7 Proven Ways to Increase Your Email Newsletter Open Rates
Creating and delivering a regular business newsletter for your email subscription list can be a great part of marketing your company product or service. So let’s say you’ve started getting sign-ups to your list and you’re already creating immensely valuable content and deploying your business newsetter.
But when you click through to your email delivery service you see that of the hundreds or thousands of emails you’ve sent, you are just not seeing a good percentage of people who are even willing to click to open your newsletter and take in your fabulous content.
Assuming your list is legitimately obtained and up-to-date, and your newsletter is filled with content valuable to your subscribers, is there anything you can do? After all, you can’t force anyone to click to open. Or can you?
Here are 7 proven strategies to increase your email newsletter open rates. Put them to work for your business starting today!
1. Write subject lines early and test
Sometimes writing the subject line of an email is the last and most frantic task in a long list of items needing to be accomplished to get your newsletter out. And yet your subject line can be critical in determining your open — and eventually your sale — rates. Don’t leave it until the end; research the keywords for your subject line, write it early, and split test your newsletter to see which headlines get the best open rates.
2. Use a consistent and trusted “From” address
Most people are not going to open an email unless they recognize the From address. Make sure your From address is the same one you used when your subscribers opted in to your list. It should be a professional address (not a Hotmail or Yahoo addy unless your business is Hotmail or Yahoo) with either your name or business in it. For example, CalvertCreative@calvertcreative.com will work much better than Newsletter@GenericEmailProvider.net.
3. Localize the subject line
Personalization, or including the recipient’s name in the subject line, is less effective than including the name of their city. Not all lists owners will have this data, but if you do, you can test this factor for increased open rates.
4. Keep it short
The rule of thumb on length of email subject lines is 50 characters. Be sure to list the most critical content of the subject line first so that an email client doesn’t cut off your subject line in the middle of an important word, price, or date.
5. Lead without misleading
Yes, you want catchy, funny, or powerful, but your newsletter must absolutely deliver on any claims you make in the subject line or your open rate will drop with your trust levels over time.
6. Check the tabloids
If you want to write a better email subject line, take a look at some of the tabloids at your grocery store check-out line. No, you don’t want to write an email subject line about the two-headed baby space alien born to a Hollywood celeb, but you do want to notice the way headlines are used to create a sense of urgency or emotion. Keep reading.
7. Make it urgent
Urgency drives action, so consider setting a deadline (“Order by midnight”) or pointing to scarcity (“19 Openings Remaining — Register Today”). Consider making your offer sound so urgent that the reader will feel like they are missing out on something if they don’t take advantage of it immediately.
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