Here's a story from the pre-quarantine age.

I was hanging out in my school's club suite, which is the part of the building where all the school clubrooms are. People were still in class so the area wasn’t as crowded and chaotic like it usually was.

While I was on my laptop doing some work, I overheard a conversation between two women, if I remember correctly. Like many college students love to do, they were complaining about their college professors. And I remember this one specific line one of them said which was...

"My professor can’t teach. That’s why I don’t understand anything."

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but chuckle. It’s always entertaining to listen to people complain about college professors. The most unbelievable stories come up sometimes.

I mean I get it. There are certain professors out there that don’t put enough effort into teaching their students. But the way I see it, they’re not fully responsible either. It’s also up to the individual to make sure they understand what they’re being taught too.

This goes back to focusing on what you can control.

There’s no chance you can change another person’s way of teaching, but you have all the power to get extra help whether it’s looking up tutorial videos or getting a tutor.

Now let’s see how that applies to email marketing.

I see people asking in forums and Facebook groups...

"How do I increase my open rates or my click rates?"

As if they’re expecting someone to give them a secret tip that’ll persuade their readers to open their emails.

They’re focusing on the wrong thing because it’s the same type of problem. You can’t control your readers opening your emails.

Instead they should be focusing on what they can control, which are:

Improving their email copywriting. Focus on writing emails that your readers will find valuable and can implement to make their daily lives better, but they should also be fun to read.

Making sure they send emails regularly. It can be as little as once a week, or as many as once a day. The more the better. When your subscribers are constantly seeing your name in their inbox, you're always going to be in the front of their minds.

Finally, kicking the inactive readers off your list. There's no point in keeping people on your list if they don't read or open your emails. It's a waste of space and a waste of money. It's expensive to maintain an email list on an email marketing software, especially if it's a huge list.

A little piece of something to keep in mind.