An email marketing campaign can deliver an ROI of up to 4400%. But I said that it “can” and not “will” provide this return on your investment. To make sure you get a high ROI, you need to increase your email open rates and CTR.
If you type “email marketing ROI” in Google, you’ll get this snippet on the result page:
Yes, you get the ROI of $44 for every dollar you spend on email marketing. And that is phenomenally huge! But what if no one opens your emails?
Of course, you’ll get nothing out of it. In this article, I will reveal 5 practical tips to improve open and click rates for your email campaign. Are you ready? Let’s dive in!
Average Email Open Rates & CTR
First, let’s get to know the average email open rate and CTR in the industry. According to CampaignMonitor, the open rate for emails should be between 15% and 25%, while the CTR should be 2.5%.
Now that you know the industry’s average benchmark for email marketing campaigns, let me reveal my results.
I Got 50% Email Open Rate & 11% CTR
Yes, you read it right. I have sent 1828 emails in a week, and 957 of those were opened. And my email campaign generated 210 clicks right away. That’s over 52% open rate and an 11.5% click-through ratio.
Isn’t that shocking? Not really, if you do it right. And it’s just a small email campaign I created.
Imagine the ROI if you send 1 million emails.
See how powerful and cost-efficient email marketing is! So, let’s get straight to my proven tips to increase your email open and click rates right now.
5 Straightforward Tips to Increase Email Open Rates & CTR
If your email open rates and click-through ratio are lower, implement these practical tips to improve them. Let’s get started!
1. Test Your Email Subject Line
Your email subject line is everything. It determines whether someone is going to open your email or not.
You will need to stand out with your subject lines. But don’t sound too promotional that your emails go to people’s spam folder.
For years, digital marketers have created email campaigns by using the same subject line formulas.
Therefore, these common subject lines can be filtered out as white noise. Your primary focus should be to land your email into the people’s inbox and not in spam.
Be creative with email subject lines and do the A/B testing. Here’s what you need to do.
First, go to SendCheckIt, which is an email subject line tester. Enter your subject line and test even before actually running your campaign.
For example, I’ve chosen “Send 970K Emails Case Study,” which got 94 points in the Email Subject Line Tester. And hopefully, it’s not going to trigger any spam filters.
You can also test your subject line manually, but it will cost you a few bucks and time. But how to know if your email will go to spam? Let’s find out.
2. Stop Your Email from Going to Spam
Despite the improvement in spam filters in recent years, they are still not perfect. Even your best emails can get swept into the dreaded spam folder, never to be seen again.
The best way to ensure a high open rate for your email marketing campaigns is to avoid flagging as spam.
Make sure all the recipients have done the double opt-in to receive your emails. Avoid words like “buy,” “discount” or “cash.”
Here’s what I suggest doing to avoid spam filters.
Go to GMass Email Deliverability Tester and copy the 20 email addresses given there.
Come back to your email service and paste the addresses in the recipients’ list. And send your email now.
Now go back to the GMass Email Deliverability Tester again and enter your subject line under the ‘Step 2′ heading.
And you can easily see where your email may have landed.
If you know something is wrong, you can quickly fix it. How do you do it?
1. Change your subject line
2. And your email’s body as well
Do the testing again and again until you see the ‘Inbox’ sign in GMass tester. I always do the testing even before sending an email to my recipients.
3. Boost Your Email Sending Score
What is an email sending score, anyway? Well, it’s kind of probability that your email will reach your subscriber’s inbox.
Here are some of the best practices to keep your email from going to spam and increase email open rates:
- Make it easy for your subscribers to opt-out of your emails
- Include your location to boost your credibility
- Don’t go for clickbait but click-worthy subject lines
- Avoid spammy words
- Ask your subscribers to add you to their whitelist
- Keep your email codes clean
- Send through verified domain or subdomain and good IP address
These are a few methods you can manually do to make your email friendly to your subscriber’s inboxes. And let me tell you my secret tool to do just that automatically.
Go to Mail-Tester.Com and copy the temporary email address given on the homepage.
Send your email to this address now. And come back to mail-tester.com and check your score.
Make sure to get at least 9 scores out of 10. It’s a brilliant way to be confident that your subscribers will get your email.
4. Send the Email to Yourself
Sending an email to yourself first is not only a fantastic idea for your business but the entire email campaign as well. It also helps prove that your email will go to your subscribers successfully. You get to see what your subscribers will see.
Before I send an email to my subscribers, I send it to myself to:
1. See where it lands in my inbox
2. And make sure everything looks perfect
I put myself in the shoes of my recipient while reading the email. And I decide if I will click on the links given in the email. I run my email campaign if the answer is ‘yes. Also, check the email onto your phone as well to see if it’s responsive.
5. Write Clear Email Body With click-worthy CTA
Every email must have a purpose so that you’re focused on it. And in the middle or end of your email should be a click-worthy call to action.
Small mistakes can shorten your email list. So, be careful when writing your email copy. And use these tips to increase email open rates and CTR:
- Be clear about your target audience
- Use clear and actionable language
- Align your email with your subject line
- Personalize each email to the perfect level
- Never sell before your prospect is ready
- Talk about benefits, not features (obviously)
- Make use of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) subtly
- Keep your CTAs clear, concise, and eye-catchy
Which tip or step resonates well with you? Let me know in the comments below.
Sum Up!
To sum up, let me re-enlist the tips for you here.
1. Test your email subject lines using SendCheckIt
2. Stop your emails from going to spam using GMass Email Deliverability Tester
3. Boost your email sending score on Mail-Tester
4. Send the email to yourself
5. And write clear email body with powerful CTA
These tips and tools helped my email campaigns get way better results than the industry’s average. But don’t be disappointed if you don’t get the same turnaround right away.
Give yourself time to experiment with A/B testing. And you’ll crush it! Which of these tips and tools to increase email open rates and CTR do you like the most? Let me know in the comments below.
