How to Improve Your Email Open Rates

20 Ways to Increase Email Open Rates

Segment your list

One effective method to increase open rates is through email segmentation. This involves dividing your list into smaller, targeted groups based on shared characteristics.

By sending each of these segments customized email marketing campaigns, you can significantly increase engagement.

For instance, an experiment revealed that a segmented email campaign achieved a 94% open rate, compared to a 42% open rate for a non-segmented campaign. This demonstrates that proper segmentation can potentially double your open rates.

When segmenting your email list, consider these key pillars:

Geographics
Demographics
Psychographics
Behavioral

Struggling to analyze customer behaviour, talk to our digital marketing experts!

Personalize subject lines

Personalization can increase email open rates by as much as 50%. Surprisingly, only 2% of marketing emails are personalized.

It’s puzzling, especially given how easy personalization has become with modern email marketing tools. Most platforms allow you to personalize subject lines with just a few clicks.

To personalize your email, simply select the dynamic field you want to use, such as the recipient’s first name, last name, or location, and you’re done. You could use multiple dynamic fields to double-personalize your effective emails.

Here’s an example: “Exciting news, [recipient name]! Get exclusive deals now available in [recipient location].”.” This approach makes the email feel more personal and relevant to each recipient.

Clean up your email list

Here’s a simple way to boost your email open rates: remove subscribers who don’t engage with your emails. These inactive subscribers are dead weight, dragging down your engagement metrics and damaging your sender reputation.

Regular email list hygiene is essential. Unengaged subscribers and invalid addresses can significantly lower your open rates and affect deliverability. Review your current subscribers and segment them based on their engagement to identify patterns and take appropriate action.

Subject lines

Typically, shorter subject lines perform better than lengthy ones. When finalizing your subject lines, keep them concise and snappy for optimal results.

Certain words in your email subject lines and preview text can trigger spam filters in recipients’ inboxes. This could cause your email to end up in the ‘Promotions’ folder or, worse, the ‘Spam’ folder. To avoid this, steer clear of common trigger words like ‘free,’ ‘sale,’ ‘buy now,’ etc.

Instead, get creative and use other ways to indicate urgency or hint at discounts, such as: “12 hours left!” or “Don’t miss out…”

Split test subject lines

Got a brilliant idea for a subject line but hesitant to hit send? Give A/B testing a try! This method lets you compare two different subject lines to see which one resonates better with your audience.

Each recipient only gets one version of the email, ensuring a fair test. A full engagement report will reveal which subject line was opened more often, helping you understand your contacts’ preferences.

Avoid spam filters

A common issue in email marketing is that your emails can end up in your recipients’ spam folders. To prevent this, ensure you have:

A reputable IP address.
A reliable email service.
Clean template code.
A verified domain.

Include a clear unsubscribe link in your email footer and optimize it as much as possible. Use branding in your “from” name, such as “Erin from LinkedIn.” Send emails only to people who have opted in to receive them.

Time emails effectively

Timing is a crucial factor that can significantly impact your email open rates. The best time to send an email depends on various factors, including the geography and demographics of your target audience, holidays, and the type of email.

For instance, if your target audience consists of students, the optimal time might be in the evening or on weekends when they are most active. It’s also essential to consider their time zones if your audience is spread across different countries.

One effective way to determine the best timing is through A/B testing. Send effective emails at different times over a period and analyze the results for each version to see what works best.

You can also use analytics to review your subscribers’ past behavior and assess their activity levels on different days and times. This data can help you pinpoint the optimal times to send your emails for maximum engagement.

Write meaningful preheader text

After the sender’s name and subject line, the preheader text is the next most visible element in your email message. The preheader text deserves the same attention and care as your subject line.

It serves as an additional opportunity to highlight the benefits of opening the email and can significantly boost open rates.

Despite its importance, many digital marketers overlook the preheader text, often allowing the email service to use a default message from the top of the email as the preheader. This approach misses a vital chance to engage recipients.

Appeal to mobile users

Most people check their emails on their phones, making it essential for your email campaigns to be mobile-friendly.

Ensure that your email subscribers can easily open and read your emails on their mobile devices. Also, make sure that any links included in your emails are functional and accessible on mobile devices.

Improve Email deliverability

The initial step in email marketing is ensuring your emails reach your audience’s inbox rather than ending up in spam or junk folders. If your audience doesn’t see your content, your efforts are wasted.

A significant challenge in email marketing is dealing with the ‘bounce factor,’ where emails fail to be delivered. This can happen due to issues with the recipient’s account, which might be temporary or permanent, or because the recipient’s server blocks the email.

A high bounce rate over time can harm your sender reputation and may result in your IP being blacklisted.

Personalized emails

You can 10x your open rates by just writing personalizing emails!

Doing so makes the message feel more individualized and less like a mass announcement. Instead of just adding the recipient’s name, consider tailoring your offers to their age group or notifying them when a product or service becomes available in their area.

Use emojis

Some people believe that emojis don’t belong in professional emails, but we disagree. Emojis are not unprofessional or inappropriate.

In fact, using emojis can add a touch of emotion, reassure subscribers that your emails are genuine and not spam, and help build a friendly, personal connection with your audience.

So go ahead and include emojis in your emails, they can make your communication more engaging and relatable.

Your sender name

The sender’s name is the most noticeable part of an email preview and plays a crucial role in determining open rates. While email marketers might overlook its importance, recipients always take note.

Including a person’s name in the sender field makes the email feel more personal and increases the likelihood of it being opened. Fortunately, changing the sender name is simple with most email service providers (ESPs).

Many ESPs also offer A/B testing options for different sender names, allowing you to see if using a more human name improves open rates.

Build useful content

This is crucial: create content that is reliable, useful, and relatable for your subscribers. They are interested in your niche for a reason, so make sure to provide them with valuable and relevant information related to that niche.

Optimize your send times

Sending your emails at the right time can significantly impact your open rates. Research shows that the timing of your email can affect its visibility and engagement. Most studies suggest that emails sent during mid-week, especially on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, tend to perform better.

Sending emails in the morning or early afternoon when people are likely to check their inboxes can also improve open rates. However, it’s essential to test different times and analyze your audience’s behavior to find what works best for your specific email marketing campaigns.

Ask subscribers to whitelist your emails

Instruct your subscribers on how to whitelist your emails and request that they add you to their address book.

Whitelisting means adding an email address to an approved list of senders, ensuring that emails from that address never end up in the spam folder. Include a reminder in your email footer asking subscribers to add your address to their address books or whitelists.

Include this tactic into your welcome emails. This way, you encourage people to whitelist your address from the first interaction, ensuring they never miss a message from you.

Ask why a customer unsubscribes

Ever tried unsubscribing from a mailing list? You were likely taken to a page with a form asking you to select your reason for unsubscribing.

People typically unsubscribe when emails become annoying or uninteresting. When a subscriber decides to leave your list, they are usually dissatisfied with something.

Understanding why they unsubscribed gives you the opportunity to address their concerns and improve your emails to prevent further losses.

Bonus Tip: Encourage unsubscribing readers to reconsider by appealing to their emotions. For example, a message like “We are sorry to see you go” might make them think twice about leaving.

Authenticate your email

Email authentication, also known as domain authentication, involves a set of procedures designed to verify the origin of emails by confirming domain ownership. These processes ensure that the email’s source is legitimate.

Welcome series emails

The emails with the highest open rates are often the automated welcome series emails, triggered when you gain a new subscriber. These are configured in your email service provider or marketing automation system according to your chosen schedule.

Provide Value

Keep in mind that people are more likely to open and read emails that provide them with value, such as information, entertainment, or discounts. To deliver valuable content, make sure your emails are relevant to your audience and offer something unique they can find nowhere on the web.

Final Verdict

There you go, a complete checklist that can amazingly give you results.

But don’t be discouraged if the results aren’t immediate! Email marketing combines art and science, so allow yourself some flexibility to experiment and discover the strategies that work best for your business and subscribers. Prioritize seeking professional assistance, as no exhaustive email marketing guide can replace its necessity.