I originally wrote this article in June of 2014. I think it’s worth revisiting:

What I’m about to share with you is something I read regarding best marketing practices. I decided to put it to the test and see if it really works. Turns out that it does!

Do you send emails out to your facial clients on a regular basis? You should be! You need to keep “you” on their minds. One to two emails a month with a quick update about something new and exciting is sufficient. You don’t want to wear out your welcome by emailing too often.

Did you know that what you put in the subject line can make or break whether they even open your email? I sort of knew that but I didn’t take to heart the importance of it. I usually get around a 45% to 48% open rate, which is considered pretty high. But we always want more!

The way to get an email opened is by using a subject line that works on our strange human nature of wanting to hear about something bad, something gory, and something that seems like gossip. It’s actually kind of sad that it takes that type of subject line to motivate people to have a look, but it does. In an email to my Estheticians I put “breaking up hurts” in the subject line. Within 4 hours of that email going out I had over a 50% open rate. A couple of days later it was up to 60%. I will bet you that most people looked at that subject line and thought I was getting a divorce and boy, did they want to hear about it.

A few days later I sent an email out to my facial clients at my Spa. The subject line read “we’re so sad’. Again, I got a much higher open rate than usual. One of my clients is an advertising guru and she sent me an email saying “great marketing Shelley.” That was music to my ears coming from an expert!

By the way, I wasn’t getting a divorce! That subject was about how I was separating from a vendor and it was a very small portion of my email. The email to my facial clients was about how sad we were that we hadn’t seen some of them in quite some time. We offered them something special if they booked an appointment before the end of the month. It worked; three people contacted us that same day!

So, the next time you get ready to send an email to your clients get creative with your subject line, think gloom and doom.

Ps: Did the title of this post kind of draw you into reading it? Yep, see what I mean!