This topic just came up at the Warrior Forum again today. Seems as if some things just won’t die. Personally, I’ve never used the bad news subject line or anything sensational like that. I know people who have used them and claim they work great for getting their emails opened. Problem is, they also work great for getting tons of people opting out of your list. Anyway, we’re going to take a look at this whole “bad news” thing with email marketing.

As I said, I don’t use it. I like to be straight forward with the people I’m writing to. I prefer to use benefit driven subjects like, “Free Report Inside On Doing X” for whatever X may be. This way, people know exactly what they’re getting. There is no trickery. If they’re not interested in the benefit, they won’t open it…plain and simple. At least I won’t get a lot of unsubscribes because I tricked them into opening up an email that had nothing to do with the subject.

But what if I really DID have bad news to share with somebody? Well, just recently I did. My mom had a stroke and was in very bad shape. She is now in hospice as I am writing this and has very little time left. Well, when I sent out the email to my list, I didn’t say bad news. I said, “Please say a prayer for my mom.” This way, the person receiving it knew exactly what the bad news was likely to be. Plus, it wasn’t a ploy to get the email opened. It was actual bad news.

In my opinion, there is way too much nonsense going on in Internet marketing and email marketing especially. Everybody is trying to outdo the next person with the most outrageous subjects that they can think of…no matter how little they have to do with the actual content inside.

Hey, here’s a novel concept. How about just telling the people you’re writing to what it is you want to share with them?

I guess that would just be too easy.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly.