Increase Newsletter Open Rates with Santa's MV Technique

12/19/2007
by Kenn Schroder

Do you put cookies under the tree for Santa? Well, you'd better - because he's delivering a special gift just for you this Christmas!

What is this special gift, you ask? It's a technique that's served him well for ages: the MV Technique, or the Mystery Value Technique.

MV, huh?

Before I explain, let me back up a second and tell you why you are going to absolutely love this gift!

You see, you face a challenge when seeking clients.

Potential clients who are considering you as their coach need a few things to make the decision. They need to like you; understand what you do; feel familiar with you; and trust you.

To accomplish this, many successful coaches (successful marketers too) send information to prospects on an email list (a.k.a. newsletter subscriber list). They give valuable, helpful information to gain trust, build familiarity and educate.

The challenge comes in when you attempt to distribute your newsletter. You need your list subscribers to click open your email and read it. If they don't then your relationship doesn't grow.

Since people are very busy, lots of email goes unread. What usually happens is that people scan their email subject lines and read the ones they feel are important and skip over the ones that don't grab their attention. They judge the book (email) by its cover (subject line).

Thus, the challenge you face is how to write good subject lines for your newsletter to encourage prospects to read them.

And this is where good old Saint Nick, master of the Mystery Value technique, comes in!

Part one: the Mystery.

Remember when you were a kid and it was the night before Christmas? You couldn't sleep. You were anxiously awaiting the wonderful gift you were about to receive.

A big part of that excitement was due to the fact that you didn't know what was in the tightly wrapped, decorative box. Your imagination ran wild.

That's Mystery at its best!

Part two: the Value.

Staying with our night-before-Christmas example, not only were the contents unknown to you, you knew they were valuable! It had your name on it and it was especially chosen for you!

Just the same, your newsletters should be as exciting to read as opening a gift.

And here's how, using the MV Technique ...

The Mystery part:

Make sure that in your title, there's something mysterious or unknown.

Some examples include:
> Three Things That...
> How to...
> The Secret to...

This part alludes to content in the newsletter, without saying what it is. It's like the mysterious box that has something in it.

The Value part:

What do your readers find valuable? They want solutions to problems, help in reaching goals and tips to success.

Here are some examples:
> Reaching Goals
> Quitting Smoking
> Doubling Productivity in Half the Time

And thus, you have the value piece. It's like knowing that there's going to be something great inside the box.

Now, put Mystery together with Value and you get:

> Three Things That Double Productivity
> How to Quit Smoking
> The Secret to Reaching Goals

Now those are subject lines that will get people tearing into your newsletter.

In conclusion, put the Mystery Value technique to work in your newsletter titles. It will encourage more people read your newsletters, which in turn, builds stronger relationships and deeper levels of trust with your readers - who will soon become
your clients.

Kenn Schroder helps business, personal and career coaches who are struggling to attract clients. He provides web design, development and marketing to help you build a client-attracting coaching website.

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