• About
    • About The Academy
    • Meet David Risley
  • Blog
  • Courses
  • Reviews
  • Services
    • Strategy Calls
    • Technical Services
    • Webmaster Service
    • Site Review
    • All Services
  • Resources
    • Member Forum
    • Recommended Tools
    • Video Vault
    • Document Vault
    • Podcast Archives
  • All Access
    Sign inFree Membership
    • About
      • About The Academy
      • Meet David Risley
    • Blog
    • Courses
    • Reviews
    • Services
      • Strategy Calls
      • Technical Services
      • Webmaster Service
      • Site Review
      • All Services
    • Resources
      • Member Forum
      • Recommended Tools
      • Video Vault
      • Document Vault
      • Podcast Archives
    • All Access

    Tag: Segmentation

    Building Your Email List Via A Free Membership: Why You Might Want To (And How)

    A look at using a free membership level in order to build your email list rather than simply giving PDF downloads. How well does it work... and how do…
    David Risley May 11, 2021
    2 Comments

    ConvertBox Review: 15 Pro Strategies Using ConvertBox To Grow Your Business And Make More Money

    ConvertBox is far more than opt-in software. Here are 15 pro-level strategies and real-world examples of using ConvertBox to increase conversions and …
    David Risley November 2, 2020
    8 Comments

    How To Use ConvertBox To Engage And Segment Existing Subscribers

    A look at how I am using ConvertBox to segment my existing email list on my RV blog - complete with examples and screenshots of how it is set up.
    David Risley July 29, 2020
    0 Comments

    ConvertBox Review: The Good And Bad Points Of This Opt-In Software And How It Compares (UPDATED)

    ConvertBox is an up-and-coming opt-in form software currently available with lifetime pricing. But, is it any good? What are the bad parts? Let's take…
    David Risley November 26, 2019
    0 Comments

    RightMessage Versus ConvertFlow: Onsite Retargeting To Personalize The Marketing On Your Blog (UPDATED)

    What if your blog actually changed based on who was visiting it? You might get way more opt-ins and sales, right? It is called onsite retargeting. And…
    David Risley August 15, 2019
    2 Comments

    How To Increase Your Email Open Rates And Get Your Emails Delivered

    It is one thing to build your email list. It is quite another to ensure the emails you send actually arrive and get opened. This guide provides multip…
    David Risley June 17, 2019
    16 Comments

    What If You Emailed Your List Every Day? (A Different Look At Email Frequency)

    If somebody recommended to you that you email you list every day, what would you say? If you're like most, you would say they're insane. Is that true?
    David Risley October 16, 2017
    0 Comments

    Ultimate Guide To Building An Email List: List Building That Works And Makes You Money

    The complete guide to how to build your email list from your blog, including opt-in and lead magnet strategy that is working today.
    David Risley August 14, 2017
    15 Comments

    The Death Of The Email “Blast”

    We use a lot of funny words in online marketing - some of them a bit demeaning, actually. And one of them is the phrase "email blast".Not only do no…
    academy-staff May 30, 2015
    0 Comments

    How I Use Office AutoPilot (Ontraport) To Magnify My Blog’s Marketing Power

    What if you could make your blog more than just a place to publish content and generate leads and subscribers? What if you could make your blog "liste…
    David Risley July 18, 2013
    10 Comments

    That Moment You Feel Limited By Your Email Marketing Software…

    Are you ready to put on your big-boy pants? Are you starting to feel the pain associated with combining different online marketing solutions together?…
    David Risley July 12, 2013
    5 Comments

    How To TurboCharge Aweber Beyond Built-In Capabilities [AW Pro Tools]

    I recently announced that I was switching my email marketing for the Academy from Aweber over to Office Autopilot. For me, this makes sense. However,…

    David Risley January 10, 2013
    5 Comments

    Why I’m Switching From Aweber To Ontraport Office AutoPilot

    There probably isn’t anything in the world of online business that causes as many discussions, confusions and opinions than talking about different platforms. Which cart…

    David Risley December 19, 2012
    32 Comments

    How To Use Email Segments To Get Higher Open Rates

    One of the things that we all want with our email list is high open rates. We want to know that when we send out…

    David Risley November 21, 2012
    4 Comments

    Most Recent Announcements

    • When Is The Right Time To Start A Membership Site? December 13, 2022
    • How To Reduce WordPress Block Editor Bloat For A Faster Editor December 8, 2022
    • How To Organize Your WordPress Media Library Into Folders December 6, 2022
    • How To Separate Your Email From Your Web Hosting (For Best Web Hosting) November 28, 2022
    • Awesome Support From ConvertKit. I Want To Acknowledge Them Publicly. November 17, 2022
    Facebook Twitter Youtube Rss

    Client Services

    • Webmaster Service
    • Strategy Calls
    • Technical Services
    • Site Review

    Member Resources

    • Forum
    • Course Library
    • Video Library
    • Vault

    Free Resources

    • Blog
    • Product Reviews
    • Top Tools
    • Youtube Channel
    • Free Membership

    Legal & Info

    • About
    • Contact
    • Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclaimer

    © 2008-2023 - PC Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    Hosted by Cloudways. Built with BuddyBoss, WP Fusion and FluentCRM. 

    Forum Description

    One of the things that we all want with our email list is high open rates. We want to know that when we send out an email that the highest percentage of our list as possible will actually open it.Now, one of the things to keep in mind is that systems like Aweber use what is called a tracking image to actually track whether the email has been opened. However, a lot of email web services such as Gmail block images by default. So, by its very nature, tracking of opens is sort of inaccurate because a lot of these web based email services will block it and Aweber simply has no way to know whether the email was opened.Now, if somebody actually clicks on a link in that email, Aweber will still count it as opened. Because obviously, they'd have to open it in order to click that link.So, keep in mind that the numbers that you see inside of a system like Aweber are probably lower than actual reality when it comes to open rates.But all that said, we still want a lot of people to open our emails. One of the things I talked to somebody about recently at an event was how it really isn't all about "blasting" the list anymore.What really is the most important thing when it comes to managing our email list is ENGAGEMENT. It’s actually getting people to engage with what we send.

    Here's The "How To"...

    Obviously, getting them to click on things is great, but here's a really cool piece of advice and that is to segment out the people who regularly open your emails versus the people who don't.When you send out a broadcast, instead of sending out to the entire list every single time, you want to focus on the people who routinely open your emails because those people want to hear from you. The people who do not routinely open your emails - they may not want to hear from you or they're just likely less interested. So, what you might want to do is send to those people less often than you do the people who regularly open.Now, I'm not going to sit here or recommend how often you should send. Everybody’s different. You manage your list the way that you want to manage your list. My piece of advice is simple and that is to have a segment inside of Aweber or whatever mail system you use and simply say... these people regularly open my emails and these are the people who do not.And whatever criteria you want to set for that is fine. For example, have they opened up one of my emails in the last 30 days? If they have, then go on and put them on to the open segment. If they have not opened an email in, say, 30 days, then go ahead and put them on the non-open segment.You don't want to delete them, necessarily. Someday, you might. I've done that before. I've actually purged a lot of people off my email list that, according to my records, were never opening anything. Because why have them on my list? But, those people who are not opening as regularly, it could be that they're just not opening the tracking image. It could be for a number of things but you want to send to them a little bit less often.

    So, Using A Third Party Mail System Isn't a Magic Bullet?

    No.The reason for this is because these ISPs and these web based email services - they are tracking engagement and they're doing it across the board, not just on your particular email list. And what happens is, if they see repeated sends to people who are not routinely opening your emails, then they automatically downgrade your reputation as a sender.Even if you're using a reputable system like Aweber, it will still affect you. You still have to practice good email management tactics with a system like Aweber in order to maintain your deliverability. Just using Aweber is not going to magically make your delivery rates through the roof. You still have to be smart with the way that you use it. And this tactic that I just shared with you is one way to execute a little bit more smartly. :-)And it's not only that. It's going to respect the people who are on your list. Some people, they don't need to hear from you as often. They're not as engaged. I mean, quite frankly, in the internet marketing space particularly, there are people who will give you their email address just to get your freebie. It kinda blows but it is what it is.You know, you could either go one of two ways. You can decide not going to give away any freebie and if they want to get on your list, fine. Plan B would be to let them on, get the freebie, whatever you want to do there and then track how often they open the email and send to them accordingly.So that's my advice, it might help your engagement levels on your list. That's really what it's all about - it's engagement.