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6 Writing Tips for a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

6 writing tips for email marketing.

Email marketing is a powerful and effective marketing tool that has been used by marketers all over the globe for years. It’s one of the oldest yet most significant marketing tools out there. Marketers and business owners use it regardless of their niche or industry. And, in order to have a strong email presence, you need to know how to write a great email copy.

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6 writing tips
Successful email marketing

Writing an email copy is challenging and demanding, but once you understand the essential steps, you’ll have nothing to worry about. That’s why we’ve put together this guide with 6 writing tips you need to know about.

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

1. A Single Goal

Before you start writing your email copy, you have to think about the specific goal you want it to reach. There are dozens of goals you could set for an email copy.

It could be:

offering a discount
announcing a new product launch
celebrating a year with a customer
inviting them to your website
inviting them to a webinar

Whatever the goal of your email copy is, make sure that you choose one and stick to it.

If you decide to say too many things, the recipient might get confused, overwhelmed, and eventually give up on reading it.

2. A Simple Structure

Here’s the thing – people aren’t in love with the idea of receiving emails they didn’t ask for. But, if the content of the email might be interesting to them, they’ll embrace it.

This is why you need to use a simple email structure. It will allow your recipients to:

scan the email
understand what’s it about within seconds
decide whether they want to read the whole thing

To achieve this effect, follow these simple rules:

use subheadings
write short paragraphs
use bullet points and lists

Give the readers a chance to decide whether this email deserves their attention or not. If you send a bunch of text divided into huge paragraphs, they’ll give up on reading it before they even start.

3. A Clear CTA

A CTA (call-to-action) is a very important piece of this puzzle. It’s the final touch to your email copy and a clear invitation for your readers.

If you want them to perform the desired action, you have to tell them exactly what to do.

Include a CTA that is:

dominating the email by design
short and clear
urging and actionable

Also, it would be a great idea to make a CTA button, and turn it into a clickable link that will allow the readers to perform the action in just one click.

So, if your CTA is “Hurry up to check out our final sale!” the link should take them directly to your e-commerce website.

4. Add Visuals

Nothing grabs the attention of a person reading an email like a powerful visual that supports the content. Visuals are great for breaking up the monotony of the email.

Still, you have to be careful with how you choose and add visuals:

optimize images to speed up the email loading time
don’t add too many
make sure the image responds to the content of the email

Visuals should bring the content of the email closer to the recipient and explain what the email is about. It will make them more interested in the content.

5. Test Different Versions

When you’re writing an email copy, you should always aim for one goal and a specific target audience. Still, no matter how well you think you know your target audience, you can’t know what they like for sure until you test it.

This is why you should test different versions of an email copy and measure which one converts better.

So, here’s how you’re going to do it:

choose your goal and your target audience
divide your target audience into two or more groups
for each group, create a unique email copy
change the visuals, the subtitles, design, CTAs, or anything you want

Then, measure the results of each email copy and see which one got more conversions. Then, use that email copy as a model for your future copies and add those features that made it the most effective one.

A/B testing of different email copies for the same target audience can deliver golden data that you’ll use to further improve your email marketing strategy.

6. Polish to Perfection

Your email copy says a lot about you as a professional. This is why you have to polish it to perfection. But what does that mean?

As a professional, you can’t let any mistake find its way to your final email copy. Instead, you have to:

edit several times
proofread every word
remove all grammar and spelling mistakes

If you feel like you need help with this step, check out these websites ratings. Checking accuracy is a step you mustn’t skip.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, writing a great email copy for a successful and strong email marketing campaign can be quite a task. Still, with the right instructions and strong dedication, you can achieve all the goals you’ve set.

Use the tips listed above and start working on improving your email marketing strategy. Create email copies that are powerful, engaging, and memorable.

16 highly effective email writing tips

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Highly effective email writing tips.

You use emails every day. You use them in your office. You use them for email marketing. Students and teachers these days are heavily using emails to communicate with each other.

How to make your email writing effective?

You make your email writing effectively by

Writing clear-cut subject lines.
Using the opening sentence convincingly.
Using personal greetings instead of nameless greetings.
Identifying yourself clearly.
Keeping your message short and crisp.
Proofreading your email writing multiple times.
Being regular with your email writing.
Not bombarding the recipients with too many messages.
Keeping your messages scannable and easy to read quickly.
Avoiding using too friendly a tone.
Briefly introducing yourself if people don’t know you.
Avoiding sending one-liners.
Avoiding words in your subject line that can get you marked as a spammer.
Always having a “why” for sending out the email message.
Avoiding clichés and hackneyed words and expressions.
Not forgetting to include call to action.

Since email is used for communication, and since you are not present in front of the person, your email message must accomplish the entire job of communicating effectively and convincingly.

Here are 10 highly effective email writing tips you can use to make sure that your email is delivered the message you want them to deliver.

1. Write a clear-cut subject line

You do not have to bother with the subject line if you are writing to your relatives or friends because they are anyway going to open your email.

Your subject line matters when you’re sending emails to people who may not open your message because their priorities are different or maybe they are distracted or they are totally indifferent towards your email.

In such a case scenario, it is very important to write an unambiguous subject line. Clearly state what is inside the email message and what is the purpose of your message.

Keep your subject line short and succinct. Make it convincing if it is a marketing message.

Avoid using spammy words.

2. Use a convincing first sentence

Your first sentence is going to decide if people are going to read your message. Make it as convincing as possible.

How do you write a convincing first sentence? Address the problem that your email intends to solve or mention the issue your email intends to raise.

Cut to the chase.

3. Use a personal greeting

“Hello Sophie” or “Dear Sophie” is much better than “Hey there!” or “Dear friend”.

Of course, if you don’t know the name of the person you can’t use his or her name. All the more necessary that when you are sending out emails, at least know their names.

4. Identify yourself clearly

Identifying yourself clearly solves many purposes. Even if people know you and they would open your message no matter what you write, they may inadvertently miss it simply because you fail to identify yourself clearly.

Although this is less to do with writing and more to do with your email setting, if people can clearly see “From Amrit Hallan” there will be a better chance of them opening the message because they will know that the message is coming from an awesome content writer.

If they remotely remember you it will help them recognize your name and if they associate your name with a product or a service or some brand and if they want to receive messages about that product or service or brand, your name will prompt them to open your message.

You may also like to read Define your brand voice with quality content writing.

5. Keep your message short

Writing short messages is a very important part of writing effective emails. These days most of your recipients open your messages on their mobile phones and on mobile phones, often it is difficult to read and comprehend long messages.

Even if you are sure that most of your audience constitutes of people who use computers and laptops, it is better to keep your messages short and focused.

This way your readers don’t get distracted.

6. Proofread multiple times

In the times of social media, the quality of writing has drastically deteriorated. It is often stressed that it is not the quality of your writing but the message that counts.

While this may be true when you are writing among your friends and relatives, when it comes to writing professional emails or even among your colleagues and co-workers, how you write and what is the quality of your writing matter a lot.

Your prospective customer may think that if you don’t even care about how you write, how are you going to care about your customers?

Typos and spelling and grammar mistakes reek of carelessness and disrespect.

Hence, proofread your email message after writing initially, multiple times.

7. Be regular with your email writing

This is for those who want to carry out email marketing campaigns. You can carry out highly effective email marketing campaigns if your recipients are familiar with your messages.

Although many people say that “familiarity breeds contempt”, it also breeds a kinship if you become a regular part of people’s lives.

Regularly send them useful information they can benefit from.

Always be sincere.

Remember that when you’re sending out emails, it is for the benefit of the recipients. Even if in the process you are increasing your business, ultimately, people will be receptive to your messages if you can convince them you’re sending them for their sake and not your sake.

Having said that, regularity can be very effective.

8. Don’t bombard them with messages

Just as writing emails regularly can be effective, going overboard can be counter-productive and may end up annoying the recipients.

Usually, one message every day is more than enough. If you can keep them a couple of times in a week, even better.

This is for regular email marketing. If you simply need to communicate regularly with your office colleagues then frequency doesn’t matter, it is always need-based.

9. Keep your messages scannable

Sometimes you can’t help writing longer email messages. If this is the case, you can make it easier for your recipients to read them by making them scannable.

What does writing scannable email messages mean?

Use headings and subheadings to highlight important points.

Use bulleted lists of very short sentences to sum up the main points.

Write one sentence per paragraph.

If formatting is possible, you can even use different colors to highlight different messages, but then, don’t overdo it.

10. Avoid using too friendly a tone

Being extra friendly in your email messages may creep some people out, especially if you’re not close enough to them. You can use whatever tone you feel like when you are writing to friends and family, but when you are writing to your colleagues you need to be a little less informal.

11. Introduce yourself if people don’t know you

Don’t just assume that they are familiar with you.

Although if you’re sending multiple messages you can’t be introducing yourself in complete detail in every message because this may turn off people who check your messages regularly, a one-liner about what you do and what you can deliver can go a long way in keeping people interested in you and developing a sense of familiarity.

12. Avoid sending one-liners

Email clients like Gmail these days allow you to send one-liners by suggesting what to type.

Although these suggestions help you respond quickly especially when conversations are happening in real time, if it has been a few hours since your last communication or the message you are replying to was sent a couple of days ago, write complete sentences so that the recipient can recall what you are writing about. Don’t simply reply with a “Thanks” or a “fine”.

13. Avoid words in the subject line that can get you mistaken for spam

Using all-caps can get you marked as a spammer by email services like Gmail and even Outlook. Expressions like “Earn money” or “Make money” or the dollar sign, can send your message directly to the spam folder.

14. Always have a strong “why” behind why you are writing

Want to give people a reason to open and read your email messages? Then include a strong “why” behind why they should read or pay attention to your message. Give them a compelling reason.

15. Avoid using clichés

Clichés are the common expressions that either we get too used to writing in our email messages and we don’t even realize, or sometimes we use them to sound uber and cool.

For example, whenever I am sending a completed document to my clients I simply write “PFA”. I don’t even write “Please find attached”. Although I do it with my regular clients and not with my recently acquired clients, if possible, you should avoid clichés such as

Thank you in advance.
I look forward to hearing from you.
As per our conversation.
To whom it may concern.
Sorry for the late reply.

16. Don’t forget to use call to action

Your “call to action” is the action you want people to perform when they have gone through your email message.

If you want them to buy from you, use “buy now”. If you want them to click a link and download your e-book, specifically mention “download my e-book”. If you want them to contact you, write “contact me now”.

It may seem strange, sometimes people don’t perform the action you want them to perform because you haven’t asked them to.

Concluding remarks

Frankly, to be able to write highly effective emails, you must have a compelling reason to write. People are too busy these days.

Although it is fine to write emails just to keep in touch, when you don’t know them personally, it is always better to write when you have something really valuable to offer.

In most of the cases, when you are convincing, when you are excited about what you are communicating, even with little effort you can write highly effective emails.

15 ultimate content writing hacks for successful email marketing

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15 Email marketing writing hacks

What is email marketing?

Does it mean constantly nagging your subscribers and recipients (or leads) to buy from you?

Or does it mean becoming a useful part of their lives so that they begin to appreciate your presence and then, begin to trust you enough to do business with you?

This may not be true in your case, but most of the individuals wanting to use email marketing to promote themselves, assume that just because they have got someone’s email ID, it is fine to send out promotional emails.

Does someone care what a great product or service you have got?

Not really.

People want to hear from you only when you have got something useful to offer. Even when you are offering your product or service, there must be something special (a great discount or an offer or an insider information) that can bring your recipients a massive benefit.

Otherwise, your email message is going to be ignored.

Are people still using email marketing?

Yes they are. There is a reason for that.

3.8 billion people actively use email daily. Compared to this, Facebook has 1.5 million daily users. Everyone from the age of 15 to 64 uses email daily. 73% of millennials prefer email communication from businesses.

The best part is, 99% consumers check their emails every day. People are twice as likely to sign up for your email newsletter as liking your Facebook page.

Hence, you may feel that most of the people are moving towards social media and instant messaging, but when it comes to doing some serious work or getting business offers, email still rules the roost.

How you write content for your email marketing campaigns has a big impact on your success rate. You may have come across the content writing hacks for successful email marketing at many places, already, but just in case you haven’t, you can considerably improve the success rate of your email marketing by implementing at least a few of these content writing hacks.

1. Have a convincing subject line

Writer a convincing subject line

The importance of the subject line can never be stressed enough. It is your subject line that prompts people to open your email.

What subject line should you have? It depends on people’s familiarity level with you. They are not familiar with you, or if they don’t come across your name in their inbox quite often, the subject line needs to be very specific.

Anyway, whether people are familiar with you or not, keep in mind the following:

Keep the character count around 50 because there isn’t enough space for very long subject lines.
Keep your subject line simple and straightforward. No ambiguity.
Don’t make false promises. People these days can make out false promises easily.
Be experimental. No harm in using humor as long as it doesn’t confuse or mislead.
Shock and awe. Again, the purpose of your subject line is to make people open your message, but at the same time, never mislead them into opening something that doesn’t deliver on the promise made in the subject line.
Subject lines with a sense of urgency, curiosity, timely relevance and recognition are more prone to be opened.
Personalize. Although personalization is more effective if people are familiar with you or your brand, given a choice between being personal and not being personal, always be personal. By the way, don’t take “being personal” in the wrong way.

Remember that the biggest challenge that your email message faces is people not opening it. Half the battle is won if your subject line manages to make people open your email.

2. Just focus on one, single person

Focus on a single person when writing content for your email marketing campaign

Frankly, I apply this advice even when I’m writing webpages and blog posts. Don’t write as if you are writing to a big group of people. Write to a single individual.

For example, if you think your email is going to a person named Frank, then address the problems that Frank faces. Talk to him. He must feel that you are just writing to him and no one else.

As a writer, I know that when you write thinking that you are writing to a single person, the person reading the email can actually feel it.

3. Always provide something useful

Provide something useful in your email marketing campaign

Remember that the person opening your email message is using his or her precious time in doing so. Don’t waste his or her time. Always send an email marketing campaign when you have something useful to offer.

What can that offered be? Depends on your business. If you sell something, you can offer a discount. If you are introducing a new feature, you can send it as an update so that people who can really benefit from the feature can upgrade.

If the person has already bought from you, you can offer him or her a discount as a privileged segment of your customer base.

In the times of Covid-19, you can send tips to your customers about how they can do business with you without exposing themselves to the virus.

4. Talk about their interest

Talk about what interests them when you are writing

Nobody is bothered about growing your business just for the heck of it. Even people running charity organizations won’t pay attention to your email marketing campaigns unless you talk about their interest.

Always write your email messages from their point of view. Convey to them that you empathize with the problems and troubles you are having. Be their advocate through your writing.

5. Use powerful words

Use powerful words when writing

What are powerful words? First of all, they shouldn’t be deceptive. They should invoke a strong emotion. Some of the powerful words that you can use are

Free
Urgent
Limited
Breaking News
Dazzling
Stunning
Guaranteed
Powerful
Amazing
Easy
Strong
Exclusive
Lifetime
Unlimited
Affordable
Valuable
Discounted
New

Frankly, the list can go on and on. What sort of powerful words you use depends on the context and what sort of emotion you’re trying to convey. Again, just make sure that you really mean those words.

For example, if you are offering something stunning, then you should actually believe that you are offering something stunning. If you believe that something is easy to use, then it must be easy to use. If something is affordable, make sure that it is affordable to your target audience. If you are offering a discount, make sure that there isn’t a catch.

6. Use the “preview text” optimally

Writing email preview text.

In the above graphic, the text that is not hidden is email preview.

These days most of the email clients display you the preview text. If you have maximized your browser window, provided that you have used a small subject line, the remaining row is filled with the preview text. It gives your recipient a preview of your message. If you use the preview text convincingly, it can increase the chances of your recipients opening your message.

7. Write for the audience who reads on the mobile phone

Write for audience who reads on mobile.

I keep this in mind even when I’m writing blog posts. There is a great chance that the person on the other side is reading your content on a mobile device. The same is going to be the case with your email marketing messages.

How do you write for mobile readers?

Write shorter sentences. Don’t use big paragraphs. Use bullet points to organize different ideas. Use headlines and subheadings judiciously. Stay to the point. Make sure that you don’t use extra sentences because anything can distract them. Keep them as much focused as possible.

Although, personalization can make your email messages effective, make sure that you don’t get too conversational. This can also distract people.

8. Use segmentation features of your email marketing service

Email segmentation when writing content.

MailChimp has it. Others must also have this feature. Segmentation allows you to customize your messages and this in turn improves your conversion rate.

What does segmentation mean?

Suppose you have 5000 subscribers in your mailing list. The first message that you send out goes to all these 5000 subscribers (if you are not using A/B testing for the time being).

Then, for the next email marketing campaign, create different segments such as

Those who didn’t open your message.
Those who opened your message.
Those who opened and clicked your link.
Those who bought from you.

… And so on.

This way you will be targeting people according to the way they have reacted to your previous campaign.

Why send the same message to all when you can increase your conversion rate by writing content based on how they react to your previous message?

9. Ask them to act when writing content

Tell them what you want them to do in the email.

This actually works. If you ask people to do something, many do it. For example, if you want people to buy something from you, ask them to buy it from you. This is hard to believe, but it really works.

It’s called call-to-action, CTA. Every email message must have a call-to-action.

Sometimes, you want to inform people of the good offer that you have but you don’t tell them to buy. You either tell them to get in touch with you or you ask them to click a link for more information. This is often not very convincing.

When you ask people to buy this renders a sense of authority and confidence. You have provided the information, and now you’re asking people to buy your product or service.

10. Use a convincing headline

Use a convincing headline.

After your subject line, the most important component of your email message is your headline: the first highlighted line of text that appears in your email message.

The sole purpose of your headline is to make people read your email message.

Write it very strategically. Again, don’t mislead people. Don’t promise something you cannot deliver. You can be creative. You can be humorous. You can even be cynical.

Just make sure that your headline makes people read your remaining message. Your headline is so powerful that sometimes people immediately leave your message, without reading it, simply because they are put off by your headline.

11. Maintain a consistent flow in the body text

Maintain a consistent flow in the body text of your email

The crux of your entire email campaign rests in the body text.

As mentioned above, keep your sentences short and to the point. Write as if you’re talking to a single person. Show concerns for his or her requirements and worries. Offer solutions succinctly. Since most of the people will be accessing your message from their mobile phones, keep it short and simple.

Should you use HTML messages or text messages? Depends on your audience. Here we are simply talking about content writing for your email marketing campaigns. Be personal without being creepy.

Follow the simple copywriting rule: the purpose of your current sentence is to make the reader read the next sentence, and so is the purpose of the next sentence.

12. Have a singular goal when writing content for your email marketing campaign

Focus on a single goal when writing copy for your email campaign.

This is something I have observed with many clients. They want to pack multiple business offers in a single email message. They want to save money. Separate messages mean they will have to pay for them separately.

Just like your landing page, your email message too must be focused. You can offer multiple products if they fall under the same category (accessories, for example, or earplugs). But too many products or too many offers will end up confusing people and even if initially they wanted to buy something, they will end up buying nothing.

13. Avoid industry jargon if possible

Avoid using industry jargon when writing emails.

I’m not particularly against using jargon. Every industry has its own set of words and people like to use them, sometimes even without understanding them.

Use jargon when it solves purpose. I have seen many people using terms like “leveraging, metrics, synergy, cutting-edge, derivatives, acquisition” and so on. Being someone who constantly uses words, I’m not put off by these words, but many people are.

Personally, I follow this rule of thumb: use jargon if you really feel that you should be using it. If you are using it just to sound smart and intimidate the reader, don’t use it – it is counter-productive.

14. More of “you” and less of “we” and “I”

Focus more on the recipients and less on yourself.

This is such an important point that despite having discussed it above, I’m discussing it in another manner. Use lots of “you” in your writing.

Use expressions like “you are going to gain this”, “you are never going to regret buying this” or “this is something you have been looking for, for quite some time”.

A person opens your email message because he or she is expecting to receive something.

This expectation can be some sort of gratification, an emotion (something funny or mysterious), some great offer in the form of a discount, or the latest news that is very important to him or her.

The complete purpose of your message must be representing the interest of the recipient.

15. Condense everything in the conclusion

Sum up everything in the conclusion.

The concluding part of your email message is as important as the beginning, if not more. In fact, after reading the conclusion, the person must be left with a strong desire to click your link and buy from you.

In the concluding part, you can sum up everything. You can invoke a sense of urgency. You can get creative and paint a gloomy picture if a person fails to carry out the call-to-action. Short of misleading someone, you can use all your persuasive power in the concluding part.

Conclusion

In the end, it is all about trial and error. Even seasoned content writers and copywriters perform A/B testing. For example, no matter how great a subject line is, it may not work with certain audience. No matter how awesome the headline is, it may fail to inspire certain readers.

No matter how big or small your mailing list is, you can perform A/B testing. Even if you have got 50 subscribers, you can send one message to 25 subscribers and an alternative to the other 25 subscribers. Then you observe the response and make tweaks in your writing accordingly.

Email marketing dos and don’ts during the Covid-19 pandemic

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Email marketing during the coronavirus outbreak

Businesses all over the world are being hit hard as the world reels under the scourge of Covid-19 (popularly known as the Coronavirus).

Thousands are dying. Hundreds of thousands are being infected. Businesses are being shut. Employees are being laid off.

At the time of writing this, there are almost 190,000 Coronavirus cases in the US and the death toll surpassing 12,000 in Italy (source). India has crossed the 1600 mark.

In this atmosphere of extreme chaos, how do you keep your business running?

By “keep your business running” I don’t mean promoting your products and services and asking people to buy them when they are in no position to buy them.

What I mean is, how do you maintain contact? How do you reach out to your customers and clients who may be affected by the pandemic, in various degrees?

What sort of emails should you send to your mailing list?

People are not interested in business offers because they are dealing with a much bigger problem.

On the other hand, you shouldn’t put a stop to your usual communication with your customers and clients.

In fact, this is the right time to inculcate a sense of normality, without aggressively promoting yourself.

Talk about the Covid-19 pandemic

Image source: Science News.

This Inc. article suggests that you should address the problem head on. Talk about the Coronavirus pandemic or the Covid-19 outbreak and how it is affecting practically everyone, directly or indirectly.

At the time of an outbreak, people want to be informed. They want to get the latest information.

If you have a mailing list, you already have a platform to raise awareness about the virus.

I often order medicines from an online medicine delivery service. Recently they sent a very nice infographic on how to practice social distancing and how to wash your hands properly to keep yourself from getting infected.

There was no marketing message.

Pretty much everyone is aware of the importance of social distancing and properly washing hands, but the infographics was pretty nicely done.

Inculcate hope amidst negativity

Everyone is stressed out. Even if people are not sick, they are confined to their homes. They are losing their livelihoods. Their sources of income are vanishing.

Whenever you come across positive news, share it with your mailing list, with your subscribers or your blog readers.

If new medicine is been discovered, let it be known to your customers and clients.

If immunity can be improved, let it be known to your customers and clients, how.

If there are examples of communities pushing back the outbreak, talk about it.

Spread positivity. Show genuine concern.

You can also share your own experience of how you’re coping with social distancing

Should you completely ditch non-coronavirus updates?

This blog post seems to say so.

Dismiss all non-virus stories out of hand. There is room for stories about other topics, just think through how they’ll be received in the current climate.

I personally believe as long as you are genuine, you can talk about anything. Of course, you have to be sensitive about the situation – not just pretend to be sensitive but be actually sensitive.

Everyone can relate to the need for carrying on. Everyone knows that the world is not ending. This dark phase is going to pass. People haven’t stopped working. They simply work from their homes.

They still have to use services. There are many products that they still need.

These days I’m continuously coming across updates on how you can use Zoom better.

I’m getting G Suite updates on how to work better from your home.

There are many cloud-based services that are promoting themselves because people need them.

More people seem to be inquiring about my content writing services because they think that while they wait at homes, they can work on improving their SEO and generate better content for their websites now that other things are on hold.

So, business, career, livelihood and marketing are realities of our times. People don’t mind marketing. But people mind if you just focus on marketing.

Instead, focus on providing help. Focus on being there. Figure out how you can help people using the business assets you have built.

Use your blog to publish useful information. Use your mailing list to disseminate useful information. Use your social media profiles to raise awareness.

We can deal with this. We will emerge victorious.

How to increase your email open rate

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How to increase your email open rate

In my previous blog post I mentioned that email marketing is an integral part of content marketing.

Rumor has it that for every $ 1 spent on email marketing, successful marketers earn $ 44.25.

But the success of your email marketing depends on increasing your email open rate.

When you send out emails, it has to cross many hurdles before it can make a positive impact on your bottom line. These hurdles include

Not ending up in the spam folder due to certain email service settings.
Arriving at the most appropriate time.
Getting noticed by the recipient amidst the deluge of other email messages in the inbox.
Grabbing the attention of the email recipient.

The opening of your email message is very important. Unless someone opens your email message, nothing much can happen.

How do you increase your email open rate?

How do you prompt people to click on your message in the inbox?

Here are a few things you can do to increase your email open rate…

Offer something compelling in the subject

Make a good offer in the subject line to increase your email open rate

Something compelling doesn’t mean offer something that would be unbelievable. Normally, you would know what sort of email messages your recipient is expecting from you if you have been building a mailing list of your own.

Make that offer in the subject line.

If someone has subscribed to your email updates to get notifications on some great discounts, then definitely use “10% discount on…” in the subject line.

If someone has subscribed to your updates to improve his or her SEO, have something like “Improve your SEO with this technique right now” or something like this in the subject line.

Make it compelling enough to open your email and check it out.

You can also use different emotions to compel people into opening your email.

This Constant Contact blog post gives many suggestions regarding what all you can include in the subject line:

Ask a question: “What will you do with this extra saving of $50?”
Give a command: “Open this message immediately or regret for ever!”
Teaser: “So, this is what you’re going to miss if you don’t read this email.”
Give a list: “20 sure short ways of making money with this simple tool.”
Make an announcement: “We have finally released the upgrade you have been waiting for!”

Here is another blog post that gives you 10 best email subject line formulas.

Make your subject line easier to read on mobile devices

Use mobile friendly subject lines to increase email open rate

Around 83% people might be checking your emails on their mobile devices. If your subject is too long to fit on their screens, they may skip your message.

Your subject message must be compelling, but it should also be shorter.

Use a name for the “From” field

Use the actual name in the From field

People are more prone to opening emails when they get them from individuals rather than from organizations and businesses.

There is a greater chance of people opening the email if it comes from “Amrit Hallan” instead of simply “Credible Content”.

Pay more attention to your analytics data

Pay attention to email analytics

Almost every email marketing service, MailChimp, for example, gives you data on when people open your emails.

23% emails are opened during the first hour of delivery, and this I have noticed myself. The greatest number of my emails are opened within 30-40 minutes of me sending out the campaign.

If you have been sending your email campaigns for many months, you can import, or manually enter, the details in an Excel sheet. Once you can see all the timings and the number of people opening your emails on those particular times, you will be able to arrive at the best time and this way you can increase your email open rate to a great extent.

Use icons and emojis in the subject line to increase your email open rate

Use icons and emojis in the subject line

Although I don’t believe in gimmicks as I think that people should open your email on its merit rather than for what sort of icons you have used in the subject line, it is a good way of standing out.

Don’t overdo it. If you use icons with every email you send out, it may diminish their utility value. They need to be very relevant to the message that you’re sending.

Ask your recipients to put your email ID in the safe list

Request the recipients to add your email ID to the safe list

Many of your recipients may never receive your messages because their email client, whether it is Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo mail, might be directing them to the spam folder.

This is why, when people have just subscribed to your email updates, request them to add your email ID to their safe list so that your message don’t end up in the spam folder.

The data on this blog post (slightly old) says that more than 20% marketing emails never make to the inbox.

How much email is consigned to the spam folder differs from region to region, according to this SlideShare presentation. 66% emails reach your recipient’s inbox in Asia compared to 86% in Europe.

By asking your recipients to put your email ID (the one that is used for your email marketing campaigns) in the safe list or telling them how to tell their email clients that emails from you are not spam, can considerably increase your email open rate.

Personalize your email subject line to increase your email open rate

Personalize your email messages

Using first language, using the name of the recipient, also increases your email open rate.

When your recipient sees his or her name in the subject line, it conveys to him or her that it is not a machine-generated message (although, such messages can also be machine generated).

When people see their names, directly or indirectly it gets communicated to them that at some stage they must have interacted with you and that is why you know their name. Or at least, they themselves have subscribed to your updates. This increases your email open rate.

Use email segmentation

Use segmentation to send out email campaignsfor

Recently I wrote about the importance of email segmentation.

Again, if you see the analytics given by your email marketing service tool (like MailChimp) it will tell you various aspects of your email recipients, such as, how many of them opened your messages, how many clicked the links in your message, in which regions they opened your message, and such.

For example, if there are certain email recipients who regularly open your messages, you know that they are interested in hearing from you. You can send them custom campaigns.

Those who click the links within your email campaign are interested in knowing more about your product or service. You can send them a different email message to increase your email open rate.

Build your own mailing list

The best way of increasing your email open rate is to build your own mailing list.

When people subscribe to your updates on their own they are more likely to open your messages. This is because they themselves want to receive your messages. They will also go to extra lengths to make sure that your messages don’t end up in the spam folder.

Keep refining your email list

Keep refining your mailing list

No emails are ever opened from certain email ids? Repeat bounces from certain email ids? Wrong spelling? Wrong email ID is just to download your e-book?

Remove these email ids.

You may feel reassured that you’re sending your email marketing campaigns to 10,000 recipients, but if only 2000 recipients are likely to open your messages, you should focus on those recipients. You will get a better email open rate like this.

Use a consistent schedule for sending out your emails

Maintain a consistent emailing schedule

This is something that I don’t do, but should. Actually, my email broadcasts are dependent upon the blog posts that I publish or the new content that I publish on my website and, I know this is contrary to what I often suggest in my writings, it is not a regular activity.

When you set a day and time for your emails people, unconsciously, begin to expect your emails on that particular day and at that particular time. This can have a big impact on your email open rate.

Interact with your mailing list subscribers

Regularly interact with your email subscribers

Don’t just send marketing messages. Ask your subscribers questions. Encourage them to respond. Try to know about their interests. Make an emotional connection.

When you make an emotional connection, you become familiar to them and when you become familiar to them, they readily open your email messages.

Occasionally you can conduct surveys asking 1-2 questions.

You can send them useful information you come across on other websites – for example, I can share with you an insightful blog post or article on SEO if I find it on another website, instead of constantly sending links from my own blog, and then ask you your opinion.

Never compromise on the quality of your content

If you constantly broadcast quality content your subscribers will be waiting for your messages.

When you subscribe to my email updates you expect to learn more about content writing, content marketing and in general, promoting your business online.

If I keep sending you good quality content on these topics, there is nothing to prompt you to ignore my messages if you happen to notice them in your inbox.

Concluding remarks on increasing your email open rate

Tricking your email subscribers into opening your messages may work once, may even work twice, but ultimately, it is the content that you provide that matters and contributes towards increasing your email open rate.

It isn’t just about increasing your email open rate, it is about delivering value to your email subscribers.

But, opening your emails is the first step. If they don’t notice your messages in their inbox, if your messages get buried under other, less important messages, if your messages are redirected to their spam folders, no matter how valuable content you send them, they’re not going to receive it, they’re not going to benefit from it.