6 Ways to Get More People to Read Your Emails

The average open rate for marketing emails is in the mid-teens. This is just one more reason it’s important to craft smart, strategic emails that bring value to your reader. People are busy – they don’t have lots of time, so your email better be worth it. Here are six ways to help improve your open rates.

1) The subject line is perhaps the most vital aspect of your email efforts, directly affecting open rates. Ask yourself, “what is the main point I want to send to my readers?” Think about what will convince them to actually open your email since this is one of the only hints they get as to what’s inside.

2) After subject line, the one other piece of copy that appears in someone’s inbox is the preheader text. This short piece of text can make or break your email. This can either be the beginning of the content of your email, or another place to explain to your reader what’s inside the email.

3) Think about who you want to target in your email. You can’t please your entire contact list, so segment them based on industry, size or other demographic or business-related reason (customers vs. prospects, for example). Once you create lists around who your audience is, you can think about compelling email copy, subject lines and even send times. You know a teacher might check their email at a different time of day than a plumber, for example.

4) Ever received emails from a company you don’t recognize?Useless, right? Try changing the sender of your emails to a real person, instead of a company. At the end of the day, your prospects are talking to a person, not a business.