This is a guest post from Nick Dimitriou of Moosend.
From their conception in 1965 and up to this day and age, emails remain the most common and prevalent form of communication. The numbers don’t lie on that one, as, according to Statista, the emails sent and received worldwide per day were 281.1 billion for 2018. The graph below explains the number in a little more detail:
(Source)
The claim that emails are alive, kicking and useful in every aspect of day-to-day life can be backed up by the different types of email marketing techniques there are, as well as the different types of emails each business sends their subscribers and/or potential customers.
Despite all these different types though-replenishment emails, cart abandonment emails, “last chance to” emails and so on and so forth-subscribers sign up for a very specific type of email at first: the newsletter.
What is a newsletter?
An e-newsletter, or simply newsletter in our age, is a report of information and useful news that cover a business’ or organisation’s activity at any given timeframe. It can be daily, weekly, monthly, it’s up to your business, really.
By sending newsletters to your subscribers, you make sure they won’t forget about your business and services and basically, you can remain relevant in the eyes of your potential customers.
But remaining relevant takes a great deal of work and if your subscribers don’t open your emails, you’ll become another name in their inbox, at best (worst case scenario, your newsletters end up in the spam folder and nobody wants that to happen!)
Let’s see what you can do, not only to avoid the spam folder but also to increase your open rate and, by extension, your conversion rate as well.
1) Increase your signups first
Without signups, there is no need for an email list, which means that there is no need for a newsletter in the first place. So, the first thing to do is to create a list. Entice your website’s visitors with something they simply won’t be able to refuse.
Your newsletter signup form needs to be clear on the value of the free gift you’ve decided to offer your subscribers, but not too clear. You can mix things up with some clever copy and enticing colors while maintaining some mystery.
The signup form above is a very good example. The subscriber’s gift will be something exclusive, something not many people will have access to. It’s fun, enticing and short enough to keep the subscriber interested.
Another method with which you can increase your subscribers, is personalization. You can allow them to choose the topics they’d like to receive newsletters for, or even allow them to choose when they’d like to receive newsletters.
A person who receives a newsletter precisely at the time when they need it, is a person who will open the newsletter. And engagement will keep yours away from the spam folder.
You can also make sure that your subscribers are genuinely interested, by creating a double opt-in for your website. That way, only the people who are truly interested will subscribe to your newsletter.
2) Keep your email list tidy
This will help you determine the whys and hows of your reduced open rates. Your list doesn’t need inactive subscribers or subscribers who have flagged your email as spam, as these subscribers will never interact anyway.
By cleaning up your email list, you will keep those leads that are interested and, therefore, ready and willing to convert. This will increase your open rate and decrease the number of subscribers who either have marked your email as spam, or whose addresses cause, for some reason, your newsletter to bounce back. And this is just as bad as being flagged as spam.
3) Optimize your subject line
Make it quick-witted and personal. Your email’s subject line is the first thing a subscriber will see. If it doesn’t capture their attention, your email is going to remain unopened.
Try and avoid spammy-looking subject lines, like “OPEN ME” with all caps or “Exciting new offer!!!!!”.
These subject lines look outdated and it will look like your newsletter is not a newsletter at all, rather like it’s trying to promote something fishy, like clickbait loved to do back in the day.
Go for a subject line that is more personal, like “Hello, John” or go for the new trend and use emojis.
Of course, a personalized subject line won’t help all on its own. Personalization is about human interaction, which means that it would be better to avoid the tone of a salesperson and adopt a friendly tone throughout your brand and, of course, when it comes to your subject line.
4) Be original
A good subject line won’t help if your content is not up to your subscribers’ standards. Remember, the point is to have subscribers that convert and nothing converts better than good content, clear CTAs and design that is really something to look at.
Try and remain true to your brand’s tone, while delivering quality content that your subscribers won’t find anywhere on the internet-especially not on your website, your blog or even an influencer’s blog that you collaborate with.
Blog posts can be fun, creative and give you tonnes of outreach opportunities and interaction, but they shouldn’t steal your newsletter’s thunder, as this is what keeps your subscribers on their toes and appeals to their impulsive nature!
Running a survey to determine your subscribers’ needs would be a good idea, as it would give you new insight on why they thought your newsletter would be of use in the first place.
Pro tip: Wanna build better blog posts using influencer outreach? Read this!
5) Make data-driven decisions
Of course, you will find a lot of statistics out there that will promise to give you some insight on what the best time and day to send your email is, but this doesn’t mean it’s all true.
While the general rule of thumb applies to everything, you can’t invest on anything other than your own business’ KPIs, metrics and objectives.
But even if it’s the right time, your subscribers will be bombarded by newsletters, seeing as said statistics are available to everyone.
Therefore, your safest bet would be to analyze your own data and run tests to make sure that the decisions you’ve made are correct and will help you stand out.
Also, make sure to study the competition and see how your newsletter open rate compares to the industry’s average, but don’t forget that the important part is whether that number brings high conversion. If your newsletter open rate is lower, but the conversion rate is high, then it’s obvious that your newsletter is useful.
6) Mobile optimization is important
Half of all emails are read on mobile, which makes sense in this busy day and age. More usage means more taps and more taps mean more conversion.
You’ll need to make sure that the emails you send can load fast on a mobile device, the design is not confusing or “heavy”, the CTAs show exactly where your user needs to click and so on.
(Source)
According to the graph above, it’s more likely for a prospect to abandon a page that won’t load fast enough. A one second delay could lead in an abandonment rate as high as 7%.
Also, you’ll need your design and fonts to be large enough for subscribers to be able to read them without zooming in but small enough to keep them from being overwhelming.
7) Segment your list
Your business appeals to a great deal of customers. And since they’re different people with different needs, you’ll need to find a way to appeal to all of them.
A busy mother will open an email at a different time than a college student, but both will need content and incentives that will keep them interested. Your newsletter should be important to both of them.
This is where list segmentation comes in handy.
List segmentation also means that you can target all the different people in your list, taking their own personal needs into account and answering the one question that needs to be answered: “Why should I open that email in the first place?”
Also, it is important to remember that your subscribers may be in different places in your sales funnel. In order for your newsletter to convert, you’ll need to take into account what the next sales opportunity is, for all the different types of buyers.
To sum up
There are even more ways to increase your newsletter open rate, but also ensure that your techniques will give you the desired results. Whatever you decide to do, keep those basics in mind:
- A/B testing is always a good idea to determine what’s missing from your newsletters.
- Personalization goes a long way, as everyone loves the feeling of being special.
- Making sure that your leads are good and valid should be your number one priority, as your email strategy will be based on data from those leads.
- Keeping things fun and simple is the way to go-avoid long subject lines and complicated content.
- Your subscribers’ opinion is important. Make sure to ask them all the important questions.
If you want your newsletter open rate to increase, you should make sure that it stands out. Newsletters drive sales, as they play on the impulsive nature of humans. Therefore, it’s best to make them seem effortless, friendly and personal.
Study this list, decide on your email marketing strategy and the email marketing and automation platform you’d like to use and you’re all set and ready to increase your newsletter open rate!
Is there anything you think we didn’t include? Did you find this list helpful?
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