You released a new song... and almost none of your fans knew. It got buried in their feed (if it showed up at all). Beyond the Algorithm helps musicians build an audience they can reach every time: through email. Sign up below if you want a direct line to your fans.
part 1: how to get people to open your emails
|
Hey Reader, There are two kinds of subject lines. The kind that tell you what's inside, and the kind that make you want to find out. One gets opened WAY more often than the other. "New single out now" answers the question immediately. You already know what's inside. No need to open the email at all. A subject line like "the voicemail that changed this whole record" however, doesn't answer anything... It makes you curious about that voicemail though, doesn't it? This example creates something called an "open loop." An unresolved question your brain can't help but seek out the answer for in order to close it. A few ways to build the loop:
However you approach it, make sure you write like you're texting a friend. Casual. Intimate. This creates a sense of familiarity and helps build trust. Preview text is another thing you can leverage to drive up those open rates. Preview text usually defaults to the first line of text in the email, but that's a wasted opportunity. You want to use every bit of inbox real estate at your disposal to create more tension or curiosity. Here's an example of how to build it: Subject: "the voicemail after the Ohio show" None of this needs to be clever. It just needs to be relevant to the email copy and create an emotional payoff for your subscribers when they open. Because if you can create that emotional payoff, you're going to train your subscribers to believe that opening your emails is fun. And that will make them want to open the next email too. Hope that helps, P.S. subject lines aren't the only way to increase your open rates. Next week, let's talk about how keeping your list healthy can help. |
Leigh Cara
You released a new song... and almost none of your fans knew. It got buried in their feed (if it showed up at all). Beyond the Algorithm helps musicians build an audience they can reach every time: through email. Sign up below if you want a direct line to your fans.
Hey Reader, If you're worried about coming across as spammy to your fans, it probably means you're already sending them spammy emails. Doesn't matter whether an artist has a huge label team behind them or if they're in DIY indie mode...Artists at all different levels have this major fear of not wanting to bother their subscribers. And they think the best way to avoid doing that is to email them as little as possible. That usually means that when they do have something to sell or promote, they...
Hey Reader, I have this artist friend who reached out recently. They landed an opening slot on a tour and were asking me about ways they could maximize this opportunity to grow their text list. (Hey…email or not, it's an owned audience and I'm here for it.) They had a couple things we needed to keep in mind as we brainstormed: It was an OPENING slot and they wanted to make sure they were being respectful and not stealing any thunder from the headliner outside of their set. They had a small QR...
Hey Reader, There's this idea that email marketing is dead and that SMS is the only real way to grow an owned audience anymore. And if you're still building an email list instead of a text list, you're way behind the curve. First of all, email marketing isn't dead. (You're here, aren't you?) It is very much alive and to this day, the average ROI on growing your email list is $36 for every $1 you spend....if you use it right. SMS is great...But it serves a completely different purpose than...