Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

** Disclaimer: This isn't my normal blog fare. If you're interested at all in email marketing, this article might be of interest, but otherwise it's long and potentially boring. I'm also not offering it as a prescription for how anyone should do email marketing, or email in general. It's just some observations of my own. A couple of weeks ago I was presenting a workshop in which I was talking about my recent experiences with email. The gist of the story is that a few months ago, after getting tired of the vitriol in many online exchanges, I wanted to bring a more uplifting message to people. I started a weekly email message, now called Inbox Encouragement. I was telling the group about how I was seeing open and click through rates that were the highest I'd ever seen. Open rates as high as 80% and click through rates ranging from 25-45%. At one point in the discussion I was asked if I had any idea of any of the clicks were converting. In sales language that

Update: I've found since this was first posted that there are a couple of other prominent publications called An Encouraging Word. The new name for this weekly message is Inbox Encouragement.  I’ve been moved lately to do whatever I can to put some more light into the world, and I’ve decided that’s what I’d like to do with all my methods of communication including writing, music, podcasts, and teaching. I’ve decided to refocus the primary intent of my email list to share messages of encouragement and gratitude. I’ve become overwhelmed with the amount of negativity and discord among my large circle of friends, and I just don’t want to feed that beast any more than it already eats. I will be writing Inbox Encouragement every Wednesday, and I’d be honored if you’d be willing to receive it. I believe very deeply that there is abundant hope for humanity, in spite of all that we see happening. We humans have the capacity to experience an infinite expansion of our consciousness, and