Increase Email Open Rates
A typical business professional receives an average of 121 emails a day. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that capturing attention is more challenging than ever. Your emails don’t receive the traction you anticipated – heck, they might not even get opened by the majority. It’s frustrating, we get it.
To begin the process of improving your open rates, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes.
Which emails are you more inclined to open? Which do you immediately delete? Pay attention to your own behavior as it’s likely to resemble and provide similar insights to your respective audience. In addition, here are 10 tips to help drive traffic and increase email open rates.
1. Avoid Spam
First things first, in order for your email to get opened, it needs to be delivered to the correct inbox. Seems obvious but nowadays, email often outsmarts us and separates primary emails from promotional messages, or even spam.
Certain words can trigger spam, such as cash or free. You don’t need to eliminate these words altogether, but use them in the correct context (psst: keep these words out of your subject lines). Other styles that are typically flagged as spam: Lots of colored text, all caps, excessive exclamation points, and too many images.
2. Include Video in Subject Line
If your email includes a video, make sure the recipient knows. Just by adding the word video to the subject line, you can increase open rates by 19%. Try to put video towards the beginning of the subject, for example, “Video Introduction – It’s nice to meet you.” ?
3. Add Personalization
In addition to adding video to your subject lines, you’ll benefit from adding a touch of personalization too. When our inboxes are flooded with messages, it’s easy for yours to blend in with the others. But, adding personalization to subject lines plays to your advantage. Addressing your recipient by first name makes them feel valued. Or, orient the subject line around an individual date, like a birthday or a company’s anniversary.
4. Send From A Contact, Not Company
Viewers prefer personalization so much that they’re more likely to open an email from an actual person rather than a generic company email. Therefore, send messages from a member of your team, rather than through a generic company email. This boosts open rates by 35% and works towards building a relationship between the sender and recipient.
5. Keep It Short – Under 50 Characters
Ever find yourself getting stumped on your subject line? You craft the entire email, but hit a blank wall when choosing a title. This is common, considering your subject line is the first impression you offer the viewer and what elicits their next action. Best practices include keeping this title short and sweet, under 50 characters to be exact. For best results, add personalization, the word video, a sense or urgency, or an incentive.
6. Step on the Darkside
Maybe not in life, but at least in your emails. We’re naturally drawn to controversy (think: flashy tabloid titles strategically placed in grocery aisle checkouts). Same goes for email, a bit of dispute sparks our attention. For example, a subject line titled “10 Marketing Mistakes You Must Avoid” is likely to gain more traction than “10 Marketing Tips to Help Your Business.” This sense of wrongdoing entices you to know more.
7. Don’t Treat Everyone The Same
When it comes to email, that is! A new prospect or subscriber versus a loyal customer should not always receive the same email. Rather than sending out mass emails, create an experience unique to each user. This can be done by categorizing subscribers or recipients into groups based on industry, job title, interests, etc.. Then, send emails based on the groups’ demographic, increasing overall relevance and open rates.
8. Add Emojis ? or ?
Not sure whether or not you should include emojis in your subject line? Research suggests they will work to your advantage – sometimes. Emojis help you stand out in the inbox, but not all instances guarantee success. We recommend using your best judgement, or run A/B testing to see what works best for your industry.
9. Go Mobile
You can no longer assume that your email will be read on a computer. Now, you actually have to assume the opposite. Nearly 75% of Americans check their email primarily on a smartphone. Therefore, always test your emails to reassure they are mobile-friendly. You’ll want to check that the font size is not too small, the media loads properly, formatting looks correct, and CTA buttons are large enough to tap with your thumbs!
10. Leave Them Alone
You may not be ready to part ways with a prospect or email subscribers, but be aware of the activity on the receiving end. You don’t want to keep flooding their inbox if they aren’t interested. If engagement is low, cut back on the number of emails you’re sending, before they get rid of you altogether.
Pro tip: Not sure how to tell if someone opened your email? With Covideo, you can opt to receive notifications when your recipient opens and/or views the video you sent and track how many times it was viewed.
Next Steps
Are you interested in switching up your current email strategy? Adding video is a unique and personalized way to stand out from your competitors and catch your audience’s attention. Learn more by scheduling a call with one of our experts. We would love to learn about your business and see how we can help.
