Improve your email open rate
You can improve email open rates without breaking a sweat. Check out these 10 proven tactics to maximize your open rates and scale your email marketing efforts.
You’ve put in the hard work to consistently create and publish new editions of your newsletter.
While growth was slow initially, you’re now seeing a rise in your email subscribers. Fantastic!
Email Open Rate
However, with this increase in subscribers, you might notice a decline or stagnation in your open rates. This can leave you puzzled, wondering, "How can I increase my email open rate?"
Even the most experienced creators struggle to decipher the secret to improving open rates. If subscribers don't open your emails, it's challenging to make an impact and encourage them to take action.
But don't worry! You can boost your email open rates with the right strategies. We’ll walk you through 10 proven tactics to maximize your open rates and scale your email marketing efforts. But first, let's cover some basics.
What is an Email Open Rate and How is it Calculated?
An email open rate is the percentage of recipients who open your email. It measures how many people view your email instead of leaving it unread or sending it to the trash.
More specifically, the open rate counts an email as opened only when the graphics load for the recipient. If the graphics don’t load, the email is still counted as unopened.
Open rate is a key metric for your email marketing performance because it indicates how many recipients found your email interesting enough to view. However, since the introduction of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection policy, creators have started to consider open rates alongside other engagement KPIs to assess their email performance.
The standard formula for calculating open rates is:
Number of users who open your email / Number of users who receive your email x 100
What is the Average Email Open Rate?
Our email marketing research suggests that the average email open rate for creators is 43%. Several factors, such as your email marketing provider, deliverability rate, and subscriber count, can affect this average.
Can Choosing the Right Email Marketing Provider Impact My Open Rate?
Yes, the choice of email service provider can affect your open rates. For example, Dylan Redekop, an email strategist, noticed a 15% increase in open rates when he switched from Substack to ConvertKit.
How Can I Improve My Email Open Rates?
We've studied the factors affecting email open rates and curated this list of 10 best practices to increase your email open rate, even as you add more subscribers. Let’s break down each of them.
1: Focus on Quality - Keep Your Email List Lean
Subscribers can easily sign up for newsletters, but the challenge begins when these emails crowd their inbox every day. To improve open rates, consistently clean your email list by removing those who don’t engage with your emails.
Track engagement to identify subscribers who negatively affect your open rates. Keep an eye on hard bounces—when the email address is invalid or doesn’t exist. While this exercise can significantly reduce your number of subscribers, it will narrow down your list to people who genuinely want to hear from you.
Set up automated workflows to clean your list regularly. Customize your email marketing platform to automatically create a list of non-engaging subscribers and dead emails and delete them. This can save you time and improve your open rates.
2: Segment Your Email List
Your subscribers are inundated with marketing emails. To stand out, segment your email list properly. Segmented emails show subscribers you know them well and deliver a resonating message.
Segment your list into categories such as:
- New users: Welcome new subscribers with a brief note and a glimpse of what’s in store.
- Buyers and non-buyers: Send different emails targeting these segments.
- Unengaged: Create tailored emails to re-engage inactive subscribers.
- Loyalists: Reward your most loyal subscribers with customized offers and exclusive newsletter editions.
This segmentation tactic can significantly increase open rates by tailoring emails based on the level of engagement.
3: Avoid Spam Filters
Spam filters analyze your content to determine if it should land in the recipient’s inbox or the spam folder. Avoiding spam filters can improve your sender reputation and deliverability, naturally increasing your open rate.
Follow these tips to steer clear of spam filters:
- Build your list organically with consensual subscribers.
- Add your name in the ‘From’ section instead of your company name.
- Include your email in the ‘Reply to’ option.
- Segment your list and create customized emails.
- Verify your email address and choose a trusted service provider.
4: Send Your Emails at the “Perfect” Day & Time
Sending your emails at the right time can significantly impact engagement. Research suggests that Tuesday and Thursday are the best days, with 10 am or 3 pm being ideal times. Experiment with different times and days to find what works best for your audience.
5: Make Your Subject Line Stand Out
Your subject line is crucial in determining whether your email gets opened. To make your subject line compelling:
- Experiment with different types of email subject lines.
- Use personalized subject lines.
- Announce free offers.
- Add humor.
- Create shocking subject lines.
A/B test your subject lines and preheader text to find the best-performing combination.
6: Pretend You’re Writing to Just One Person
Adding personality to your newsletter can make it more engaging. Write as if you're addressing a single reader. This allows for more personalization, such as using their name and targeted CTAs.
7: Write Like a Friend
Address your subscribers as friends. Use a human sender name, incorporate humor, and use emojis to make your emails more relatable.
8: Always Deliver High-Quality Content
High-quality, value-packed content is essential to maintaining a consistent open rate. Proofread your emails for grammatical errors, review the flow of your ideas, and fill any content gaps.
9: Optimize Your Emails for Mobile
With many subscribers checking emails on their phones, optimizing emails for mobile is essential. Test your emails for readability and scannability on smaller screens.
10: Never Buy Your Email List!
Buying email lists can harm your sender reputation and result in lower open rates. Build your list organically to maintain high engagement and deliverability.
What Are Other Email Marketing Metrics to Monitor?
Besides open rates, track other email marketing KPIs such as click-through rate, bounce rate, number of unsubscribes, email sharing rate, and list growth rate. These metrics will help you assess your overall performance and make necessary adjustments.