By far, email remains one of the most powerful tools for engaging with one’s audience and driving conversions. However, great content is ineffective if no one is opening the emails. This article explores different methods on how to boost engagement, ensure your emails are opened, and improve email open rates.
What Is Email Open Rate?
The email open rate is understood as the number of emails opened divided by the number of emails sent. Simply put, it can be calculated with the equation: Email Open Rate = Opened Emails / (Sent Emails – Bounced Emails). This metric reflects how engaged your audience is with your email messaging. A high open rate is often correlated with high reader engagement, which can lead to improved conversions and revenue.
Now let’s take a look at how to improve email open rates for your clients. Several steps can be taken. The email can be segmented, a compelling subject line can be created, and more value can be given to existing subscribers
1. Make Sure To Have A Striking and Unique Email Header
A person’s email header plays the most important part in directly increasing the open rates. Focus heavily on coming up with striking headers. Get To The Point, Do Not Buy Into The Captivating Headline HypeInstead of worrying about creating clickbait-style subject lines, always make sure to restate the purpose your audience could use in the email itself. Make use of phrased such as: “Get Paid Work” instead of “New Opportunities Are Here”. Always do your best to get to the point instead of turning to vague syntax.
For instance, “easyJet” utilized customer data to automatically send customized emails for anniversaries, which nurtured relationships with their customers and stimulated them to engage further.
2. Benefits Rather Than Features
Remember when writing email copy, the focus should be on the advantages of your service or product rather than only expounding on its features. A feature explains the action of a product, but a benefit explains how it is going to change the life of customers. A benefits-focused message will motivate subscribers to act proactively.
3. Spam Avoidance
Almost everyone doesn’t want their emails to go to the spam folder. Don’t use “trigger” phrases known to be filtered by emails like “100% free,” “click here,” or even “bonus.” Always add an “unsubscribe” option for your recipients so that they can ‘opt-out’ of your list. Doing this helps build your reputation with email providers and keeps your emails out of the spam folder.
Tell your recipients and ensure your contact is added to their list so future emails don’t go straight to the spam folder.
4. Create Emails That Stand Out
The design and layout of the email plays a critical role in whether a customer opens it or not. Here are some design tips to take note of:
Layout and Structure
To ensure subscribers open your emails, having a clean layout is crucial. Modular design is ideal since most emails are accessed through a mobile device. More importantly, your email layout should be as simple as possible.
Visual Design Elements
Ensure that the visual design of your emails maintains the brand’s style
- The font should be legible and the overall typography should enhance readability.
- Brand colors should be utilized to improve brand awareness.
- Engaging visuals like GIFs or videos should be added. Research indicates that email messages with animation have up to 66% more quality leads.
5. A/B Testing
It is highly important to test the various elements to understand what works best for your clients before the email campaign is sent. A/B testing allows email campaigns to utilize various subject lines, content, and visuals. It is important to tweak the email’s content further based off the clients’ interaction to improve overall opening and engagement rate.
6. Timing is Key
In case you still remember, the timing of your email affects the open rates as well. D2C customers might engage more on weekends or in the evening, while B2B customers tend to check their emails during the week. Do some trial and error to find the best timing based on your target audience.
Key Takeaways
- Use catchy email subject lines to ensure they get opened.
- Personalize the email body so that the experience feels personal to subscribers.
- Put product advantages into focus instead of product features.
- Ensure to include an “Unsubscribe” button while avoiding spam trigger words.
- Ensure that email graphics are attractive while also making sure they can be read clearly and easily on all devices.
- Use A/B testing to check the performance of your emails.
- Try finding times when people are most active by seeing when emails get the most engagement.
Once you do these things, you can expect people to respond more to your emails, get more engagement, and improve the results of your email marketing campaigns. Always remember to revise your email marketing strategies to achieve more success in your campaigns.
