Three tips to improve the open rates of your marketing emails

One of the easiest ways to measure the success of your email marketing campaign is by open rates. After all, what purpose does that excellent content serve if the email goes unopened? Follow our top three tips on how to ensure your marketing emails stand the best chance of being read.

Boosting open rates can seem like a daunting task. But if you know your target audience and how to capture their attention for just a second, you could increase your open rates tenfold. Although people are becoming wearier of spam-filled emails, there is a very receptive audience out there for marketing emails that are engaging and customised.

1. The subject line is instrumental

The subject line is your invitation to clients or customers to read the content of your marketing email, so it's critical you get it right. The key to an enticing subject line is to keep it short and sweet. A recent study revealed subject lines with 4 to 15 characters earned the highest open rates, and also had high click rates of 2.4 per cent.

The subject line needs to gain the attention of the reader, but it's also important to avoid the use of spammy words or terms. If you use phrases such as "unbelievable offer", recipients are likely to ignore the email or delete it immediately. Instead, try terms such as "not long left" to create urgency without being too over the top. You can also use a spam checker to pick up on any issues your subject line may have before finalising it.

2. Know your recipients

By knowing the target audience for your marketing email campaign, you will be able to alter its content to match the audience's interests. You will also be able to send emails at a prime time in your recipient's day when you know they are more likely to be checking emails.

Businesses should carry out research to understand what days and times its clients or customers are most likely to check and open marketing emails. If you are conducting a global marketing campaign, you may need to send your emails in separate segments to ensure each time zone receives emails at an optimal time.

3. Make it clear who you are

Ensuring that recipients know where your email is coming from is another easy way to boost open rates. If clients or customers don't recognise an email address, or if they think it's potentially from an untrustworthy source, chances are they will disregard it immediately.

In the interest of being recognisable, ensure your brand is visible in the email address. If you are addressing new clients, try using a personal address in order to pique interest contacting new leads from marketing@domainxyz.com, for example, is marketing email suicide.

Bloomtools has a number of email marketing tools available to help develop and improve your marketing campaign, including email scheduling, comprehensive reports and advice on how to avoid spam filters. Get in touch with your local Bloomtools expert to create a marketing plan that will see your email open rates surge.