Welcome to the 8th edition of the world’s most dangerous email marketing newsletter.
“You want some tequila?”
That’s that my new doctor said when I walked into the waiting room.
Yes, my doctor offered my tequila.
At 11:45 in the morning.
What did he do?
What was he trying to accomplish?
He was lightening the mood with a pattern interrupt.
What’s a pattern interrupt?
It’s something that forces you to change your natural thought patterns.
And a doctor offering me tequila absolutely interrupted my thought patterns.
It caught my attention right away because I do the same thing in my email marketing.
I use pattern interrupts in my subject lines to jack up my open rates.
Here are some of my most top subject lines and why they work:
- Why you are doing email list segmentation all wrong – I am challenging you
- $37 in 3 Weeks from a 100,000 Person Email List – I am talking about a failure
- Does size matter with open rates? – I am making a joke
What’s the common denominator?
I am doing what my doctor did – saying things you don’t expect.
BUT… there is a catch. You know there had to be a catch right?
When you go over the top with wild pattern interrupts, you have to deliver.
My doctor was attentive, pleasant, and he seemed very invested in my health, asking lots of questions and giving me helpful advice.
So he balanced out his pattern interrupt – “You Want Some Tequila?” – with a great patient experience.
Use the same attitude in your email marketing.
Go over the top with your subject line – but ONLY when you can balance it out with a good customer experience.
So you attach those wild one-liners to great content or fantastic offers.
Again, balance is key.
If you don’t put quality behind your pattern interrupts, people will see you as a cheap clickbait machine.
Smart influencers understand this – they use weird pattern interrupts to introduce interesting videos and other messages.
Now get out there and interrupt someone. Their thought patterns, I mean.