Increasing the Open Rate

 

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Since an email marketing campaign can only be effective when individuals read your messages, campaign success is often influenced by its open rate (the percentage of delivered emails that are opened). The open rate is measured by sending emails in HTML format with a snippet of code that triggers a counter when messages are rendered by a recipients email reader.

Email campaigns that achieve an open rate of 40 to 60 percent are typically considered successful. However, open rates of 20-30 percent are more common.

A number of factors influence the open rate:

• Subject line -- Subject lines should invite recipients to open your email. Subject lines should be creative and action-oriented. For e-newsletters, relate the subject line to the content within each issue. If you have demographic information, consider personalizing the subject line to make it more meaningful and personal for each recipient. If possible, make the subject timely by relating to upcoming events, weather or current trends.
• Time of day/day of week -- Test different days and times until you find what works best. Performance will vary depending on your recipients and the content of your email. For example, you may find that your e-newsletter has a peak open rate at a different time than the peak open rate for email promotional offers. Consider sending email to free email accounts during non-business hours, since individuals checking their personal email account from work may be less likely to read incoming messages while at the office.
• Persistence -- Within 8-10 days, resend the message to individuals who didn't open it the first time. An open rate of 20 percent for the second delivery will increase the overall effectiveness of the email marketing campaign.
• Time of year/seasonality -- Summer months generally produce lower open rates due to vacation schedules. Holiday seasons may raise open rates for e-commerce retailers, but may produce lower open rates for e-newsletters.
• Frequency -- Sending email too infrequently may cause recipients to forget why they subscribed to your information (lower awareness). Sending emails too frequently (oversaturation) can also drive open rates down.
• Recipients with free accounts -- Recipients who use free email accounts provided by HotMail, Yahoo and Google typically don't access their email as often as recipients using business or personal domains.
• Subscription method -- The more familiar a recipient is with your company--and the more they are involved in the subscription process--the more likely they will be to open email from your company. Opt-in lists typically have higher open rates than lists generated automatically from customer email addresses. Double-opt-in lists typically have the best open rates.

The open rate can only be measured for individuals who read your email in HTML format. Individuals who elect to view your email messages in text format will not be monitored. Nevertheless, open rate is an important indicator of the success of an email marketing campaign.