How to Increase Email Open Rates? 11 Best Strategies to Follow in 2024

Are you struggling to get people to read your emails? Do you feel like you’re sending out communication into a black hole, with no response or action taken on the other end? It can be discouraging, and it can also hurt your business goals.

But don’t fret – there are plenty of ways to increase email open rates and get people reading what you have to say. In this blog post, we’ll cover some easy tips and strategies for improving email open rates instantly so that every message you send reaches its intended audience.

Best Strategies To Increase Email Open Rates.

1. Keep your email list clean and updated

We recommend you create your email list, but keeping it updated is also important.

Your subscribers’ behavior will change over time- they might get a new email id, stop engaging with your emails or turn their interests and preferences. 

Therefore, you must ensure that you periodically filter out dormant and invalid addresses and keep only the most active and relevant subscribers.

2. Segment your email list

Since you have cleaned out your inactive subscribers, let’s not stop there. Analyze subscriber data and find the best way to build segments from your email list.

Here are a few tips to segment your email subscribers are:

• Demographic: Age, gender, ethnicity, occupation
• Geography: Country, city, Pincode
• Psychographic: values, hobbies, interests
• Behavioral: Past interactions and engagement
• Lifecycle stage: New customers, existing customers, loyal customers
• Funnel stage: Top, Middle, or bottom

Once you segment the list, you can customize your email subject line and preheader that goes well with that particular segment.

3. Use double opt-in

Verifying email addresses by asking them to confirm their email address is a great increase in email open rates tactic to maintain a good quality contact list. It will also allow you to segment users based on who verified their email addresses and who didn’t.

With double opt-in, you can make sure that only the most interested people are becoming a part of your email marketing journey, as they will check out your emails and get you higher opens.

4. Write a persuasive email subject line

The subject line is important to create a great first impression and compel the reader to click on your email. In a flooded inbox, your subject line will make you stand out and connect with your audience. A compelling subject line gives the reader a powerful reason to open an email. 

Here are a few more ways to make a compelling subject line:

• Keep it within the standard character limit for both desktop and mobile.
• To give it a personal touch, add the recipient’s name, date of birth, or other relevant information.
• Keep it clear. Avoid being over smart
• Use emojis for creativity and say express more in fewer words.
• Add numbers to break through the common pattern.
• Make use of jokes or humor to hook the reader.
• Utilizing trending topics and incorporating them into an intriguing subject line.
• Avoid using any inappropriate or offensive words.
• Don’t use spam trigger words like Cheap, 100% sale, Hurry Up, etc

5. Track Email Open Rates and Adapt Based on Results

You can calculate the open rate by taking the number of unique opens, splitting that figure by the number of emails sent, and taking away the number of bounced emails. Many email marketing tools will compute this figure for you: open rates are a critical KPI for tracking campaign performance. 

Track your overall open rates for every campaign, comparing the results to determine which performed best and then analyzing why this was the case.

A brief subject line increases open rates, or emails you sent on Wednesdays received the most opens. Or a campaign run with a casual tone of voice garnered significantly more opens than a more corporate effort.

These are valuable insights into what engages the recipients on your email list – and it’s important to ensure your next campaign takes them into account.

You can also increase email open rates by conducting A/B testing—track open rates as you A/B test different subject lines, times, and dates to send. When establishing the full campaign, use the subject lines, times, and dates that performed best in the testing stage.

6. Build brand recognition with BIMI

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is a standard that adds a little photo of the brand or sender next to the sender’s name. Adding a logo lets the recipient instantly associate the email with your brand, even before they read the subject line. 

It allows you to create brand recognition and trust and gets the recipient to open the email. It’s a fantastic way to stand out in users’ flooded inboxes.

7. Write an enticing preheader text

Preheader text supports your email subject lines and helps you increase email open rates. The preheader text is the right place to give your reader a sneak peek into your email content and facilitate them to click.

Here are a few tips for preheader text you should follow:

• Write a brief line or ask a question that would stimulate the reader’s curiosity
• Personalize it utilizing the recipient’s name, date of birth, mentioning past activity, etc.
• Use emojis to make an enticing story.
• Develop a sense of urgency like a limited-time offer, coupon deals, etc.

8. Determine the best time to send an email

Timing is a crucial factor that can significantly impact your email open rates. Several factors, including the geography & demography of your target audience, holidays, type of emails, etc., usually determine the best time to send an email. 

For instance, if your target audience is students, the best time would be in the evening or weekend as these people are most active. Knowing their time zone is essential if your target users are across different countries.

Moreover, you can also look into your subscriber’s past behavior using analytics and evaluate the activity level on different days and times.

9. Keep an eye out for spam filters

Mailboxes are getting quite stringent with their spam filtering operations, which will harm your open rates if your emails are caught in these harmful spam filters.

Once your email gets marked as spam by spam filters, they get landed in spam folders impacting your IP’s reputation and thus, lowering your email deliverability. Lower email deliverability is directly proportional to lower email open rates.

So, here are a few ways you can avoid these filters:

• Use a precise and recognizable sender name.
• Don’t utilize deceptive email subject lines.
• Send emails only to those who have opted-in to your mails
• Verify the sender domain before sending emails.
• Don’t use spam trigger words like Cheap, jackpot, 100% free, and profits in your email subject line, preheader, and email copy.

10. Write Relevant Content

This is clear and might not seem directly related to the open rates. But your content is the primary factor why someone will read your emails.

Here are a few tips for writing relevant content:

• Write about what you promised the subscribers when they first signed up to accept your emails. It would be unreasonable to ask people to sign up to receive yoga tips and then send them discounts for ice creams.
  
  
• Think about what’s in it for the reader and why someone would care about your words. Self-interest is one major reason why someone will open your email. An emotional relationship with your brand will come later in the subscribers’ journey. Initially, you must show what value you add to the reader’s life.

To create long-term relationships with your customers, you need to deliver value so that the customer can connect with your brand and become faithful customers.

In some scenarios, your subscribers might not purchase the product themselves, but they can recommend it to their family and friends, which will boost your business in the long run.

11. Solve Your Subscriber’s Problems

Find your audience’s pain points and support them in solving them. Pictures, videos, and quizzes are fantastic. But you should also try adding little problem-solving information that works.

To start with, recognize problems unique to your niche and work on creating content that will help take these problems away. Make the tips constant, something for your subscribers to look forward to, and you’ll be well on improving your email open rate.

Conclusion

Following the increase email open rates tips in this blog post can increase your email open rates and get more people to engage with your content. With a little effort, you can see a big difference in the number of people who read and respond to your emails. 

Just remember to keep your subject lines short and sweet, personalize your emails whenever possible, and send your messages at a time when your subscribers are most likely to be checking their inboxes.

Read more:

• 17 Best Email Marketing Apps for Shopify
• How to Set Up Email Marketing on Shopify Store?
• Shopify Email Marketing: An Ultimate Guide
• Email Marketing Vs SMS Marketing – Where To Invest?
• How to Build an Email Marketing Funnel?