Pod Insights The $100 MBA Show MBA2726 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Increase My Email Open Rates? About this episode Hundreds or even thousands of subscribers, and only a few open your emails. It’s frustrating, right? You’ve tried clever subject lines and every trick you can think of, but the results still don’t move. If that sounds familiar, this lesson is for you. In this episode, Omar answers a question from Peter about boosting email open rates. He explains why most people struggle with this and what you should really focus on if you want your emails to get noticed. Instead of chasing hacks, Omar shares how to rethink your approach so your subscribers look forward to hearing from you. Stop watching your emails collect dust in inboxes. Hit play at the top of the page and learn how to turn opens around. Recommended episodes to explore:MBA2027 Is The Email Newsletter Dead? + Free Ride FridayMBA2395 Must Read: Be Useful by Arnold SchwarzeneggerMBA2572 Extended Interview: Seth Godin – How To Have A Better Strategy And Win People OverWatch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Today's episode is supported by Cash App. When it comes to Bitcoin, you may be surprised to learn that it was invented way back in 2008. But you still haven't made the jump to Bitcoin yet? Cash App makes it easy. When you buy Bitcoin on Cash App, they hold real Bitcoin for you, one to one, and you can withdraw it anytime. It works more like real money and less like something locked in an account. No extra steps, no restrictions, just access and control when you need it. With Cash App, you can actually do that. For a limited time, new customers can get $10 added to their balance. Just use code BITCOIN10 when you sign up. And don't forget this part: send at least $5 to a friend in the first two weeks. Terms apply. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank.
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0:58 Speaker 01 It's JCPenney's biggest sale of the season, and 97% of the store is on sale. Yes, really. From November 5th through 11th, you'll find deals in every department. Yes, JCPenney. Season refers to the most items on sale, 8/3/26-11/19/26.
1:13 Speaker 00 Most people think if they want to increase their email open rates, they have to resort to tricks that are incredibly annoying, like weird subject lines, emojis, capital letters, forwards, regarding, final notice. Please do not be that person, okay? That's so annoying. You don't need any of that. If you want to dramatically increase your open rates consistently, there's only one thing that actually works: becoming someone worth opening.
1:46 Speaker 00 Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zenhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.
2:00 Speaker 00 I got a quick favor to ask. If this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review. You could do so wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps me and my team reach even more people who need the same no-fluff, practical business advice that you're getting from the show. It only takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey.
2:24 Speaker 00 Today on Q&A Wednesday, I'm answering a question from Peter, who asks, "How do I increase my email open rates?" And I'm going to do that by sharing everything I know about how to get people to open your emails. Most of it I learned from a friend of mine, who's an incredible copywriter. His name is Matthew Kimberly, and he's one of the best email communicators on the planet. I'm going to be sharing you all the strategies that he taught me about how to get people to really love opening your emails, be rushing to open your emails. And it has nothing to do with spammy subject lines. I'm going to be giving a ton of shout-outs to Matthew Kimberly, because really, he's taught me everything I know on this topic. And if you've ever seen this guy go to work, he's incredible.
3:06 Speaker 00 His emails get opened, they get read, but most of all, they get remembered. People actually reply to him. They ask for more. They literally complain if he's not sending them emails, which is crazy, which is the opposite of what most people experience, like people unsubscribe. When I learned from him, what I'm going to share with you today, I just came to the realization that this guy cracked the code. He figured this out. So let's get started, and let's start with the truth. A truth that really shocked me, which is your open rates have nothing to do with your subject lines. Your name does. People don't open emails because the subject line is clever. They open emails because you are someone they want to hear from. Do a little exercise with me.
3:51 Speaker 00 I want you to just think about this. If your best friend emails you, you don't care what the subject line is. You are opening that email because you want to hear from them. You want to see what's going on. When the love of your life sends you a text, somebody you're madly passionate love with, you don't look for the hook. In the opening line, right? You are just happy to get a message. You can't wait to unlock your phone to see what that message says. If your hero or your favorite celebrity sends an update on social media, you click immediately. You want to find out when's their next tour? When's their next album dropping? Why? Because the sender is valuable, not the subject line. This is a real mental shift.
4:34 Speaker 00 Stop trying to write valuable emails. Start becoming a valuable person in their inbox. That alone will increase your open rates more than anything else. And don't worry, we're going to talk about how to become a valuable person later in the episode. Next thing I learned from Matthew is three big reasons why your emails aren't getting opened. The first reason is your emails don't sound like you. They sound too corporate, they sound too guru, they sound too vanilla, they sound like you are putting it on, like you are trying to impress them. People want you, not a version of someone else. So, the best advice I can give you is write your emails, your newsletters, your copy
5:19 Speaker 00 like you're writing to a friend, like you're writing an email to a friend, like you're writing a text message to a friend. By the way, this works on video too. Pretend you're FaceTiming a friend if you're on video. This one thing will revolutionize the way people perceive you in emails. Number two, don't write inconsistently. If you're infrequent with your writing, you are asking for trouble. Because most people feel like they don't have anything to say, so therefore, they don't write enough, or they don't write every single week, or with any cadence. So, don't wait too long between emails, because when subscribers don't hear from you often enough, they forget who you are. You're out of sight, out of mind, and this causes lower open rates. And the third thing that absolutely kills your open rates is that you forget to make
6:04 Speaker 00 your emails delightful. That's what Matthew calls it, delightful. And what encompasses delightful, or delightful emails, are emails that entertain, that challenge, that provoke, that actually cause some emotion. You gotta make people feel something when they read your emails. If your emails are not doing that, they get ignored. One thing I want to share with you is the delight rule that Matthew taught me, which is you should try to delight people three times in each email that you send. The first time is when they see your name, like, "Oh, Omar emailed me." That is a moment. The second time is when they're reading the actual email and they feel like, "Oh, that's fun. That's interesting. That's insightful. I never thought of it that way." Oh, that's really courageous of him sharing something that's kind of vulnerable.
6:49 Speaker 00 And the third time you delight them is when they remember it later. This is huge. You know that you've won the game of email when the email sticks with them and they think about it later in the day, when they tell somebody else about what they read, about what they experience. If you can delight people, you'll always be able to get them to open the emails, especially if you hit all three. When you open the email, they're like, "Oh, cool. This person's emailing me." The second, when they're reading the email, they're like, "Wow, this feels incredible." Or, "This is insightful. This is useful." And the third time is when the email's closed and they're not looking at their phone or their computer, and they think about what you said later on. It lingers a little bit.
7:31 Speaker 00 And that's how you can judge, "Is my content that valuable? Is it valuable enough for them to be thinking about it later on in the day or talk about it with somebody else?" Today's episode is supported by Rosetta Stone. I absolutely love Rosetta Stone because it's helping me learn Italian faster than I can ever imagine. Why do I want to learn Italian? Well, who doesn't love Italy? But of course, Nicole's family is Italian, and I love to have some quick Italian conversations with her mom. And Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. One of the coolest features is chat missions, which turns conversation practice into a game. With chat missions, you're put in interactive scenarios and given three objectives: a mission
8:15 Speaker 00 to accomplish, like asking how much something costs, ordering a cold brew coffee, or getting a Wi-Fi password. Along the way, you get real-time corrections and feedback to help you sound more natural and confident. It's a supportive way to build confidence before putting your language skills to use in real life. I've been using Rosetta Stone for over two years, and I actually can have some small Italian conversations with Nicole's mom now. Just the other day, she asked me, "When are you traveling?" And I said, "Dopo domani mattina", which means "After tomorrow morning". She was incredibly impressed I was able to answer in Italian. How could you put a price tag on a happy mother-in-law? If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. The $100 Bay Show listeners can get 20% off the Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today.
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9:04 Speaker 01 JCPenney's biggest sale of the season means 97% of the store is on sale. Yes, really. From November 5th through 11th, you'll find deals in every department. Outerwear, boots, dressy looks for the family, jewelry, suits, and beauty favorites. Plus, holiday must-haves like cozy fleece and small kitchen appliances. 97% of the store is actually on sale. Yes, JCPenney. Season refers to the most items on sale, 8/326-11-1926.
9:35 Speaker 00 So, how do you become a person of value? This is really the biggest mindset shift I got from Matthew, is to stop trying to create valuable content. I had to really resist this because for over a decade, I was a school teacher, and teachers give valuable content, and that's kind of part of my identity. And I had to stop focusing on that and instead become a person my audience values. Think about the people whose emails you always open. This is a good practice. Like, for example, I'm on Arnold Schwarzenegger's email list. I open all his emails because I love Arnold Schwarzenegger. I have his app. I've been following his workout routines forever. He's an inspiration. I open Seth Godin's newsletter religiously.
10:20 Speaker 00 They're short, they're sweet, they're valuable. I respect him as a person. He's incredible what he's done. I open Matthew Kimbley's emails because they're so well-written, I can't wait to devour them. I open my emails from Nicole, my wife. I open my emails from close friends and family because they're important to me. So, they could literally send you anything, these people. They can send you a poem about potatoes. And you would still open it and you would still read it because you care about this person. You see them as a valuable person in your life. You're not opening it because of the email necessarily, you're opening it is because it's them. So you see what I'm saying here? A lot of us are trying to like value stuff, our emails, instead of trying to build a relationship
11:04 Speaker 00 with our audience to be somebody of value to them in their life. So when you start thinking in this lens, I need to be valuable to my audience. And that means I need to invest in building a relationship with my audience. I need to give them good content, but at the same time, I want to be able to change their life in the most economical way, word count wise, but also in a way that makes me feel like we're friends. Right? Where I'm not trying to talk down on them. I'm not trying to just be the encyclopedia for them and give them all the information. I actually want to invest in that relationship between us through email. When you become valuable in the eyes of your readers, your open rates will skyrocket. No question about it. You know, this is true as I'm explaining this to you. You're seeing the scenarios in your head.
11:49 Speaker 00 You're like, oh, he's making some really strong points because it's the truth. And that's why they're strong points. Now, what's great about this is that you are going to feel a sense of relief very soon because you're going to start to realize what I actually write about doesn't actually matter as much as I thought. It doesn't matter as much as you think. It doesn't. And I know that sounds strange, but this is where a lot of people get stuck. They believe they need to go for 10 tips or five hacks or seven lessons every single time. But the genius of this is that you can write about absolutely nothing in your emails and still get massive open rates if you're a person they love to hear from. You could literally tell jokes. You could literally open up your heart and talk about a challenge you had. You could literally just share a story that happened during the week.
12:34 Speaker 00 If people find it endearing, funny, interesting, entertaining, they're really enjoying who you are as a person and being a part of your life, they're going to open your emails. And by the way, what a paradigm shift, what a crazy juxtaposition. You are going to be so different from all the emails that they open up. In the business world, or in the marketing world, or in the fitness world, or whatever world you're in, because your emails aren't instruction manuals. They're actual personal emails, emails that go out with a bit of heart, with emotion, with reality. They're really like a correspondence. You're writing to pen pals, not leads. You're telling stories. You're sharing moments. You're giving your opinions on things.
13:17 Speaker 00 You're giving your takes. You take people on a journey. You take them somewhere through that email. One of the things I try to remind myself is that my job is to communicate, and not just to strictly deliver value. I like to tie what I'm communicating to a point, so that it makes sense, and it's something that is interesting to them. But it doesn't mean it has to be like bullet point after bullet point of factual information. You could tell a fictional story to prove a point. You can tell a joke. You can share your insights on what you just watched on Netflix, and what it made you think about. These are real conversations that you would have with a friend. This is the type of things you talk about over a dinner. And these are the things that would really get people
14:01 Speaker 00 to get to know you, and enjoy knowing who you are, and seeing the value of having a relationship with you. Now, you might be saying, "Hey Omar, this is great and all, but what if I need my reader to take action? I need him to click a link to subscribe, to buy my product, or something. How do I do all this and have a CTA?" Well, I learned a great segue technique from Matthew himself, I want to share with you. So I'm going to share with you an example that he shared with me. And this example is him talking about one thing, and then segueing into learning more about his course. He sells a writing course, by the way. This is not a sponsored episode, and if you want to check out his course, check out his website, Matthew Kimberly. You can Google him. But I just want to share what I learned from him, and give you this example. So here's the example.
14:45 Speaker 00 He writes, "I hate socks with sandals. I also hate chocolate ice cream, and people who text and drive. I know a lot of people also hate writing emails." And then he segues into, "If you're one of those people, I can help you out." Da-da-da-da-da. Isn't that fun and entertaining, and actually enjoyable to read? So that segue technique is a great tool. Great one to use. And you could talk about anything. You could talk about what you saw at the grocery store, a show that you watch, a conversation that you had with a friend, a memory from childhood, something totally random. Like, I got off the bus today and the bus officer was checking everybody's cards to see if we tapped on and tapped off. It felt really official. We all kind of felt like we were in trouble, but only because it doesn't happen that often. Actually, it's the first time it happened in six or seven years.
15:29 Speaker 00 You know what also doesn't happen very often? Me asking you to subscribe to the podcast. And see how I'm segwaying into it? And it's a kind of nice way to make your reader laugh a little bit. This makes you sound real. It gives you some personality. And again, it makes the person chuckle a little bit and say, okay, this person's going to take themselves too seriously. Now, I left this part of the episode till the end because honestly, it's going to sting a little bit. It's the truth about why people don't open your emails. And the real truth that I found out about my own emails is that people don't open your emails because they forget who you are. Why? Because usually you don't email enough. And when you do email, it's always a sales announcement. It's always a memo.
16:13 Speaker 00 It's always some boring lesson. It's always a newsletter. It's always a wrap up. And there is no delight. There is no entertainment. There is no enjoyment. The key here is to make sure that you are showing up with a bit of personality and just showing up like a human being would show up to a party with some conversation, with some anecdotes, with some stories. This approach alone will change your open rates dramatically. So this is what I want you to do this week. I want you to email more often, at least once a week. I want you to make your name an asset. Okay, see your name as an asset. How can I improve my asset, increase the value of my asset? Each email should bring your personality into it.
16:58 Speaker 00 So people can remember, oh, this is Omar, or this is John, or this is Sally. And when I see Sally's name, I got to open it up because Sally's pretty cool. Three, tell stories, small, short stories. It could be 30 to 100 words, super simple. Whatever happened today is enough. Right? Don't overthink it. Number four, if you have a CTA, use the segue method we talked about. Tie any story into a point that you want to make in the email or a CTA you want to make in the email. Number five, stop over teaching, something I had to overcome. You're not writing a textbook here. You're writing a letter, right? You're writing an email. You're writing a message to somebody that you should care about. You're building a relationship. Number six, focus on delighting your reader. Make people smile. Make them
17:43 Speaker 00 nod. Make them think. Make them feel seen. Make them feel anything and you'll find your open rates will rise naturally without any stupid gimmicky hacks. So if you found today's episode delightful in any way, share it with somebody else and delight them. I'm sure they'll thank you for it. Peter, who asked today's question and everybody else who's listening, I want to leave you with this. If you want higher open rates, don't chase tricks. Don't trace hacks. They all have a shelf life and they all just are lame at the end. Okay. Chase connection. That's never going to change. Be someone worth hearing from. Be someone your readers really value. Be someone whose emails are a bright spot in their day. If you do that, you're going to see incredible results, not just in your
18:25 Speaker 00 email open rates, but in your whole business. Big shout out to Matthew Kimberly, who taught me many of the things I shared with you today. If you want to check out his work, go to MatthewKimberly.com. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.
19:14 Speaker 02 Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda, more of what matters most to you. Go to MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product.
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