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Increasing Your Email Open Rate

by Ryan_Taylor
12 replies
There's a lot of training on how important your subject line of your email is in order to increase your open rate. But I think there's another part that is just as important (if not more in some cases).

The first sentence or two.

In Gmail you can read the first line of an email without even opening it. Outlook and other email programs allow you to do the same thing.

I know I make a lot of decisions as to if an email is just a pitch or has something of value without opening them.

Do you check out a WF thread by hovering over the title before opening it?

Same concept.

This is something you probably already know, but I've never heard anyone mention it so thought I'd share. Sometimes the simple stuff is overlooked.
#email #increasing #open #rate
  • Profile picture of the author TOPGUN08
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Silvester
      Hi Mate,

      Everyone thinks that only the email subjectline
      is the only thing that will increase your openrate.

      You bring up another important factor.

      And I would like to add another...

      Another very important tip to increasing your
      open rates is doing everything in your power
      to get as many emails as you can into your
      clients inboxes.

      That means getting past spam filters. Spam check
      every email before it goes out. Getting people to
      whitelist your email address. Sending text emails
      rather than html emails.

      Because obviously the more inboxes that your emails
      get into will give your emails a better chance of
      being opened.

      Take Care,

      Michael Silvester
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      • Profile picture of the author Todd Brown
        Another great thing to do to increase your open rate is to always include some kind of "indentifier" in every subject line.

        For instance, including something like [Internet Tips] at the beginning of all subject lines will help subscribers recognize email from you right away. Certainly, you want to have a specific identifier for you and your list. Make it something specific and unique.

        ~Todd Brown
        Todd Brown’s TheSneakPeekBlog.com
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        • Profile picture of the author John Ritz
          The "give 'em what they want" is so true.

          There's one thing that's even MORE important than the subject line in increasing open rates, and that is who the email is from.

          If they get used to receiving killer content from you, they are going to look forward to getting your emails. They'll be conditioned to opening them, and the subject line, while still important, becomes less so.

          It's not a "quick fix" like the "bad news" subject line or other subjects that get them to open, but it should be used in conjunction with a great subject line.

          It's not hard to do, it just takes time to develop the rapport. You come across great ideas and content all the time on this forum. If your list is related to the IM niche, you could simply alert them of a valuable service or resource as soon as you discover it.

          I just sent out an email to my list with a resource I found here less than an hour ago. Not because I stand to make any money, but because I know that was something they'd like to know about.

          Keep doing that, and over time you'll build eager advocates who really dig what you're sending them. They'll open your emails.
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          • Profile picture of the author Dennis Wagoner
            Want to get your emails opened?

            Have a paid subscription.

            Everyone wants to see what they've paid for.

            - Dennis
            Signature

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          • Profile picture of the author Ryan_Taylor
            Originally Posted by John Ritz View Post

            The "give 'em what they want" is so true.

            There's one thing that's even MORE important than the subject line in increasing open rates, and that is who the email is from.

            If they get used to receiving killer content from you, they are going to look forward to getting your emails. They'll be conditioned to opening them, and the subject line, while still important, becomes less so.

            Excellent point, John. One way I accomplish this is to to load up my very best content at the beginning of my autoresponders. If I come across an amazing video or get a lot of response on a broadcast, I'll stick it right on the front of the autoresponder.

            Set their expectations high from the get go.
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            • Profile picture of the author Fabian Tan
              That's a good one.

              In my opinion, the trend is moving towards emphasizing keywords in the title.

              Which would you more likely open:

              1. FIRSTNAME, how to get flat abs fast...

              2. FIRSTNAME, how to get flat abs FAST...

              I know I would open the second one more times than the first one. I've done my own testing, and having one keyword in all capitals tends to give insane results.

              Even better, have the capitalized word near the beginning.

              "FIRSTNAME, MASSIVE traffic..."

              That should give some stellar click through rates of 15%-25%, which is about 3 to 4 times better than the industry average.

              Follow the standard rules like putting in 'power words', key benefits and sending out at prime times when everyone is online and you'll always get inbox attention easily.

              I find that the following times will get lesser clicks initially:

              12AM - 8AM (this is when people are sleeping of course)
              6PM - 8PM (people are having dinner at this time, very few people are online at this time)

              The more clicks there are early on after your email is sent, the better the promotion tends to do. In my case anyway!

              Fabian
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              • Profile picture of the author testaccount1234567
                Hey Ryan,

                Awesome tip. I often always make sure that I make the first few sentences compelling enough because I know you can read them in gmail and other programs.

                So that is a good tip and I am sure not many people are aware of it or forget it.

                Good stuff

                Tristan
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              • Profile picture of the author Ryan_Taylor
                Originally Posted by Fabian Tan View Post

                That's a good one.

                In my opinion, the trend is moving towards emphasizing keywords in the title...


                That should give some stellar click through rates of 15%-25%, which is about 3 to 4 times better than the industry average.

                Follow the standard rules like putting in 'power words', key benefits and sending out at prime times when everyone is online and you'll always get inbox attention easily.

                Fabian
                Excellent tip on the power words, Fabian. I know you know what you're talking about because you're emails tend to get me to open them
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
    Two steps for increasing your email open rate:

    1) Know what your subscribers want

    2) Give it to them

    You'll be surprised at how people will start to look forward to your emails if you do this.
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    • Profile picture of the author markaustin
      Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

      Two steps for increasing your email open rate:

      1) Know what your subscribers want

      2) Give it to them

      You'll be surprised at how people will start to look forward to your emails if you do this.
      Give 'em what they want .... that is so true!

      Mark
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      • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
        Yep. Sean Mize gave some good advice once (probably many times, but once that I read recently)... He said he regularly sends his subscriber list an email asking them what they need or want. Then he finds solutions to common answers and offers them to his list. Elegantly simple, but incredibly powerful. Not only does this build trust with his list members, it responds to their actual wants/needs instead of assuming (or presuming) what they might want/need. I've been smacking myself silly since reading that because it makes so much sense and dang if I haven't ever done it. Changes a-comin'.

        John
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        • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
          That works... if you can get people to answer, which most won't do.
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