As we approach the late summer bank holiday, you’re likely getting ready to hit send on some seasonal emails to your mailing lists. But with so much competition out there, you’ll need to make sure you’re doing more than just sending a generic message. So, what are you doing to stand out from the crowd and get the results you want? Not sure? Don’t worry – in this article, KAYBE outlines some top tips for creating emails that will help you boost your email open rate.
What email open rate should I be aiming for?
The average email open rate is just over 21%. However, it really depends on the industry you’re in. For example, according to MailChimp, for ecommerce, it’s 15.68%. Whereas, for insurance, it’s 21.36%. And remember, that’s an average, so if you’re not currently hitting that, don’t worry. The tips we’ll cover in this article should help boost your numbers.
Top tips for improving email open rate
1. Smash your subject line
You’ve heard the saying a thousand times, but first impressions really do count. Your subject line is the first part of your email that a customer will see, so make it irresistible.
How do you do that? Keep it short and snappy, and grab their attention by creating a sense of urgency or intrigue, or by using humour to enrapture them.
But it’s really important to make sure your subject line sets the tone for what the reader can expect in the body copy. For example, it’s no good promising something in the subject line that they won’t actually get after reading your email.
Also, keep in mind that if you make it too long, your reader won’t be able to see the whole thing, which can look sloppy and create a bad impression, so keep it fewer than 50 characters, and make sure they can read the entire subject line.
2. Perfect your preview text
Preview text is the line of content that appears just under the subject line of your email. Its main propose is to inform the reader of what they can expect from your email body copy, and it works well in conjunction with your preview text as a way to provide further information about whatever it is your email’s about. Your preview text can make all the difference when it comes to boosting your email open rate. So, getting it right is a must.
3. Test your send times
Testing is essential when it comes to email marketing. This means sending at different times on different days to see which ones are more impactful, giving you the best open rates. Once you’ve established the best time and day for you, you’ll begin to see a big difference in how many people open your emails.
Send times can vary depending on the industry you’re in, so it definitely pays to have a play around and figure out which one works best for you and your email open rates.
4. Offer something of value
Before you even put finger to keyboard, think about why you’re sending the email. Is it actually going to benefit the reader, or is it for the sake of sending an email? For instance, are you offering them money off an item you think they’ll love? A service that will save them time or money? An important memo or invitation? Are you linking out to an educational piece you know they’ll find super useful?
If it really is something of value, you’ll see your open rates increase, but if it’s a generic email that’s more about your company and less about your reader, don’t expect them to be in a rush to read it.
5. Get personal
Make your audience feel like you’re talking directly to them. Research shows that using personalisation in email marketing is no longer just a nice to have, but is now a must-have.
That’s because it’s more likely to grab their attention, as it feels like the email was written just for them, rather than being a generic message that’s been sent to thousands of other people.
Experian found that subject lines that use personalisation are 26% more likely to be opened. And if that isn’t reason enough, I don’t know what is.
6. Make it mobile friendly
Research shows that 81% of emails are opened via mobile, which means you really should be optimising your emails (and website, if you haven’t already) for mobile. If it isn’t, they’ll only end up deleting it in frustration.
7. Segment your list
Imagine you receive an email, but the subject line is asking you to read about something that you have absolutely no interest in. Are you going to open it? Didn’t think so.
So, another thing you can do to improve your email open rate is to segment your audience lists. Essentially, this means breaking your lists down into smaller, more targeted groups of people who would be more likely to interact with a selected message, as it’s more appropriate for them.
8. Send from a recognisable account
There’s also research that suggests that sending an email from a personalised email address – rather than a marketing or standard company email address – results in a better open rate in the B2B world. So, it may be worth giving this a try and seeing how it impacts your engagement.
Once you’ve checked off all of the above, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing a few other things before you hit send, as they will all help with your email marketing efforts and help create happy readers…
9. Create clear CTAs
If you want your audience to do something in particular – whether that’s buying a particular item, using a discount code, updating their bank details, trying out a demo, or anything in between – make your call to action (CTA) as clear as possible, ensuring your readers know what they need to do. And make it stand out, using a button or something interesting that will draw their attention.
CTAs point the reader in the direction of their next action, and should be short and to the point, for instance, “Shop now”, or “Read more”, “Request demo”.
Be sure to keep to just one CTA per email to avoid confusion or info overload.
10. Proof, proof and proof again
When you’re satisfied that you’ve nailed your subject lines, preview text, body copy and CTAs, and you’ve done some testing and made sure all your links work, be sure to proofread your email. Often it helps to ask a colleague with a good eye for typos to check it over. This will not only help you find any errors, but will also help ensure that your email flows and reads well. A second pair of eyes often makes all the difference.
Proofreading can also be done in the next stage…
11. Always test before sending
The final thing you’ll want to do before sending your email is an internal test send, checking that everything works as it should. This is a great opportunity to check that the messaging and tone within your subject line, preview text and body copy is right, that there are no typos, that all of your links work, that the CTA is clear and direct, that your footer copy and links all work, and that all of your images are displaying correctly.
So, send a test email to multiple colleagues, if you can, and get them to check it all works as it should.
Of course, if you are at a loose end, or want an expert to boost your email open rate, the team here at KAYBE are here to help. Get in touch; we’d love to hear from you!
