By Karine Dutemple
October 25, 2017
How to increase the open rate of your newsletter
The preferred tool for maintaining a long-term relationship with your customers and communicating various information about your business, the newsletter must be opened to fulfill its role. Is your open rate not satisfactory? To address the situation, take note of our recommendations.
Our tips to increase newsletter open rates
Sending a newsletter to your audience is not as simple as one might think. To maximize your chances of delivering your message to as many people as possible, you need to consider several things before sending your newsletter. Here are some of our tips to improve the open rate of your emails:
- Segment your email list
- Write a compelling email subject line to entice people to open it
- Send your newsletter at the right time
- Send your newsletter on a regular basis
- A/B testing: a good way to test your open rate
- Choose the right sending platform
Segment your email list
Segmentation is a crucial preliminary step in developing the content of your newsletter. Regarding this, it must be noted that the topic addressed in your newsletter and displayed in your subject line must necessarily correspond to the needs and expectations of its recipient to increase its open rate.
A vague proposition, a subject that does not match the characteristics of your target audience, and there you have your open rate stagnating. Thus, it is of utmost importance to properly segment your email list based on:
- age;
- profession;
- place of residence;
- information viewed on your website.
Write a compelling email subject line to entice people to open it
As the email subject line is the first contact a potential reader will have with your newsletter, it must meet several criteria. First and foremost, the email subject line should be short and precise. The goal is not to wax lyrical but to synthesize to the maximum the objective of your newsletter. Moreover, note that if the subject line exceeds 50 characters, the chances of it being opened are considerably reduced.
Secondly, it is advisable to avoid any administrative and depersonalized wording. In this regard, your recipient should feel personally addressed by your email. Do not hesitate to use the name and surname of your recipients so that they do not feel like just an address on a mailing list.
Thirdly, your email subject line should contain a Call-To-Action, aiming to maximize your potential readers' motivation to open the newsletter. The wording of your email subject line must therefore be particularly careful and adhere to this characteristic.
Finally, avoid using all caps and exclamation points at all times. These two characteristics tend to give an aggressive tone to the message you wish to convey and are unlikely to help your open rate reach new heights.
On this note, be aware that your email may be flagged as spam if it contains these characters. Note that the same fate awaits it if the subject line contains terms focused on promoting a service or product.
Send your newsletter at the right time
Although the answer to this question may vary depending on the industry you work in, some guidelines on this matter seem to be consensual. First, avoid sending your newsletter on Mondays or Fridays.
At the beginning of the week, people generally already have many tasks waiting for them that need to be resolved before the week starts, while on Fridays, the time is usually to wrap up incomplete projects.
Following this idea, always avoid sending your newsletter over the weekend. People are often less inclined to pay attention during their family leisure time.
So what are the best times to send your newsletter? It seems that these are between Tuesday and Thursday mornings. As for sending a newsletter conveying a promotion, the best time to do so during the day would be between 1 pm and 5 pm.
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Send your newsletter on a regular basis
You've tested your subject line and segmented your mailing list, but your open rate is not improving? The frequency of sending may be the cause. Thinking you're doing the right thing by wanting to be visible, you may have opted for a send frequency that is too high. If this is the case, it can be counterproductive and cause some irritation among your potential readers. To find the right sending frequency, make several attempts.
A/B testing: a good way to test your open rate
Although you have taken note of the information mentioned earlier, it can be very difficult to pinpoint precisely which aspects surrounding your newsletter should be improved to increase its open rate. To avoid getting lost in conjectures, conduct an A/B test.
This type of test will allow you to evaluate which of the two versions has the highest open rate and clearly identify what changes need to be made to achieve your goal. As a tip and to ensure the reliability of the test, make only one modification at a time.
Choose the right sending platform
How can the choice of your sending platform influence the open rate of your newsletter? Taking up the idea put forward in the previous point, using a broadcast platform that allows testing various versions of the same newsletter greatly facilitates the identification of measures to increase your open rate.
Also, it is good to know that some platforms automatically take note of the campaigns you have previously conducted to determine by themselves the best time to send when you are most likely to succeed.
Need additional information about newsletters?
Do you want tips to enhance your newsletter writing? Our article "How to write a good newsletter" will provide you with all the necessary information on this topic.
Are you uncertain of the legal rules to follow when sending your newsletter? To avoid any issues, check out our article "Legal framework for email marketing".
The newsletter is a powerful tool that can be very effective when done right. To give you ideas for your own newsletter, we have gathered examples of well-crafted emails in our article "9 examples of newsletters worth viewing".
Related Tags
Newsletter
Email Marketing
Marketing
About the author
Karine Dutemple
Blogger at helloDarwin