E-Mail Campaigns - Increasing Open Rates

The "OPEN RATE" is the key component of any email campaign. This relates to the subject line in your email. Without a good subject line your email is automatically deleted by a spam filter or simply ignored by the recipient. Simply put, subject lines can either make or break your marketing efforts.

Subject lines are among the first thing the recipient will notice when checking their inbox and they will make an immediate decision to open or delete your email. You need a powerful, interesting and spam-filter-friendly subject line in order to truly be successful.

Here are some tips:

1. Don't Use Trickery!
A subject line proclaiming "You Won A Prize" will get the attention of many people however if they open the email to find out they have been misled, all you have achieved is delaying the deletion of your email by about 4 seconds. Nobody likes to be tricked - don't use trickery.

2. Consider Spam Filters
Most email programs have built-in spam filters. Some have the ability for a user to adjust the sensitivity of the filters which means your subject line is under some level of scrutiny before it is delivered. You need to learn about words or phrass that trigger spam filters to pounce. USing words like "free" "marketing" "order today" "special offer" or other things that sound "salesy" could kill your email on arrival. You would be better off to use a neutral subject line with something to normalize it's arrival. One tactic is to start the subject line with "Re:" or "Fwd:" to make it appear that this is a reply to the recipient such as "Fwd:Updated Information"


3. Immediate Personalization
Successful email campaigns utilize friendly, personalized subject lines as an effective way to improve open-rates. The better you know your targeted recipient the better off you will be. If you are selling or promoting a high-ticket product or service it may be well worth it to send the email with a manually entered subject line that includes the name of the person. A sense of familiarity carries a trust factor that can often boost the open-rates of any e-amil campaign.

4. Test, Measure and Revise
Send a few, smaller e-mail blasts and measure the results of each. Adjust the top results and settle in on a few that work. Often, sending a e-mails ona regular basis can result in higher respose rates. And don't forget the method of sending yourself the same email and judge how it strikes you.

Think, plan and always work to improve your tactics. Email campaigns are not a perfect silver bullet but, if done well, can produce amazing results.