10 Tips For Better Open, Opt-In, And Click Thru Rates In Your Email Marketing

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Studies have shown that 24% of all emails are opened within one hour of delivery. This means that if you’re an email marketer, you’ve got to pay attention to the time of day that you broadcast to your list.

Here are some interesting statistics on Internet use:

94% of all Internet users use the Internet to read or send email.

87% of all Internet users use the various search engines.

86% of all Internet users use the Internet for maps and finding directions.

81% of all Internet users use the Internet to check the weather.

75% of all Internet users use the Internet to get the news.

66% of all Internet users shop online.

61% of all Internet users use the social media sites.

That means that people use the Internet for email more than they use it for anything else. And according to a study done in 2011, email marketing had a return on investment (ROI) of 4,000%!

Simply increasing your use of email marketing, however, is not likely to impact your results unless you’re making the most of the medium by paying attention to when you mail and how you package your content.

For better open, opt-in and click-thru rates, follow these tips:

1.  Keep It Short, Keep It Simple, Keep It Skimmable: Your readers are just looking for an excuse to hit the delete button. This means that your message needs to be clear, concise and consistent from the subject line through to the signature. Overwhelm your reader with too much information and they’ll delete.

2.  Target Your Market: Make sure you’re sending appropriate information to your readers. If you’re sending discounts on lawnmowers to someone that lives in a city walk-up, you’re spamming them.

3.  Provide Value: Your email list is not free to your subscribers. They pay for it with their time, which is precious. Make sure that you’re offering an equal mix of product marketing and valuable content.

4.  Engage Your Readers: Ideally, you want your readers to happily anticipate your next email. Keep them involved through polls, surveys, open-ended questions that they can respond to, or try 3-part stories…one part per email. Send emails that your customers will love.

5.  Permission-Based Marketing Means Letting Them Leave: Make sure that your customers have a way to opt out.

“Recognize and understand the importance of permission. It isn’t taken, it’s given…subscribers will revoke permission, one way or another.”

 

Studies have shown that creating an email preference page for your customers works best. Here, they can tell you what type of offers they want to receive from you and you can tailor your marketing to them accordingly. It creates a little more work for you, but it will improve your customer’s experience, perhaps keeping many who would otherwise simply unsubscribe from all of your mailings.

6.  It’s Quality (Not Size) That Matters: A big list is not necessarily a better list. It’s the quality of your list that most directly impacts your marketing. Make sure, as you’re building your list, that you’re building a list of clients who want to be included, and who are in the market for the products or services that you market. Don’t buy or rent lists. Those people don’t know you and don’t want to hear from you. Build your list through website opt-in, blog opt-in, offer a white paper or a guide, and be sure to use a list management system such as AWeber.com to email your prospects regularly.

7.  Get On Your Competitor’s List: Pay attention to what your competitors are doing and model their best practices. Watching what they’re doing is a great way to learn and to improve your own marketing.

8.  Make Sure That Taking The Next Step Is Easy: A strong call to action is essential to good marketing. Getting subscribers to open your email is only half of the battle. The next step…is the next step! Make sure your reader knows what to do next. Use links to take them there…it makes it easy for them, and trackable for you.

9.  Treat All Marketing As A Test: Marketing is always a work in progress. Test mailing at different times of day, different days of the week, segment your list and split-test email headings…do all of this, track all of this, with an eye for increasing open rates.

Here’s how to segment your list and split test headlines. This comes from Toronto-based marketing consultant Gerry Black:

“Create your email promotion and write out three subject lines. Take your best subject line and include it with your first email. Let’s say you email 1,000 people and 150 open it. Delete those names off your “send” list and re-send the email using a different subject line. Once your open results come back from the second email, delete those names and do your third email using your third subject line. You could triple the amount of people who open your email by using this strategy.”

 

10.  Don’t Take Anyone Else’s Word For What Works And What Doesn’t: What works for some, won’t work for others, and vice versa. Always test (and track) for yourself.

For additional online marketing tips and training, click here.