Many factors impact the open rate of an email campaign.
Open rate is the result of dividing percentage of emails opened by the percentage of emails successfully delivered. Uncertain how your campaign compares? Here is one vendor's collection of average open rates by industry >>
There is more to the story, of course, and a clear understanding of open rate is important when it is used as a measure of success. Here is a great explanation of Open Rate >>
Looking for ways to improve a campaign's open rate? Although there are many factors impacting open rates that we cannot control, there are several that we can control.
Factors we cannot control include:
- Subscriber's inbox settings
- Subscriber email host's filter settings
- Subscriber's behavior
Factors that we can control include:
- Sender reputation
- Relevance
- Timing
Sender reputation has the greatest impact on whether or not your email gets delivered. Consequently, it also affects whether or not it gets opened. ISPs look at how often your emails are sent, how many are sent, how many bounce, how many are opened, and how many complaints are made against your sending domain name and IP address. This string of reputation data adjusts every time you send an email campaign, and attaches itself to every email you send going forward. If you develop a bad sender reputation your email is less likely to get delivered and thus less likely to get opened. Use email marketing best practices to avoid a negative sender reputation. Here is a great article about email marketing best practices >>
Relevance requires some amount of marketing research. Determine the behaviors and preferences of existing customers to assist in building a more targeted message. Create unique segments within your list of subscribers. Even if you send just two targeted versions of the same marketing message, the campaign will likely draw better results.
Timing is one factor that is a moving target. Best time to send this summer may shift this fall. Timing is directly related to relevance. Timing is also a two-part equation: there is the time an email is sent, and then there is time the email is opened. Testing is key to timing, and resending is always an option. Here is a good article about the benefits of resending an email >>
If you are searching for ways to improve open rates for your email campaign, it may be time for a program audit - spend an hour with a pro from WinCommunications. Take-aways include an action plan for improvements. Click to learn more >>
