In today’s cluttered digital world, getting your email read—let alone opened—is no easy task. On average, email users receive 88 emails daily. What can you do to make sure your email stands out? It all starts with the who, what, and when.
Senders – Who is contacting me?
- Get personal – Selling is a highly personal experience. Rather than having a sales email come from a “noreply@xyz.com” address or a marketing alias, be sure to send it from a real person to make the most impact and prompt a click to open.
Subject Lines – What are you saying that stands out?
Arguably the most important element to any email, subject lines will make or break your email campaign. 35% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. If you can’t grab a reader in the first few words they see, how can you expect them to read through an entire email? Planning an effective subject line should be strategic.
Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
- Keep it short—Don’t let your subject lines drag on. With people constantly on the go, it’s very likely that the first time your email will be seen will be on a mobile device. 54% of emails are now opened on mobile, according to the March 2017 Litmus “State of Email” Report.
- Helpful tip: keep your subject line short enough to be able to be fully read in a mobile preview. Limit it to no more than 5-7 words!
- Quantify your subject line — People like numbers, whether it be data, numbered lists, a savings amount, etc. Throw a few into your subject lines to drastically boost your open rates.
- Use action verbs – A subject line is a reader’s call-to-action enticing them to open an email. Compel readers to open your emails by strengthening your language and front-loading subject lines with actions words a prospect would want to experience as a result of opening the email.
- Be bold – subject lines that begin with direct action words like “win,” “transform,” “save,” or “gain,” are likely to perform much better than subject lines that bury the verb or take on a more passive voice.
Timing – When are you reaching out?
- Be timely –Prospects will never open your email if they never see it. Choose a strategic send time! Chances are, if you’re sending the email at 6pm on a Friday, it won’t be seen until the following week, if seen at all.The best send times among MediaRadar sales reps are business days between 9 and 10AM. Avoid getting lost in the weekend catch up on Mondays. Have your email opened first thing in the morning Tuesday through Friday.
- Propeller confirms—the 2017 Email Marketing Field Guide pinpoints Tuesday morning at 10:00AM is the best time to send emails. However, no two prospects are alike. It is important to test which send times work best for your business and your prospects before deciding on a definite strategy.
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