Top Tips to Improve Your Email Open Rate And Get More Responses

So, you finished writing your copy for the email.

10:29 19 June 2020

Now you want recipients to open it and take the desired action. And if you send to multiple recipients at a time, you definitely want the highest possible open rate.

 

In this article, you will find ten best tips to improve your email open rate and get responses. 

 

Tip #1: Personalize your emails

 

Personalization is not only about using the recipient’s name. Do your research every time you are going to get in touch with someone. Because you should always know who you are writing for. This way, you can easily create engaging content your target audience will be interested in. You can personalize your email with a subject line (for example, “I have a few ideas on how to improve your blog,”) variable tags such as recipient’s company name, job title, location, and any other topic of interest, calls to action, and email signature.

 

Tip #2 Use a professional email signature

 

Adding a professional email signature to every email is an excellent way not only to showcase your contact information or professional background but also to personalize your messages. Your signature should include your name, company name, job title, phone number, company website, social media icons, a call to action. Adding a photo of yourself can also contribute to increasing your response rates. On top of that, the recipient may start to associate your email address with a real person. So, next time when you send anything, the chances that your email will be opened, read, and responded increase. 

 

Create your free email signature and improve your emails now.

 

Tip #3: Segment your recipients

 

Open rates are closely related to how relevant the content of an email is to the recipient. Segmenting your audience will help you always approach the right target audience with the right content. You might choose to segment them using such common criteria as new list subscribers, location, gender, age, level of education, income, employment status, interests, open rate, inactivity, purchase history, and many others. 

 

Tip #4: Always check and update your list

 

Even if you believe you have the most loyal subscribers in the world, you still need to clean your list regularly. Over time, some people may have changed their email accounts, or perhaps they are not interested in your products or services anymore. 

 

Tip #5: Avoid spam filters

 

There are many reasons why your email may be sent right to the recipient’s spam folder. That is why you need to know and follow a few basic rules that will help you decrease the chances of winding up in the digital trash bin.

 

First, don’t send emails to those who haven’t given you permission. It is better to use the double-opt-in method when you ask people to subscribe to your list. 

 

Also, always make sure you are sending emails from a “healthy” IP address and not one that has a history of being flagged as spam. 

Never use spam-triggering words and symbols in your email. Those include “$$$,” “100%,” “cash,” “buy,” “click,” “best price,” “expire,” “win,” “clearance,” “free,” and so on.

 

If you use links, it is better to limit them to no more than two.

 

Bonus tip: It is better to make your email signature from a person and not a company. Customers often mark emails from companies as advertising. This can increase the chances of your email being sent to the trash folder. Those coming from a real person have higher chances of being read and responded.

 

Tip #6: Make a perfect subject line

 

Your email subject line is probably one of the most obvious ways to increase your open rates. Many customers decide whether to open an email or not based on the subject line alone. Here are a few tips for crafting good subject lines:

 

• Keep it short
  
  
• Write keywords at the very beginning
  
  
• Avoid filler words such as “Nice to meet you” or “Hello”
  
  
• Be specific about the email topic
  
  
• Personalize it
  
  
• Avoid using all CAPS
  
  
• Use the language and style that your customers use themselves
  
  
• Always check the subject line for mistakes.
  
  

Tip #7: Add more value to your emails

 

When recipients see a compelling subject line, they expect to get what you promised. And if your content doesn’t deliver any value, people will be on to whatever is next in another second.

 

Here are a couple of ways to deliver value in your messages:

 

• Share case studies
  
  
• Show customer testimonials
  
  
• Help your subscribers solve a problem
  
  
• Help them learn with your guides and eBooks.
  
  

Tip #8: Don’t deliver irrelevant content with no value

 

Having received irrelevant content, people may unsubscribe or even report it as spam. However, keep in mind that neither personalization nor segmentation can’t mean 100% of relevance. Simply choosing who will receive your message doesn’t guarantee it will be relevant. In this situation, it is important to introduce some value to the recipient.

 

Even if you sell the most boring product in the world, you can persuade people to buy it from you, because people still need boring things in their lives. What you can do here is to do research and tell people a great story, making them the heroes who take advantage of your product.

 

Tip #8: Send emails at the right time

 

Timing can have a significant impact on whether recipients open your emails. So, think carefully about what day and time you send them out. The best way to determine the perfect time is to imagine a day in your average recipient’s life. You will also need to test different times to find the best one. 

 

Tip #9: Create mobile-friendly templates

 

Lots of emails are opened on mobile devices. That is why your emails need to be mobile-friendly. If they are not, then the chances are your recipients will avoid opening any future messages from your address. 

 

The easiest tips to make emails good for mobile:

 

• Always make your call to action buttons large enough to tap on them
  
  
• Don’t place links very close to each other
  
  
• Use simple formatting
  
  
• Don’t use large images to avoid increasing the load time
  
  
• Don’t use too small font size 
  
  
• Keep your subject lines short.
  
  

Tip #10: Analyze your campaigns

 

Always analyze your campaign performance to know what you can improve in the future.

 

Description: Want to know more about the ways of improving email open and response rates? Read our ten tips with detailed explanations and examples.