business to get your emails opened, are you? You’re in business to make money.

So what does that tell you?

Well if you had to choose between making $100 per email while having a 50% open rate or making $1,000 per email but having an open rate of 12%, which one would you choose?

So, we’re optimizing for sales, not for opens—an important distinction to make.

“But Alex, if you increase your open rate from 12% to 50%, wouldn’t you make more money?” In theory yes, in practice no.

I first learned this from email marketer John Bejakovic, who shared his odd discovery that all his emails with the highest profits had the lowest open rates. I share this discovery.

Why does this happen? Who knows? There could be (and there are) multiple reasons.

One of the most logical explanations has to do with the subject line. If a subject line is highly specific, then fewer people will open your emails. But the people who do will be better-qualified buyers, and thus earning you more money.

On the other hand. It’s not just all about money > open rates.

Open rates themselves are flawed. Over the years many ESPs have taken different privacy actions to protect their users. This means that the methods used to track if people opened your emails aren’t working anymore.

How do you even know if people opened your email in the first place? Well, that’s done through embedded images.

Whenever I send an email, my ESP (Beehiiv) embeds a tiny image, just one single pixel. If you open the email, you’ll automatically send a request to download that image.

But here’s the thing. A lot of people have images disabled. Aka, you can’t track them. And here’s the new change. Google, outlook, and many others intercept these images and alter them before showing them to you in your inbox. Also disabling the tracker that’s embedded.

So yeah. You can’t trust email open rates. And you shouldn’t take drastic measures regarding them.

But there’s something else you can trust. Those are the fundamentals of email marketing. Learning how to write quick and easy emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading every day. No longer do you have to follow rules and metrics made up by people who know nothing about email.

Just do you, write engaging emails, and get paid.

Interested? Learn more about how to do so here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/

Once in a while, I’ll write an email, plugging someone else’s offer, doing a sponsor deal, or even including a classified (or PPC) ad—like you saw me do two days ago.

The thing is, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that last year.

Not because I didn’t think I could do so (everyone can) but simply because, at least back then, I told myself I’d do any ads because why would I advertise for someone else’s stuff if I could just sell my own and earn more?

I still believe that, at least to a certain extent, but, as with anything, there are exceptions.

First, sometimes you just don’t care, don’t want to offer, or simply can’t offer (either because of a lack of expertise, time, or other resources) a certain solution that would help your readers out.

Would it then be fair to withhold such an opportunity from your readers?

No, of course not.

My main goal, first and foremost, will always be to keep the customer and the market in mind, think about what they want (read: need—the customer doesn’t even know what they want, let alone what they truly need), and how I can offer it to them.

So in that case, I’ll gladly refer people to someone else to buy from or do business with—and if I can get paid for it in the meantime, then even better.

Another one.

There’s always unused capacity in everything you do—daily emails are no exception.

Yeah, I can write daily emails selling my own stuff all the time (and I mostly do), but I can’t be running promotions 24/7, and even when I’m not running promotions, there’s always a diminishing return from sending more emails (most people don’t send enough emails to notice it though, me including). So withholding one email here and there to write an affiliate email or do a sponsored post is making use of the unused capacity and filling the gap or “less optimized” email you would otherwise have sent.

Last but not least.

It’s simple and doesn’t require much (if any) investment on your part (not every reason has to be profound, right?).

Anyway.

This has been an important lesson for me (and one I found valuable enough to share with you) and marks another clear sign of personal growth in my entrepreneurial journey of email marketing.

That said.

If you’d like to pick up pace in your own journey and learn more about email marketing and building, growing, and selling to your list then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

There are only 2 parts to a sale: opening the sale, and closing it.

It really is that simple.

Yet most people solely focus on the closing part while completely disregarding the opening.

There are, as with anything, many ways to open a sale, or more specifically in our case, an email. Anyone who claims there’s only one way to do something is full of shyte and undoubtedly trying to sell you something (often something subpar, if not straight trash).

But that doesn’t mean some ways aren’t better than others.

They are.

You could learn a few evergreen ways of opening an email (which I do teach in Email Valhalla) and solely rely on those. But that does keep your options limited and runs the danger of boring you out when writing emails (and if you don’t enjoy writing them, your readers won’t enjoy reading them).

So where does that leave you?

Well, in my case, there’s a simple litmus test I use every single time I write an email to determine if an email opener is worth using or not.

Now, remember, I’m a simple man.

I like to do business in a simple way. I despise everything complex—complexity is often a smokescreen for incapableness—and never want anything to do with it.

So beware that when I tell you my litmus test you’ll almost undoubtedly reply by saying that it’s super obvious, that everyone knows this, and that this couldn’t possibly be helpful or worth teaching people.

But to that, I’ll have to ask you to remind yourself that knowing and doing are 2 very different things.

Many people will know this, yes.

Almost nobody will think this is something new or revolutionary, really, it’s the most old and obvious thing there is. But then again, almost nobody actively reminds themselves of this litmus test, this simple question, when writing emails.

And it shows because so many people fail at writing actual good, engaging, valuable emails that can sell.

Anyway.

If you’d like to learn my simple litmus test (and how to actually implement it instead of merely “knowing” it), get your hands on the 7 evergreen ways to open an email or anything else related to building an absolute beast of an email (business) empire.

Then check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

In no particular order:

• It’s incredibly fun and fulfilling

• Writing emails brings forth more ideas and inspiration which can be used for other projects

• You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want it, without any platform limitations

• Your own email list is probably the closest thing you’ll ever got to free speech on a large scale

• Allows you to talk to and bond with tons of people across many walks of life individually with the benefits of large scale efficiency

• Incredibly easy to do—especially if you’ve been doing it for a long time already—making it the perfect way to start your day off right by checking something off your to-do list

• Everything you write is reusable in some way, giving you unlimited benefits that keep scaling indefinitely the longer you do it

• The best way to notify people about important announcements

Announcements such as the one you’ll see tomorrow.

See keep your eyes open for that one.

Soon after launch, I received the following review of my book “The Art of Loving to Write”:

(I originally received this email in Dutch from Victor, a long-time reader and fellow Belgian, so the translation is entirely mine but I kept it as close to the original meaning as I could)

===

BRO.

I bought your book this morning and immediately finished reading it in an hour.

That's when I put aside my Kindle, picked up my MacBook, and wrote 7 emails in the next 2 hours.

Amazing tips (The one about [how to never have writer’s block ever again] for example)

It motivated me to start writing again. Your book showed me that writing doesn't have to be a drag; in fact, it can be the highlight of my day.

Thanks Alex.

Your philosophy of writing, marketing, and online business just resonates with me. It's so simple, so logical, and so fun.

I look forward to seeing what I'll achieve with this in the coming year.

Cheers,

Victor.

===

And so it goes in my world.

If I say something is immediately practically, instantly useable, and will help you write more than you do now, better than you do now, so you can earn more than you do now, all the while learning how to enjoy every second of it so it becomes the highlight of your day…

Then, my dear friend, I’m not just making it up.

That’s, unfortunately, something this industry often gets wrong. So many people out there make extremely overhyped claims they can never hope to deliver on.

Sure, it works to get the initial sale.

But nobody earns a living from the first sale. It’s the second, third, and even tenth sale that helps you earn a living.

And no way in hell will someone who’s lying about their claims ever get repeat customers.

Those people simply aren’t capable of playing the long game.

If, instead, you are one of the people who knows how important it is to play the long game, and build yourself a business that’s meaningful and worthwhile (not just a get-rich-quick scheme).

Then I’ve got an important suggestion for you.

Learn how to write a lot and, even more importantly in my biased, yet correct, but humble opinion, learn how to enjoy every second of the writing process. Because you’ll be doing this for a long loooooong time.

And man, would I hate to see you “suck it up” for years because you never learned how to enjoy the writing process.

Which brings me to my book, “The Art of Loving to Write”, which Victor just told you all about.

“The Art of Loving to Write“.

You can find it on Amazon all over the world in both paperback and Kindle format.

It’s an incredibly short, yet powerful, read. And one so inexpensive (as opposed to some of my other products) everyone can afford it.

No matter who you are or what market you’re in. If you do any type of writing in your life (professional or personal), I can guarantee this book can and will be useful to you—so useful in fact that you’re likely to see immediate improvements the same day after you finish reading the book.

Which, good news, the book is short enough for you to finish it in one sitting if that’s what you like

Anyway.

Go check out The Art of Loving to Write here: https://alexvandromme.com/loving

The short answer: I enjoy it

The longer answer: I enjoy it and it makes me more money.

Jokes aside, I could go over all the reasons why I write daily emails—aside from helping me make more money, being top of mind, having a better connection with you, my reader, and getting better at writing infinitely faster than someone writing monthly, weekly, or semi-daily emails.

But I won’t go into that today.

Another reason is that I find it motivating as well.

First of all, I get more responses. More people reply sharing how they liked my emails. It helps me stay accountable making it so I can’t take a single day off. I have to show up every single day, even when don’t feel like it—especially when I don’t feel like it.

I simply have to write something, come up with ideas, write a (hopefully) engaging story, and share the lesson in a way that hits just right, so it’ll be impactful to you as a reader, ensuring you’re getting a benefit from it and continue reading my emails the following day as well.

That’s far from an exhaustive list of why I write daily emails.

But it should be more than good enough to get you started.

So if you’d like to learn the craft of writing emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, then check out Email Valhalla right here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

What's a writer's favorite dinosaur?

A thesaurus.

Now, this silly little joke won’t land me a Netflix special together with Dave Chappelle. But it more than fulfilled its purpose.

What was the purpose of my silly little joke, you ask?

To continue reading this email.

See, whereas the subject line of the email serves the one and only purpose of making people open the email (unless you’ve already established a relationship with your reader—at that point, the subject line matters a lot less than the “from” line), the opening line instead serves the one and only purpose of getting people to read the second line, and then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on.

Now, there are many ways to write great opening lines that make people continue reading.

One of which is to be different than every other email in your reader’s inbox, to say something unique, to be entertaining even and make them smile—or at least chuckle internally.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there.

You’ll want to follow up your email with something education, informative, inspirational, or anything that gives your reader the feeling of being worth their time—simple entertainment won’t have people coming back for more every single day after all.

The simplest way to do so is by tying the topic of the opening line to a useful lesson or insightful anecdote.

After that it’s simply a matter of connecting everything together and packaging it up into an enticing and simple-to-follow call to action.

So if you enjoyed this mini-masterclass in grabbing attention (and keeping it) when it comes to email writing, then you’ll want to check out my flagship course Email Valhalla which will teach you all about how to write emails that get you paid while keeping your readers reading day after day.

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

And I mean truly incredible.

But at the same time so simple, so easily overlooked, and not to mention how extremely underrated it is.

In fact, I’ll probably get some people laughing at me because of it.

But really, sometimes it’s just that simple.

Want to know what the tip is?

Well, it’s the simple “This email contains …” subject line.

It’s easy, straight-to-the-point, and effectively attention-grabbing—especially if you combine it with some of the other 11 attention-grabbing principles and subject line types I teach in my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Speaking of which.

If you’d like more information about Email Valhalla, check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

Let’s jump straight into it:

• Your job isn’t to educate, it’s to entertain & promote

• Email daily—nobody ever made less money by more frequently speaking to their customers, entertaining them, and letting them know about your offers

• Don’t be boring—being boring is the biggest sin in all of marketing

• Screw perfection, embrace your flawed self

• Actively try to find the limits of everything you do (and see whether you can cross them)

• Nobody likes an expert as they do a leader

• Write like you talk—accent, grammar mistakes, and typical speech patterns alike

• Share stories and share’em often

• Answer the questions you receive publicly

• Be a real person, share your opinions (especially, but not limited to, the controversial ones)

• Join the Email Valhalla supremacist fangroup.

Every single one of these has made me more than you could ever imagine.

But who am I to tell you what to do?

So as with anything, test them out for yourself and see how it goes.

And about that last one…

…more information about Email Valhalla, and how to build a better email business, can be found here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

It saddens me to see how people mistreat their email lists.

See, I’m subscribed to a bunch of email lists. Most of them because of the content, value, and entertainment. But a few of them simply because of the people who write them.

They’re either friends of mine or they are other “successful” people who I want to see what they’re doing.

And so many people just disappoint me. Yes, even the “successful” people.

Sure, they might be successful with their Twitter growth or the money they make selling their offers. But that sure as hell doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing when it comes to email marketing.

And it shows.

Some of those people send me a few emails a week, sporadically.

No consistency at all.

One week I might get 2 emails, then none the following week, and then 3 emails the week after. Now although I don’t agree with their method and their chaos. That’s not the worst part.

The worst part is the content of those emails.

“Hey, my course is live, check it out!”, reads one email. Another one reads, “Hey I made this guide for some of my clients, I thought I’d share it with you as well, cheers.” And then yet another one reads, “My client Bob made $5k because of my awesome super magical and out-of-this-world coaching skills, which nobody else can do and he sure as hell couldn’t have done it without me. So get my coaching as well if you want similar results (even though you probably won’t)”.

It’s thrash.

Ok not all the emails I get are that awful.

Some do have something going for them. At least for the first few you get. But after the first 3 emails, you’ll realize that every single email is exactly the same. There’s no variation to it. They’re like a cooked piece of chicken without any spices.

Bland & boring.

I’m not here to bash these people. I sincerely wish them good luck in their business. But I hope that they pick up their email game soon and improve their craft. Because they’re missing out on a bunch of cash, credibility, authority, and growth.

The good news?

You won’t make any of these mistakes. You’re on my email list after all. You should know better.

Taking it even further.

I’ve taken it upon myself to teach people how to actually write emails that get you paid. How not to be the proverbial piece of chicken. How to stand out, not be boring, and how to keep your readers engaged so they keep coming back every single day and just love to buy from you.

And I’m teaching all of it in my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Click here to learn more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla