Did you know that the average email open rate is only around 20 percent? That means even emails sent to people on your contact list are being ignored 80 percent of the time. However, the open rate varies depending on the industry you’re in. For example, the open rate is lowest for the electronics industry, with an open rate of only 19 percent, and climbs as high as 26 percent in the real estate industry.
Of course, you’d like your email open rates to be even higher than the real estate industry, right? Here are seven ways to increase your email open rates.
Make Your Subject Line Enticing
What’s the first thing people see when your email arrives? The subject line, of course. Subject lines are an essential tool for increasing email open rates. The subject line is the only part of your email visible to the recipient before they open your email. If they don’t open it, they won’t see the rest of your carefully crafted email.
How can you make your subject line more compelling? Use direct, clear language that immediately tells users what they will get from the email. Also, remember that people open most emails on mobile devices, so use short subject lines to fit within the small space allotted for them. A good subject line is succinct and gives a hint of what the email is about but does not give too much away. It should be interesting enough to make the recipient want to learn more.
Be specific and actionable. If you want people to click on your email, make sure the subject line focuses on a single idea and action. For example, instead of writing “Tuesday sales newsletter,” be more specific and compelling like “Friday sales: 50% off suits over $100.”
Personalize Your Emails
The best subject lines are personal and include the recipient’s name. This makes it feel like you are speaking directly to them, rather than sending an email to “Dear Sir/Madam.” People want to feel like they’re getting a special message and will be more likely to read an email if they feel they are. Personalize the email and don’t just send out blanket messages with “Dear [insert name here].”
Segment Your Email List
In the world of e-mail marketing, there are many ways to segment your mailing list. When you segment, you will see an increase in open rates since your content will be more relevant and tailored to each reader’s needs. This is a double win for you, as it not only increases engagement with your subscribers but also allows you to capture more leads.
Segment your list by when factors such as when a reader last purchased from you, how long since they purchased, what article they read last time, what category they purchased from, etc. Then create separate segments based on those criteria so that you can write different emails to speak to each group differently. This will allow you to send special offers or content relevant to each group of people.
Avoid Using Special Characters or All Caps
Some email marketers get “cute” and try to attract attention by using all capital letters or special characters to make the email stand out. This looks unprofessional and even downright spammy. Plus, it could land your email in your reader’s spam folder rather than the inbox where it belongs.
Use Emojis
Although all caps and special characters look unprofessional, emojis create an emotional connection with your reader. Emojis, or emoticons, are a text-based graphic representation of faces and other figures used in electronic communication. They’re popular for showing emotion in text messages, chats, and emails. Emojis are a fun and friendly way to draw attention to your emails. Use emojis strategically in the subject line of your email campaign and you’ll see an increase in click-through rates.
Know the Best Time to Send Your Emails
If you’re a business owner, one of the most important things you can do is send your email newsletters at the right time. If you are sending them at the wrong time, you could lose potential customers because no one opens your email.
The best time to send emails is typically in the late morning or early afternoon (between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. have a high open rate) and mid-week. Emails you send mid-week are more likely to be opened than the ones you send on Friday. Research shows that email recipients are more likely to respond to messages sent during these times, rather than mornings and weekends. To know the best time to send your emails, use a tool like Yesware, which shows you when your contacts are most likely to receive and respond to your messages.
It’s a good idea to test various times and days for yourself to see what works for your audience. Keep in mind these statistics are just averages, and some days will be better or worse than others. Also, don’t be surprised if different messages generate different types of responses depending on when they’re sent out. For example, Tuesday might be better for sales-related emails while Thursday might work better for blog posts.
Be Consistent
Email marketing is most successful when you’re consistent. Once you find what works, keep doing it. If you send weekly newsletters, don’t start sending them bi-weekly the next week. Otherwise, you’ll confuse your subscribers, and they won’t know what to expect each time they check their inbox.
The Bottom Line
Hope these tips will lead to higher email open rates. Email is still the most cost-effective way to connect with customers. Take advantage of it!
To get started with email marketing now and increase your customers click here.
References:
“Email Open Rates By Industry (& Other Top Email Benchmarks).” 14 May. 2020, blog.hubspot.com/sales/average-email-open-rate-benchmark.
“When is the Best Time to Send an Email? (2022).” emailanalytics.com/best-time-to-send-an-email/.
“The Best Time to Send an Email [Research] – HubSpot.” 29 Jun. 2021, blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-time-to-send-email.