Tip #379: 9 Tips for Getting More People To Open Your e-Mail Campaigns

E-Mail marketing is a cost-effective way to proactively communicate to your database of clients, past clients, prospects and referral sources. And because it is so cost-effective and easy to use, e-mail marketing campaigns have been flooding everyone's inbox - including yours and mine.

Most People Ignore And Delete These e-Mails From Their Inbox

When sending out mass e-mail marketing campaign (through your own server or a third party service like Constant Contact), you need to know that it is easy for someone to not only delete your e-mail but also ignore it. In fact, the national open rate published by Constant Contact is 13%. That means that 87% of the people who receive an e-mail are not opening it. Not only that, it is easy for people who use generic e-mail services like AOL.com, yahoo.com, etc., to click on their "spam" button. And once enough people label your e-mail as "spam," services like Constant Contact will cancel your account.

If you are interested in maximizing the open rate for your e-mail marketing campaigns, we have collected 9 tips and suggestions for you.

9 Tips For Getting More People To Open (And Read) Your Next e-Mail Campaign.

1. Spend Time Writing Your Subject Line: Your subject line is actually your campaign's headline. And as all great copywriters know, a great headline represents 80% of a campaign's success. With that said, we recommend using emotionally driven headlines like: "5 Sure-Fire Ways To Close Your Coldest Prospect" versus "January e-Newsletter." Another one would be: "7 Must-Have Apps For Salespeople (Inc. Magazine Article)" versus "Article By Inc. Magazine."

2. Know Your Subject Line's Length: Excessively long subject lines will also play a role, because long subject lines can distract a reader from opening your e-mail. But more importantly, you need to be cognizant of how e-mail comes across on a smartphone, because you will find that most smartphones will only display about 27 characters - so make sure that the most compelling part of your message is visible first.

3. Pay Special Attention To Your Frequency And Recency Rate: This is an area that you need to spend time on. The reason being is that too many e-mail campaigns in too short of a time span (recency) can do more harm than good. How can you determine the frequency of a campaign? Ask yourself this one question: Is your e-mail list an "opt in" list or one from which you just gathered names from business cards, websites and chamber/association lists. If it is the latter, you need to tread lightly.

4. Make Your Message Easy To Read: It is one thing to get your e-mail opened; it is another to have it read. With that said, make sure that you write your messages in short sentences and paragraphs as well as add short and snappy headlines to introduce new paragraphs. It is also recommended that you use bullets/numbers in order to make it easier for people to read.

5. Be Better At Writing Copy: Compelling marketing messages will not only motivate people to take action, but more importantly, get people to want to read your e-mail campaigns. To help you become a better writer, we recommend buying both of these books: Tested Advertising Methods Fifth Edition by John Caples and The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells by Robert W. Bly. Also, keep this in mind when writing copy:

1. Your subject line is the headline for your campaign.

2. Your content should help/educate people about their job or what your organization does that makes it unique.

c. Use sub-headlines in the body of your campaign to make it easy for people to skim its content.

d. Always provide readers with a risk-free invitational offer to help them take the next step in the buying process.

6. Check Your Spelling And Grammar Before Pressing The Send Button: People reading your e-mail campaigns will catch your spelling and grammar errors. It is a fact of life, so get used to it. Although most people strive for writing perfection, mistakes do happen. To help ensure that your campaign is close to perfect, we highly recommend cutting and pasting your final copy (once it is in the final format) into a Microsoft Word document, and run your spelling and grammar checks. The results will shock you. But be careful still, because Microsoft Word does not catch all grammar and spelling mistakes.

7. Pay Special Attention To The Name Used In The Sent And Reply Field: People will open your e-mail if they know you and/or your company. This is why we recommend, in some cases, that a person's name is used in the 'from' field versus a company name.

8. Avoid Spam Words In Your Subject Line:The majority of e-mail servers use spam detection software to automatically filter (meaning block) e-mails that contains certain words and symbols in their subject line, words like free, stock, eBay, password, mortgage, exclamation points (see below), etc.

Click here to access 100 words that will trigger spam software

9. Don't Use An Exclamation Point In Your Subject Line: It is good practice to not use an exclamation point at the end of your subject lines. In fact, Google bans all types of punctuation from its AdWords ads.

Executive Summary: Outside of the list you are e-mailing to, 60% of your open rate's success is directly related to 1.) Who the e-mail is coming from and 2.) The subject line used. As a good reminder, do not be clever or misleading in your subject line. Additionally, just concentrate on sending your target audience relevant information that can be easily read - and don't forget a call to action by including a risk-free invitational offer.

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