How to Get People to Open and Click Your Emails

How to Get People to Open and Click Your Emails

 

How do you get people to open and click your emails? Whether you’re the owner of a business, an employee in the marketing department or simply trying to grow your blog, email marketing can be crucial to improving your sales and website traffic. Here are some tips on how to get people to open and click your emails, regardless of what industry you’re in.

 

What Makes a Good Subject Line?

Writing a good subject line is essential if you want people to open your email. A lot of people see hundreds or even thousands of emails every day, so your subject line needs to stand out. In fact, it should be so compelling that you don’t need a body copy; in essence, it should be interesting enough that they want to know more. 

The first step toward coming up with a good subject line is thinking about what you want from people who read your email; what do you want them to do? Do you want them to click through for more information? Do you want them to buy something? Whatever it is, make sure your subject line communicates that action clearly. 

For example, an email with Order now! as its subject line will have a much different effect than one with Last chance! as its subject line.

Your list of subscribers is valuable, so it’s important that you send them emails they want to read. Send too many promotional emails, or send irrelevant content and your subscribers will either unsubscribe or mark your messages as spam. 

For example, if you sell baby clothes online, don’t send a coupon for cribs in an email newsletter about back-to-school shopping; if you sell running shoes online, don’t offer a 20% discount on baby clothes in an email newsletter about training for a marathon. 

An excellent way to find out what people like to see in their inboxes is by looking at what they click on when they open their emails. If people are clicking links within your email, then you know there’s something interesting there worth following up with. The more relevant your subject line and body copy are to what people are interested in, the more likely they are to open and click through.

Another thing that can help improve response rates is personalization if possible, try adding subscriber names into subject lines or body copy (e.g., Thanks for signing up!  or Hey Jane!). It’s not a surefire way to get people to open your emails, but it does make them more likely.

A good email marketing strategy involves sending relevant content at appropriate times of day; if you sell baby clothes online, don’t send a coupon for cribs in an email newsletter about back-to-school shopping; if you sell running shoes online, don’t offer a 20% discount on baby clothes in an email newsletter about training for a marathon.

 In general, most people are receptive to emails early in the morning and late at night people who work from home might be more receptive during business hours but will often check their inboxes before bedtime as well. Learn the 7 Tips to Improve Your Email SubjectLines

 

What Makes a Good Call-to-Action (CTA)?

A call-to-action, or CTA, is a button or link on a website that leads visitors to perform an action. They can be powerful tools for marketers who use them in an effective way, but they can also be annoying and even detrimental when used incorrectly. Learn how CTAs affect your marketingstrategy in our ultimate guide! 

Why Should You Care About Call-to-Action Button Design?: An eye-tracking study from visual search technology company Vitrue found that 84% of consumers are more likely to click on a site’s top CTA than any other part of its homepage. Given their power, it’s important for businesses to design attractive CTAs that effectively encourage users to click through and complete desired actions. 

What Are Some Good Examples of Calls-to-Action? : The most obvious example of a call-to-action is a button with text like Buy Now or Learn More. However, there are many types of calls to action besides buttons; infographics and videos can also function as CTAs.

What Makes a Bad Call-to-Action? : When designing your own call-to-action, you want to make sure that you avoid making these common mistakes: Using too much text. All CTAs should include a clear verb (like subscribe or download) and benefit (like get access or save money). But adding unnecessary words will dilute your message and confuse customers. Including irrelevant images. For example, if you're trying to get people to sign up for an eNewsletter, don't put an image of someone using Facebook on your CTA.

 

The Importance of Being Mobile-Friendly

According to a recent survey by The Radicati Group, more than half of all email recipients access their email from a mobile device. This is a huge shift from just a few years ago. While desktops are still popular for most things, companies that want people to take action on their emails need to be ready for mobile viewers. Improving your response rates requires that you adapt your messaging and format in order not just stand out but also make it easy for your subscribers to get what they need when they’re on-the-go. Here are some tips to help you do just that. 

How to Make Sure Your Signup Form Is Mobile Friendly: If you want mobile users to sign up for your email list, then your signup form needs to be optimized for them. In fact, research shows that making sure your signup form works well on mobile devices can improve conversion rates by as much as 90%. In other words, having a great form could double or triple your number of new subscribers. But how do you know if yours is good enough? 

Use these three tips and checklists to find out if it's time for an upgrade! 

1.Check Your Text Size : 

It’s no secret that many mobile users prefer text over images. That means you should keep your text size relatively small so that it’s easier to read on a smaller screen. You might even consider removing images altogether if possible and using nothing but text (with a little color added). 

2.Avoid Flash : 

Another reason why text is better than images for mobile users is because flash isn't supported by Apple products like iPhones and iPads (there are ways around it, but they aren't always reliable). So, if your signup form uses flash elements or has too many images with links embedded in them, then there's a chance those links won't work properly on Apple products and that means fewer conversions. 

3.Be Careful With CAPTCHA : 

CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It's used as a security measure against bots and spammers, which is important because both pose threats to your email marketing campaigns. However, CAPTCHA tests often require users to enter random characters into a box before submitting their information. 

Unfortunately, these tests are difficult for mobile users since most phones don't have keyboards capable of generating random characters at will. As such, you'll want to avoid using any kind of CAPTCHA test on your forms if at all possible. Instead, you'll want to look for alternatives that are designed specifically for mobile users. 

Alternatives to Consider: As mentioned above, one alternative is to remove your CAPTCHA entirely and rely on plain old text entry. Another option is to use a tool like TypeKey, which allows users to type letters and numbers on their phone's keypad instead of entering them randomly. Yet another option is to ask users a question that only humans would know or understand rather than asking them to solve a puzzle. For example, you could ask users for specific facts about themselves that only humans would know, such as What was your first job? This way, you're ensuring that real people are signing up for your emails while avoiding any potential issues with bots or spam accounts. 

4.Test Your Designs : 

Once you've figured out your signup form, it's a good idea to run a split-test to see if you're getting maximum results. In other words, you want to compare two different versions of your form and determine which version gets you better results. To do that, create two versions of your form and send them out to two separate groups of people. Then, track each group's performance and compare their results in terms of open rates, click-through rates, signups and opt-outs. This will give you valuable insight into what designs are working best for mobile users and allow you to optimize your campaign accordingly. 

5.Make It Short and Sweet :

Finally, you'll want to make your signup form as short and sweet as possible. After all, mobile users are typically on-the-go and don't want to waste their time filling out long surveys or answering questions that they may not feel comfortable answering. As such, it's a good idea to ask only for necessary information in your form (such as name, email address and maybe a zip code). Also, it's a good idea to limit yourself to one or two questions at most. In other words, if you're going to ask anything else then you'll want to do it in a follow-up email once they've signed up for your list. This will ensure that you're not wasting your mobile users' time and that they're giving you only what's necessary. 

6.Make It Easy to Find : 

Another thing to remember is that mobile users are more likely to be distracted than desktop users, which means they'll need a clear call-to-action (CTA) on your signup form. In other words, they'll need something telling them exactly what to do next in as few words as possible. This could be something like Click here or Submit. Of course, it's up to you what you want your CTA to say, but just make sure it's clear and concise.

Understand Your Audience

In order to craft an email that will grab your reader’s attention, you need to have a clear idea of who your target reader is. What kind of job do they have? What kind of industry are they in? Who are their colleagues and competitors? Are they men or women? Once you have a good idea of who you’re reaching out to, you can consider their needs. What kinds of problems are they facing? Which pain points in their day-to-day lives might email address? How might you better help them achieve their goals by sending emails rather than something else like direct mail, print ads or social media posts?Knowing what information your audience wants and how they want it delivered helps you create content that resonates with them. 

When crafting an email marketing campaign, ask yourself these questions: 

Is my subject line compelling enough to get people to open my email? Will my first sentence immediately capture my audience's interest? Does each subsequent paragraph continue building on what I said in my first sentence? If someone isn't opening my emails, why not? What could I be doing differently to make sure more people click through to read them? If someone does click through, why did they click through? Did they find what they were looking for right away or did it take multiple clicks before finding it? Was there something about my design that made them click through (like a bolded call-to-action button)? If so, could I be using similar techniques elsewhere in my email campaigns to improve conversion rates across all links throughout the entire message? What happens if no one opens my email? Do I have too many images, too much text or am I just boring? 

There are lots of ways to track which strategies work best for your business. Some companies use A/B testing software to randomly show different versions of their emails to different audiences and then measure which ones performed best based on things like open rate, click-through rate and conversion rate. Other companies might hire an outside firm that specializes in tracking online behavior data. 

The point is that there's no one way to write an effective email marketing campaign but understanding how people interact with them is key when trying to figure out how yours can be improved upon. To optimize your email marketing efforts, Answer these questions: What type of content makes me most likely to open and click on an email? Am I including a strong call-to-action that tells me exactly what I should do next? Are my calls-to-action relevant at every stage of my customer journey? Have I built trust with customers over time and made myself valuable enough to share personal information (like name and company) in exchange for something even more valuable offers tailored specifically to them? Have I created value beyond myself (for example, resources other companies would pay money for) so that people would be willing to give up personal information without hesitation or even knowing they're doing it?

 

Give Them a Reason to Open!

Unopened emails are a missed opportunity. First, you'll miss out on potential customers who don't want to open an email from a business they've never heard of. Second, those people who do open your email but don't engage will be passed over for someone else's more compelling message later on. But how can you ensure that people open your emails? 

Simple: Give them a reason! Use personalized subject lines and personalize messages when it makes sense. Don't just create one single email template that you send out to every customer; instead, try tailoring each piece of communication. You can also ask a question at the end of your email so recipients have a reason to click through and find out more about what you have to offer. 

Asking questions helps foster engagement with your audience and gets them thinking about how they might respond. Finally, make sure your email copy is clear and concise no rambling or dense text! Keep things simple by using bullet points whenever possible. When you keep things brief, you're more likely to hold readers' attention and encourage them to take action. So, now that you know how to get people to open your emails, let's talk about getting them to click through...

If you're following these tips and coming up with thoughtful, unique emails consistently great job! Now it's time to increase that conversion rate. Here are a few helpful strategies you can use in order to give your subscribers a reason to act:

Need more inspiration? Check out our list of 20 ideas for increasing email conversion rates . And even after you get people opening and clicking your emails, there’s still plenty more work left to do if you really want to succeed online. To learn how to turn those openers and clickers into customers, check out our post on customer retention .

If you're looking for a great way to send newsletters from your WordPress site, try MailChimp! It's free up to 2,000 subscribers (which is way more than most businesses need), and it makes it easy to create templates that look great across multiple devices. Plus, they've got tons of awesome features like A/B testing (so you can test different versions of your newsletter against each other) as well as built-in social media sharing tools that make it super simple for readers to share with their friends. Try MailChimp today!

 

Some Final Words

Getting your emails opened is often as simple as making sure you have a compelling subject line. And, in fact, one of my clients who creates email newsletters told me that he sees open rates go up even if he simply switches out his subject lines for ones that are more specific about what readers will find inside. Another big mistake people make with their emails is sending them out too frequently (no one likes an over-emailer). The best rule of thumb is to send out mass emails no more than once or twice a month unless you are promoting something very specific like a sale or discount code.