How To Improve Your Email Newsletter Open Rate

Getting your audience to subscribe to your mailing list isn’t enough. A large audience will only benefit you if they’re opening the newsletters.
Remember that email newsletters are strategies businesses use to gain and retain customers. As such, there’s a high chance your competitors are targeting their audience using email newsletters too.

That’s why it’d be wise to consider the content you include in your email newsletters. It’s essential as well to tailor the delivery of this content in a way that appeals to your existing and potential clients. More significantly, it’s crucial that you find ways to top your competitors.

Doing all this gives you a better chance of increasing your email newsletter open rate, which helps your business thrive. Plus, it helps when you hire professionals that are known to help with email newsletter archives for thousands of brands This post provides simple tips to help you achieve that and more for your business.

Why Is Improving Your Email Newsletter Open Rate Significant?

Improving your email newsletter open rate is essential for various reasons, including increasing your mailing list potential and preventing spam filters.

Increasing Your Mailing List Potential

Assume that you have 1000 email subscribers and your open rate is 20%. This means that every time you send a newsletter, there’s a likelihood that 200 subscribers will open it. Consequently, if your open rate increases to 40%, you’ll have 400 subscribers opening your newsletter. Remember, as your open rate increases, so do your click-through rate. The higher the open rate, the more your website visitors will increase.

Preventing Spam Filters

While sending out email newsletters, it’s vital for your open rate to remain above the expected average. This prevents your newsletters from being marked as spam, which limits them from reaching your audience.

Tips For Improving Your Email Newsletter Open Rate

Improving your email newsletter open rate requires you to implement some strategies, as discussed below.

1. Use An Appealing Subject Line That Stands Out

The subject line of your email newsletter often determines whether your customer will open your newsletter. Therefore, as you focus on making the content enjoyable, don’t forget to pay attention to the subject line. This means leveraging your creativity while acknowledging the needs of your audience.

One way to stay creative is to avoid using common subject lines. This is because if a customer had come across the relevant subject line before and wasn’t impressed, they’re unlikely to open your email.

Another way to make your subject line interesting is to feature language that’s relatable to your audience. For example, if your target audience is between the ages of 18 to 25, ensure to use a language that enables you to blend in with them. This consequently increases their likelihood of engaging with your email newsletter.

2. Avoid Anything That Makes Your Newsletter Look Like Spam

Besides failing to reach the average expected open rate, several other factors can cause your email to be filtered as spam. One example is using all caps and multiple exclamation marks. While this may draw attention to audiences, it’s likely to annoy some of them.

Sentences written in all caps are also difficult to read and may come off as rude. Consequently, this may turn away your readers. As such, you should steer away from using all caps and multiple exclamations unless they’re necessary.

Another thing that makes your email newsletter look like spam is using salesy language. Customers may perceive this language as superficial and aggressive. Consequently, they may be unwilling to engage with a product or service. Some keywords that characterize pushy language include ‘offers,’ ‘discounts,’ ‘clearance,’ and ‘buy.’

It’s, therefore, advisable to avoid salesy language to ensure that your email gets to your audience’s inbox instead of their spam folder.
Additionally, don’t use clickbait deceptively to prevent your email from being marked as spam. Using clickbait correctly in your subject lines can make them appealing and help retain your existing readers. This subsequently enhances your open rate.

Nonetheless, using deceptive keywords in your subject lines may cause you to lose your subscribers. For example, a subject line that indicates you’re doing a clearance sale may pique your readers’ interest. Nevertheless, if your business doesn’t have a clearance sale, your subscribers may be displeased to the point of unsubscribing.

3. Segment Your Mailing List

Segmenting your mailing list is essential, especially if you have diverse audiences. For example, the content that’d intrigue teens may not appeal to young adults and vice versa. This means tailoring your newsletter content to fit the needs of each subscriber group.

Segmenting your mailing list personalizes your content, which can improve subscriber engagement and open rates. Consider using subscriber details gathered during the initial enrolment process to make segmenting your list easier. These may include age, purchasing history, and location.

4. Personalize Your Newsletters

It’s only natural to consider your subscribers in general when developing content and writing the subject line for your newsletter. The problem, however, is that it may come off as impersonal.

On the contrary, writing as though you’re addressing an individual subscriber makes your newsletter more personalized. Consequently, your audience feels seen and valued, helping you cultivate a bond with them. The more personalized your newsletter is, the more your open rate may increase.

One way to personalize your newsletter is by addressing your subscribers using their names. A subscriber is more likely to open an email that directly addresses them as opposed to one that targets a group.
Another way to personalize your newsletters is through developing content for your segmented list, as discussed above. For example, if your target audience comprises youths and older adults, make sure to design personalized content for each group.

Creating personalized newsletters requires you to understand your audience better, including their desires, values, dislikes, and problems. You can gather this information using the details they provided during the sign-up process. Alternatively, you may leverage various social media platforms to engage your subscribers and understand their needs.

5. Make Your Email Mobile Responsive

Subscribers often use different devices to access their emails. Some use tablets and personal computers, but most open emails on their phones. This means that you have to ensure each of these groups can access your newsletter from whichever device to increase your reach. That’s why it’s crucial to make your email newsletter mobile-friendly.

Some factors to consider when increasing responsiveness include the length of your subject line, fonts, and image sizes. For example, a lengthy subject line may not appeal to a reader using their mobile phone. This hinders you from improving your newsletter open rate because there’s nothing to prompt your subscribers to open your mail.

Similarly, small fonts can be hard to read on mobile phones, so it’s advisable to use larger fonts to enhance responsiveness. More notably, smaller images load easier and faster on mobile devices compared to larger ones.

6. Use A Friendly Tone

Email newsletters are all about engaging with your audience hence why you should use a friendly tone. One importance of incorporating friendliness is that it humanizes your brand. Your subscribers don’t want to feel like they’re engaging with a robot.

For example, resist the urge to go straight to the point when writing your newsletter. Instead, start with something that makes each of your subscribers feel valued. You can achieve this by using their first name to address them, greeting them, and incorporating a thoughtful message. A statement like, ‘Hi Adrian. I hope you had a restful weekend’ sounds warm and friendly.

Additionally, ensure that you maintain a friendly tone throughout. For instance, following the above message with, ‘We’re offering crazy deals to all our customers’ sounds distant. On the contrary, a statement like ‘Check out some of the deals we curated for you’ sounds friendlier and more personalized. Consequently, this increases their likelihood of opening your email and possibly clicking on any links to your websites.

7. Incorporate Humor In Your Newsletters

Humor lightens the mood and can help you form an intimate connection with your subscribers. If your readers find your content hilarious, they’ll likely be eager to see your content in their emails. It’s, henceforth, inevitable that your open rate will increase.

Humor may even get you, additional subscribers. For example, most people like to share a good laugh with friends and family that have a similar sense of humor. This increases the chances of them recommending you to more prospects that may eventually turn into subscribers.

But don’t be too carried away that you forget to provide valuable content to your subscribers. You can incorporate humor in your newsletter by using funny videos or GIFs, relatable memes, and stickers.

8. Stir Up Curiosity

Stirring up curiosity is an excellent way to improve your email newsletter open rate. This is because it builds suspense and leaves your readers wanting more. You can stir up curiosity by using a catchy subject line. This is because it reduces the chances of your newsletter ending up in the spam folder or, worse, the trash bin.

Another way to trigger curiosity is by ending with a question or using a cliffhanger. On the one hand, asking a question makes your subscribers engage with you by providing feedback. On the other hand, a cliffhanger builds anticipation among your email subscribers, thus increasing your newsletter open rate.

9. Prioritize Your Subscribers’ Needs And Interests

The best way to get your subscribers on board with your products or services is by putting their needs and interests first. Prioritizing these needs and interests in your email newsletter keeps them interested for longer. Consequently, this increases your email newsletter open rate.

Gaining insight into their interests and needs requires you to engage with them. Some tools you can use to achieve this include social media networks and emails. You may also leverage details shared during the initial sign-up to determine their desires, problems, and values.

10. Request Feedback From Unsubscribing Customers

Sometimes your subscribers will unsubscribe from your mailing list for various reasons. While you can’t stop them from unsubscribing, you can seek feedback from them. You may then use this feedback to make the necessary modifications to your newsletter to prevent more customers from leaving.

Adjustments show your customers that you value their feedback and consequently increase your newsletter open rate. Some reasons why subscribers deregister from your mailing are as follows.

• The content is no longer relatable;
• They subscribed by mistake;
• The emails become annoying;
• They find the content offensive; and so on.

If their reason for unsubscribing is different from the one listed, you can request the reader to type it out. Sometimes, a simple message can help you win unsubscribing clients back.

For example, a message like, ‘We hate to see you leave’ can appeal to a reader’s conscience, causing them to change their mind. As such, it’s advisable to provide your subscribers with the option of staying signed up in case they change their minds at the last minute. Doing so helps you enhance your email newsletter open rate as well.

11. Proofread Your Email Newsletters

Misinformation and grammar errors can lower your email newsletter open rate significantly. You may have heard some people say bad grammar is a turnoff. That’s not a risk you want to take with your subscribers. Thus, it’d be best if you took the time to read and reread your newsletter thoroughly before sending it.

As you do that, ensure you use correct grammar and include accurate information in your content. If unsure of your proofreading prowess, you can leverage numerous proofreading tools.

12. Avoid Sending Too Many Email Newsletters Within A Short Period

If you plan to keep your customers curious, it would be best to space out your newsletters. This is because sending them out too frequently may cause them to lose interest in your content, risking your open rate.

On the contrary, regulating the frequency with which you send them allows them time to process the content. Remember that your subscribers could be busy and not have sufficient time to check their emails as often as they’d like.

13. Create Content That’s Relatable And Useful To Your Subscribers

The reason your readers subscribed to your mailing list, to begin with, is that they felt your content was relatable and valuable. Henceforth, retaining them as subscribers requires you to maintain the same level of reliability. Doing that is likely to improve your email newsletter open rate.

Summing Up

Improving your email newsletter open rate helps you increase your mailing list potential and prevent spam filters. Consequently, you can gain and retain customers and top your competitors. You can increase your newsletter open rate by using appealing subject lines and avoiding anything that makes it appear like spam.

Additionally, segmenting your mailing list, personalizing your newsletters, and making them mobile-responsive increases their likelihood of being opened.

It’s also important to consider using a friendly tone, humor, and curiosity triggers, all while prioritizing the needs of your audience. Further, seeking feedback from unsubscribing customers is advisable to help you create relatable and valuable content. More notably, proofreading newsletters and regulating the frequency with which you send them would be best. Finally, it’s worth noting that these strategies are more efficient when implemented together.