The 5 ways to increase your e-mail open rate are:
- Create an appealing subject line
- Segment your list
- Test e-mail frequency
- Use first names
- Keep your list updated
Breaking Down E-mail Open Rates
I think the best way to begin breaking down how to increase your e-mail open rate is to compare it to….dating. When you meet someone for the first time, you don’t expect to well **clears her throat**…jump to 3rd base right?
Instead you take the time and effort to get to know the person first, figure out who they are and appreciate the effort they are taking to get to know you first as well.
Essentially you expect that they take you out and buy you dinner first. A little wining and dining as the older folks like to say.
Do you expect anything less from the businesses which have you on their e-mail lists? You also expect that they continue to produce valuable content for you in exchange for your time and yes money, if they are trying to sell something.
If the following scenario resonates with you, then I urge you to keep reading.
At this point most of us are hip to the e-mail marketing game right? It starts with the lead magnet (or “freebie”) which gets your attention. You want it because there was something in it which drew your attention. You read through the post but as soon as the information starts getting juicy you see a message to either click a button which takes you to an opt-in form OR simply a place to enter your name and e-mail address.
Now you have to make a decision: you may decide to either bypass and go to Youtube or some other place where you can get the same information without having to exchange your e-mail address to get it or maybe you choose to enter your information download the freebie and unsubscribe another possibility would be that you enter your information, download the freebie but let the subsequent e-mails you receive go to your inbox or folder to die.
Decisions….Decisions….
What Happens Next?
Typically the e-mail automation and sequence will begin and although the frequency of e-mails may vary there is usually something they are going to try and sell you at the end of this tunnel.
What makes the entire process trickier? If you are an Entrepreneur or Small Business owner then YOU also must include an e-mail marketing strategy into your OWN business as well.
So what’s a business owner to do?
Let me start with a few facts first for the e-mail marketing haters out there “You might be wondering if email is still a worthwhile marketing strategy. In fact, email generates $38 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 3,800% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available.” (Forsey @Hubspot, 2019)
What Does The Data Tell Us?
- There are definitely folks out there who are successfully using e-mail marketing
- People are successfully going through the sales process via e-mail and making purchases
- E-mail marketing is still an extremely lucrative form of marketing.
Which brings us to this fact: E-mail marketing is still the best way to market to your audience, create raving fans and loyal customers.
How To Get Better Open Rates
The Good news is, I will ALSO include 5 remedies.
Let’s get to it:
- Create an appealing subject line.
Low click through rates or CTR (for short) typically mean that the e-mail the person is receiving is not relevant to them. Which starts with the subject line of the e-mail, it is important that your subject line targets the content.
Remedy: Try to stay away from urgent subject lines which sound spammy, ie: (This Offer Will Be Gone With The Wind In 2 Hours!) Relevant subject lines will help you to achieve a better CTR then clickbait sounding subject lines which may or may not have anything to do with the content in the e-mail.
2. You are not segmenting your list.
All lists are not equal, every e-mail marketing database has a tagging feature which will allow you to segment and categorize your subscribers based on the specific actions that they take.
Remedy: By taking the time to narrow your focus and send messages to specific groups within your lists, your subscribers will find your campaigns more relevant—and relevant campaigns get better results. For example, you can segment your list by job title, interest, and location like city, state or zip code.
How to segment subscribers: Include Drop downs in your opt-in form which will help to segment the audience by category.
3. You haven’t got your frequency right.
Make sure to test a few options when it comes to the frequency of your e-mails. I can tell you that typically an e-mail every single day is too much in most cases, where not sending enough – say once every other month could cause your subscribers to potentially forget that you even exist.
Remedy: Instead go for every other week, make sure that the information you are sending to your list is valuable to them to increase the chances of your e-mail being opened.
4. Use first names.
Emails that are personalized in subject typically have a better chance of being opened. Also The value in personalizing your e-mail within the body of your email is that the recipient feels as if the content was written specifically with them.
Remedy: Remember your content should always be relevant to your audience, opening your subject line with the recipient’s name and also including them within the content of the email helps to achieve a high level of attention and familiarity with your content. You want them to eventually begin to look forward to reading your content.
5. Keep your list clean and updated.
OK, sure who doesn’t want to see that there are 2,000 or 3,000 people in their list? Even 200! But when it comes to numbers, engagement and CTR are what counts. It’s not enough to have a list where more than half are people who signed up for your freebie but then failed to ever interact with your content again.
Remedy: The key is to have a nice clean solid list of people who open your email and read the content you provide to them. Remove email addresses which are, inactive, have a high bounce rate, low CTR or have obvious misspellings in the name or domain.
The most important thing to remember is to schedule the content you are going to send to your audience in advance. Think about why you are sending this communication and what you hope you and your readers will get from it for best results.
At Least Buy Me Dinner First
“At least buy me dinner first” simply implies that, you need to work to show value and proof that you can assist with the needs of your audience instead of just cycling them into a generic sales funnel.
Take time to think about your email subject lines, make sure that your emails are optimized for mobile devices, “Mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens” (Hubspot Email Marketing Stats, 2019)
Not to be too cliché, but building a brand, email list, content and value to market your products and services is just not easy. It takes time and consistent effort to get to a point where people are looking forward to what you have to say and eager to purchase the new products and services you have developed, but it can be done.
No matter what the guru’s say, stay true to yourself and the message you want your audience to receive, be relevant and timely, never forget that YOU GOT THIS!
Learn along the way EVERY DAY, remember the REAL secret is to ALWAYS solve for X and start with a PLAN.
If you have a question or would like for me discuss a particular topic in my next Blog – Contact me: support@isimplyassistu.com
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About The Author: Jeanette Stevens is the proud owner of iSimplyAssist LLC Holds Certification in: Google Digital Garage – Fundamentals Of Digital Marketing, Human Resources Management and Digital Entrepreneurship, she is currently completing an MBA in Digital Entrepreneurship, LOVES pancakes, Jazz and fantasy novels.