Email Newsletter: 15 Ways To Boost Its Open Rate
Updated: Aug 14, 2019
"Nobody reads my emails!" - surely this phrase would be among the TOP marketing problems of marketers. Recipients are supported by e-mail programs like Gmail that carefully route email newsletters to the junk folder. How do you handle this and increase the open rate of your newsletter? I present 15 ideas.
Do not consider them as absolute wisdom and guidelines for uncritical implementation, but as anchor points for testing. See which elements of your communication can be optimized and tinker with them. Try and measure!
1. sender name
What's displayed in the From field of your messages? The recipients prefer to receive messages from specific people, not from anonymous brands. Try some options:
• {First and Last Name}
• {First name} of {company name}
• {First and last name}, {company name}
It is important to recognize the name of the sender as an important factor that influences the decision to open or delete an email and to check several configurations. Maybe the use of names will work better? Maybe some names work better than others?
2. Adjust the sending time to the individual user
Instead of searching for arbitrary sending times, use a platform that individually selects the best sending time for each customer. Track the behaviour of the recipients and adapt the communication to them - it makes no sense to search for the best time for all recipients.
3. Personalize the subject line
When we talk about personalizing the subject line, it's not just about adding the name of the recipient, even though it's already raising the open rate.
Better results will be achieved by adapting the message content to the interests of the individual recipient. If you refer to products or categories in the subject line that are of interest to a particular user, you can significantly increase the open rate of your email newsletter.
We like songs we already know, and we're also interested in products we've been interested in. This point has been proven by the impressive open rate of messages following abandoned shopping carts.
I have found in my own research that messages that are sent after customers have abandoned shopping carts show a 193% higher open rate than traditional bulk emails.
For this reason, you should apply dynamic messages offered by Email Marketing Tools.
4. Implement customer segmentation
Before sending a message, think about who it is attractive to. Are you sure you want to address it to the entire database? Do you need to send a message such as "Are you
joining our loyalty program" to people who have already joined? Do customers from all over the country have to be informed about the event in London? Would you like to send the
men a message about the special offer on High Heels?
Email marketing is not just about what you send, but what you do not send. If all or most of your messages are relevant or valuable, the customer will open your email newsletter. However, if you send them information that is worthless in their view (ie offers that do not concern them), they will associate your return address with a sense of disappointment.
5. Be specific
Use lists, numbers, and proper names. Determine exactly the problem that you are addressing or the benefit that you offer.
Be also short and sweet. Avoid words that do not contribute! Considering that 53% of the openings are on mobile devices, your subject line should be 50 characters long (or at least the first 50 characters should contain the most important information). You cannot afford to waste this precious place.
So when you create a subject line, ask yourself about the function of each word in it: does it convey a value? Is it a word of power (see below)? Does it require syntax logic? Maybe it can be formulated shorter?
64% of users open email newsletters based on the subject line, so it's worth spending more time on it.
6. Use the words of power
Do you know what words your recipients respond well to? Do you have data about your audience to know them well enough to speak their language?
There are words that usually work well. These include:
• Free
• you
• sale
• special offer
However, they are not universal for any business. Test it yourself and find out which words increase your open rate.
7. Send welcome emails
74.4% of customers expect a welcome email after signing up for the newsletter. It's a nice way to make acquaintance. Such an email also reduces the risk of the customer forgetting you (and removing your next message).
Instead of a single email, you can opt for the welcome cycle - multiple emails for the new customers.
8. Pay attention to quality
You'll say it's a cliche, but the poor quality of the messages you send is one of the most common reasons for unsubscribing from the mailing list. If you cannot deliver valuable content in the current frequency (eg once a week), you should send fewer emails or focus more on dynamic product news.
Regularly sending weak messages (of low value, with no well-defined, clear target) lets readers easily associate your email address with uninteresting materials and either refrain
from receiving messages or "emotionally unsubscribe": they remain on the list, but will no longer open emails.
9. Use the time pressure
A good email newsletter cannot be read later - because "later" in the inbox is usually "never". Inform the recipient of the limited duration of the promotion or limited access to
premium materials.
10. Pay attention to the hygiene of the database
Maybe your open rate (OR) indicators are at a sad, low level, but it's not your fault. Perhaps the problem is not the quality of the content, but the quality of the database.
Each marketer loses 25% of his database every year in a very natural way - because our clients change jobs, their addresses become obsolete, some have entered the address
with a mistake, some do not want to receive any more news, etc.
Removing addresses hurts the marketer almost physically: it took so much effort to build the list! But do not be fooled by the fact that someone who has not responded to your emails for two years suddenly wakes up. Be realistic!
The same applies to the purchase of databases: if you have bought a mailing list, you do not know the quality of the addresses. Maybe some of them have been acquired in a dubious way - either they get annoyed after an unsolicited mailing or they simply ignore it - in any case these are not your customers.
I've often addressed the topic of organizing the mailing list organically - there are really no shortcuts here, and sending messages to people who do not want that can only hurt.
An unclean database also means the unreliability of the analysis: your open rate indicators can be underestimated, and you do not know whether you're writing bad subject lines or sending emails to anyone.
11. Make sure there is an opt-out link in the list
This is one of the basic tools that keep the database in order: people who do not want to receive your messages can easily opt out - otherwise they will be frustrated and mark your emails as spam (which drastically reduces the delivery of your emails).
12. Mobile
The mobile open rate (the open rate on mobile devices) currently is 61%. It has never been so high!
Customers are obviously migrating towards mobile devices. Make sure that your email campaigns are optimized in this regard. This not only applies to the responsive design of the
email itself or the optimization of the mobile experience, but also to the landing page to which the campaign leads.
13. Test
Use the A/B tests as often as possible, but remember the golden rule: always test one variable-otherwise you will not know exactly what caused the difference in the results of the campaign.
What you test can best be formulated in the form of a hypothesis:
"If I change____ from ___ to ___, I'll reach ____".
Eg "If I change the name of the sender from " company.com "to" Stefan of the company ", I will get a higher open rate".
14. Check how negative feelings work
When creating a subject line, use the inspiration of portals with the most traffic and tabloids. See how often they use negative emotions like fear to lure readers.
Psychologists say that the fear of failure is stronger than the joy of success. In other words, it is the negative feelings that affect us more. No, I do not encourage you to write subject lines such as "your company will go broke if you do not follow this simple method". Instead, check whether reformulation in this direction works better.
I have also observed this on my blog. Those posts that address errors were read by you more people and more often than others.
15. Resend
Behavioural analysis (available on the Email Marketing Automation Platforms) allows you to verify that the person has read your email newsletter and may send an email to those who did not open the message and did not familiarize themselves with the content.