Solving The Email Open Rate Puzzle

Putting together a newsletter or marketing email is hard enough. But the low open rates for most emails is just downright discouraging. Email open rates vary by industry but average around 20%. So, only one out of every five people on your list are likely to open any given email.

It almost makes you not want to even try, right?

Well, there is hope. By following the email subject writing tips below, you can tease and lure your list into opening your emails at much higher open rates than the average.

Keep it Short

A huge chunk of email is being opened on phones – which can’t display a long, wordy subject line. According to Email Client Market Share, iPhone and Android accounted for 34% of opened email in November of 2014. iPads, which display a slightly longer subject line but still shorter than my desktop email client, pulled in another 13%.

Since most phones only show 3 to 6 words (depending on screen size and word length,) long subject lines can lose part of their meaning when replaced with the … that indicates there’s more words than can be displayed.

Additionally, an article by Retention Science shows that subject lines with 6 to 10 words have the highest open rate of the five ranges they tested (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and 21-25.) Subject lines of zero to 5 words have the second highest open rate.

“Our findings show brevity is the key to enticing customers to engage with offers, and ultimately, to click through and convert,” said Jerry Jao, CEO and co-founder of Retention Science.

Personalize Your Subject

If you are collecting the first and last names of your list, you can personalize your email subject lines to your great advantage. The email marketing experts over at Mail Chimp ran a series of tests looking for things that do and don’t work.

Using the only the first name resulted in a slight bump in the open rate (0.09 standard deviation from the mean … if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry, it basically just means a slight increase.) However, using both the first and last name resulted in a larger increase (0.33 standard deviation.)

Does “Free” Help?

Another tidbit from Mail Chimp is that while the word “free” does seem to help (0.02 standard deviation,) it pales compared to “freebie” (0.26 standard deviation.) So give your list a freebie, not something for free.

Tell Me, Don’t Sell Me

If your subject line is too salesy you’re likely to generate a quick delete rather than enough interest to result in an open. Your readers get plenty of salesy subject lines every day and they are sharp enough to just delete them. Rather that pitch the sale in the subject line, just tell your readers exactly what they’ll find inside the email. You can sell once they open it.

Avoid Spammy Subjects

Every day I clear out my spam folder. I usually skim the “from” column quickly to make sure I don’t delete an email my mom sent with a poor subject line, but I rarely find anything worth saving. If you create spammy subjects (using all caps, too many exclamation marks, talk about money, etc,) your emails might get lost in a spam minefield before they ever reach your readers.

The Quick Takeaway

With just a little effort, you can create engaging email subject lines that will increase your open rates and your engagement with your audience.

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