How to Increase Newsletter Open Rate?

You are correct about open rates are not that important. All it indicates to me is that your subject line did it's job to get your email opened.

What you don't know is if the people read your email or the most important piece of information, did they click on the link?

That is why I track my links and don't worry about open rates. I want to know if the reader performed the action I was trying to get them to do.

So text email are very easy to track when you track the links you put in the email message.

So, the subject line should be designed to get the email open. Plus the reason for the subject line you use should appear in the first paragraph of your email message body.

You need to grab the readers attention in the first paragraph of your message. Some of the best emails tell a story that presells the reader on what you want to promote when they click on the link.

It should not be a complete surprise to the reader at what they are about to see when they click the link you want them to click.

I hate these short little emails that give NO content and are basically just a link. There is no marketing being done there at all, NO preselling. I don't know how any of these people make any money when their emails are something like this...

It is important to click this link now... LINK

There is NO relationship building and I usually unsubscribe if this is all I receive from these people.

Some people don't like to read a long email but you can do both by putting the link you want the impatient people to click in the second paragraph, but go on to give your subscribers some good content.

I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

I would to suggest to NEVER do this! Example...

Your newsletter is about traffic and your subject line is...

Bob's Newsletter #2184555

Or

Easy Way To Triple Your Traffic In Less Than Five Minutes...

Which one would do a better job of getting the email opened?

Of course the second one would do a better job of getting the email opened. The first subject line gives no information on why the email should be opened other than it's Bob's newsletter.

The second one lets the reader know that it's about something everyone needs, traffic, and seems to be about a way to get a lot of traffic very easy. Plus you can start using the method in less than five minutes.

Now, that sounds like an email I would want to open to see just what the traffic method was.

So, subject lines are to get your emails opened and not to bore your readers.

I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

There's a flip side to this, as well.

Did you deliver everything you promised in the first newsletter? Did you give them a good reason to open the second? I've seen lists where the opt-in page promised an answer to a problem and the freebie and first email delivered the answer to the problem. Why bother with the next emails?

Look at the niche, also. Is it so narrow that, after solving a problem, there's nowhere left to go? In other words, once you cure their crotch rot, is anything else you offer purely guesswork? Or is it so wide (like the "weight loss niche" :rolleyes that after they read the first email they could decide that you aren't talking to them?

While it's true that open rates can be wildly inaccurate, trends in open rates are less so. According to the numbers posted, at least 70% of the list has the ability to load the tracking pixel. The question is why did less than half of those load the second one. A 57% drop might be significant, especially if that number holds over a period of time.