Yes. You can stop seeing depressing email open rates, very time you look at your email marketing analytics. There IS a way to get more people to open your email messages, and these methods aren’t rocket science either. But why am I talking to you about email open rates, you might ask? The thing is, I know that a good number of business owners are struggling with getting real results from their email marketing campaigns. They’ve had the good sense of building their list, but when they try to capitalize on their list by running their email marketing campaigns, they get very little to no results at all. In fact, I’ve just talked to my newly onboarded client 2 days ago, and here’s how our conversation went: After having a loooong talk about the kind of content that he needs for his blog… Me: …did you also need help with content for your newsletters? Client: Nah. I’ve pretty much given up on that. I have about 2k email subscribers but none of them are buying. Me: Could there be something wrong with your offers? Client: Forget my offers. None of them are even opening my email messages. I’m getting an open rate that’s less than 1%. Me: hmm… Can you show me the email messages that you’ve been sending to your list? Client: Sure. Let me give you access to my autoresponder. After reviewing the content on my client’s autoresponder for about 30 seconds, 2 words came to my mind… Business suicide! Not only were the email messages ineffective, but with how spammy the messages look, I’d even dare say that they’re damaging his personal brand. Look. If you’re sick and tired of people ignoring your email messages, then allow me to share with you 5 marketing tips that will help you skyrocket your email open rates. Table of content Use a short subject line. Keep it under 50 characters. Make your content mobile friendly Avoid using spam words/characters. Timing is important. Segment your email list. What’s next? 1. Use a short subject line. Keep it under 50 characters. Most marketers consider using 50 characters or less since most email clients can only display as much. However, considering how 51% of all opened emails are done via mobile devices, we might end up seeing a shift from the 50 characters rule, to just 20 characters or less. Before you craft your subject lines, just remember that the general consensus is almost always, “short and sweet is better.” 2. Make your content mobile-friendly Another marketing tip is to generate mobile-friendly content to increase email open rates. According to The Radicati Group “email Statistics report, 2014 – 2018”, by the end of 2018, worldwide mobile email users are expected to total over 2.2 billion. At this point, you should already realize how important it is for you to align the way you craft your email content with the dynamics of the mobile industry. If you fail to make your email marketing campaign’s content mobile friendly, you are bound to lose email subscribers, or get ignored by them. If bad comes to worse, they might even get annoyed at you for sending them something that’s poorly formatted. Of course, something like this can spiral down to them complaining about how you do things, and them spreading the word to their community making you look very unprofessional. 3. Avoid using spam words/characters. Here’s how my one of my client’s subject line looks like… “+++ Act Now – Get a 30% Discount On All Items +++” Here’s my assessment of that subject line: Does it look catchy? Yes. Does it look spammy? Yes. Am I going to open it if I were the recipient? Hell no! In total, this will not help with high email open rates. Now here’s my question to you, if YOU were the ones who received an email with that kind of subject line, would you care to click and read the email? Or is it headed straight to your spam box? If you’re anything like me, then I imagine your response to be the latter. That being said, you need to choose your words wisely, otherwise, there’s no way in hell that your readers are going to open your email messages. I strongly suggest that you avoid using the words, “Hurry”, “Free”, “Order”, and “Buy” (among others). Here’s a good resource where you can learn more about words (or characters) that can cause spam triggers. 4. Timing is important. Not all times are created equal. You had better believe this, that is, if you’re looking to increase your open rates just like you said you would. Here’s the thing. While there is no one-size-fits-all time that I can share that will help you get better open rates, I will tell you that most marketers tend to get better open rates if they send the email messages midweek (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays). As for when exactly (as in what time they should send it), that one’s a tricky bit. Others would say that between 8 am – 10 am is ideal, while others claim that late afternoons or the night time is better. Which should you follow then, you might ask? Why don’t you follow both? Look. These are just general guidelines that marketers look into. When it comes down to it, you need to do your due diligence by testing which time will work best for your marketing campaign based on the dynamics of your business, and the type of people that you attract (and nurture). Use multiple split tests to figure out which of your campaigns are giving you the best results, then stick to the best. 5. Segment your email list. Here’s an important question that you need to ask yourself, “What type of offers will my audience like to receive?” I’d wager that you’ll get varying answers from your audience, if you present them this question. It’s important that you uncover this information since there is no point in offering your entire email list a pair of Nike shoes, when you know that a good chunk of them are ONLY interested in Adidas. This is where list segmentation comes in. You need to uncover what’s important to your audience (you can do this via surveys), group them accordingly, then create email messages that are tailor fitted to their needs (even wants). This process makes your email messages highly relevant to your audience. What’s next? Are there tips that you’d like to share that would help our community improve their email open rates? If you answered that question in the affirmative, then please take the time to share your ideas in the comments section below. Cheers! Check out Guruface for more marketing courses to enhance your email open rates.
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