Stand out in the inbox: 5 ways to increase email open rate

The average email open rate in 2023 is 17%, depending on industry, according to a report by Constant Contact. This is a 20% decrease from 2019 when the average open rate was 21.3%, which is likely due to an increased demand for consumer attention and diversification of customer communication channels. 

For example, more and more businesses are beginning to use mobile messaging channels, like SMS and WhatsApp, as well as email to reach customers. With email open rate seemingly decreasing, what can you do to improve it? 

Here are some proven ways to improve email open rate.

1. Ensure your subject line stands out
2. Test your sender name
3. Refresh your subscribers list
4. Send to segmented lists
5. Send at the right time

1. Ensure your subject line stands out

Based on recent research, a third of people open an email based on the subject line. So it should come as no surprise that your subject line matters. Here are some tips to help you create subject lines that convert:

• Be short and snappy – subject lines with 6-10 words boast the highest open rate. Plus, your recipients need to be able to quickly see what your email is about or they’ll skim right past it.
• Tap into curiosity – e.g. ask a question, use a statistic or state that your email contains top secret information. As it requires opening the email to reveal the info, you can boost open rate.
• Create a sense of urgency – this is especially perfect when used in a series of emails that count down to an event or the end of one.
• Use recognisable names (if relevant) – know your audience’s preferences and pique their interest by including names of well-known people or organisations in your subject lines.

2. Test your sender name

Did you know that 42% of people say sender name is the first thing they look at when browsing their inbox? For example, marketing emails from Animalz, a content marketing agency, come from a person at Animalz rather than the company name. 

An email from another person feels a lot more personal than if it came from a faceless organisation. Want to give this trick a go? 

• If you have a ‘face’ of your company, try using their name as the sender. In the Animalz example, they used their CEO.
• Depending on the type of email, you could use different people. For example, you could use some of your most popular writers’ names for your newsletters.

3. Refresh your subscribers list

In addition to emailing your subscribers regularly to prevent your list from going stale, it’s important to actually clean your list so you’re not reaching out to inactive email addresses or people who no longer want to hear from you.

Start by defining what an inactive subscriber means to your business. Is it someone who hasn’t engaged with any email in more than six months? Or more than 12 months? And so on. Once you’ve defined this, segment these inactive subscribers. 

Before you delete them, launch a winback email campaign as a final attempt to re-engage with them. See an example from Bloomreach, an ecommerce experience platform, below. They’ve tried to re-engage by sending over the latest news that the inactive subscriber has missed, but might be interested in.

4. Send to segmented lists

If an email appears to be relevant to the recipient, they will open it. And to be more relevant to your subscribers, you must send to segmented lists rather than to everybody. 

Here are some data points you could segment your list by:

• Industry
• Job role
• Location
• Purchase history
• Browsing history
• Email engagement
• Sales funnel position

5. Send at the right time

Just like how sending at the right time can impact the success of your SMS campaigns, timing can play a big role in your email performance too. The best time to send emails may vary depending on the industry, whether you’re B2B or B2C, type of email and more. 

So, conduct some AB tests to identify which timeframes work best for your subscribers. And don’t forget to segment!

Ready to maximise your customer communication strategy?

When it comes to improving email open rate, you must be relevant and send to the right people at the right time. 

At Esendex, we’ve been helping businesses take customer communications to the next level for more than 20 years. From mobile messaging to voice and now our new and improved email API, we can transform your strategy. Want to learn more? Reach out to us today.