In today's post, I give you some easy ways to boost your email open rates, and most of them will take very little time.
As home business owners with precious little time to grow your business, you need to do whatever you can to boost your results in as little time possible.
If you're using email marketing to grow your business (no, it's not dead!)…
Then you want to get the most bang for your buck out of every email sent. That means maximizing the number of people who actually open it, to start.
First Things First
Before I give you some easy ways to boost your email open rates, I want to be sure you understand the TWO main factors that cause people to open emails in the first place.
First, people open emails from senders that they recognize.
For a business email, that means they remember your brand and/or name as someone they trust in the Marketplace.
Second, people open emails from people they're used to seeing in their inboxes. They're familiar with your emails hitting their inbox on a regular basis.
Both (1) and (2) come about because the author sends value-based emails on a regular basis. That means sending emails about things that matter to your audience and doing it consistently.
It can take a while to accomplish these first 2 factors, but it's well worth your time and effort.
Having said this, here are…
5 Advanced Ways To Boost Your Email Open Rates
Here are my favorite tactics to boost your email open rates.
Some are more advanced in nature, but all involve relatively simple actions…
1. Resend emails to those who don't open the original
This is a very simple process that can literally add 20-40% to your open rates, from my experience.
The concept is simple…
Send out an email.
After 24 hours, resend the email to those who didn't open the first one.
Here's how it looks in Aweber. The process is likely similar with other email services:
Once you send the original email, open it up in your Aweber back office.
— Scroll down to where it says “Opens”.
— Click the Unopened tab.
— Click “Create a Segment of those Subscribers” and Name the Segment “unopened – date”.
— Now, copy your email (link at bottom of page) and send “new” email to your Unopened segment.
And with a few clicks of your mouse, you've now successful resent the original email to those who didn't open it the first time.
It's totally worth the small additional time it takes, as you can see from the following results…
How awesome is that?
2. Give your subject line the attention it deserves
Besides the SENDER of the email, the next most important part of any email is the Subject Line (“Headline”).
This is where practice and more practice will help boost your email open rates.
I've found that headlines that include things like curiosity, a promise of help, and book or course recommendations work very well.
Here are a few of my latest email subject lines that got over 50% open rate:
Book Recommendation for these crazy times!
This will help you financially…
Free Resources For Your Business
You can use this headline analyzer to help you craft emails that your leads and prospects will open! It is based in part on your use of Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Words.
Here's what this looks like:
3. Send relevant content using segmentation
List segmentation is a great way to boost your email open rates.
Simply put, segmentation involves separating your main subscribers into smaller lists based on criteria you set.
These criteria can include such things as age, gender, location, and website behavior.
In my example, my niche are Marketers who build their business Part Time, so my segments might include things like Time Availability, Occupation (do they have a job), and Marketing Strategy (what kind of marketing do they need help with).
When you segment your list, the end result is sending your subscribers emails they find interesting and valuable (and thus open more often).
4. Prune your list regularly
People who don't open your emails will drag down your open rate and ultimately affect your email deliverability.
Thus, it's best to “prune” your list of inactive subscribers on a regular basis.
How you do this depends on your email subscription service.
Here are the steps you take in Aweber…
For each list, you can search for subscribers who haven't opened your emails since a designated date, say 30 days by going to Manage Subscribers and choosing the filters “No Opens” since “Add date”.
You can see for example above, I want Aweber to tell me who among my subscribers haven't opened my emails since 2/29/20. I will then unsubscribe these people.
It's kind of like getting rid of the weeds in your garden. Your other plants will thank you!
5. Polarize your emails
One thing you don't want to be in your emails is BORING.
In today's world, people demand that not only do they want to be educated and informed, but also entertained in the emails you send.
And there's no better way to entertain then to take a stand.
Don't be wishy washy.
Don't be vanilla.
Don't be mediocre.
Taking a stand in your own voice is one of the most powerful email marketing weapons you have at your disposal.
And don't be afraid of people who will invariably unsubscribe, perhaps even being insulted by your emails.
Look forward towards growing your list and the rest will take care of itself.
Suggested Business Resources
Aweber - building your list has never been so important. Grab your Free Account.
InMotion Hosting - my preferred web-hosting service
Descript - by far the best video and audio editor I've ever used.
TubeBuddy - if you're doing videos, this will be your best friend
Legendary Marketer - lead generation and business creation platform for affiliate and network marketers.
Fearless Influencer Academy - learn the skills and strategies for growing any business online.
It's Your Time to SHINE!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Email: Bob@BobandRosemary.com
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This post may contain affiliate links to products or services that I trust. This means that if you make a purchase using the links included in this post, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for the support!