How Solo Ads Helped Me Optimize My Email Campaign: Boosting Open Rates, CTR, and Saving Money
Let’s get real: email marketing can feel like a never-ending cycle of trial and error.
You craft what you think is the perfect message. Yet you only see low open rates. Worse yet even more disappointing click-through rate (CTR).
I’ll bet you’re a lot like me in that I’ve been there too! But wait there’s a silver lining. I discoverd a secret weapon: solo ads.
Not only did they help me improve and optimize my email campaigns, but they also saved me money in the longterm. Google Ad Words and Facebook lead lead just did not provide enough traffic to test with.
Let me walk you through how solo ads worked for me and the strategies I used to boost my open rates and CTR.
Step 1: Enhancing Your Open Rate
The first battle in email marketing is getting people to actually open your email. It doesn’t matter how great your offer is if no one sees it. Solo ads can help with this because they give you access to highly-targeted email lists.
However the works not done, there’s still work to do on your part. You want to make sure your email stands out in the recipient’s inbox.
Here’s what worked for me:
- Catchy Subject Lines: Your subject line is your first (and sometimes only) chance to grab attention. I found that using curiosity-driven or benefit-focused subject lines made a huge difference. For example, instead of “Check Out This New Offer,”
- I switched to something like, “The One Strategy I Wish I Knew Sooner.”
- Personalization: Solo ads are great for reaching the right audience, but adding your personal touch increases your chances of getting noticed.
- Something as simple as including the recipient’s name in the subject line can boost your open rate. “Hey [Name], Don’t Miss Out on This!” feels more inviting than a generic email blast.
- Remeber as Dale Carnegie said a person’s name is the sweetest sound in any language
- Opportune Timing: Don’t just send your email whenever. Experiment with the best time to send your emails based on your audience. I’ve found that testing different days and times helped me figure out when my list was most active—no more wasting good content at the wrong time!
- Believe it or not I 6:00pm on work days and 10:00am on weekends did the trick.
Step 2: Improving Your Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Getting people to open your email is one thing, but how do you get them to actually click through to your offer?
Solo ads give you a strong start because you’re targeting people already interested in what you’re offering, but it’s all about making your email irresistible.
Here’s what helped me:
- Clear Call to Action (CTA): One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was burying my CTA in a wall of text. People are busy—they don’t have time to scroll through paragraphs. I learned to make my CTA stand out by using bold text, buttons, or even highlighting the link. For example, instead of just saying, “Click here,” I went with, “Click here to start seeing results today!”
- But here is a BIG secret put your Call to Action in the P.S. Field and use a different font like this 🅒🅻🅘🅲🅚 🅗🅴🅡🅴 🆃🅞 🅢🆃🅐🆁🅣 🅢🅴🅔🅸🅝🅶 🆁🅔🆂🅤🅻🅣🆂 🆃🅞🅳🅐🆈.I used a site called Yaytext.
- eal.”
Step 3: Saving Money and Boosting Results with Solo Ads
Now, let’s talk about the money side of things.
- I get it, investing in email marketing can feel risky, especially if you’re not seeing immediate returns.
- But here’s where solo ads really helped me: they’re cost-effective.
- Instead of spending tons of cash on broad campaigns that didn’t bring in results, I targeted highly-responsive lists that already had an interest in what I was promoting.By leveraging solo ads, I could test what worked best for my audience and optimize my campaigns.
- This meant fewer wasted dollars and a higher return on my investment. The best part? Once I found the right strategy, I was able to scale without breaking the bank.
Final Tip: The Affiliate Players Handbook by Dean Holland
One of the best resources I’ve come across on this journey has been Dean Holland’s Affiliate Players Handbook. It’s packed with strategies that take affiliate marketing to the next level, including tips for improving your email campaigns and skyrocketing your affiliate commissions.
- If you’re serious about scaling your affiliate business and optimizing your email campaigns like I did, this is a must-read
- Get your copy of The Affiliate Players Handbook by Dean Holland here
Hey Scott, I am so impressed with your information on solo ads. I’d always been put off by the concept before but you have such a great take on the subject. This is something I will definitely take on board. Thanks for sharing!
Solo ad can sometimes get a bad reputation uless used the correct way. One of my old mentors who has done 50 million in sales online taught me to use these to optimize my marketing.
Hi Scott,
Great information and great post!
It’s knowing the small things about the different areas of our online businesses that will help us both waste less time and more importantly, bring us the knowledge we seek and need to attain our financial success!
All the best!
I think we need to stress test our online models to see if they really work. I can tell you this was a successful test. I just needed to change a couple of headlines.
Hi Scott,
Thanks for breaking down how solo ads boost your open rates and CTR. I totally agree with the importance of catchy subject lines and clear CTAs, sometimes it’s the small tweaks that make the biggest difference. I’m definitely going to try these methods you talk about here. Also, that P.S. trick with the CTA and the different font is genius! Thanks for sharing this valuable insight!
Meredith
Thanks for the review. Sometime we need to do thing a little faster to test and see if something is going to work.
Hey Scott, regarding the paid traffic methods you have more than a string to your arc! ( I assume this expression is valid also in English 🤔😀). Thanks for the tip about solo ads, actually you awake my curiosity to know more about it.
Thanks for sharing.
Martin
Hey Martin What is the phrase “En Francais” It sounds like stringing a bow and arrow. I like it. Thanks for the comment. Sometimes you have to use some brute force to test your materials. “En tout cas” it worked out quite well. Just over a hundred people clicked into the funnel. It allowed me to change a few headlines to get better engagement.