5 Tips to Maximize Your Newsletter’s Open Rate

by | Aug 31, 2015 | Email marketing, Newsletter, Open rate, Optimization

5 Tips to Maximize Your Newsletter’s Open Rate_ReportChimpYou find your open rate too low and are desperate to improve it? Here are five actionable steps you should take right away!

1. Send your marketing emails at the right pace

It is important to find the right balance. Of course, you want your subscribers to remember that you’re still here. But, if you have no valuable content and you send them five emails a day, you might drive them crazy. Soon, they’ll start ignoring your emails (worst case scenario is that they opt-out).

“So, how often should I send my marketing emails?”

Send them regularly but not too often. If you can provide great value each time, send your campaigns once or twice a week. Your recipients will not mind receiving frequent emails. In fact, they will look forward to receiving it.

If you don’t have enough good content, opt for a monthly or quarterly frequency. Thus, you’ll keep your stakeholders informed about what’s going on in your company. And you won’t overwhelm them!

2. Send your emails at the right day and time

You want your subscribers to receive your emails when they have the time to read them.

“Sure, but when exactly is the right time?”

According to MailChimp, there is no special day when you should send your campaigns. As a general rule, you should send your campaigns on a weekday. The specific day of the week is not that important. Similar open rates are offered Monday through Friday.

At the hourly level, there is a peak at 10 a.m. in the recipients’ time zone. Don’t worry if you’re used to sending your campaigns at another time, the 10 a.m. peak is not significant.

What you must do is conduct a survey of your subscribers’ habits. If you write recreational content you should send it at 7.30 a.m., when your subscribers are commuting. If you write business emails send them at 10 a.m., when your audience is at work.

3. Polish your subject lines

33 percent of your subscribers open your emails based on your subject line only. So, be sure you give them a reason to open your message!

We’ll delve into subject lines in a future post. But for now, here are a few basics you should always keep in mind:
— Show the value of your content to the reader
— Be concise and specific
— Change your subject line with every message
— Don’t use standard subject, but don’t be too original

Also, don’t waste space with dates, issue number, sender information, etc. They are useless!

4. Put compelling content up top

Many people first view your emails in their preview pane. Then, they decide whether to open it or ignore it. To have them scroll through your email, you have to impress them immediately.

Avoid big images in the top third portion of your email; instead, put some compelling text. Also, make sure that your campaign is instantly recognizable. Which means: don’t forget to put your organization’s name as the sender!

5. Send your content to the right people

Finally, you should segment your list. There are many ways to do this. You can segment your list by location, language, age, gender, activity, interests, or purchase behavior.

If you don’t you will run the risk of sending content your audience is not receptive to. Eventually, they will stop opening your emails. On the contrary, segmenting your list will allow you to create stronger, more personalized campaigns.

In the long run, this is how you will build your subscribers’ trust!

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