Did you know that the average email open rate of all the businesses is just 21%?
It’s essential to consider all the factors before running an email campaign.
A good marketing campaign results in maximum ROI. However, to achieve maximum ROI, we have to consider factors like bounce rate, deliverability rate, and email open rate.
In this guide, we will explain how to improve the email open rates.
What is the email open rate?
It is the ratio f the people who opened your email after receiving it. The email open rate depends upon the quality of your mailing list, subject line, and the relevancy of the recipient with the email.
The email open rate can be calculated by using the following formula:
Email open rate = Emails opened by the unique users/ Total emails sent - Bounced emails
However, it should be kept in mind that no equation can give an exact email open rate. It’s because there are many other factors that influence the email open rate.
Importance of email open rate
An email marketer understands the value of a good marketing campaign. It focuses on increasing the followers, reaching out to them, and expect the desired results.
Having an extensive mailing list doesn’t guarantee the desired results. There are other essential factors like email open rate, which affect the results. If your email is not received or not opened by the recipient, you need to work on your strategy.
If more subscribers engage with your content, the effectiveness of your campaign is increased. As we discussed earlier, the average email open rate is around 21%. Anything more than 21% will be considered as your success. However, it would be best if you aimed for a more than 40% email open rate.
You can get a realistic sense of what you should expect for your specific industry by looking at a list of email open rates by industry.
How to track email open rate?
A tracking pixel can track the email open rates easily. It is invisible to the user and sent with the HTML content of the email. Whenever a user opens the email, a small image is downloaded. This download shows that the user has opened the email.
However, it’s not an entirely accurate method. The email client of the recipient might have turned off the feature to receive HTML with images. It can lead to errors in results.
Suppose the intended recipient is using an antivirus service. It might scan the email resulting in pixel being downloaded. It will be counted as an opened email when the user hasn’t opened it at all.
Under and over-reporting can lead to high costs and wrong expectations. That’s why you should always try to improve the strategy for better results.
Six ways to improve email open rate
The following are the six ways to improve your email open rate and achieve the desired results.
1) Personalization
Nobody likes to receive emails from strangers. However, everyone wants to be acknowledged. You can take advantage of the fact and use the recipient’s name in your subject line.
We already discussed how to use reverse email lookup services to find the information.
This gives a personal touch and makes the recipient feel that you have a solution to his problems. Many email marketing services allow you to add a name tag to your marketing camping. This name tag results in the inclusion of the recipient’s name in the email.
Optimizing the ‘FROM’ field can also work like a charm. You can use an individual or brand name to get the user’s attention.
Remember that you have to personalize in a way that your email passes through the spam filters. Most spam filters catch emails based on specific keywords.
2) Double opt-in
After entering the email address in your lead capture page, double opt-in means a user receives an email to verify it. It helps you make sure the user is interested in your service.
If you use email list provided by third-parties, there is a possibility that these emails have been scraped or collected from the dark web. This means the recipients are not related to your filed and won’t engage.
A double opt-in also helps you make a clean and qualified email list.
3) Segmentation
Email list segmentation helps you group and divide the emails depending on several parameters. It allows you to do email marketing more effectively.
List segmentation means the recipients will receive the highly relevant content. This can increase the open rate significantly. In research, email list segmentation resulted in an increase of 15% in the open rate.
It also allows you to read and understand your analytics easily.
4) Effective subject line
Mostly, direct and to the point subject lines result in a higher open rate. A subject line should explain the content of the email in a single line.
The first method for a compelling subject line is to get attention. You can use a subject line like “how I increased the number of of sales in a week?”
The second method for an effective subject line is to raise the curiosity of the recipient. A subject line like “The CEO of XYZ company reveals the secret behind his success.” usually works.
Furthermore, the third method for an effective subject line is to offer something for free. You can use a subject line like “Get the XYZ book for free.”
An alternative method is to create urgency like “50% of for 24 hours only.”
Another important thing is to optimize the subject lines for mobile phones. Research showed that seven words or 41 characters got better open rates.
Remember that you have to offer what you have promised to the user in the subject line. Otherwise, you are reducing your chances of better click-through.
5) Timing
The day and time are among the critical factors of an email campaign. They contribute significantly to email open rates.
Usually, emails sent on Tuesday get better open rates than on Monday. Thursday is also a good option if you are trying to send two emails per week.
A general rule is to send the emails in the morning or at the break time at usually 2 PM.
By utilizing the proper days and times, you increase our chances f an effective marketing campaign.
6) List quality
There is nothing important in email marketing than a quality list. A good quality list is free from invalid, inactive, spam traps, disposable, and blacklisted emails.
You can use a tool like an email list verify to get the quality of your list checked and improved. It will help you improve your open rate, but you will also be saved from troubles like getting into a blacklist and bad reputation.