How to Get Buyers to Read Your eBay Newsletters

Are you a store owner on eBay? Do you use your mailing list capability, the one that eBay provides along with your store? I hope that you do as it can be a very powerful tool. Speaking as a buyer, I enjoy receiving newsletters from eBay store owners - occasionally. The majority of the time, though, I simply delete them without opening because I know they're going to be a waste of my time. How do I know that?

When I see these subject lines, I don't ask questions, I just delete:

"eBay Seller Email: Check out my Newly Listed Items"
"eBay Seller Email: Sale! Shop my eBay Store for Big Savings"

Those are default subject lines, the ones that eBay supplies for you. They're the lazy seller's way of sending a newsletter. Inside, I can expect to see a list of items for sale and little else, sometimes not even a personalized message from the store owner. In fact, unless I scroll to the bottom of the page, 99 percent of the time I have no idea who sent the email. Why? Because eBay's default does not supply the store name at the top of the email. The only place I might find it is on the feedback section that is (by default) plugged in at the very bottom. Sorry, but I have too many other things to do than search an email to see who it's from. I'd rather shop with sellers who catch my attention with subject lines such as these:

"eBay Seller Email: Birdhouse Books - New Year's Sale"
"eBay Seller Email: 25% Off Selected Flat Wallets & More"
"eBay Seller Email: Happy Holidays from Handmade by Martha"
"eBay Seller Email: New 2 Day Sale Fun Stuff from Annie Star"

Aren't those subjects more appealing? Absolutely! Don't they make you want to see what's inside? Of course!

Note that the "eBay Seller Email" part is always provided by eBay, identifying that the mail is not s-p-a-m, so that's okay. However, it leaves you, the seller, a limited number of characters to work with, so be creative and use the space wisely.

If you've been taking the lazy way out by using the eBay default subjects, check your stats to see how many subscribers open your newsletters now, then try it my way a time or two and see if that opening rate increases dramatically. I truly believe it will. If I'm on your mailing list, I can guarantee it will. Then come back here, leave a comment and let me know if it worked for you.

Happy selling and prosperity to all in the new year!


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