Dean, while the numbers John is asking for are totally important to trying to get to the bottom of this, I can almost guarantee that if the subject line for this particular email is anything like your sig file, people will open it.

Have you tried "I dressed up my wife like a horse for this..."

It's curiosity driven and directly tied to your album, which is your in for the entire catalogue.  Try it and I'm sure the open rate will go up, then you can focus on improving the click-thrus on your links instead  🙂

Thanks, that's pretty telling. It does seem like it's the headline.

I think Steve's advice is great, but I don't think that he is saying to use the headline earlier in the series with the hope of building so much rapport that they will open your future emails (sorry to put words in your mouth Steve). I think that he is saying to use a really interesting headline like that for your sales email. All you need to do is work in some kind of a metaphorical tie in to the subject line.

The more your sales pitches feel like stories, the better you will do. It may be that your headline tips people off a little too much to the fact that it's a product push. Hard to say.

All you can do is split test and you'll get the results you need.

Another thing you can try doing once you get your open rate up is to move the email up in the series. Some people sell more when they strike while the iron is hot, others sell more after the bond is cemented. It all depends on your relationship with your list and the proclivities of a particular demographic.

John Oszajca said:

Thanks, that's pretty telling. It does seem like it's the headline.

I think Steve's advice is great, but I don't think that he is saying to use the headline earlier in the series with the hope of building so much rapport that they will open your future emails (sorry to put words in your mouth Steve). I think that he is saying to use a really interesting headline like that for your sales email. All you need to do is work in some kind of a metaphorical tie in to the subject line.

John has it right here, Dean... that's exactly what I was suggesting.  The purpose of the email where you are going in for the kill should be transparent as far as the offer goes, but you have to get an open first to make the offer.  This is why I think the"horse" story would be perfect for the sales email as opposed to a "get my whole catalog" headline..

It gets eyeballs and from there you won't have to tinker with opens and instead you can tinker with click-thrus.

Cool!  Have you seen an increase in people actually clicking the link after they open the message?