Optimizing the send-out time of your email campaign is a critical step in boosting your email open rates. It can help you avoid sending emails to subscribers who have already received enough marketing emails, as well as being marked as spam.
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1. Optimize Your Subject Line
While it’s true that your content is the backbone of an email campaign, the subject line is the first element recipients see when scanning their inbox. This is why it’s so important to make it engaging, enticing, and relevant to the subscriber’s interests. Or use this cold email software free.
Whether it’s personalization (like using a recipient’s name) or timely messaging that capitalizes on popular holidays, subject lines that leverage the right language and content will elicit high engagement. For example, according to Yesware, subject lines that include numbers have a 45 percent higher open rate than the average. Similarly, subject lines phrased as questions have been shown to drive high open rates and engagement.
However, a strong subject line is only the beginning of the story—the next step is the body of your email. The key is to deliver valuable and enticing content that will resonate with your audience—this includes offering useful tips, exclusive insights, or compelling stories.
It’s best to save the subject line until you have finalized all other aspects of the email—including the CTAs and content—before drafting it. That way, you can ensure your subject line accurately reflects the contents of the email without being misleading.
The same goes for the “From” field in the email. It’s also helpful to ensure that this field aligns with the sender’s reputation.
For instance, if your business is known for its authenticity and credibility, it’s best to use the company name in the “From” field instead of an individual’s name. This will help reinforce trust in the brand, and it will increase the likelihood of recipients opening your email.
Another factor to keep in mind is the geographic and cultural context of your audience. Leveraging data and analytics to optimize your subject lines across regions will enhance relevance and effectiveness. Moreover, regularly analyzing the performance of your subject lines will help you refine and improve them for continuous optimization. Ultimately, leveraging SMTP Ghost’s inbox delivery assurance and data enrichment capabilities will ensure that your messages reach the inbox and don’t get lost in the clutter. This will boost both your email open rates and your ROI.
2. Make It Short & Sweet
Managing subscriber expectations is one of the simplest and most effective steps you can take to boost your email open rates. When you first welcome new subscribers to your list, make sure they know what to expect from your emails. If you’re sending a daily newsletter, for instance, let them know what time they can expect the email to arrive in their inbox (morning, afternoon, or evening). Doing so will build trust and consistency, encouraging subscribers to keep coming back for more.
Subject lines are the most visible piece of information in your email, so they’re a great place to start when trying to improve your email open rates. A well-crafted subject line can pique recipients’ curiosity, create a sense of urgency, or even make them laugh, which will all encourage them to open your email and find out more.
The best subject lines are short and sweet, as they’re designed to fit within the character limit of most email providers. This is especially important for mobile devices, as most email readers view their inboxes on smaller screens.
Try using a question in your subject line to encourage readers to open your email and respond. This strategy works well for a variety of audiences, from general consumers to B2B customers. Additionally, using a number in your subject line can draw attention because our brains are naturally drawn to digits. Another simple yet effective way to increase your open rate is by including a “how-to” or a clear value proposition in your subject line.
While you’re aiming for brevity in your subject line, don’t neglect the preview text – which is displayed in the inbox before the reader opens an email. This is an opportunity to communicate a message in a quick and engaging way. Emails with a subject line of 6-10 words saw the highest open rates, followed by those with 0-5 words.
Be sure to avoid using any words or symbols that can trigger spam detection software. This could send your email to spam, where it may be missed altogether. You can also use a tool like SMTP Ghost to automate the process of cleaning and warming up your list, further improving email deliverability and maintaining a positive sender reputation.
3. Include a Call-to-Action
A call-to-action in an email subject line is the best way to increase engagement and click-through rates. However, many marketers miss this opportunity by not clearly defining their goal or offering an incentive to take action. A good call-to-action should be specific, measurable, time-limited, and achievable. This ensures that your message is aligned with your desired outcome and helps you to keep track of your campaign’s performance.
The “From” name is another important aspect of your email subject line. You can use either the company’s name or an individual’s, but it should be clear and concise. Using a generic “From” name can flag your email as spam, but including a specific person’s name can help recipients trust and recognize the sender. Some email platforms offer options to add a personal touch to your “From” name, such as using an employee’s first name or a nickname.
Subject lines that pique curiosity or reveal a tantalizing glimpse of what’s inside often generate high open rates. These subject lines compel recipients to open your email and take advantage of the information you’ve provided. They also make it easier for recipients to share your content.
Discounts and special offers also tend to perform well in subject lines. Consumers love to feel like they’re getting a deal, so including a coupon code or a limited-time sale can entice readers to open your email.
Lastly, incorporating the recipient’s name in the subject line can improve open rates. People are more likely to read and respond to messages that are relevant to them, so using dynamic fields in your email template to auto-populate the recipient’s name can create a sense of personalization and urgency.
Maintaining a clean list is also important for improving email engagement rates. This includes implementing double opt-in for new subscribers, removing inactive readers, and asking subscribers to add your email address to their contact list of trusted senders. It’s also important to use email marketing software that supports DMARC (Domain-based Authentication, Reporting & Compliance) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) settings. These help to prevent your emails from being marked as spam by email providers.
4. Include a Link
Email is one of the best ways to communicate with your audience. Including a link in your subject line is an effective way to get people to click through and learn more about what you have to offer them. However, be careful not to overdo it – too many links in a short space can turn off your audience and cause them to unsubscribe from your newsletter.
It is also important to include your contact details in your email subject line to give subscribers the opportunity to reach out if they have any questions or concerns. This shows that you care about your subscribers and want to provide them with the best possible service.
Another effective way to boost your email open rates is by providing value in your content. This means that you should create enticing newsletters that address the pain points of your audience and provide them with solutions to those problems.
Segmenting your audience is also an excellent way to ensure that your emails are relevant to them, which can result in higher engagement and better deliverability. By creating different groupings of your audience based on their demographics, preferences, and behavior, you can make sure that they are receiving the type of content that will interest them most. For example, Submission Technology, a lead generation agency, achieves an impressive 7% average open rate by using segmentation to target their audience and sending them content that is relevant to their specific needs.
Regularly cleaning and validating your email list is another important step in improving your deliverability. This will remove inactive or disengaged subscribers from your list and can help prevent emails from ending up in spam folders. It’s also important to avoid using excessive images or other graphics in your emails, as this can also trigger spam filters.
SMTP Ghost is an email marketing platform that offers high-quality email delivery and a simple pricing model. It’s free to use and includes advanced features that will improve your email open rates, including AI-powered email warming, inbox rotation, and automatic list cleaning. This ensures that your messages are being delivered to the inbox, not the spam folder.
