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If your marketing emails aren’t getting opened it’s probably not because of pesky social media, or because people just don’t use email any more. Over 269 billion emails get sent every day (predicted to grow to 333 billion by 2022). And businesses with strong email marketing strategies report a 3,800% return on every email sent out.
So why are marketing emails still such a great way to communicate with customers? In a recent survey, 49% of respondents stated that they enjoyed receiving regular emails from brands they did business with. Customers appreciate being kept informed about company news and events, receiving advance notice of promotions, and being introduced to new products.
How Do You Know If Your Email Marketing is Working?
It’s all about the ‘email open rate’. An email is considered to have been opened when:
- The images are enabled in preview or full view
- A link is clicked on
The average email open rate is 17.92% although this varies according to location and industry. Whether or not you’re hitting the average, improving your open rate is key to the overall success of your email marketing strategy.
So here are six ways to to pile on the percentage points:
1. Optimise Your Email Scheduling
This is an easy one – so there’s no excuse for not doing it! There have been numerous studies carried out on this subject and there are a few key takeaways that remain constant. First of all, avoid weekends and marketing emails just don’t get opened. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the hotspots during the week, and the temporal sweet spot is between 10.00-11.00am. But your customers may be different, so try out some tests.
2. Get Your Customers Committed
Once an email is opened, you need to urge your recipient to make a commitment to receiving more. Without this, the emails will cease to feel like a service, and will become a ‘pest’. So ask whether the recipient would like to continue to receive emails from you. If the answer is ‘yes’ follow this up with an action. Ask them to add you to their contact list. This will ensure that your emails are delivered consistently.
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3. How Do Your Emails Get Read?
Mobile currently accounts for 46% of all email opens and 35% of business professionals check their emails on a mobile device. It’s crucial, therefore, that your marketing emails are designed to look good when read on a mobile. The ones that don’t, simply get deleted. 70% of business people surveyed said that if the marketing email looked rubbish on their device, they’d get rid of it immediately.
4. Use Your Name
We all know how frustrating it is to try and find a ‘real’ person attached to the majority of contemporary websites. Well, it’s the same with emails. Research carried out by Pinpointe Marketing found that sending marketing emails from a named person, rather than using a generic email address makes a difference. Your open rates can soar by as much as 30%. Why? We’re human, we’re sociable, we like talking to real people.
5. Craft Your Subject Line
- Avoid title case – ‘Creating customer engagement’ works better than ‘Creating Customer…’
- Keep it short – between 6-10 words
- Match the subject line to the email
- Personalisation still works, despite being over-used
- Puns on film or song titles increase open rates
6. Show You Know Your Subscribers
We should have learnt this from Amazon by now… Discovering what your subscribers interests are, and segmenting your marketing emails to reflect this, dramatically increases the chances of your emails getting opened. It’s all about trust. If a subscriber feels ‘seen’ and acknowledged, they’ll trust you above businesses that are just after their custom.
Building Your Subscriber List Step-by-Step
The great news is that, when it comes to email marketing, there’s everything to play for. And there are some pretty simple steps you can take to improve your open rate immediately. As with any digital marketing the key is to pay attention to detail, emphasise the quality of the communication, and personalise the experience wherever you can.
