How to Improve Email Open Rates
On average around 250 billion emails are sent every single day; 80 percent of which are pure spam. Therefore, people are predisposed to ignore many emails, without even considering the content. One
Your inbox is a warzone. Most of us delete emails without a second thought. For a founder, that means your message often dies unseen. The challenge isn’t just sending emails; it’s getting them opened.
What's an Open Rate?
An open rate measures how many people on your email list actually view a specific email. Email marketing providers like iContact, Benchmark Email, Constant Contact, and Pinpointe track this automatically.
They embed a tiny, invisible image in your email. When a reader opens the message, their system downloads that image from the provider’s servers. This download signals an “open.”
But there’s a catch. If a reader blocks HTML or images, the tracking doesn’t work. So, your open rate isn’t 100% accurate. It’s an estimate.
Why Should You Care?
Email marketing isn’t dead. eMarketer found 97% of small businesses use email as their primary connection method with customers and prospects.
Boosting your open rates and refining your email marketing can:
- Drive more inquiries, leads, and sales.
- Build lasting relationships with prospects.
- Keep existing customers engaged and informed.
Where Do You Start?
Readers decide to open your email — or trash it — based on three things: the sender, the subject, and the preview pane.
1. Give your "From" a personal touch
Personalize the sender name. Use an employee’s name, or the CEO’s. It often boosts open rates. Just don’t use only a first name; spammers often use that tactic.
2. Spice up your subject line
Keep your subject line short, under 50 characters, unless you’re targeting a very specific audience. Avoid words that trigger spam filters: “free,” “Help,” “Percent off,” and “Reminder.”
Also, skip promotional phrases, all CAPS, or exclamation marks. Don’t include the recipient’s name in the subject line; it often flags the email as a sales message.
Localization helps. If you’re marketing locally, use the city name in the subject line. Mailchimp notes that repeating the exact same subject line for every newsletter accelerates the drop in open rates. Mix it up.
Make your subject line urgent or quantity-bound. This grabs interest. You can also hint at a fear of loss, prompting readers to open and learn more.
Create curiosity. Start a phrase in the subject line and finish it in the body. This taps into the Zeigarnik effect: our intrinsic need for closure. An unfinished idea creates tension, and we seek to resolve it.
3. Don't forget the preview pane
Many founders obsess over the subject line but ignore the preview pane. This is critical space. It’s the first content a recipient sees, and it heavily influences their decision to open.
The preview must grab attention, clearly state the email’s content, and hint at the call-to-action. Get your most important content right at the top.
4. Timing
Timing depends on your audience. It’s a trial-and-error game. However, some data can guide you. Aweber analyzed user data and found the highest open rate (19.1%) wasn’t in the morning, but between 2-3 PM Eastern time.
Wednesday sees the most newsletters sent, representing 16.9% of the total — equivalent to all emails sent over an entire weekend. Tuesday, excluding weekends, has the lowest volume at 13.2%.
You decide: send when everyone else is posting, or aim for less crowded times? Your audience might prefer a Saturday message for quiet reading, or midday during a work break. Test it.
5. Try resending emails
People miss emails. They might mean to open one but simply forget. Resending your email to these non-openers almost guarantees a higher open rate.
Wait 4-5 days. Then, change the subject line or add a phrase like “In case you missed it.” This ensures your subscriber doesn’t receive two identical emails.
6. Frequency
Your company’s email is more likely to be read if the recipient expects it. A consistent frequency is key. Send too many emails, and people ignore you. Send too few, and they forget you.
What’s the ideal frequency? It depends on your audience. If you can, offer them options to choose how often they want your newsletter.
7. Get your email delivered
Spam is everywhere. Servers use aggressive filters that sometimes catch legitimate emails. To avoid this, don’t use:
- ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
- Excessive punctuation
- Spam words like "free," "guarantee," "amazing," "offer cash"
- Spam phrases such as "Act now," "Click Here," "Special Promotion," "Once in a lifetime opportunity!," "Eliminate Debt," "Million Dollars"
- Large font sizes
8. Refine sign-up procedures and targeting
As your list grows, your open rate will drop unless you actively target your audience with engaging content. Build systems that help you understand your readers. Use surveys and any information you’ve already collected.
Reader interest hinges on how targeted your audience is. When your content matches their interests, they’re more likely to read. Set clear expectations during sign-up so people join because they genuinely want what you send.
Never add people to your list without their consent. Finally, don’t forget to ask your subscribers to add you to their contacts.
If you want to know what a good open rate looks like in your industry, I recommend you download: Epsilon’s Email Trend and Benchmark Report