As a female entrepreneur or online service provider, you'll be getting bombarded daily with HOT TIPS and GUARANTEED OPENING FORMULAS for winning headlines when sending out your newsletters.

Now we all know that the 'money's in the list' - but long story short?

There is NO winning headline formula!

Not unless you're actually Rolex and your headline is "all watches 90% off 24 hours only" - that'd be a fucking impressive open rate!

Back in the real world, your customers are savvy and they've been online long enough to know a clickbait title when they see one! 

When YOU are the brand - then you've got to build that relationship with your customer. Now I know you'll have heard about building the "know, like, trust" factor - but when this comes to marketing your solo brand - then it translates into allowing people to see YOU - flaws and all - and NOT some copy & paste clickbait-y headline!

It infuriates me when I see my peers jumping on these 'proven strategies' for a killer headline - often marketed as something like 'guaranteed to re-engage your list' or something like that - because the truth is, unless your audience is really SEEING you, why the fuck would they open - or more importantly CARE about what you've got to say - because they KNOW they're being marketed to - and NOT in an authentic way, just another number on the list.

Nobody wants to be just another number on the list.

We all want to be special.

So, back to 'relationship marketing' - as a solo entrepreneur you really do have to write your newsletters to your audience and treat them as friends. Write your headline as though you were writing to a friend and wanting a little catch-up. You wouldn't title an email to your friend "3 ways you're fucking up your kids" - unless it was HEAVY on the satire and memes!

Building that relationship with your customer means that your audience get to know you, they know that you're writing as a 'real person' and not just using some formula or templates to get them to part with their cash. And... because you're showing up AS YOU (weird fucker and all! ), they're going to get to know you, to like you (possibly... or they might unsubscribe - and, so what if they do!?) and they'll get to trust you because they can SEE that YOU are showing up AS you... and not just a copy & paste caricature of a business.

In turn - because you're building a genuine relationship with your customers and allowing them into your life - your open rates are going to go up. 

Bottom line - the more people who open your emails, the more shit you're going to sell!

The average open rate across all industries is a smidgeon over 20% if Hubspot are to be believed - and, whilst I think Hubspot are bloody brilliant the first thing they suggest is to change/improve your headline and most people will then panic, Google a list of "guaranteed headlines" and implement those. Quickly sending your 'know, like, trust' factor down the drain! 

My open rates are consistently way higher than 20% and my 'magic formula' is simple. Every time I write a newsletter I create 2 headlines which I make up on the spot related to the content of the email - no worrying about including the audience name/emoji/clickbait/copy & paste/whatever - and make these split tested. This means that my newsletter provider (Convertkit) sends out my newsletter to 10% of my audience and splits those 2 headlines. 

Then... the audience decides which one they like! After a few hours, Convertkit decides which one was the 'winner' and sends out the rest.

And it really IS that simple!

No formula, no stress - just let your audience decide! 

You can never replicate being genuine and honest with your audience by copying what SOMEONE ELSE has written - and the only way you're going to be able to build up genuine and long-lasting relationships with your audience is by showing up AS you.