Email marketing isn’t an exact science and continuously
testing how to best capture the interest of our readers is a common practice.
We’re always looking for ways to improve copy, design, headlines, etc. But
sometimes, recipients will delete an email before they even open it! Why? Below
are three reasons an email may never get opened:
1. Committing a subject line faux pas – You only
get one chance to make a first impression, as the saying goes, and it’s
certainly true with emails. The subject line is the key to getting recipients
to open. Clever or intriguing subject lines are often useful, but informative
or straight-forward subject lines work just as well.
However, subject lines that are too long or too broad will
often be ignored. It’s obviously okay to use words like “Sale” or “Free” as
long as you give specifics about the sale and don’t over use or repeat them in
the same subject line. Similarly, you don’t want to use the same subject line
for multiple emails. This subject line generator can also help
you create email subject lines for your next campaign. Check out the
worst subject lines, ever in this post.
Just how clean is your data? Identify where your data requires attention, allowing you to choose which areas to improve.
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2. Sending at the wrong time – Depending on your
campaign, your audience and your content, varying your timing can lead to
better open rates. For example, if your audience is made up primarily of
individuals with 9-5 desk jobs, you may find better open rates in the
mid-morning or late afternoon when most people are either just settling in to,
or taking a break at the end of the day. If, however, your audience is
primarily people with outdoor jobs who are on the move most of the day, who
don’t check their emails as often, then the early morning or evening may prove
better for your open rates.
The point is, testing your send times is
very important. Try some A/B testing with your next email campaign. Send out
the same email at four different times to an even random sample of your
audience and see which open rate is the highest, between early-morning,
mid-morning or noon, afternoon and evening. Run the test a few times in order
to gauge which of those times is most effective. Then you’ll know when your
audience is most receptive to your content.
3. Landing in spam – Spam filters work by
determining an individual emails “spam score”. The spam score that sends an
email to the spam box varies based on the email client and the individual users
spam settings, but there are some practices that will almost always send your
email to spam box purgatory. According to Ashley Zeckman of TopRankBlog.com the
four biggest mistakes include:
- Spammy phrases such as “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
- Using too many exclamation points!!!!!
- ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
- Sloppy HTML with too many broken links or broken images
Learn how to stay out of spam, with our handy webinar: How
to Avoid the Spam Folder.
Use the above tips in conjunction with testing and you may
see an increase in your open rates. The more variables you test and change the
more likely you are to hit upon that key style or aspect of your emails that
draws in your readers, increases your opens and grows your business.
Article From: www.verticalresponse.com
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