Despite being an old channel for connecting with current/prospective customers, email marketing is still a convenient way to connect and interact with current and prospective customers.
RELATED STATISTIC: “Email marketing generated $38 for every $1 spent. That’s a 3800% ROI!” – [Source: HubSpot]
However, many companies and brands still don’t fully understand how to utilize the medium to its full extent. This article aims to provide you with the relevant tips needed to boost your email open rate and overall improve your email campaigns.
1) Using the Right Subject Line
One of the first things that your customers will see when they receive your Email will be the subject line. For this reason, it is important to make sure that you have the right choice of words to make sure it catches their attention. The way to do this is usually through the use of action words that help boost the open rate.
There are tools such as CoSchedule Email Subject Line Tester that can help with figuring out the exact combination of words to get the best results while also letting you know what words to avoid, as can be seen in the image below.
[Author’s own image]
Using action words like “ways” and “daily” can actually improve your chances of having the email read and opened more often.
2) Use Emoticons
Sometimes the same old is boring and overdone. You might have figured out the best combination of power words to use for the subject line but is there more you can do?
Emoticons at Work; [Source: Author’s Own Image]
Yes, you can try and utilize some emojis in the subject line to ensure that the email stands out a lot more. That emoji is the one thing standing in the way of that email getting lost in the spam box or buried in the inbox. It has a good impact on your subject line as well as you can see in the above image.
3) Getting Your Timing Right
Not everyone is available at all times of the day. Some people check their emails at certain times of the day. It is always a good idea to look into the times your target demographic is the most active with their devices to get the best email open rates.
It is estimated that the best time to send these emails would be around the time people have their lunch break since most people tend to check their phones around that time during office hours. This can be a good means to earn an optimal open rate.
However, that may or may not be true for your audience. The ideal scenario is to send a few emails to your subscriber list and figure out what time is ideal for your readers.
4) Stand Out Rather Than Fitting In
Everyone’s busy and everyone gets tons of emails every day. And let’s be honest; you are actually interrupting someone in most cases.
The average number of business emails sent and received are 121 per day. – Source: Review42
The least you can do is to make your email stand out. This may mean, for instance utilizing an email template that’s inline with your brand and is also unique.
You may also want to use a more informal or witty tone within your emails. Unless you run a funeral home, humor can be an ideal choice when used appropriately.
Not only will it boost your open rate and reply rate but also make your current/potential customers look forward to your upcoming correspondence.
5) Remember to Customize
It is always a good idea to customize your content to fit the needs of your subscribers or customers.
But customization isn’t anymore about using the recipient’s first name or ensuring that your emails appear on a mobile device. You need to get better. For instance, you may want to segment your email marketing lists based on the behaviour of your recipients. This may entail:
- Have one email sequence for users who didn’t click on a particular campaign
- Having different email sequence for users who have much higher/lower open rate
Key Takeaway
It doesn’t take a lot to improve your email marketing game. But even these small tips and changes can greatly improve your email relationship with your customers or subscribers. Once you master the tips listed above you will be able to realize just how important an effective email marketing campaign can be.
Nooria Khan is a software engineer turned writer. Her passion for learning and love for words has propelled her into a career in digital marketing. She has been featured in Business Insider, Techopedia, Reader’s Digest, Business2Community, and several others. She always keeps a journal and a cat by her side, and the only time she doesn’t play it safe is when she’s writing.
