Today, our Senior Manager of Content & Promotions, Anne Marie Robson, answers another common question that we hear from clients looking for ways to boost online engagement.
How can I get more members to open my emails?
Anne Marie: Thanks for asking! You put a lot of work into crafting engaging email content for your subscribers, so we know it can be frustrating when only a small segment of your mailing list opens them. If the number of opens per email seems to be dropping lately, perhaps it’s time to tweak your strategy just a bit.
Let’s start with the way your mailing list is segmented for each email. Are you sending a campaign to your all of your subscribers? If so, maybe it’s time to consider a more targeted approach. For example, if you’re sending an email about an upcoming contest for winning a spa day or shopping spree, this type of content might appeal more to the women on your mailing list than the men. Or perhaps you’re mailing out a special offer from a sponsor in your community. If your list contains subscribers from other geographic locations, they may not be interested in an offer that is out of their area. Segmenting your emails allows you to tailor campaigns to specific groups within your mailing list based on a number of characteristics, from age, gender, geographic location, or even based on the type of emails they’ve opened from you in the past. This type of personalization strategy can improve both your open and click-through rates.
Another important facet of your mailing to consider is the subject line. It’s the first thing that a subscriber sees when your email arrives in their inbox, and it can be the key to capturing their interest. You want to create anticipation before your audience even clicks on your message, but too many buzzwords may get your newsletter caught in their spam filters. Be clever and use a line that will resonate with your target audience and intrigue them to open the message; just be sure to avoid overused words such as “free”, “win”, “cash,” and “offer”, or at least use them sparingly. For example, using a subject line like “Weekly Scoop from Rodeo Rewards” sets the expectation for the email content without using words that would trigger spam filters. “Want two tickets to Paris?” compels your audience to open the message and learn more about a trip promotion while ensuring higher deliverability rates.
For more ways to improve your email open rates, check out this recent post.
