Poor email open rate - any advice?

Headlines matter! Those are the ones that are going to grab the attention. Else nothing is going to draw them at the start

I don't think 30% is the norm. Based on the quality of your list and your subject, the average could be 10-25% for double opt ins. Anything more than 25% should be very good.

Even 10% isn't too bad, just not the best. But ya, sub 10% for double opt in is a bit on the lower side.

You don't want your subject line to be TOO outrageous as many people have become jaded to the "over the top" headlines!

Definitely share what you've used so you can get some feedback....

Re-send the same email with a different Title - something more enticing

Can i ask you if you have any complaints? I moved to mailchimp before 1 month and i got some complaints (3 on a 350 list) and i dont know if is normal or not!

30% open rate for industry standards....? What? Where did you hear that?

...dude....your open rate is pretty good actually...and are you talking just about those folks who are opening the email....or clicking on links within the emails?

....but some things that you can do to help with open rates....granted your emails have to be good and you have to have subscribers that like you and your stuff...

.....but play around with the subject lines....like a headline really....this is the most important factor in open rates...

...try using some profanity..cause some emotion...cause some controversy....basically...you're trying to make a subject line that screams...."open me"....after that it is up to you to provide good content.

Your rates are fine. Nobody seemed to mention this but not ever person will open ever email all the time. So you may get about 50 people who open your email this time, next time you will get 25 of the same people and 25 new people... some of the original openers will not open the second but people who didn't open the first will open the second.

Just because someone didn't open your email this time doesn't make them worthless. I have seen people sit on a list for even like a year of me actively emailing them and finally open an email one day and convert.

I highly suggest not using double opt in but I believe MailChimp requires it? I forget, I have not used them in a long time.

3 Factors That Can Hurt Your Open Rate:

- Deliverability
- Opt In Methods (source of traffic, ad copy, etc when signing up)
- Subject Line

MailChimp has good deliverability so it all comes down to how you are getting these people to opt in (source,ad copy etc) and of course Subject.

I can get low open rates like that as well. maybe too many swaps with every other day mails sent out. Now I just send out once a week or so, have a good freebie in it, and the rates increase a little.

1 sell from 22 openings. its kind of good dude
I think the rate of opening of mails depends on many things. and its not necessary that every time you will get the same rate. try out other campaigning I think you will see better result.

It could just be an old list.

Try different subject lines, see if you can wake them up.

There's no magic to it really, try DIFFERENT subject lines.

Ultimately, you may have to remove the duds (they just cost you money)

:/

I think email marketing has lost it's appeal. Most of the people does not want to open a mail sent from an unknown person because of increasing number of phishing and email hacking.

I don't look at subject lines, and most people I know don't look at subject lines anymore. People look at who it's from, period. And so the content you provide every single time you decide to intrude in someone's life by sending them an email matters now more than ever.

People who are still telling you subject lines are what really matters are not looking at current data - period.

Sure, you do want them to trust you but after one or two emails they aren't going to overly trust you or not, either way. The best you can do is offer targeted information relevant to why they signed up for your list. The better it matches, the better the response.

But they will never know what you are trying to tell them if the subject isn't compelling/relavent enough to open the email.

IIRC the code embedded in your email that allows MailChimp or other email services to track open rates can sometimes be blocked by the ISP. So, there is always the chance that some of your email list is opening the email but MailChimp won't know because the receiving ISP or the mail handler program blocks/stripped the code that allows tracking out.

That is a pretty decent open rate and conversion

They're couple factors to look at also... And here is one tip that I've personally
tested. Email your list more OFTEN. We have to remember, they're people that are
on so many different list and it may not be just your subject lines, they may not be
seeing your email at at all.

Don't forget to email your "un-opens" that haven't opened. I found that doing this, you
will get a higher open rate and conversion, but use a different headline for this group.

Also, try using a different subject line approach. Everyone get's the same headlines all
day long, so you want to use some that stick out. I'll give you couple of examples that
have helped my open rate.

Use headlines that are out of the ordinary, and then lead in with a story that is related
to your offer. For example... I may use headlines like, WOWZER... KA-CHING BABY!...
BINGO... The RUMOR was True... What Sunday taught me... Still on for TONIGHT? ...
GET ER Done... I found that these headlines drive curiosity sky high and people want
to know what it's all about. You could lead in with something like this to make it personal.

BOOM SHAKA LAKA LAKA...

[[firstname]] What a lazy Sunday! But, the highlight of my day. The Cowboys WON!

But I also found something else that is winning also, ====> relate it to your product.

That's just couple of ideas I know will change your open and click-through rate. Try to
be as personal as possible. We heard it millions of times, but talk to your subscribers as
if you were sitting at the bar with them just having a real conversation

Show us your squeeze? Also, what type of offers / information do you provide to your list?

Make sure you provide something that they will actually like

This is just a thought here, but I would say that perhaps your list is to small to get a good measure anyway. I mean 388 is a tiny list. If you had 25,000 people on your list and were only getting a 5.9% open rate that would be an indication that something is wrong. However with the small sample you have you cant be sure.

Also you say these people are all opt ins from up to 4 months ago. Have you emailed them at all besides this time in the last 4 months. People who opted in 100 days ago might have just forgotten about you by now.

I believe you could still earn alot of money from your list - depending on the content and style of your emails... and a strong sales letter or strong product description page.

Before complaining the open rate, why are risking with free email service provider like Mailchimp (I suppose its free?) move to a paid pro account where you can question the providers to clarify things are safe/fine at your end...


Thanks..

Best advice stop email marketing its the worse marketing anyone can do, I cant stand any company that does it and I avoid them on purpose for that reason!

There is to many ways out there to make sales and leads then to resort to email marketing, its pointless unless its a very select niche that does well because I know some Niche email marketing does work in but most it does not and not for me it dose not

Posting that to stop email marketing is the best thing you can do is just proof that anyone can post on these forums, and anyone often does.

Open rates usually influence by few factors.

Subject of the emails always come number one.
They open emails base on subject they read which related or important to them or not.

That is why always think of creative and catchy subject and try to bring recipient open your email. Try on subject which touch with their daily life will get better open rates.

Beside that try to avoid too much hard sales or send too much email in the short times. Try to share more free information , knowledge , solution with them only come in with your products.

Use slow file in email like small attach file , or less media to reduce of taking your mail in spam filter risk.