There are a lot of people out there who have email lists, but don't know if they are good or bad. What kind of results should you expect from emailing your list in an auto-responder and what can you do to make them better?
A lot has changed in email marketing over the last couple of years. It is harder and harder to get you emails into a subscriber's inbox and even if you are in the inbox, it is harder to get them to open your emails. These changes have lowered average open and click rates for most marketers.
How do you know if your numbers are where they should be? What can you do to improve them?
There are some numbers to look for in a quality list. In this discussion, we are talking about the "make money online" niche. Other businesses would have different figures.
When you send an email to your own list from a quality auto-responder, you should be looking to get an open rate between 5 and 15%. Ideally, it would be over 7 or 8% minimum.
If your open rates are consistently under 5%, then that means that your email is either going to spam, or you need to clean up your list and remove everyone who hasn't opened an email in the last 3 to 6 months. If you don't keep removing old subscribers who are no longer paying attention, then you will end up in the spam folder.
What is a normal click rate for your emails?
Click rates are harder to have a standard with. The click rate will vary widely based on what the "call to action" was and how compelling the offer is. It is hard to compare the click rates for two different emails which are promoting different products.
If you focus on running a clean list and keeping a flow of new subscribers joining your list, then the open and click rates will take care of themselves. Obviously, you need to be writing people about subjects they are interested in, but if you do that and follow the ideas above, it will work.
