What Should I Do With My Nightmarish Open Rate?

Andy Shore Andy Shore found his way to Benchmark when he replied to a job listing promising a job of half blogging, half social media. His parents still don’t believe that people get paid to do that. Since then, he’s spun his addiction to pop culture and passion for music into business and marketing posts that are the spoonful of sugar that helps the lessons go down. As the result of his boss not knowing whether or not to take him seriously, he also created the web series Ask Andy, which stars a cartoon version of himself. Despite being a cartoon, he somehow manages to be taken seriously by many of his readers ... and few of his coworkers.

October 4, 2016 2 min read

Clean Your List

Perhaps your open rate is low due to a large number of inactive subscribers filling up your list. It is important to maintain good list hygiene. Look to see who hasn’t opened your last several campaigns. You can remove them outright, or at least attempt a re-engagement campaign to see if you can bring some inactive subscribers back into the fold.

Work On Your Subject Lines

The subject line is your foot in the door of your subscribers’ inbox. It’s the first impression each campaign makes and the best chance at enticing them to open your email campaign. Remember, the subject line needs to show them the value in your email campaign. It’s not about you! If you’re writing subject lines that service your needs, that may be the cause of your nightmarish open rates. Make it about the subscriber and make sure your campaigns deliver on the promise of your subject lines.

Adjust The From Name

People don’t like feeling that they’re being marketing to. Sometimes, sending from just your brand name does just that. Try using the name of your CEO, your email marketing manager or an account manager with which your subscribers may have some familiarity. Or combine the two. For example, if you were receiving an email from me it may say “Andy from Benchmark Email.”

Run An A/B Test

Enough with the guessing games. A/B Testing is one of the most important things you can do with your email campaigns. It tells you how your subscribers are most likely to react to your email campaigns. You can test subject lines as well as From Names against one another to see which are most likely to get your campaigned opened. The A/B Test will send a small portion to a percentage of your list and then send the winning email to the remainder of your list.

Author Bio:

by Andy Shore

Andy Shore found his way to Benchmark when he replied to a job listing promising a job of half blogging, half social media. His parents still don’t believe that people get paid to do that. Since then, he’s spun his addiction to pop culture and passion for music into business and marketing posts that are the spoonful of sugar that helps the lessons go down. As the result of his boss not knowing whether or not to take him seriously, he also created the web series Ask Andy, which stars a cartoon version of himself. Despite being a cartoon, he somehow manages to be taken seriously by many of his readers ... and few of his coworkers.