How to Increase Email Open Rates – 10 Proven and Actionable Tips

Here to find out how you can speedily increase email open rates?

Or perhaps you want to learn how pro marketers get people to open emails? 

If so – you will want to read this guide as the tips within will make your email campaigns more effective than ever before.

Boost email campaign performance with proven strategies for increasing email open rates, and join us here at InboxLane as we cover tips/tricks for getting more recipients to open your:

• Emails. 

• Newsletters. 

• Product promotions. 

We also show how to optimize emails for open rates, starting with the basic yet essential step of crafting a click-worthy subject line that will compel recipients to open it. Let us begin, shall we?

Craft Stand-Out Subject Lines (Triple your Open Rate)

Nearly fifty percent of people base their choice of opening up an email on the subject line. 

This is a significant figure so time and care – with a dash of creativity – should surely be put into the ones you use.  The reason being is most people peruse marketing emails and only open ones that pique their interest or intrigue.  This means your emails need to stand out, but how do you write creative subject lines that compel recipients to click them?  Great questions indeed!  Here are some sure-fire ways to write subject lines that attract clicks: 

• Include a deadline, if a sale or discount at your store is ending soon, say so in the subject line to create a sense of urgency. 
• Use a fun and friendly tone, avoid dull lawyer talk and use a joke-like, fun-to-read tonality so readers will want to open the email to read more. 
• Compel curiosity, do not be too clever or cryptic, use a topic that tells the recipient what the email is about while giving them enough reason to open it up to learn more. 
• Leverage FOMO, mention a limited-time deal or promotion to instill the fear-of-missing-out syndrome.  This will compel more opens, and in turn, more conversions from your campaign. 
• Experiment with emojis, emojis are a great way to make emails stand out from the hoard of others your recipients receive, so give them a try if they are relevant to your email, and stick to only using one as this will look less spammy. 
• Write useful subject lines, and ones that address the needs and problems of recipients, and be sure to hint at the solution that awaits them inside the email  (your service/product).

If In Doubt, A/B Test your Subject Lines!

Subject lines are not universal!  The strategy that works well for a tech company or local bakery is not one that would perform well for an online boutique that sells women clothing.

There are two reasons for this.  One, all markets are unique with some audiences engaging certain styles of outreach better than others.  Second, no two email lists are the same, so you should experiment with varying subject lines to see which improve open rates the best; the process known as A/B testing! 

Split testing is a great way to improve email open rates over time as you learn which perform and resonate best with your audience.  Based on your email service provider, you may have access to a feature that allows you to send out a batch of emails with each half using a unique subject line.

If so, use it!  Doing so will not only save you time but the hassle of having to send out emails manually.  Plus, whichever subject line performs best, the ESP will automatically apply it to every future email in that campaign, so you can enjoy higher open rates that bring conversions instead of frustration.

Change your Sender Name 

Subject lines aside, the name of the person sending the email also influences email open rates, as shown in one study that learned over forty percent of people look at the name of senders before opening an email. 

Most times, brands send emails from their company name, and if you do too, it may be time to switch it up if your open rates have been low!  By this, we mean you should send emails from real names as this makes them look more personable to subscribers.  This may increase your open rate by as much as fifty percent! 

For example, if your name is Greg, you can use greg@yoururl.com.  You can also put “Greg from YourBrandName” in subject lines to make them feel more personal to recipients. 

Again, this strategy might not be right for everyone. But if you want to give it a try, here are some ideas: 

Keep Your Email List Fresh by Removing Inactive Subscribers 

Notice lots of people are not opening your emails? 

If so, it is reasonable to presume these people do not wish to hear from you, for one reason or another.  Some may change their email while others may simply no longer need your service.

Or if you are a brick-and-mortar store that no longer gets replies from once-active subscribers, they may have simply moved away to a new city – where they now utilize another local service or provider that is close to them. 

In any case, you want to keep your list refined to active subs, which means removing emails of those who have not opened your emails in six or more months.  Yes, we get it, removing a lead from a list is never fun to do, but by doing so, you may better learn how campaigns perform as sending emails to inactive subs can skew and artificially reduce metrics.

Segment Email Lists to Reach Relevant People

When a person sees an email in their inbox, their choice to open it comes down to if they think it is relevant to them.  For this reason, segmenting an email list is a powerful and effective way to increase email open rates!  And there are many metrics and data points on which a list can be categorized and broken down, including the: 

• Location of the subscriber. 
• Inquiry or purchase history. 
• Age or gender of recipients. 
• Prior engagement of the user.

Rather than blasting the same email to each and every person in your list, you can segment your list, and in turn, send targeted emails to specific subscribers!  This ensures messages get in front of relevant users, which will no doubt cause your open rate to soar!  In fact, brands and companies who organize lists based on the above metrics often see an open rate that hovers eighty percent! 

You can even utilize tags to make this task easier, so once a subscriber makes an order or takes a specific action, they are automatically segmented into another list.  This is useful as you may wish to send paying clients different emails than ones you send subscribers who never made a purchase before.

Avoid Spam Filters 

You need to avoid spam filters at all costs as boosting email open rates relies on you reaching inboxes in the first place.  The bad news is spam filters of ESPs advanced quite a bit these past few years, and are now more effective at catching spam-intent, non-solicited emails than ever before.  The upward news is they are far from perfect, which means there are ways to avoid the dreaded spam box where emails do not see the light of day. 

Here are some useful and proven ways to prevent emails from landing in the spam folder: 

• Email people who opted into your list.
• Ensure your HTML code is clean and simple.
• Include an opt-out link so people can unsubscribe if they wish to.
• Ask subscribers to whitelist your email, and include steps for them to do so.
• Avoid deceiving, bait-and-switch subject lines as recipients may flag you as spam.
• Send emails from a clean, non-blacklisted IP address with no history of spam or abuse.
• Include the address to your company or storefront, this is legally required, and will make you appear more credible. 

By doing the above – you will satisfy the best practices of email marketing – and be able to increase email open rates as a result.  With this done, you can then focus on crafting quality emails for people who are interested in them to avoid being flagged for spam down the line.

Send Emails at Optimal Times 

The time of day you send emails can have a HUGE impact on if subscribers open them or not. Not any time of day is best, so over time, you need to perform A/B tests by sending emails at different times of the day to see which hours produce the highest open rates. 

If you have yet to do this, worry not as many tests have been done to determine the best times to send emails!  And according to this research, nine to eleven in the morning is widely deemed the best time to send an email.  One to two in the afternoon, as well as five to six in the evening, are other good times to send emails as people are at home or on their lunch break, which are times they are likely to check their email.

Create Quality Content, Each and Every Time 

First impressions matter in life, and emails are no exception!

We say this as even once a person opens your email, the battle is not yet won as you then need to offer quality content.  If not, you give them little reason to open future emails.  If this happens, your email open rate will suffer.

Quality and relevant content goes a long way and will help your open rate climb over time, your subscribers may even look forward to your emails! On the other hand, if emails are poorly wrote or not relevant to recipient needs and interests, subscribers are much less likely to open emails they receive from you going forward, or worse, they might unsubscribe from your list altogether!

So, how can you negate these risks, and what can you do to keep people happy and engaged?

Great questions!  To do so, you need to write quality emails that offer value.  This can be a free eBook or a coupon/promo code for your store, or free attendance for your upcoming webinar. 

No matter which you offer – just ensure you do not send emails just for the sake of it as when it comes to email marketing, you need to take a quality-over-quantity approach! Each time you send an email, it needs to offer real value/info your recipients will deem useful.  Do this and you will slowly but surely grow credibility with subscribers – and in turn – your email open rates too!

Tone Emails as you do Messages for Friends 

As you create an email, it is easy to think of the many people who will read it, but do not let this impersonalize ones you write!  We say this as emails convert best when written as if they were only meant for the person who reads them.  As such, messages and subject lines should be personalized, and only greet recipients by their first name whenever possible! 

Simply said, write and stylize emails as if you were talking to a friend.  Consider the needs, values, and problems of subscribers, as then, you can write emails that truly resonate with them!  For example, a phrase like “Huge Promo for Our Customers” comes across as being spammy and impersonal.  Instead, a more passive phrase like “a deal we do not think you want to miss” sounds more natural, casual, and less pushy. 

Do not be afraid to experiment either!  You can even be silly and comical in your message and subject line as people love a good laugh.  And by toning down the seriousness of the email, the message will seem more friendly/personal, which can raise email open rates that much more!

Be Humorous 

Above we spoke on making emails personalized – but how about giving them a sense of humor too?  This can forge a fast and strong connection with subscribers as a humorous email can be entertaining, which can make it memorable to recipients that read it!  And the good news is it is not hard to do so!  Just ensure you have a firm grasp on what subscribers like so you can crack puns or jokes they find funny! 

For example, let us say you gave a free trial of your service to a subscriber you have not heard back from, the below message is a humorous one you may use: 

Hello Brian, tried to reach you about our software you used but have yet to hear back, please feel free to reach me if you: 

• Are good to go and need no further help. 
• Want to learn more but have not replied. 
• Would like a follow-up reply in a few months. 
• Are being chased down by a gator and need help. 

Keep in mind, in the modern world of busy people who often have short attentions spans, even people who opt into a list may not make time to open emails they receive, though by bringing a laugh to their day, this may be reason enough for them to anticipate your emails!

Be Mindful of Mobile Users

To increase email open rates you need to write emails with mobile users in mind as one to two-thirds of people who read them do so from a phone.  Of course, this figure varies on the industry and audience – but one thing is for sure – and that is a high portion of people who open emails prefer to do so from a mobile device, hence why all emails you send should be mobile-friendly!

This said, most email service providers do make emails responsive and easy to read on mobile devices, but still, you should be mindful of things like your layout and text size to ensure emails are easy to read on all devices. 

You also want to avoid long subject lines as they may not be viewable from a mobile device.  If you do use a long one, at least be sure to include the most important words at the start so you can catch their attention.  Here are some other tactics to ensure your emails are mobile-ready: 

• Use a simple, one-column format.
• Include an easy-to-see, call-to-action button that is easy to click with the thumb.
• Use a slightly larger-than-normal font, too small and it may be unreadable on a phone.
• Do not place two links near each other as this may cause a reader to select the wrong one.

In the end, your emails need to be mobile-friendly!  If not, you will turn away a large portion of people in your list who will not open or engage emails that are hard to view and read.