Before we get deep into the whatnots of email open rates, do you recognize what this terminology means? It’s ok if not, as this is the reason you came across this peice
Well, ‘email open rate’ is the fraction of people who open an email out of the total number of people who receive the email. It is very similar to Click through open Rate (CTOR) which in lay man language refers to the percentage of people who click on a link in your email.
That said, you’ll agree that this metric is one of the best metrics to use if you are trying to enhance the percentage of emails opened in your advertising campaign. One aspect to keep in mind is that each email sent out there has a very similar basic structure meaning that it’s going to always have a subject line, greetings, the body, and closing remarks.
Increasing email open rates, therefore, calls for you to study how to customize it other than making it user friendly with targeted requirements and carefully selected words.
Additionally, it’s far beneficial to evaluate which one has a higher impact among using a general organization email address and that of a particular person’s name. To do that effectively, these highlights need to be observed and evaluated closely.
Subject Line
Most people have a tendency to overlook the subject line and instead focus on the email body in spite of the former being conceivably the most essential part of any given email. A subject line has the magic to lure and lead a reader into opening your mail. It additionally sets expectancies about what’s enclosed in the email.
In contrast, a common subject line like ‘Hi’ or a subject line that is poorly crafted has got the capacity to annoy a reader and it may end up in the spam folder or worse still, automatically get deleted without any importance. Remember that the catchword right here is to pique the attention of your reader and you could effectively do this through selecting a personal line such as “Mr. or Mrs. so and so (a mutual connection) recommended that I get in touch with you”.
Alternatively, you could word your test about some thing that is of significance to your reader like ‘Ideas for such and such a thing’.
Another technique you can ensure your email is opened and read is to interest your reader with your thoughts about a particular title or blog post or pose a few queries about a purpose that the reader apparently has; or about a current event. Another excellent method is to set off a chain of thoughts in your reader’s mind by saying something like ‘Have you taken into consideration ABCD?’.
As a rule of thumb and to be able to lure your reader, stay away from using worn-out and such ‘spammy’ phrases like Specials, State of the art, Exciting, Reminder, Help, Discount, Unique, Final, Complimentary, Partner, Sale, Solution and etcetera.
For the opening line of your email, avoid the habit of starting your email content with phrases like ‘Hi my name is …………….’. Instead, opt for phrases which have greater impact as if you are engaging your reader face to face. Good examples of this include lines such as ‘I observed you …………..’, ‘ I loved your post on ……….’, ‘Mr. or Mrs. (a mutual connection) mentioned that ……..’ or ‘Congratulations on ……….’. As a guide, you could take a subset of your potential subscribers and aim to send up to around a hundred emails.
Split the listing into 2 sub-groups and send an email to the sub-groups with different subject lines but having the exact same content. Based on results you get with this round of testing, choose the subject line that will have a higher tendency to get a better email open rate and send that to the rest of your potential subscriber list. The use of emoji and symbols in your subject line gives the emails a better appeal and also stands out in the inbox of your reader.
Finally, be aware that subject lines have got exceptional results not only on conversions and CTR but also on unsubscribes and therefore the more reason as to why it is essential in the overall performance of your email CTR. Last but not the least, it must be understood that nowadays, most emails are opened on mobile devices and so the subject lines must be kept as short as possible.
Personalization And The Choice Of Email Address
Deciding what sender’s name to use could be very important. A survey report from Pinpointe marketing observed that using a particular personal name as opposed to a corporation name or a general email address has the capacity to improve open rates by almost 35%.
Another survey conducted by SuperOffice Marketing suggests that 89% of email advertising campaigns are sent using corporation names. HubSpot additionally reports that a little over 40% of people notice the sender’s name before choosing whether or not to open an email. This is due to the fact that most people get numerous emails. And so, if they’re doubtful about the identity of the sender of the email, they will most probably not open it.
In view of this reality, there are multiple strategies you could adopt to increase the chances of being recognized by the recipients of your emails. If your brand is reasonably popular or well known, it would be beneficial to use your brand as your sender name.
Alternatively, you could decide to be more personal by combining the name of the sender and the name of the corporation. Many times, more personal approaches result in higher outcomes relatively speaking. Also, studies by Litmus suggest that a vast wide variety of people determine whether to open the email by reading the preview text first. This is due to the fact that a preview text provides an image of an email and is typically pulled from the content.
You can make your readers avoid the hassle of going through instructions to view photos or read the email online, by using a few email marketing software to make their user experience easier. This way, you make the email compact which is more appealing to your readers. This will hence improve your email click-through rate.
Also, you could include a CTA (Call to Action) button which will make your recipients open your email and head directly for the link which you need them to click. Note that Gmail and Apple email accounts support preview texts and this, therefore, is a feature you can take advantage of really well, to increase your email CTR.
Improving Email Content
Needless to say, that what holds the attention of the recipient of your email is the content. For your subscribers, hence, you must enforce a longing for your content material to ensure it acts as a stimulus for your emails each time they hit the inbox of your subscribers. This in itself creates a bond between yourself and your readers. This most definitely is a crucial factor that results in an improved CTR.
In fact, this type of connection is such that your subscribers will constantly need to open the subsequent email that they receive. There are a number of attempted and examined things that you could do to make your content material more effective. The top of the list is using photos. Humans are wired in such a way that they respond to visual stimuli very easily. Therefore emails with photos are observed to improve the average email open rate.
The use of numbers is another kicker. People are willing to open your email with the purpose to learn more if the email consists of data.
Thirdly, your emails need to be portrayed as interactive. This is now a new trend according to a report by Litmus. Readers get their interest captured with the help of videos, Animated GIFs, and video thumbnails.
Content that consists of surveys and a gift or offer at the end of the survey is another way to optimize email marketing. Therefore, ask for feedback, and the readers will most certainly participate; particularly if they are being offered something. Another strategy to enhance your content material is by offering a subscriber bonus or any other incentive. You also can use social sharing buttons, as when the recipients share your email id, this enhances the click-through rate of your email too.
Segmenting
It is commonly known that only some of the emails sent will be shown interest by the people who received them. Therefore, it isn’t sensible to send all of your emails to every person on your list. In order to grow email open rates, it is advisable to only send relevant content to your subscribers. This in turn will require you to segment your audience.
The use of an opt-in software program is advantageous as it offers you a reference on what data might interest your subscribers. Building the relevancy of your email content makes it much more likely that people are going to take action. Don’t forget, this isn’t only about the usage of people’s names in the subject text of your emails. However, it’s about the use of the information that you have about your subscribers in order to tailor the email marketing experience.
You can also change the email advertising strategy depending on the behavior that people follow on your website. This can be accomplished with the help of ‘page-level targeting’ in order to display offers that might be associated with the web page they may be on. When you accumulate extra data, personalization, and micro-targeting, then segmentation becomes more crucial in improving your email open rate and click-through rate.
Right Timing & Frequency
It is obvious that no one will open the email you send if they get it when they are busy. Researchers from Spaceship suggest that people are much more likely to open and click on your emails between 8 PM to 12 AM, irrespective of which area they reside in.
Along with this, the frequency factor also weighs in. If people receive very few emails, then they will probably overlook them and there will be no good reason for them to open or even click the email. On the other hand, if they receive too many emails then, the emails will end up in the spam folder.
Building Trust
Another significant factor that plays a role in whether or not an email will be opened or not is the trust you hold in the eyes of the internet service provider. This is referred to as the sender score. Your emails have better chances of getting delivered if your sender score is good.
Other trust factors consist of the need to use an actual email address rather than a generic or a ‘no-reply’ one. Also, using social media links at the end of the email is a manifestation that you exist beyond the email. Another factor that builds trust is adding a sender photo and an actual person’s signature to the email.
Testing
In order to understand what’s working and what isn’t, and how to fix what isn’t working, you must do testing. Thus, growing the email open rate needs continuous testing for messages, timing, personalization, call to action, the preview text, and subject lines. The best way to do this is by split testing.
Resend Campaigns
It is frequently said that there is no harm in trying again. Your email open rate might be low due to the fact a number of the subscribers did not open it in the first round. Thus, try sending the email once more to offer them a 2nd chance. This can be done by sending it at a different time of the day and using a different subject line too.
Cleaning Your List
When an email is sent, there will be few people who find your email troublesome or a nuisance, and there are few who don’t see your emails due to the fact that they instantly move to the spam folder. Also, there are a few people who unsubscribe. You can resolve this and maybe even enhance your email open rate by sending re-engagement emails, attempting segmentation and personalization, or giving the choice to your subscribers to get fewer emails. If none of these methods work, clear out the unengaged subscribers from the list. This is known as cleaning your list.
CONCLUSION
How to enhance email open rates could be very critical to email marketing as a metric. Hence, it is of great significance to constantly track and attempt the above suggestions to make sure that you get desirable outcomes from your email marketing campaign.
