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🔥 INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

• Why open rates are flatter than ever—and it’s not your subject line’s fault

• How to craft slippery-slope openers that pull readers in

• 3 unsexy technical tweaks that supercharge your deliverability

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❌ THE BIG PROBLEM: WHY NO ONE'S OPENING YOUR EMAILS

Let’s clear the air.

If your open rate is below 30%, you don’t have an engagement problem—you likely have a visibility problem.

That’s right. Your audience isn’t ignoring your content… they’re not even seeing it.

And that’s the most common blind spot in email marketing today. Everyone’s obsessing over subject lines while their deliverability is quietly falling apart behind the scenes.

Here's the hard truth: You can’t optimize what’s never seen.

✅ THE FIX — THREE MOVES TO BOOST OPENS (STARTING TODAY)

1. SUBJECT + PREVIEW = INBOX HOOK

Think of your subject line and preview text as your “email storefront.” It’s your first (and often only) chance to capture attention.

Use this dual formula:

• Subject: Spark curiosity or tension

• Preview: Tease value or open a loop

Winning Combos from Todd Brown’s Swipe File

• Subject: “SEO is for suckers”
  Preview: But what’s replacing it is even crazier…

• Subject: “You won't believe this chart”
  Preview: It explains why your open rate flatlined last month.

Pro tip: Avoid spam triggers—no “FREE!!!”, “$$$$”, or excessive punctuation. Stay clean, concise, and emotional.

2. SLIPPERY-SLOPE OPENERS: COPY THAT SUCKS YOU IN

Most marketers waste the first line of their email. Don't.

Your first sentence is the anchor for the reader’s attention. Get it wrong and they bounce.

Get it right? You’ve got momentum.

Steal these openers from Todd Brown or use Lou Larsen’s Hooked Opener tactic:

• “We woke up this morning in a dank hotel room in Dallas.”

• “Everything was in shambles. My merchant account was frozen.”

• “This might be controversial, but it needs to be said.”

Why it works: These are “slippery slope” sentences—they pull you into the next one... and the next… and the next. You’re not selling here. You’re building emotional gravity.

3. TECH TWEAKS THAT UNLOCK THE INBOX

Here’s what no one tells you: 60–80% of open rate improvements happen before your email is ever opened.

How? By fixing the infrastructure.

Checklist:

• ✅ SPF, DKIM, DMARC: Ensure all are properly configured. Use tools like MXToolbox or GlockApps to verify.

• ✅ Domain/IP Warm-Up: Don’t blast a cold domain. Ramp slowly—start with 20–50 emails per day, increasing over 10–14 days.

• ✅ List Hygiene: Scrub hard bounces and inactives every 30–60 days. Don’t just segment—remove dead weight.

Advanced move: Create a “re-engagement segment” and throttle that list back in after warming your engaged segment. This gradually improves your sender reputation.

Remember: You can’t out-copy a bad sender score.

STRATEGIC TRIGGERS TO TEST THIS WEEK

Now let’s elevate your open rate with copy that cuts through the noise. Pull one or two of these Lou Larsen triggers in your next campaign:

• The Weird Opener: Start with a jarring or unexpected fact.
  Example: “You’re more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a shark.”

• The Nested Loop: Begin a story but don’t finish it right away.
  Example: “What I’m about to share could change your open rate forever. But before I tell you how, let me explain why 90% of marketers get this wrong…”

• The Agreement Bucket:
  “You’ve probably wondered why your open rate keeps dipping… Maybe you’ve even tried switching platforms. And still, nothing works. Sound familiar?”

• The Factual Illusion:
  “Every successful email marketer knows that what happens before you click ‘send’ is more important than what’s inside the email.”

Stacking two or three of these in one email can create a copy vortex that keeps your reader locked in—just don’t overdo it.

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THE EMAIL LETHAL COMBO TO AVOID

If you do this trio, your email’s dead on arrival:

• Send from a new domain with no warm-up

• Use spammy language in your subject line

• Blast a cold, unengaged list

It’s the email equivalent of putting up a billboard in the desert and hoping someone drives by.

YOUR MISSION THIS WEEK

Run this 3-part open rate optimization:

1. Use a curiosity-driven subject line + preview combo

2. Start your email with a “hooked” or “weird” opener

3. Send only to your most engaged 60-day openers

Then measure: Did your open rate rise by 2%, 5%, 10%?

Even a modest lift = more eyeballs, more clicks, more revenue.

Cheers
The InBoXer Team