10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Email Open Rate
In our previous digital marketing sessions, we established that effective marketing consists of three main stages: online presence, supply, and optimization. After discussing tips for establishing an online presence and exploring strategies like social media traffic, we are now diving deep into one of the most effective and inexpensive digital marketing methods: Targeted Email Marketing.
One of the primary learning blocks in digital marketing is dedicated to email marketing because it remains one of the most direct ways to reach your audience. However, sending emails is only half the battle. If your subscribers aren’t opening them, your efforts are in vain. In this session, we provide an overview of the benefits of email marketing and outline 10 easy ways to improve your email open rate.
What are the Important Goals of Email Marketing?
Targeted email marketing is one of the first digital marketing methods to be welcomed by businesses since the introduction of the internet. Given that a large percentage of people around the world check their email at least once a day, using this tool is a fantastic way to promote your business. This tool is used for different purposes, generally divided into three categories:
- Retention: Sending emails to maintain relationships with current or former customers and encourage them to continue this relationship.
- Acquisition: Sending emails to gain new customers or convince existing customers to make immediate purchases.
- Collaboration: Adding your business ads to emails sent by other companies (partnerships).
Due to the low cost of email marketing compared to other methods, the possibility of targeting and personalization, flexibility, and the ability to measure effective parameters, this method has attracted the attention of many businesses. According to Campaign Monitor, for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $42.
10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Email Open Rate
Improving your email open rate is critical. Even the best content cannot convert if no one sees it. Here are 10 easy ways to improve your email open rate effectively.
- Segment Your Mailing List
One of the most common mistakes is blasting the same email to everyone. Depending on the subscriber data collected when they registered (e.g., location, age, interests), it is possible to send targeted emails. This way, you can find out exactly who opened the email or clicked on the link. By segmenting your list, you ensure the content is relevant to the specific audience.
- Personalize Your Subject Lines and Content
Personalization goes beyond just inserting the recipient’s name. It involves sending emails related to each contact’s specific interests. By splitting your mailing list into smaller groups, you can send emails relevant to that section, thereby increasing the open rate of your email campaigns. Tools like Mailchimp make this easy with merge tags.
- Optimize for Mobile Devices
People all over the world have access to their email via computers, mobile, and tablets. Since more than half of all emails are now opened on mobile devices, it is vital to optimize your design for small screens. If an email doesn’t display correctly on a phone, it is likely to be deleted. Ensure your emails are responsive and easy to read on any device.
- Use A/B Testing for Subject Lines
The subject line is the gatekeeper of your email. Try different titles like an A/B test on your landing page. You can also modify the body of the text and perform various experiments. Test one variable at a time (e.g., the greeting or the offer) to see what resonates. Data-driven decisions are the best way to improve open rates.
- Master the Timing
Research has shown that early mornings and late weekends are not always the best time to send emails. However, to know when to send emails, you need to know your audience. Use your data to determine when your subscribers are most active. Schedule your email to send at the right time to get the best results.
- Maintain a Consistent Schedule
The frequency of sending emails to the audience should be appropriate so as not to upset users. If you send too many, they will unsubscribe; too few, and they will forget you. Find a rhythm that keeps your brand in their mind without cluttering their inbox. This consistency builds trust and improves open rates over time.
- Clean Your Email List Regularly
Because people may change their email address for a variety of reasons, the rate of undelivered emails will increase if the mailing list is not constantly updated. A high bounce rate hurts your sender reputation. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and hard bounces to ensure you are sending to a valid audience.
- Provide Value, Not Just Sales
Most audiences want to receive new and comprehensive information, not just constant sales pitches. As a result, users may unsubscribe if they receive duplicate or useless emails. Focus on solving their problems or educating them. When users see value in your emails, they are more likely to open them.
- Use Scarcity and Urgency (Ethically)
Similar to optimizing a landing page, using scarcity in email subject lines can boost open rates. Phrases like “Only 2 hours left” or “Limited time offer” can trigger curiosity. Use this sparingly and honestly to motivate users to open the email immediately.
- Craft a Clear, Compelling Sender Name
Don’t just use your company name. Often, using a “Company Name + First Name” combination (e.g., “SEO25 from Alex”) feels more personal and trustworthy. Ensure the sender name is recognizable so users don’t mistake your email for spam.
Disadvantages of Email Marketing to Avoid
While email marketing is powerful, there are pitfalls. By considering some suitable tricks, the above problems and disadvantages can be solved.
- Possibility of spam: Excessive sending of promotional emails and emails with content unrelated to subscribers will annoy the audience, and they may mark your emails as spam. This will damage the reputation of your business and domain.
- Unsolicited emails: Emails that are poorly designed or use spammy expressions in email titles and titles are filtered by the relevant software and not delivered to the audience. Therefore, to have a successful email campaign, pay special attention to the design and listing of emails.
- Email Design Problems: Failure to display emails correctly on various devices such as mobile phones or tablets can cause annoyance to users, which can lead to deleting emails or unsubscribing.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of Email Marketing
To accurately evaluate email marketing and ensure the success of this method, you should first become familiar with the terminology associated with it. Here are some essential metrics:
- Open Rate (OR): The percentage of emails that are opened by recipients.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of emails that were opened by the subscriber and the CTA link is clicked in them. You can improve this by using competitor analysis tools to find what links work best in your niche.
- Conversion Rate (CR): The percentage of subscribers who clicked on the link and did the desired action on the campaign landing page.
- Return on Investment (ROI): The ratio of email marketing profits to the expense of investment in this field. On average, email marketing has the highest ROI of any digital channel.
- Unsubscribe Rate (UR): The percentage of recipients who receive the email and click on the link to unsubscribe from the list of subscribers.
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of email addresses in the list of subscribers who have not received your message. There are two types: Hard Bounce (incorrect email address) and Soft Bounce (temporary problems like a full inbox).
Email Marketing Tools and Automation
There are many tools for launching email marketing, measuring metrics, analyzing important metrics, and using automation. The most successful of these include:
Each of these tools has its advantages and disadvantages. If you need to learn this skill in-depth, refer to the content in the email marketing learning blocks.
Conclusion
Implementing these 10 easy ways to improve your email open rate will help you build a better relationship with your audience. Remember, email marketing is not just about sending messages; it is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.
In the next session of the digital marketing block, we will look at the next marketing solution: social media traffic marketing. Due to the great popularity of social networks in Iran and worldwide, do not miss getting acquainted with this marketing strategy.
