9 steps to increase your email open rate

How to use email marketing successfully!
Online Marketing
Concept
Newsletter
19
Aug 2021

More and more emails are competing for readers' attention in their inboxes. If you do not exploit the full potential of the communication option, your emails have no chance of being read.

Email marketing is becoming increasingly important

Email marketing has long since established itself as the standard channel for digital customer communication. A study by Deutsche Post found that around 751,000 companies in Germany (95% of the top German companies) use email marketing (source: statista.com).

People protect themselves from the flood of daily emails. If they don't feel addressed by your content, they delete the emails immediately. With a well thought-out strategy, your subscribers will be more inclined to open the email and you will have the opportunity to retain your customers in the long term. We give you tips on how you can improve your newsletter marketing and generate more sign-ups.

Why a newsletter?

Effective advantages of email marketing

Nowadays, you have to fight for the attention of potential customers and constantly look for new ways and marketing strategies. Social media is becoming more and more popular, but is it replacing newsletters? Nobody knows the exact algorithm of Facebook & Co., so the posts are not always displayed to your subscribers. It's different with email marketing.

In addition to low costs, the possibilities of targeted customer contact, marketing automation and easy performance measurement are particularly impressive. The fast response times of the contacts allow the success of a campaign to be measured precisely and ensure quick results.

This communication medium offers many advantages:

  • Cost-effective

  • Ubiquitous

  • Targeted customer approach

  • Easy measurement of success

  • Manageable effort

  • Automation option

  • Flexible personalization

9 tips to increase your newsletter open rate

The newsletter open rate is an important aspect for the success of your email campaign. If emails that are not opened end up in the trash right away, recipients cannot get to know your content. Here's how you can increase the newsletter open rate:

Tip #1 Welcome your new subscribers

Congratulations! You have gained new subscribers for your newsletter. They have just decided that they want to hear from you regularly. The moment after subscribing is the most attention-grabbing, as subscribers are full of curiosity and expectations. And you should fulfill this right away. As soon as you receive an email after the double opt-in confirmation, welcome and thank them for signing up.

Welcome emails have the highest open rate. You should use this potential. Depending on the goal you have chosen, reward your new subscribers:

  • Increase sales: welcome voucher with a clear resolution statement
  • .
  • Customer loyalty: Topic overview with future newsletters or top 5 of the last few months. Your new subscribers will certainly appreciate a small gift: trial registration, checklist, template.
  • Data collection: Ask the recipient about their interest. In the future, it will help you to segment the topics better.
  • Tip #2 Formulate the subject line correctly

    The subject line is the first thing a person sees when the newsletter lands in their email inbox. Well-worded, compelling subject lines arouse curiosity and therefore increase the open rate. However, if the subject line triggers strong feelings and there is nothing behind it in the text, you can lose credibility in the worst case scenario and achieve increasing newsletter unsubscriptions.

    The newsletter text must deliver what is promised in the headline. So be truthful about the content. Honesty will get you much further than short-term success. Being successful in email marketing means building long-term relationships with recipients and thus benefiting from high open rates.

    Tip #3 Address the sender personally

    Studies show that addressing recipients personally by their first name can also increase the open rate (source: episerver.com). The recipient will feel personally addressed.

    People often use a generic approach and forget that this psychological trick can be very effective. By addressing them personally, you build up a familiar relationship with the recipient. Therefore, share personal information about the recipient in the email, such as their first name, place of residence or other characteristics that they provided when registering. "Hi Steffen, do you already know how marketing determines your life?" is better received than "How marketing determines our lives".

    But be careful! Another study (source: newsletter2go.de) confirms that the effect will be the other way around if you address your recipients by their surname. Such emails have lower open rates.

    Personalized newsletters are not suitable for every situation. Companies in the finance, real estate and insurance sectors should avoid personalization in the subject line.

    TIP #4 TAKE THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUR RECIPIENT

    Think carefully about how your offer can help the recipient. What can you offer them to fulfill their needs and wishes? There are two ways to overcome these challenges:

  • Keep your recipient's goal in mind. Subject lines such as "How to become an SEO expert" can help
  • Address your prospects in a way that they can recognize themselves in the subject line or feel a strong group affiliation. For example, name the subject line: "Perfect pizza cutters for professionals" or "The easiest cooking recipes for beginners"
  • TIP #5 ASK QUESTIONS

    A good stylistic way to get feedback is to ask open-ended questions, such as "How did you like the product?". Or you can ask questions that the recipient has no knowledge of but would like to know the answer to: "What is the marketing secret for real estate agents?" or "How can I create a business page on Instagram?"

    Such questions help to create a dialog with subscribers, arouse curiosity and steer readers in the right direction.

    TIP #6 USE THE NUMBERS AND ENUMERATIONS

    Numbers and lists hold out the prospect of quick solutions. Nobody has much time or desire for long explanations. Small numbers (up to 10) are particularly motivating because the reader gets the feeling that they can see the solutions straight away.

    The title "7 phases to successful marketing" works better than "Ways to successful marketing".

    Tip #7 Attract customers with limited-time offers

    Try the "fear of missing out" effect. This age-old rule describes the fear of missing out on an exciting experience and the feeling that the people around you are leading a much better and more fulfilling life. Therefore, use phrases that convey this feeling: "Only until tomorrow", "Sign up now", "Don't miss your last chance".

    As soon as an offer is perceived as being close, the reader becomes more attentive. The time urge also promises higher open rates and calls to action. This phenomenon was first used by booking.com. When you search for hotel rooms, you are shown in real time how many other interested parties are currently looking at this offer.

    Tip #8 Meet reader expectations with the cliffhanger effect

    The cliffhanger effect describes a situation in which an unfinished task is better remembered than a completed storyline. One example is the unfinished plot at the end of a movie. The viewer is left waiting for the sequel. This trick can also be applied to email marketing using incomplete sentences.

    For example, you can formulate the cliffhanger as follows: "You won't believe what happened next!", "Haven't you forgotten something?", "You're on the right track if...". Headlines like these build up a certain level of expectation and make the reader curious.

    Tip #9 Convince with trigger words and calls to action

    The trigger words can arouse thoughts and trigger feelings. This allows you to increase the reader's attention. It is important to only appeal to positive associations: "Your Christmas present is waiting for you".

    Each target group has its own trigger words.

    B2B: Guide, checklist, competition, webinar, tips.

    B2C: gift, discount, competition.

    To convince the recipient more strongly, use calls to action: "Secure your place in the webinar now". The short teaser text should immediately make it clear what it's about and why it's worth reading the whole email.

    Keep the text short and concise so that the reader understands you quickly.

    Common mistakes that you should avoid

    1. Smartphone users forget
      When writing subject lines, you should keep them short. Many users read newsletters on their cell phones and the text is cut off once it reaches a certain length. It is best to stick to a maximum of 60 characters.
    2. Too many calls to action
      The reader will be overwhelmed by too many buttons in the email: "Click here to continue to the blog article", "Recommend and share", "Take part in the survey".
    3. Present the offer in a complicated way instead of focusing on the benefits
    4. Addressing a specific target group
      It is better to avoid subject lines such as "Vertical marketing in transition: the need to restructure vertical marketing concepts". Start with the average consumer and formulate the message in an understandable way.

    And the most important thing: Before you start your newsletter campaign, think several times about who should receive this email and what you want to achieve with it. Perhaps you don't need to send the email with the new offer to people who have already bought the product recently. If you have recently reduced the price of this exact product, the person may be annoyed and switch to a competitor.

    Conclusion

    Despite the prominent position of social media in customer communication, email marketing remains a helpful option for retaining customers and marketing products. In addition to suitable and relevant content, the right subject line, sender and sending time are crucial for the success of the newsletter campaign.

    Leave nothing to chance. Constantly analyze the latest open rates and actively correct errors. This way, you can offer your customers the best possible newsletter experience.