Do you think that the number of people reading your emails could be higher but you are unsure how to boost your email open rates?
Your open rate is one of the key metrics to track when it comes to influencer email list marketing. The higher your open rates the more engaged are your readers. Plus, the chance of them buying from you increases.
In this article, we will discuss how high your open rates should be, how to boost your email open rates, and the most common causes of low open rates.
What is a good open rate for an email in 2021?
Open rates differ in each sector and industry. CampaignMonitor conducted massive research and calculated an average of all industries.
According to their benchmark and data from 2020, you can expect:
- An average open rate of 18%
- Average click-through rate of 2.6%
- An average unsubscribe rate of 0.1%
Keep in mind that these numbers are just benchmarks but you can definitely use them to evaluate your own numbers.
How do you boost email open rates and click-through rates?
First of all, let’s have a closer look at how you can calculate your open rates
Your email service provider (ESP) can calculate how many people opened the email. Divide this number by the number of emails that bounce.
Bouncing means that an email delivery failed (for example, if someone deactivated their email address).
So, if you send 100 emails and ten of them bounce, only 90 get delivered. If we assume that 10 of the 90 emails get opened, then your open rate would be 11%.
Now, let’s look at actual tips to boost your open rates:
1. Use double opt-in
Double opt-in means that the person gives you their email address and then has to verify that they want to receive your emails. In some countries, you need to do this by law. But even if it’s not required by law in your region, it’s still a good idea to use it.
You want double opt-in because it filters out people who don’t care about your emails in the first place. If they don’t care enough to do the double opt-in then they also wouldn’t open your emails.
So, your email list is filled with engaged readers who open your emails.
2. Remind readers to whitelist your emails and add you to contacts
If users add you to their contacts, your emails will appear in their primary tab. They also get flagged as important and the chances of them getting opened increases.
Most readers don’t do this by themselves so remind them to add you to contacts in your first email.
3. Remove inactive contacts
To boost your open rates you have to clean your list once in a while. Remove people who became inactive to keep your stats clean and your authority high. If a contact bounces frequently, remove them as well.
Why is my email open rate so low?
If your open rates are low, there are two main things to look at: Your subject line and your sender name.
It could be that your subject lines are too generic and therefore don’t stand out in people’s inboxes. Or maybe your sender name is confusing and people are unclear who your email is from.
According to BenchMarkEmail, 45% of subscribers say they are likely to read your email because of who it’s from, and 33% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line.
Boost Email Open Rates With These Best Practices
So, rethink the sender name you are using. Maybe you can use a specific person’s name to make your sender’s name friendlier and more personal?
When it comes to your subject lines, there are several best practices.
In general, the subject line should make the reader curious, imply a benefit or tease a story.
BenchMarkEmail also shared some of their subject line best practices. For them, subject lines that include the words “secret”, “sale” and “awesome” performed best. Using emojis didn’t affect the open rates much at all.
Questions got opened less likely compared to normal sentences. And subject lines that included the words “confirm”, “features”, or “upgrade” got flagged as spam more often.
Keep in mind that the subject lines that work for your list could be completely different. Run a few A/B tests and find out which words your list responds to.
Boost email open rates quick
- Make your subject line between 6-10 words
- A/B test your send time
- Use a personalized sender name
- Personalize the email by using the recipient’s name
- Optimize your emails for mobile
Discover Hundreds of Proven Subject Lines
What if you could take out the guesswork and use subject lines that are proven to work? It’s possible with Instant Scripts™. We have a collection of hundreds of proven email subject lines. Get started today.
