Increase your open rate by 50% on your emails and newsletters!

Unfortunately all of us have also experienced missing an important email that had details we needed, or announced an event we really wanted to attend.

For people who market and communicate primarily by email - this becomes a dilemma that many do not know how to begin to solve. Some of us in the past have simply thrown up our hands in despair - thinking "why bother" when sending emails. "No one reads them anyway!"

There are however some things you can do to improve your open rate. (Really?) Yes really!

The first step of course is to KNOW how many people are opening your emails. Many email clients (outlook and windows mail for example) have a delivery receipt option - so that we can see if the mail indeed was delivered. However it is difficult to tell if the email has been read - or opened. For newsletters and e-news a good open rate is over 50%. (so if you send out 1,000 emails - 500 get opened)

For my newsletters and bulk emails I have always used an email delivery service that gives me full statistics on delivery rate, bounce rate, open rate and click rate. (for the links that may be in the email) This service also ranks my emails for SPAM rating - to let me know if it will be considered SPAM - and moved to someone's junk folder.
So are you ready? Do you want to now how to raise the chances that your email will get read? Follow these simple steps - and measure your success!

Have a great subject line! A boring so-so message will get passed over like day old mashed potatoes. Peak their curiosity. Make sure it is relevant - and does NOT sell in the subject line.
Personalize the email. ( a good email service will allow you to do this providing your list capture system captures first names) This means ensure they know you know who you are sending it to. An email that says "HI everyone" tells me I am one of many - and now you just lost me! (I never listened to announcements on the PA at school either!)
Make sure the subject line is under 50 characters so that the entire title can be read.
Add some excitement - or sizzle to your email. It may take a few extra minutes to be a little creative - but it will be well worth it.
Use a little humor. Everyone needs a good chuckle several times a day. When people realize you can make them laugh - they are sure to open your emails!
Provide good content. When you are well known for giving good information - people will want to open the email simply because they don't want to miss something important.
Use the 65/35 rule. 65% should be interesting content and only 35% sales or offers. If every email you send is chocked full of offers then if the email catches you on bill paying day you are less likely to open it!

And here's one final tip: Be sure that the people you email have given you permission to do so. CAN-SPAM rules regulate email communication and complaints that you send emails at random to email addresses you harvest or find may land you in email purgatory. (Yes that is the place here electronic emails are burned)

If you are looking for a great email delivery service - go ahead and try out the one we use. And if you are a member there is a great newsletter report in your members area and some more information in the DIY Marketing section of this site.