Bond Halbert: The Online A-Pile / B-Pile Speech (How to Get Your Emails Opened & Read)

Updating the principles in his father’s now world famous A-Pile / B-Pile Speech, Bond Halbert shows you exactly how he consistently gets email open rates way beyond the industry standard. Whether you are a professional wordsmith or flunked English class… you will be able to boost your email marketing profits using these simple tactics starting with the first email you send after watching this presentation.

In this video you will learn:

• How to get direct mail into the A-pile.
• How to get past the Spam Filter
• How to get an a-pile email address
• How to get your email opened
• What is the best subject line of all
• How to create a compelling subject line every time
• How to time your offers
• How to avoid the online version of the “oh, yuck” factor

Intro

In this presentation I am going to take my father’s A-pile/B-pile principles and apply them to online marketing, showing you how to use them to increase your open rates.

1069/1970 My father was doing what everyone was saying but getting lackluster results. So he started thinking about what he would do if someone had a gun to his head and threatened to pull the trigger if he didn’t get results.

He started by imagining people sorting through their mail over a waste basket. He realized that they were sorting not by “what do I want to read”, but by “what do I not have to read” and throwing that away. So he first wanted to make sure his mail didn’t go into the trash pile.

He also realized that people were sorting the remainder of the mail into 2 piles: A-pile: mail that was going to be read no matter what, B-pile: everything else that hadn’t been thrown away (to be read later, if there was time). He also realized that everything in the B-pile ended up in the trash, as well. It would pile up and then get thrown away when it was time to clean up.

He realized that his mail had to get into the A-pile.

How He Got His Direct Mail Into the Recipient’s A-Pile

1. Send everything first class mail. AT the time all marketers were using bulk rate to save money.

2. Use a live stamp rather than metered mail.

3. He sent it in a regular envelope (no window and not thin)

4. Leave off the name in the return address (return address was called the “corner card”.

5. No Teaser Copy.

6. Hid order copy (either he included it in the letter or put it in a separate envelope with instructions not to read it until after the letter.

5:30 His reasons for doing this:

Sending everything first class made sure that the mail was delivered. Postal workers, if they were overworked, would throw out bulk mail but never first class mail.

It also allowed him to time the receipt of the mail. Bulk mail could be delivered at any time in the next month or so. First class mail was delivered within 2-3 days, so they could drop the mail on Saturday in order for it to be delivered on Tuesday, when people were over the blues of Monday but weren’t thinking about the weekend yet.

Using a live stamp, regular envelope and no teaser copy it pass the human spam filter (our brain)

Leaving off the name in the return address created curiosity in the recipient.

Hiding the order copy eliminated the “oh, yuck” reacion by keeping coupons from falling out when the envelope was opened.

8:25 How to Apply These Principles Online

The wastebasket is the delete button.

9:00 Getting Email delivered

Spam filters: To stay out of spam filters

1. Use Spam Assassin: Tells you what there is in your email that will trip spam filters for the major email services.

Don’t take it to an extreme. Don’t not use a word just because it tips the meter up a little. The filters look at your emal as a whole and it won’t get caught because of one or two words.

2. Good content: If a lot of your email is not opened or what is opened is marked as “spam” you will get a bad rep with the spam filters.

Segmentation helps with engagement. You may have good content but if you are sending it to the wrong people you will have the same engagement problems.

3. Scrub your list. Get rid of people who haven’t opened your emails in a long time. Don’t just delete them. Send them a series of emails with content and offers and try to get them to re-engage. If that doesn’t work, send them a final email telling them they will be deleted from the list and then delete them.

4. Keep the list warm. Send appropriately spaced emails so people don’t forget who you are.

B-pile email addresses. People sort mail by the email addresses they give. They use certain email for companies they don’t want to hear from.

It is better to get into the spam box of an A-pile email than to get into the primary box of a B-pile email address.

16:24 Getting an A-pile email address

1. Give content before asking for an email address. Sample of a video, newsletter, so they can see that you are going to give good content.

2. Promise time-sensitive deals/notices that they will want to look for.

3. Use the word ‘primary” when asking for their email. Do not use the word “personal” because that will send up red flags.

4. Be specific about what you will send and what they should do. “We send out a lot of time-sensitive deals you won’t want to miss, so be sure to sign up with a primary email address you check often”.

5. Make it clear that you will not spam them…”We hate spam so much we have doubled the size of our unsubscribe link” or “We wouldn’t be enjoying the online reputation we have if we were spamming people”.

6. Allow people to sign up through Facebook, because Facebook gets their primary email. There are plugins for this…one may be called Facebook Connect, but there are lots of them.

7. Try to get people to sign up using their mobile device email. That is usually their primary email.

20:10 Getting your email opened

Most important factor is the Sender Name

You must be memorable and the way to be memorable is through the content you send.

You are teaching your list what to expect from you every time you mail to them:

1. When you mail….on a regular schedule or randomly.

2. Your emails should include information that they want to read. Target the material to the list.

3. Frequency: How often to expect an email (once per month, weekly, daily)

You need to keep in mind why they joined your list (type of content, expectations)

Reinforce the idea that you understand how you feel. If you are helping people get out of debt, commisserate with them on the pain of receiving calls from bill collectors. If you sell dog toys, talk about the difficulties of giving your dog enough exercise.

24:00 You should have a compelling subject line: Best subject line is one that is blank, in his opinion. So powerful you can only send 10. Don’t use them all the time because you will wear out the idea.

Some people try for the same effect by using Re: or Oops, but you should save this for when you really need it.

Subject line should have both curiosity and benefit. You should also try to imply a sense of urgency.

26:00 Subject line trick: Use a hook.

Hard to do. Most people model after their competition, which starts to look stale. Better than nothing, though.

What you should do is model after actual news. Not New York Times, Washington Post, etc because they are trying to get you the story as quickly as possible.

Sources to model:

Digg: Not the best, though. Good because people have to have read the content in order for it to have ranked well.

National Enquirer: Go to the celebrity section. Particluarly good if your email is based around your story. The headlines have good hooks for people with personality-based businesses.

His favorite: AOL and Yahoo: On the right side of the page they have a list of stories. Ignore those. Go below that to the links in small print. These are written by their best copywriters.

31:50 Specific examples (he is taking the first 4 from each to show what to do)

He is pretending to write subject lines selling the video of the speech he is giving right now.

Digg

Digg actually has a 2-part headline… a pre-head and the actual headline.

1. Show us your earnings…spring break is big business

Translates to: Show us your open rates…high open rates is big business

2. Headline: Your dollars in flight…the numbers behing the most expensive fighter jet ever

Translates to: Your marketing dollars at work…the numbers behind our biggest launch ever

3. 5 Myths about Iraq

Translates to 2 Myths about open rates

4. The first movie about apps may be the worst movie of all time

Translates to: Emailers first concern may be the worst move of all time.

33:30: National Enquirer

1. Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman to Re-Wed?

Halbert and Carlton together again?

2. Exclusive! Top Doc: Robin Roberts “playing Russian Roulette”

Exclusive! Top Marketer: Emailers are “playing Russian Roulette”

3. Duck Dynasty Backwoods Love Secrets

Halbert’s backroom email secrets

4. Cissy Begs “Walk On By” Dionne To Save Bobbi Kristina

Stan Dahl Begs “Halbert Son” Bond To Save Email List

34:45: AOL Examples

1. A Couple Awakes to Sinkhole in Back Yard

Marketers Awake to an Open Rate Sinkhole

2. Newspaper Rips Fox News Chief’s Book

Bond Halbert Rips Email Marketing Gurus

3. News for Governor of Florida is Not Good

News For Email Marketers is Not Good

4. Incredibly Bold Move Made Audience Cheer

Incredibly Bold Speech Made Audience Cheer

35:45: Next step…add some numbers whenever you can

Your Marketing Dollars at Work becomes Your 2013 Marketing Dollars at Work

Halbert’s Backroom Email Secrets becomes Halbert’s 4 Backroom Email Secrets

Marketers Awake to Open Rate Sinkhole becomes Marketers Awake to Open Rate Sinkhole of 9%

Instead of “Check out my video”, if it is a short video, say “Check out my 3 minute video” If it is longer, say “check out my video but be sure to catch 1:45 in”.

Step 3: 37:03 Shorten the subject line

1. Emailers first concern may be the worst move of all time

becomes: Emailers 1st concern may be worst move of all

2. Exclusive! Top Marketer: Emailers are “playing Russian Roulette”

becomes Exclusive! Top Expert: Emailers “play Russian Roulette”

3. Incredibly Bold Speech Made Audience Cheer

becomes Bold Speech Made Audience Cheer

38:05 Timing

Everyone is different. Keep testing. Try sending out email every day to see which is best. Send them out at different times during the day and night. best thing to track is sales. If you can’t track sales, track click thru rate or whatever you can, but sales is best.

Make sure your ISP actually sends out you email at the scheduled time.

39:50: Secret timing formula (for offers only)

Hockey stick effect: When you first mail about an offer you get a spike in sales. Then as you email more, the sales level declines. Then when you email that the offer is ending you get a spike again. This could be higher than the original

In order to get this effect, you have to mail a series of emails, but you don’t want to burn out your list and get a lot of unsubscribes.

What he does: Start with a very curiosity-heavy subject line. Example: Thank God my Dad went to prison! He went on to say that while in prison his father wrote him a series of letters about direct marketing. He had added his comments and published a Kindle book. The letters are called “The Boron Letters”.

Next, send out one with a benefit-driven subject line. This will be seen as a reminder and not a trick to get them to open the email. It also gets some who are driven by benefits but not by curiosity.

Third email: Add a sense of urgency (eg last chance to buy the Boron Letters and be able to attend this free webinar we are giving). This can kick some people who were on the fence into buying. It also doesn’t trick people into opening the email if they already bought. It also tells everyone on the list that the email sequence is coming to an end.

43:50: Avoiding the online version of the “Oh, yuck” factor.

Make sure they read the email after they open it.

What do you hate to see when you open an email?

1. No animated junk no jumping bunnies

2. Break up large blocks of text: Use plenty of eye relief (short paragraphs) and use frames that resize the text.

3. Use pictures only if they add to the message. Put a title below the image and make it an active link. Use a 1pt border so if they don’t have images turned on they will see that they are missing something. Use an engaging alt description that will get them to view the picture.

4. Send HTML and text

5. Hide the Buy Button. Put it below the fold or use other wording (click here for more information)

More tips:

1. Repeat the subject line at the top of the email. Many email platforms show the beginning of the email before it is opened, so this will keep from telling them what it is about before they open.

2. Think about which emails you open first. Family (hard to become family), Co-workers (also difficult), friends. You can become friends with them. If you can, chat with them and engage. Answer them on your blog, use video, share personal experiences, bond over shared interests, help each other, interact regularly

Questions and Answers

54:40: Question: Is it better to use a frame and not use line breaks to keep lines from looking choppy?

Answer: Yes, in the HTML version. In the text version he figures out how wide a line would be on an iphone and cuts off lines manually using that width.

Question: Does he load a lot of emails into the autoresponder at one time or is it better to make each one fresh.

Answer: It depends on your strategy. Autoresponder needs to sound fresh. Don’t date it. Stuff that is dated (I was at the Action Seminar last week) should be in a broadcast.

Question: Educate in email or entertain?

Answer: It depends on your business model. He doesn’t do much entertainment because he wants to deliver what he promised. But it is conversational.

Question: Do you only do a 3-email sequence?

Answer: You can use more than 1 benefit-related email and more than 1 urgency email, but don’t use more than 1 curiosity-driven one because people don’t like to be tricked too many times into opening emails and it will turn them off.

1. Make sure your email passes the spam filter tests so as many as possible actually get into your recipient’s inbox.
2. Incorporate Bond’s suggestions (starting around the 16-min mark) for getting a good email address from your subscribers.
3. Set a mailing schedule and stick to it. Also use a consistent “from” name.
4. Always have a compelling subject line. Develop hooks that are compelling. See Bond’s examples starting at the 31:50 mark.
5. Add numbers to your subject lines and shorten them as much as possible.
6. Test, test, test. Keep what works and fix or discard what doesn’t.

Stay out of spam filters:

Spam Assassin

Sources to model:

Digg
National Enquirer
AOL
Yahoo