Is your email open rate increasingly dropping? Then you’ll need some strategies to increase them ASAP. Thankfully, that’s what this post is all about: to show you tips to improve email open rates for your email marketing campaign.
First, what’s the problem? Do people hate emails? Certainly not! But that 72% of people say they prefer to be contacted via email doesn’t mean they’ll automatically open yours.
A low email open rate means you won’t be getting new business from your email marketing. You don’t want to have that going on for too long. So, how do you increase your email open rates?
In this post, we will be showing you how to increase your email open rates. To give you a glimpse of what we’ll be discussing, here are the main points:
- What does email open rate mean?
- Factors affecting email open rate
- Catchy email subject lines to increase your email open rate
- 25 tips to increase your email open rate
- Wrapping it up
What Does Email Open Rate Mean?
An email open rate indicates the number of subscribers that open up a particular email you send as compared with the total number of subscribers you have on your mailing list.
Let’s assume that you have 100 subscribers on your mailing list. If you get 70 subscribers to open your emails, on average, your email open rate would be 70%.
So, to calculate your email open rate, simply divide the number of subscribers who opened your email by your total number of subscribers. Then multiply your answer by 100%.
Like in the example above, (70 subscribers ÷ 100 subscribers) × 100%
Your email open rate gives you an overview of how well your email marketing strategy works. It’s also a good way to know if your emails are getting your subscribers’ attention.
It is one of the most important measures that you can use to check if your email campaign strategy needs to be tweaked.
For instance, a low open rate signifies that your consumer doesn’t go through your sales funnel as is expected. You wouldn’t want to take this lightly.
So, let’s see what factors are affecting your email open rates.
Factors Affecting Email Open Rates
There are a combination of factors that will determine if a specific email letter will pique your recipient’s interest or not.
These factors include the relevance of your emails to your subscribers, urgency, word count, and the time of the day you send them.
Also, these factors will determine if your audience will have a reason to open your emails.
Having said that, the top five important factors that affect your email open rate include:
1. Relevance to Your Target Audience
Individual subscribers have certain wants and needs. They fall into various categories and are propelled by interests that may vary drastically. One limiting factor when it comes to email open rate is the quality of information your emails carry.
Sending out an email that contains weak information or no information of interest at all to individuals on your list will certainly keep your subsequent emails unopened.
People love Information but they love it more when they can apply it in real-life situations. Sending out emails that are in no way useful to the individuals on your list is one reason why your email winds up in the trash or is reported as spam.
So, it is important to target specifically the group of people who are interested in what it has to offer. By doing so, they’ll see it, like it, and open it up.
2. Email Content
Another important factor is the content of the email. Is it something your subscribers look forward to? Or is it something they would rather do without? This skill is taught in storytelling or writing courses. Experts providing ‘do my essay for cheap’ service and helping students with writing assignments say that less than half of the texts written even by professionals are actually on the topic.
You should tailor the content of your emails to not only provide your subscribers with useful information but also to entertain them.
3. Email List Quality
If you can persuade your visitors to opt-in to your email list, you can be sure that they are at least mildly interested in what you have to offer.
Tricking them into signing up for emails, on the other hand, is an easy way to have your emails ignored, sent to the trash, or reported as spam.
Additionally, you must maintain the health of your database by validating your email list on a regular basis. Using an email verifier to check your email list can help you avoid invalid and bad contacts.
4. Time of The Day
When is the perfect time to send out your emails? The truth is, there’s no perfect time.
Some people prefer to read emails in the morning, afternoon, or night depending on their lifestyles.
Because there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this, picking a time to send out emails may be difficult.
So, try sending your emails at different times of the day, find which time works best, and stick to it.
5. Subject Lines
More than a third of your subscribers base the decision to open an email solely on how the subject line appeals to them. Your subject line is your first and sometimes only chance at grabbing your subscribers’ attention and leaving them curious to know more.
So, craft your subject line with care, bearing in mind that it is responsible for a good portion of your email open rates.
Your subject should be brief but carry as much information about the content of your email as possible. It should also be able to grab the attention of your subscribers as soon as they read it. Overall, Chillifruit would say that personalisation should be the most essential characteristic of any email outreach campaign. I saw a significant increase in the number of responses and the quality of those responses. It also helped me to build better relationships with the people
Catchy Email Subject Lines to Increase Your Open Rate
Getting a subscriber to open an email is half the battle of email marketing. To increase your chances of sparking interest in your subscribers at one glance, here are five types of email subject lines to improve email open rates:
1. Subject Lines That Generate Curiosity
Curiosity is basic human nature. When your subject line strikes a chord of curiosity, it will get them asking for more.
Keeping your subscribers curious is a good way to increase your email open rate. This email from Digital Marketer does make you curious about “the secret”.
2. Personalized Subject Lines
Did you know that personalizing your subject line can boost your email open rate by up to 50%? Personalizing your email subject line helps you foster familiarity with your subscribers. This in turn increases their sense of trust for your brand.
For example, using the generic “Hi, valued subscriber” sounds detached but using the name of the user instead will get their attention immediately. You can also use AI tools like chatGPT for content creation and writing personalised emails.
By the way, we take our advice. See how we do this at Adoric.
Also, tailoring your email content based on personal information like relationship statuses, birthdays, and browsing histories helps to build a connection that is vital to the performance of your email marketing.
3. Subject Lines Announcing Free Offers
Freebies…who doesn’t love them? They act as incentives to make individuals carry out actions.
Sending free offers, promotions, and rewards to your subscribers will not only motivate them to open your emails but also be on the lookout for your next emails. This subject line definitely made me open this email.
4. Humorous Subject Lines
Humor is a great conversation starter. Many emails are often serious write-ups that are intended to get individuals to act. So, a humorous email subject line will stick out in your subscribers’ inboxes like a sore thumb.
Humorous subject lines will catch a reader’s attention, may stir a smile, and spark the interest that you need to increase your email open rates.
5. Shocking Subject Lines
A good way to grab a reader’s attention is by stating the unexpected. Controversy does grab attention.
This subject line by DM Insider saying “Google is NOT God” is definitely the last thing you’d expect to see in your inbox.
While using shocking or controversial subject lines may seem easy, this technique requires care. It is important to state shocking facts while being genuine. Avoid turning your subject line into clickbait or making statements that your readers might find insulting.
25 Tips on How to Increase Email Open Rate
Looking for how to increase email open rate for your email marketing campaign? Here are 25 tips that you will surely find useful.
1. Trigger Curiosity
The main purpose of sending emails to your subscribers, in the first place, is to try to get them to take an action. A good way to ensure they do click on your CTAs is by using a subject line that will trigger their curiosity.
Making your subject line a teaser, for example, will no doubt spark their curiosity and set them off to find out what your email has to offer. Creating a unique subject line will no doubt reduce the chances of your mail winding up in your subscribers’ trash bin.
2. Use First Names
Rather than creating an air of anonymity, work on creating a personal connection with your subscribers. Addressing a subscriber by their first names will sure help.
It is almost like having an email written and tailored only for you. This no doubt guarantees a positive reaction from your subscribers and will drive them to know how your email can help them.
Address your subscribers by their first name and you could actually have them opening more of your emails.
3. Use Humor to Your Advantage
A humorous email can brighten your readers’ day. This can even get them to look forward to receiving emails from you and looking for new content that you have to offer.
Use humor to create a relationship with your subscribers. Having emails that do not sound too detached, impersonal, or boring are a great start to increasing your open rate.
Whether you decide to make your emails sarcastic, satirical, or outrightly funny, make sure it’s also rich in value.
4. Beware of Spam Filters
A spam email has little to zero chance of being opened. Thus, you have to take caution while writing your emails, else it will be caught by spam filters.
The thing is, spam filters have smartened up. So, you don’t have to send a spammy email to end up being labeled as one.
The good part is, there are measures you can take to avoid your emails ending up in a spam filter. Here are some of them:
- As much as possible, avoid spam words like “free” in your email subject line.
- Use lower case letters for your subject line. Using upper case letters for your subject line can have your emails tagged as spam.
- Authenticate your email account to prevent other people from sending emails in your name.
- Include an “unsubscribe” option.
- Ask your subscribers to add you to their contact list.
- Don’t use your subscribers’ email addresses for any other purpose other than that which they signed up for.
If you can avoid the spam filter with these, you can increase your email open rates.
5. Use Emojis
Many people argue that the use of emojis has no place in an email. We beg to differ. The use of emojis in an email is not unprofessional or unethical.
So, by all means, use emojis in your emails. They show emotion, convinces subscribers that they are not receiving spam emails from robots, and also creates a playful, personal relationship between you and your subscribers.
Using emojis in your subject line will add color to your message and make you come across as friendly.
6. A/B Test Just About Everything
Have you ever drafted out a couple of possible subject lines, and then found yourself wondering which will get you the most response from your readers? You don’t have to guess, just A/B test them.
A/B tests provide the feedback you need to choose which content or element of your content is best for an email campaign. You can test not just subject lines, but other elements of your email content like CTAs, images, etc.
Knowing which approach appeals better to your subscribers by testing different versions is a perfect way to increase your email open rate.
7. Focus on Your Subscribers’ Interest
Of course, the main purpose of having an email list in the first place is to increase sales. But you mustn’t make the focus of your email content to be just that. There are other ways to go about driving sales.
Focus your content on what interests your subscribers instead. This is the perfect way to keep them interested and engaged while leading them through your sales funnel.
What’s more, they’ll keep opening up your emails because they are assured that there’ll always be something in it for them.
8. Ask Why A Customer Unsubscribes
Ever tried to unsubscribe from a mailing list? You were probably directed to a page containing a form asking you to choose from a list of options of reasons why you were unsubscribing.
People tend to unsubscribe from a mailing list when the emails start to get annoying or uninteresting to them. So, when a subscriber decides to unsubscribe from your email list, they are usually not pleased with something.
Finding out why they unsubscribed not only gives you a chance to redeem yourself but also to correct your mistakes so that you can prevent more subscribers from unsubscribing.
Pro Tip: You can make unsubscribing readers have a rethink by appealing to their conscience. An example is the “We are sorry to see you go” message like the one below. The subscriber just might have a rethink, you never know?
9. Ask for Help
While it is great to review your emails yourself before sending them out, you might miss your own mistakes. Since you came up with the content in the first place, your mind might become biased towards your own mistakes such that you simply miss them.
A second opinion doesn’t hurt. Ask friends, family members, or colleagues to help you review your emails and spot errors before sending them out.
10. Proofread Your Emails
According to experts from a popular writing service Essay Tigers, proofreading is highly underrated. After writing an email, it is very important to review all you have written. Check for errors, misinformation, and in general, any aspect that needs to be tweaked. Proofreading is highly underrated. After writing an email, it is very important to review all you have written. Check for errors, misinformation, and in general, any aspect that needs to be tweaked.
Most people get turned off at the sight of the smallest grammatical mistake. It’s not worth losing subscribers simply because you forgot to use a punctuation mark or substituted ‘is’ for ‘has’.
So, take proofreading very seriously and use grammar and spelling checkers like Grammarly when necessary.
11. End Your Email with A Question to Spark Curiosity
While it is a great idea to create an air of curiosity at the beginning, it is equally good to do so at the end of your emails.
Questions prompt your subscribers to interact with you. You can also promise to answer your question in a subsequent email. This will have your subscribers looking forward to your next emails.
12. Don’t Wear Your Subscribers Out
Avoid sending out too many emails too soon. We understand that you can’t wait to share all the new content you just came up with. But resist the urge to send them out all at once.
Give your subscribers time to digest the content and keep them wanting more.
Spread your emails out uniformly and always aim to leave your subscribers curious so that they can’t help but anticipate your next emails.
13. Resend Unopened Emails
Sometimes, your email open rate is low because your emails escape your subscribers’ didn’t notice them in their inbox. This is usually due to a weak subject line.
One way to fix this downer is by simply resending these emails but with a better subject line. It’s that easy.
14. Let Your Subscribers Choose When to Receive Your Emails
Another smart way of increasing your email open rate is to let your subscribers choose when exactly they want to receive your emails.
Think about it: if you let them choose the days, time, or intervals when they want to receive your emails, you’ll be creating a better chance to get your emails opened.
The more control you give your subscribers over receiving your emails, the higher your open rate.
15. Create Anticipation
Take advantage of your subscribers’ fear of missing out on really amazing content. You can do this by providing them with high-value content or special offers.
This might require a whole lot of consistency but it’ll make your subscribers always look forward to your subsequent emails.
16. Build Useful Content
This right here is very important. Build reliable, useful, and relatable content for your subscribers.
Your subscribers’ are interested in your niche for a reason, so you should only provide them with something related to that niche and valuable to them.
17. Use Opt-in Forms to Build Your Email List
Don’t force people to subscribe to your email list. That is the wrong way to build a relationship. An email list is a long-term relationship and you want to treat it as such.
When your subscribers willingly opt into your email list, they are more likely to open up your emails. Use an opt-in form so that people get to decide if they want to receive emails from you or not.
Thankfully, Adoric has free opt-in form templates like this one that you can use directly or tweak to generate quality leads.
18. Use Optimized Images
Images speak a thousand words and more. Using images in your content will help users to relate more easily to the content of your email.
An image can suffice as a summary of your email content and also creates better engagement with your subscribers.
19. Use Quizzes to Improve Engagement
Quizzes can be fun when you do it right. Your audience will appreciate it if you include quizzes in your content. This sample email quiz created by eROI, a digital agency, would get your attention, right?
So, use quizzes to boost your engagement and anticipation. It is a creative and amazing way to improve your email open rate.
20. Segment Your Email List
Don’t just build an email list, segment it too. You increase the relevance of your emails to your subscribers when your emails are consistently tailored specifically to their needs.
Of course, you’ll need your subscribers’ data to do this. In segmenting your email list, go beyond using just demographic data like age, gender, location, etc., and use their behavioral data such as browsing history too.
This will require some work but you’ll be well on your way to skyrocketing your email open rates.
21. Solve Your Subscribers Problems
Find your audience’s pain points and help them solve them. Pictures, videos, and quizzes are great. But you should also try adding little problem-solving tips that work.
To start with, identify problems that are unique to your niche and work on producing content that will help take these problems away.
Make the tips consistent; something for your subscribers to look forward to and you’ll be well on your way to increasing your email open rate.
22. Send Enough Emails
While you don’t want to send too many emails, you also don’t want to send too few emails. Your subscribers just might forget all about you.
How to create a balance?
First, find out what works in your industry. Whether it is two emails in a week or four in a month, make sure you send them consistently and at equal intervals. This way your open rates will consistently increase.
23. Be Memorable
Your readers must know who keeps sending them emails. This will be impossible if you keep changing your name with every email.
So, it is important to choose a unique sender name, brand it, own it, and stick to it.
You may even decide to use a fancy font like this one- especially if your business is a personal brand. This will enable your users to be familiar with you and breed a kind of connection bond.
24. Always Keep Your Emails Short
Keep the email succinct. Nobody likes a long, dreary email that goes on for paragraphs on end. Emails to your subscribers should go straight to the point, short, and properly paragraphed for easy reading.
Chances are your subscribers will not sit around reading emails all day. They also get lots of emails from other people too. So, you want to encourage your subscribers to read to the end by sending them short, easy-to-read emails.
25. Use Statistics
People love to see numbers. A statement like “10% of people on earth are winning” as your subject line will make your readers wonder why they aren’t winning too. “What am I doing wrong?” They’ll wonder.
Because they know that the answer to this question would be within your email, they’ll want to read it. That said, use statistics when necessary and watch your email rates improve.
Wrapping it Up
If you’re unhappy with your email open rates, you now have what it takes to make those rates skyrocket. If, on the other hand, you’re happy with your email open rates, some improvement wouldn’t hurt.
Apart from the tips above, at Adoric we have a stash of tools that can make your subscribers look forward to your emails every time. Try them out today. Sign up on Adoric for free.
