If you’ve noticed a dip in your email marketing open rates then you need to consider what elements are contributing to this decline. The first thing to consider is the timing of your email marketing campaign. Though there is no right or wrong answer, specific times of the day and week can make a huge difference to the ROI of your emails.
Test Reader Reponses
The first step is to carry out some tests to see which times of the day and week perform better. The results will depend on your specific target audience, as some readers are more active first thing on a Monday morning, while others are more likely to respond at the weekend.
According to a recent study, recipients are more likely to respond to email campaigns in the evening across all industries. Between 8pm and midnight, unique open rates averaged 21.7%, with this group more likely to respond to calls-to-action. In this group, revenue email was also at its highest.
The same study also discovered that Monday was the highest performing day, having the highest ROI and click-through rates. Unconventional times also generated high ROIs, with Saturdays and Sundays generating the lowest volume rates but the highest click through rates. So, despite the weekends being an unpopular time to send emails, they proved to be a popular time to make a purchase.
Build Proper Email Lists
One way to develop successful email marketing campaigns is to build a proper email list. How old is your current list? Does it need updating? Are there emails on there that need removing? How can you grow your current email list with the right target audience? Plan your email list carefully by identifying your exact target audience as specifically as possible, before sending the email out.
Target your Audience Appropriately
Make sure you have an engaging, inspiring and interesting subject line. This is your fleeting opportunity to get a reader to open your email, so make sure you personalise your subject lines as much as possible to your specific target audience. Use questions, exclamation marks, How to’s and other tactics to compel your readers to click through. Do not use all capital letters as this is a guaranteed way to end up in the spam folder.
Assess the Frequency of your Campaigns
How frequently are you sending out your email marketing campaigns? Are you bombarding subscribers with email after email? This is the easiest way to get readers to unsubscribe, so be sure to segment your subscribers into appropriate categories so that they only receive emails that are relevant to them. Just because you’ve created a campaign, doesn’t mean that every subscriber will be interested.
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