📧 How to improve your email open rates

My email open rates for Work Smart Wednesday dropped by 15% last week.

I wondered why, until my partner told me they found it in their spam folder for the first time. Ah. Yes, that would make sense of the drop.

So, what did I do about it? And why does it matter?

Firstly, it matters because email marketing is still one of the highest ROI activities that any business can do (and shockingly few businesses actually use it, only around 30%). I particularly like email marketing as it is easy to automate.

The problem is that when you start getting marked as spam, it often leads to a death spiral of ignored emails which is difficult to return from.

What did I do about it?

1. Authenticate Your Domain (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC)

This one is techy, but it helps a lot. Reply to this email if you need help on this and I will recommend specific people who can help you get this set up properly for your business.

Set Up SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This lets email providers know who is authorised to send emails on behalf of your domain.

Enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a secret signature to your emails to verify they weren’t tampered with during transmission. Sounds needlessly techy, all you need to know is it improves trustworthiness and deliverability.

Implement DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): Provides instructions for email servers on how to handle unauthenticated messages.

These protocols build trust with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam.

2. Maintain a Clean and Targeted Email List

Remove Hard Bounces and Inactive subs Regularly: Hard bounces indicate an invalid email address. Remove them immediately.

Use Double Opt-In: This ensures that recipients actually want to receive your emails, reducing the likelihood of spam complaints.

Segment Your List Based on Engagement: Send only to engaged users by segmenting out those who haven’t opened an email in the last 3-6 months. Consider a re-engagement campaign before removing them.

I found that substack doesn’t have a re-engagement automation built in (which sucks!), so I created and implemented an automated re-engagement campaign using mailerlite myself. You can see it below:

A screenshot of my automated re-engagement email chain, this took me about an hour to build.

3. Pay Attention to Your Sender Reputation

Use Email Deliverability Tools: Tools like Sender Score or Google Postmaster provide insights into your sender reputation.

Monitor Spam Complaints: High complaint rates will impact your deliverability. Keep complaints below 0.1%.

4. Personalise Emails and Avoid Spammy Content

Avoid Trigger Words: Words like “Free,” “Discount,” and “Limited Time” can cause spam filters to flag your email. Instead, use clear, direct language.

Personalise Subject Lines and Content: Personalised emails have higher open and engagement rates. Address users by name and use past interactions to customise content. Avoid ChatGPT or generic subject lines, write like a real person.

Keep Your Text-to-Image Ratio Balanced: Too many images or all-image emails can flag spam filters. Aim for 60% text to 40% images.

5. Perfect Your Subject Lines and Preview Text

Write Clear, Non-Deceptive Subject Lines: Make sure the subject line accurately reflects the content of the email. Deceptive subject lines lead to higher complaints and unsubscribes.

Optimise Preview Text: Many people check their emails on mobile devices, where preview text plays a big role. Make it enticing and relevant.

6. Improve Email Content and Design for Engagement

Focus on Responsive Design: Use an email template that adjusts well on mobile devices to boost readability and engagement.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Make it easy for readers to engage with your content by adding ONE CTA that’s visible and relevant.

7. Add an Unsubscribe Link and Honor Preferences

Make Unsubscribing Easy and Visible: Hiding the unsubscribe link leads to frustrated users who may mark your email as spam instead. You WANT unhappy users to be able to easily subscribe, a spam complaint is far worse than an unsubscribe.

Offer Subscription Preferences: Let users choose the types of emails they want to receive (e.g., promotional, product updates) instead of making it all-or-nothing.

8. Use a Consistent "From" Name and Email Address

This one is underrated.

Establish Brand Recognition: Use the same "From" name and email address in every email to build familiarity and trust. I like using a person’s name, rather than just the business name (e.g. John, or John at JohnJDMunn.com)

Avoid Using No-Reply Addresses: Instead, use a monitored email address, as it signals transparency and accessibility to your readers.

9. Test and Analyse Each Campaign

A/B Test Subject Lines, Send Times, and Content: Regularly experiment with different elements to find what resonates most with your audience.

Monitor Key Metrics: Track open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes to see if deliverability and engagement improve over time.

10. Send at the Right Frequency and Time

Find the Best Sending Frequency for Your Audience: Avoid overwhelming your audience by finding a balance between frequent engagement and over-sending. BIG TIP on this one, avoid adding subscribers to multiple different “groups” or “segments” in your subscribers database as it often means they will get inundated with various different automations you have set up. One thing at a time.

Optimise Sending Times: Test different times of day and days of the week to determine when your audience is most active.

Email is an excellent tool, but you have to look after it properly. I strongly recommend you implement the first 2 steps of this email improvement process at least. It will help save you a lot of trouble, and help make your business a lot more money.

Any tips I missed? Let me know!

🆕 You can now earn my template “26 ways to promote your email newsletter”.

🎁 Receive rewards for referring your friends 🎁

1. 📩 A PDF outlining the methods me and my clients use to grow our number of email subscribers. Email is almost always the highest ROI marketing you can do.

   
   

2. This custom template is not sold anywhere, you can only get it by sending Work Smart Wednesday to your friend. I rotate these templates monthly. This template is only available in November.

   
   

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I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-november-6-2024

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