9 Ways to Increase Email Open Rates

There are 120+ emails that the average professional receives every day. We all have cluttered inboxes. Email is still the preferred medium for brand communication across all generations and industries. Your email open rate is an important part of your overall marketing ROI.

Source: Bluecore

It can be easy for people to lose focus on the content when they are executing email marketing campaigns or managing email every day. It's the most important thing, right?

Absolutely.

Your email content won't be read if it's not being opened. It's impossible to read it if no one opens the emails you sent.

How can you ensure that your email recipients open your emails to see the wonderful content? This is what we will discuss in this article. We'll cover these topics in the sections below:

• Learn the basics of email open rates
• Let us know how you find and/or calculate your open rate
• Take a look at X actionsable ways to increase open rate

Let's get started!

Quick Take-Aways

• The number of emails that have been successfully delivered is used to calculate the email open rate.

• Across industries, the average email open rate is around 20%

• More than a third of people make their decision about whether to open an email by looking at the subject line.

• To avoid spam filters, it is important to adhere to CAN-SPAM guidelines.

• Segmentation, personalization and A/B testing can be used to improve your email open rates.

What is an email open-rate and why is it important for your business?

The percentage of emails that are opened by recipients is your email open rate. Open rate calculations will not include emails that bounce, aren't delivered or aren't available for some other reason.

Email marketers use open rate to assess the success of campaigns. Because they show whether your subject lines and brand name are catching the attention of your audience in their inboxes, open rates are very important.

How to calculate your email opening rate

It is easy to calculate your email open rates. Divide the total number of emails you have opened by the number sent, minus any that were bounced.

img alt=”Email Open Rate Calculation” class=”aligncenter” height=”661″ loading=”lazy” src=”https://marketinginsidergroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Email-Open-Rate-Calculation-2.jpg” width=”1150″/>

Image Source: Mailbakery

Let's say you send 500 emails. 250 of them were opened and 75 bounced. This would be 250 / 500 – 75. Your email open rate would then be 47%.

Although average email open rates can vary by industry, they are generally around 20%.

Image Source by HubSpot

Many email marketing platforms include reports and tools that allow you to view open rates by campaign, segment, or other factors. If you need quick insight into the performance of your latest send, you can also check for open rates via email.

9 ways to increase your email open rate

Create killer subject lines

The most crucial factor in whether someone opens an email is the subject line. The subject line alone is enough to decide whether someone opens an email or not.

How do you create subject lines that never fail to impress? These are some quick and easy tips.

• Personalize subject lines (more details later).
• Your subject lines should be valuable. Let recipients know how they will benefit from receiving your email.
• Be concise. Keep your subject lines between 6-10 words for the best results

Image Source: SUPEROFFICE

Find the right frequency, and the right cadence

How often should emails be sent? What is the best way to send emails? These are two crucial questions. While there is no one right answer, there are best practices that you can use to help your audience.

It is important to test your email audience's response and then adjust until you find the right balance.

These are three ways to help.

• It's important to be upfront and transparent about how often your emails will be sent. People will be less likely to be shocked (or worse, annoyed!) by your emails if they know what to expect.

• Segment your email lists by engagement level. The most engaged people might open emails daily, and they may be more likely to read them. Others may prefer to receive messages every other week or month.

• Ask your audience! Include a survey asking your audience: “How often do you want to receive our emails?” Then adjust your strategy based upon the responses.

Spam filter?

The spam filter, that dreaded black hole! It's important to periodically check your spam filter for any emails that may have been missed, but many people don't do this at all.

Most often, if your email goes to the spam folder, it is for a simple and easily fixable reason. First, ensure you are following CAN-SPAM guidelines. CAN-SPAM was an act passed in 2000 to stop people from receiving SPAM.

This image summarizes CAN–SPAM well.

Image Source: OptinMonster

Get rid of spam emails

Make sure to regularly clean up your email list. Email lists can decay at up to 30% per year, it is true. Emails that worked well for one campaign might become obsolete before the next. Bad emails can lead to a higher bounce rate and lower email open rates.

Segment your lists

Email segmentation can help increase open rates by allowing you to manage your lists more effectively. Emails that are relevant to the needs and interests of recipients are more likely to be opened. Segmenting your list allows you to send targeted messages that are more memorable to recipients.

Asking people what information they would like to receive when they sign up for your email list is the best way to segment it. This will allow you to automatically filter email addresses onto the lists that make most sense for each subscriber.

Personalize emails

Although most people can recognize automated personalization today, it can still be a powerful tool to grab their attention and get them to open an email. You can use your first name, such as Michael. “Michael! We think you'd enjoy these email marketing tips .”).

Personalization goes beyond the first name. Personalization can also be done in other ways such as:

• Mention local events and places to be mentioned
• Based on past engagement, recommend new content
• Offers based on previous purchases and preferences

Use the A/B Testing feature

Split testing in email marketing refers to the practice of testing different versions of an email to see which one performs best. Many email marketing platforms have easy-to-use A/B testing tools that you can do automatically.

You can see below that subject lines are the most frequently A/B tested items. However, other factors such as send time, images and layout are worth testing.

Image Source : litmus

Ask for feedback and use it

Your audience is the best source of information on how your email opens are performing. You can get great feedback from your audience about your email open rates, whether they are good or not.

There are several ways you can go about it. Send an email with feedback and a dedicated subject. You can also include a question at the end of each message. It could be something as simple as “Did this email gefallen?”

Direct feedback can help you identify what is working and which things are not (such as certain subject lines or topics).

Make amazing content

It's clear that great content is key to building a loyal audience over time. An audience that opens your emails.

Email is a great way to share blog content and other important information with your audience. It also offers a great opportunity for nurturing leads. You can be sure that people will pay more attention when you create valuable content for customers that solves their problems.

Engaging content can increase your email open rates.

Content creation and email marketing are the two most time-consuming priorities of digital marketers today. But they are also the most important. Marketing Insider Group's team of SEO specialists and writers can provide optimized content ready to publish every week for one year, or more, so you can concentrate on your audience.

To learn more, check out our SEO Blog Writing Service.