Think of the number of emails you get each day. I’m guessing it’s a ridiculous amount and that you either hit delete on the majority, or they just sit there, unopened and clogging up your inbox. Am I right?
But, conversely, if you’re sending emails out to your prospects, you want them to be read. The last thing you want is for them to get deleted before anyone sees whatever it is you’re contacting them about.
Email open rates: the facts
Did you know that a whopping 361.6 billion emails are sent every day (Statista)? Mind-blowing, huh? According to a recent report by deployteq, the average open rate in 2023 (for B2B and B2C) was 51.97%, with government, media & publishing, and telecom leading the way, while ICT & internet lagged badly behind.
The average click-through rate was 2.79%, with some industries seeing less than 1%, showing a definite need for improvement.
Why do email open rates matter?
Do email open rates really matter that much? Yes! Because an email is like the door to a shop that your prospect needs to open in order to buy from you. And if they don’t open that door, they won’t buy. It’s so important for influencing conversions and ensuring you’re seen.
It’s also a direct measure of your campaign’s success, showing, out of the total number of recipients, the percentage that opened it.
If your email open rate is high, your click-through rates, conversions, and brand loyalty can improve. But, when it’s low, you’re pure and simple going to get lost in the sea of emails that is your recipient’s inbox. Having consistently low email open rates also has an impact on your sender reputation, landing you in spam folder territory, which no one wants. It’s also a great indication of whether your content is landing, and whether it’s valuable enough for its intended audience.
So, how do you cut through the noise in a very busy inbox? Let’s take a look…
Is your content up to scratch?
Whether it’s an offer, an update, access to a piece of content, or whatever else, there are a couple of things you need to ensure you do right if you want people to open your email and take action once they’re in. The first is to create a powerful subject line, as this is the key to the door. The second is to make sure the content within the email does a great job of indicating what it is you want your reader to do next.
First up, let’s look at subject lines…
Subject lines that stand out
Before you start typing a generic subject line, think VERY carefully. This is your chance to stand out from the crowd and create a great (often first) impression. We know what will happen if it’s it bland, lacking purpose, or is unimaginative. People will skip over it and won’t even bother to open it. That means they’re potentially missing out on something important, valuable, or interesting – without having any idea at all.
So, the first thing you can do when crafting an email marketing campaign is really consider what it is you’re providing within your content, and exactly why someone might want what you’re offering.
In our ebook – Storyselling: Combining the power of words with digital forensics – we talk about how the fact that it’s NOT only words. Words have power, and if you use the right ones at the right time to the right reader, they can have a significant impact. Hooking your audience is key, and the way to do this through an email campaign is with a killer subject line.
So, how do you make your subject line stand out? As well as the tips you can find in our e-book, we recommend being clear, direct, succinct and punchy (you have limited space to make an impression).
What do you want your audience to feel? Excitement? Temptation? Curiosity? FOMO? Nostalgia? Really get to understand your target audience, what drives them, and what you can help them with, and remember to provoke some sort of emotion within your subject line.
How much value is your content adding?
It’s all well and good your subject line being cracking, but it’s also really important to be sure the email body content is strong and actually adds value to the recipient’s life in some way or another. Is it helpful? Does it contain something that will improve the way they work? Is it entertaining? Try not to promote, promote, promote, and, instead, tailor your content to meet the needs of your audience. The more personalised, the better, because marketing to everyone is like marketing to no one (have a listen to our podcast episode if you’d like to dive deeper into this).
It’s also important to include clear CTAs (calls to action) that direct your readers to the action you want them to take? Want them to read, watch, or listen to something? Need them to provide you essential details? Want them to take part in a survey or event? Have a great offer for them? Tell them. And make it compelling.
Don’t be tempted to rely heavily on AI
Speaking of eliciting emotion – let’s talk AI.
Yes, it provides content in seconds, but there’s actually something valuable in sitting and taking the time to craft an email (or any type of content, for that matter). You’re writing for humans, not robots, after all. Humans feel, robots don’t. Humans have lived experiences, robots don’t. Humans want to feel seen and heard. A robot can’t offer that level of understanding, but it doesn’t know what that really means.
While it’s great for providing initial information, whatever a generative AI tool delivers is never going to be truly unique, as it relies on the information it’s fed. It only learns from whatever’s gone before it. The best content – including subject lines – will always be the ones written by a professional writer, so take the time to get to know your audience, and tailor your message directly to them, human-human. You may want to join our masterclass on content personalisation perfection to learn more on how to make your content personalised for a human.
Test and refine
Have two ideas for your subject line and not sure which to go with? Try both! A/B testing is a great way to see what works best for your target audience. This means that as you send more and more emails, you’ll have a much better idea of what’s likely to land, helping you make future campaigns a success.
Get the email open rates magic touch
Email open rates are a great way to gauge the success of your email campaigns, so getting your content and subject lines right really pays. Focus on your audience, their needs, and eliciting an emotion from them, and you’ll be on the right tracks.
Want to get more people opening your emails? Discover the power of words and how to captivate people with them in our e-book Storyselling: Combining the power of words with digital forensics.
