Email marketing is one of the most effective strategies for delivering targeted messages and maximizing business growth. The return on investment is also quite impressive, with a $1 investment capable of bringing in over $40 in return.
Of course, the only way to enjoy these benefits is if the people receiving your emails are actually opening and reading them. Low click-through rates and unsubscriptions are bad, but it’s much worse if you can’t get people to open the email in the first place.
So how do you go about it? Here are five proven methods that can increase your email open rates:
1. It all begins with a compelling subject line
Nothing says a good first impression like an interesting, punchy subject line. Give some thought to how you want the recipient to interact with the email.
Billions of emails are sent and received every day and for many people, it takes just one glance at the subject line to decide if an email is worth opening. If it doesn’t pique their interest, they’ll likely ignore it or mark it as spam, or worse, delete it right away.
A compelling subject line makes your email stand out for the right reasons. So make sure to craft it in such a way that it tells the recipient that you’re not just another company looking to make a quick sale, but a concerned brand that is interested in providing real value.
2. Test your subject lines
Sometimes we think we’ve written the world’s best subject lines only to discover that things didn’t turn out the way we expected. Testing is the only way to be sure that your efforts are actually paying off.
After working on your subject line, send the email to a few subscribers and measure their response rate. If good, then you can send it to everyone on the list. If not, then it’s back to the drawing board.
Alternatively, you could send the email to your list and filter the ones who didn’t open it. The idea is to resend the email to them but this time with a different subject line. Be careful with this approach though, as the recipient may get annoyed and flag the email as spam or even block the sender.
3. Fix the “From” field
The “From” field tells the recipient who the sender of the email is and what they do. This field should ideally contain your business name and professional business email address.
Some people try to personalize it by using phrases like “Jenny from ABC” or “The ABC Newsletter.” The important thing is that it should show the company name so the reader immediately knows who sent the email.
Having a professional email address also helps. It builds trust with the recipient as opposed to some random @gmail or @yahoo address.
4. Know when to send out emails
How well do you know your target audience? What’s their daily schedule like? More importantly, when are they most likely to read their emails?
Email open rates are generally more successful within the first hour of delivery, so it’s important to send them out at the right times. For instance, if you’re targeting stay-at-home moms, consider sending out emails around midday, since they are likely busy in the mornings getting the kids ready for school and attending to other chores.
A good way to identify the best times to send out emails is to divide your list into 2 or 3 groups. Send out the same emails to each group at different times of the day and see which ones have optimal open rates.
This testing period can take up to a few weeks to complete, but once completed, you will have invaluable insight that can provide that needed boost to your email marketing campaigns.
5. Segment your emails and keep your list fresh
This just means that the email you’re sending out is relevant to the reader.
Let’s say you’re a fitness brand and you have a sizable subscriber list with various concerns. One set of subscribers is interested in yoga, while another set wants to build muscle. Just because they’re on the same list doesn’t mean you should send them the same message — their wants are different.
By segmenting your emails and only sending relevant content to the right group, you’re telling your subscribers that you know exactly what they need and that you are a reliable source of value. This makes them more inclined to open any emails they get from you.
Equally important is the need to keep your subscriber list fresh. This means weeding out inactive subscribers after a certain period. There’s no point in sending emails to people who will not read them anyway.
Bonus Tip!
For emails to be eye-catching, a creative email design will do the trick. The most effective emails are made with only a few texts and an image that sums up your message. You may check out platforms like Pinterest or Canva for some email design inspirations.
The bottom line
It will not matter how well you craft your message or how much discount you’re offering to your subscribers if they’re not opening the email. Use these strategies to level up your email open rates today.
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