One of the most often-asked email-marketing questions I get are around improving open rates. Of course – who wants to produce all those emails if no one is going to open them?
Whether a human being decides your topic is interesting enough to read is beyond your control. But here are 3 of the most important factors in helping improve open rates that you do have a say in.
Bounce and Banish – Clean your contact list.
Open rates decrease the bigger your list. A giant list is going to impact deliverability, regardless of your chosen email tool. And a large list with a substantial number of strangers – or almost strangers – is bordering on useless.
Don’t just remove the hard bounces. Take a look at the engagement of people with a ‘suspended’ status. Did they ever open your emails? No? they won’t tomorrow, either – so go ahead and remove them.
Maintain a medium to low number of highly engaged fans, clients, and prospects. Make it about the highest quality you can. I prune my own list year after year. I toss out people who do not read or open and for whom I cannot remember how we met. Better to have 100 tried and true fans than 1,000 addresses what never open.
Test Topics And Subject Lines
are you writing about topics that matter only to you? Are you pushing offers and discounts, without providing any real information?
What do your best clients, prospects and fans want to know from you? If you don’t know the answer, start asking right now. People do not open boring stuff. (Do you? Of course not).
Keep it focused on what your fans need or want to know, and the open rates will increase.
Test Your Frequency.
We all hate daily and even weekly emails – but going too far in the opposite direction won’t work either. Emailing once a quarter is like whispering in the wind. Depending on your industry and the pace of your business, determine whether every 30, 15, or 10 days will work best.
Most B-to-B will be just fine with monthly. Add another campaign if there’s a time-bound event to promote.
Weekly is almost always way too much.
Bonus Tip: Keep Your Calendar Handy
Emails sent too close to a major national or religious holiday will be ignored completely.
Beyond that – is it college graduation season? High school prom season? Holiday shopping season? Back to school prep time?
What is happening in your typical readers’ life?
One year I mistakenly sent an email campaign a few days before Memorial Day. Crickets. I sent the same email 2 weeks later – high open rate. Use your calendar to determine what dates to send, and what dates to stay away from.