In his opinion, these two things are:
a) Your name
b) Your email subject line and content

But I say "your name" is the single most important factor in getting your emails opened. Here's why:

A few days ago, I decided that I'd start making more posts on twitter. (I had opened a twitter account some months back but never got around to posting on it.) So as part of this I started following some people.

Almost immediately after I clicked on the 'Follow' button on some members? profiles, I got a private messages offering a free 'gift' for deciding to follow them. And as you might have guessed, to get this gift I'd have to go through an opt-in form.

Let's assume I entered my details and opted in, is there a guarantee I would make a good list member?

You see, I have 4 email accounts -- 3 Gmail and 1 Yahoo account -- set up just to receive these list emails.

And the thing is...

Gmail account 1 contains 1703 Unread emails
Gmail account 2 contains 1028 Unread emails
Gmail account 3 contains 485 Unread emails
Yahoo account contains 1106 Unread emails.

So that makes it 4342 Unopened emails in all accounts combined.

I am subscribed to more lists than I can remember. Most of these emails I delete without reading. Some others stay unopened in my account for ever.

In contrast, there are some specific people for whom I make sure I don't miss even a single email.

Why? Because the content in these emails is simply amazing. So I make it a point to search them out and open them... regardless of what the subject line says.

That's why I say your name is eventually the bigger factor in deciding whether your emails get opened or not in the long-term.

You need to win the reader's confidence first in order to make sure he stays subscribed for long... and most importantly, not just opens but also reads all your emails.

I don't open some email accounts for months together. But when I do open them, I search out specific persons? emails no matter they're on the third page or the fourth page.

Believe me, it's true.

You have to build high credibility in the readers? eyes. When you succeed in doing that, they will search the entire inbox to find your emails and read them eagerly. Your email open rates will then go up and so will your profits.

Think about it - your list may consist of 10,000 or 20,000 or even 30,000 members. But what if even 10% of these people don't read your emails regularly? You'd think you have a big list when that's really not the case.

So build a list of faithful followers. Don't just pile up subscribers just for the sake of building a list.

You want to have subscribers who like you and loyally follow all your emails. That is the real secret to succeeding with a list.