🕔Top-5 Inbox Hacking insights

New here? This is Inbox Hacking, a Free Newsletter for awesome email marketers wanting to level up. Email marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. Someone forwarded you our Newsletter? Sign up for your Free subscription. Today I load up the 5 biggest email marketing insights from the past year.

Holiday week hits next week so feel free to mentally check out the second you finish this edition of Inbox Hacking.

Here’s what’s up today. I’m going highlight reel for ya. I’ve compiled the Top 5 inboxing insights from the past year of writing Inbox Hacking. Don’t miss these juiciest morsels from my endless hours of inbox investigations. They’re guaranteed to save you time on your own email marketing research and help avoid mistakes that can sidetrack your hard work.

Check the Top 5 out…

#1 Deliverability is Rarely Derailed by a Single Factor

Even using best practices won’t protect you from deliverability issues if you don’t cover all the bases. One example… don’t assume your ESP isn’t harming your email marketing. Some platforms consistently hit the inbox while others struggle. See this post on ESP inbox placement test results.

Also, super simple things can hurt you. How many new email marketers don’t bother to use the best and most recognizable ‘from name’. People don’t open emails from senders they don’t recognize. Not sane folks anyway.

#2 Old News

Holy hell is it hard to find fresh email marketing facts and stats! Can’t tell ya how often I have to sift through articles with the current year in the title but 3-year-old data tucked into the story. Sneaky bloggers, miscreants if you will. So watch out for that no matter what topic you’re researching.

*Pro tip: Hover over links in any stat-based article to see the year in the link URL to avoid old news. Or CTRL-F search for “2023” on the page.

(Note – we do have fresh email stats after the feature story)

#3 Triggered Emails are a Must

Welcome emails and abandoned cart emails are two pieces of evidence that triggered emails are the only real way to send emails at the perfect time.

Welcome messages typically see open rates around 50% (some up to 90%). They also set solid reader expectations that help prevent future unsubscribes.

Abandoned cart emails are the triggered superpower that helps reduce the 18 billion dollars worth of items shoppers abandon annually!

Triggered emails meet the reader where they are at the moment they are most interested in what your brand has to offer. They sign up and expect a welcome. They got busy and left those high-heels behind at checkout, so they appreciate a reminder email.

#4 Small Hinges Swing Big Doors

~W. Clement Stone

Calls-to-Action can be more enticing with a unique image that stops readers’ habitual scrolling.

Also, one word in the CTA phrase can be the difference between a conversion and a hesitation.

Big inboxing insight, think how many of your emails never got opened because you didn’t spend 10 or 15 more minutes on the subject line.

You and the rest of our Inbox Hackers are on your game. Giant strategy overhauls aren’t usually needed. A couple of tweaks to refine your email game, a handy tool, or copywriting practice are the small hinges you need.

#5 Apple Mail Privacy Protection is not Doomsday

If we wanted privacy we’d cut our internet cable and flee to the safety of a wilderness cult.

But Apple knows best I guess.

Seriously, MPP is not the end of the world. Not if you use email marketing best practices and monitor all deliverability factors— which will:

Keep readers engaged
Raise your sender score
Ultimately produce a handsome ROI

The biggest challenge with MPP is not knowing which subscribers to remove from your list because you aren’t sure if they’re really opening your campaigns. This can be somewhat overcome by leaning into click data. Even doing specific campaigns that promote irresistible links— like giant discounts, exciting contests, or new information that can’t be found elsewhere.

Inboxing Insights Wrap-up

Those are my Top 5 insights so far from this Inbox Hacking ride we’re on. But maybe you’ve found other insights more helpful. If so, let me know.

Swipe Write: Top 5 Subject Lines in My Inbox Last Month (& why they work)

Going…going…gone (urgency without spam trigger words)
Don’t open this if you… (don’t tell me what to do!)
See what’s new in Canva (can’t overuse the word ‘New’)
Suffering from Operational Sprawl? (no idea what this is but I better check)
“Is it okay to only invest in S&P500?” (stood out due solely to quotation marks)

Keep reading for July promo ideas, a smart form insight, & today’s asap hack

Knowledge Base

🔌Knowledge is power but first, motivation without training.

How to handle newsletter blunders.

💡100 July marketing trends from 2022 to light your bulb for next month.

6 pivots for email marketing during an economic dip.

🤿Deep dive on how your brand can partner with a charity.

Email List Decaying?

How can you resuscitate “dead” email subscribers and bring them back into the purchase funnel? Inbox Mailers is the simplest tool for re-engagement. This new tool leverages a unique engagement trigger system that we have seen more than double open rates while increasing click volume. List health and deliverability hinge on engagement.

So if you have inactive subscribers, don’t give up on them…

Learn how Inbox Mailers is helping other email marketers 2 and 3x their open rates. Schedule a free demo today.

*sponsored

Self Help

Maybe no one ever told ya but…

Your boy Shane Mac will.

All that effort you put into your “weaknesses” might be wasted.

Why not lean into what makes you powerful already?

Example: I don’t watch Photoshop how-tos. I draw stick figures and write my boney butt off.

Soup up your strengths.

*Shout-out to Inbox Hackers:

Ellena at Edge Direct (fundraising)

Matthew at Fintech (biz management)

Facts and Stats

Sign-up forms asking for ‘less personal’ info has been shown to prompt entering name and email afterward (Stacked Marketer)

32% of sales professionals using AI say it’s most useful for repurposing messages by adapting them to a different audience (HubSpot)

33% of marketers send weekly emails

Bonus: Statista found that 23% of B2B organizations dedicated 1% or less of their budget to marketing (yikes)

Increase your open rates by up to 300%!

Send emails when your subscribers enter their inbox, here’s how…

Spike your engagement and revenue with a new tool that enables you to know when your subscriber enters their inbox! Here’s how it works…

Step 1: Inbox Mailers identifies when your subscribers are checking their inbox

Step 2: Inbox Mailers triggers your ESP to send an email while they’re checking it

This tool boosts opens, clicks, aaaand… sales!

Demo today for improved deliverability, higher click volume, & up to 70% open rates.

*sponsored

Marketing Musings

I love spotting ideas I’ve not seen before.

Hope you find this one as useful as I did.

Paraphrasing a couple quotes from The Marginalian

“If you always worry about what your audience wants to read, when are you gonna write what you want to tell the world?”

Your subscribers’ needs are important.

But they need some ideas and info they don’t know they need— until you write it.

Get Hacking

Careful.

Have you gotten too cozy with your current deliverability tester?

Maybe you’re taking your subject line tester’s accuracy for granted?

Today would be a good day to round up a couple more testing tools. Scores from more than one source can’t hurt, right?

*Know other motivated email marketers? Please forward Inbox Hacking to them.

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