One of the hard truths of email marketing is that no matter how much energy and effort you may put into crafting your email content and campaigns, it can all be for naught if you don’t get recipients to open your emails. Email marketing can work wonders, but the first step is piquing enough interest so that your audience decides they want to see what you have to say.
So what steps can you take to boost your open rate and get more eyeballs on all your brilliant email content? The MailCon team has compiled some of our favorite tips and tricks for getting more folks to open your emails.
Top MailCon Tips for Increasing Your Open Rate
1. Make Every Subject Line Stand Out
Your subject line is your big, shiny billboard. It is the number one thing that could entice a recipient to either open your email or archive it into oblivion. There are many ways you can help your subject line stand out: you can ask a question that will be answered in your email. You can tease them with a cliffhanger: “You’ll Never Guess What We Did.” Or sometimes just the promise of value or a new announcement can be enough: “40% off until Friday” or “We’ve Just Made Things Easier for You.”
2. Write to a Friend
One of the reasons people may ignore your emails is because it can be clear it is a message meant for a long list of subscribers. People will be more inclined to read emails that are more directly written to them. Sure, it is useful to personalize with a first name but take it a step further: how would you tell a friend about a great new deal? Or some valuable bit of information? Making your email a little more casual and friendly can help your chances of getting more people to open it.
3. Pay Attention to the Sender
Don’t lose sight of who it looks like is “sending” your emails. If you’re going for a more casual tone you may want it to originate from a personal email of someone on your team. Or it can come from your company’s email. Just make sure that the recipient is shown as your complete name and not just the email address, which can look less professional.
4. Find the Right Timing
Whatever time you send your emails can have a big impact on whether or not they are opened. For example, Monday mornings can be very busy for people so it’s a lot less likely they will have time to look over whatever you’ve sent them. The same goes for weekends—unless perhaps you’re sending a “long read” of some kind. Then weekends might be the ideal time.
Try to test out a few different times but once you have one that works, you’ll want to stay consistent. Your audience will learn to expect your emails at the same time each day or week: giving them the opportunity to fit opening your emails into their schedule is one of the best things you can do!
5. Segmented Lists are Great—Use Them!
Today’s email marketing platforms will almost always offer a solution to segment your subscriber lists. There’s a reason for this: segmented lists can often lead to higher open rates. By segmenting your subscribers into different lists, you’re more likely to send those subscribers only the content that is most relevant to them, which in turn makes it more likely they will open your emails.
6. Be Aware of Spam Filters
You’ll have difficulty getting anyone to open your emails if they are marked and blocked as “spam.” Familiarizing yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act and taking steps to ensure your emails are compliant can help you avoid spam filters. Some of the simplest compliance tips include making it easy for recipients to opt-out, adding your business address to every email, and taking care to not use inaccurate or misleading subject lines.
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