Nine Tricks to Increase Your Email Open Rate
Email marketing can be challenging. Here are nine simple tricks to increase your email open rate.
Tip #1: Timing is everything – Most of us aggressively purge our emails between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. to gain control of our day. If your email is not a priority, it will likely be flagged for review later or deleted. Avoid the inbox purge by delivering your emails in these time frames—8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.; 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.; or 8:00 p.m. to midnight.
Tip #2: Call them by name – Personalization in the subject line can increase open rates by 23 percent.
Tip #3: Send positive messages in the morning and save more negative messages for the afternoon – People naturally wake up feeling more positive in the morning so if you have a positive message to deliver it will be best received in the morning. If your message is more negative or is more serious in nature, wait to send your email until the afternoon. If you have a negative or more serious message to deliver be sure to find the silver lining and put as much of a positive spin on the situation within the body copy.
Tip #4: Be provocative, controversial or relevant – No one wants to read boring emails with dated information.
Tip #5: Use odd or specific numbers – If you round up (or down) people think you are lying. Be specific with numbers in your subject line.
Tip #6: Keep your subject line short – The rule of thumb is six to 10 words or 25 characters max. Most emails are opened on a phone or tablet, which has limited visibility, meaning long subject lines get cut off. As a result, it’s the first three to four words of the subject line that need to be most convincing.
Tip #7: Use the second subject line (a.k.a. the email description) – Don’t forget you’ve got another six to 10 words within the email description to tell your subscriber why they should open your mail. The email description often defaults to the first sentence of the email copy, but is frequently a link with coding telling you how to view this email in an internet browser.
Tip #8: Add symbols to standout – Adding the right symbols to your email can increase open rates by 10 to 15 percent. Glyph’s are icons embedded in your subject line and email that can capture attention or promote urgency. Currently, the heart, sun and umbrella glyphs are the most popular. Check out http://emailstuff.org/glyph to look for your next glyph. The website will provide coding in a variety of formats to easily incorporate into your HTML file.
Tip #9: Use your picture or logo in the subject line – Showing your profile picture or logo as the preview image with your email versus generic letters (first name, last name) can be attention getting and unique. Test within your own campaign to see which format performs better.
Source – www.digitalmarketer.com
