E-Marketing Tips: Five tips to get your email opened

Five tips to get your email opened
Cavan Downes, Strategic Services Director, Asia Pacific, Epsilon International

E-Marketing Tips


Keywords :	email marketing guide, brand domain, subject line	Date :	11-15-2008

Newsletter > Asia Pacific > 2008 > Nov > E-Marketing Tips

For a consumer it takes just one click to open an email. But if you are reputable email marketer, getting your emails opened is a constant struggle against the forces that are protecting the consumer from the continuous onslaught of spam, viruses and confidence tricksters.

Here are five must-dos for maintaining a respectable and healthy open rate.


1.	First and foremost, get your email in the inbox

	Your campaign is doomed from the outset if your email doesn’t make it to your customers’ inboxes. This could be caused by ISP blocking or junking issues. Unless your email deliverability is under control, there is little to gain from working on strategies and tactics to drive your opens and clicks.

	»	Ensure you are mailing from a branded and fixed domain. This will help build and protect your sender reputation.

	»	White-list your IP address and mail from this same IP to build your reputation.

	»	Maintain a regular and consistent mailing volume. If you are to increase your mailing size or to move to a new IP, don’t spike your delivery volume in one go; increment gradually.

	»	Ask your customers to add your email address to their address books or safe-sender lists. Provide instructions for major email clients to make this process as simple as possible.

2.	Brand your 'From' address

	Brand before the @ as well as after, as this is the first thing a consumer will see. Recognizing the brand in a ’From’ address has proved to be a key influencer on a consumer’s decision to open an email. Too many organizations, large and small, fail to capitalize on this opportunity to build brand loyalty and trust.

3.	Use a clear subject line

	»	Repeat your brand at the beginning of the subject line.

	»	Make sure the purpose of the email is clear from the subject line.

	»	Include the core benefit of the email message in the first 3-4 words of the subject line.

	»	Avoid using any symbols, including currency signs, in a subject line.

4.	Capitalize on the preview pane real estate

	»	Make sure the key message of the email is clearly visible and easy to read in the preview pane.

	»	Check that your email renders clearly, with or without images, in the preview pane and that your offer and call to action are clearly visible.

5.	Make it relevant

	»	Ensure your email communications are relevant and anticipated. At the point of registration ensure that you clearly articulated what a customer should expect from the relationship; make sure you say what you do and do what you say! Remind the consumers through the welcome email stream of the benefits of the relationship.

	»	Don't abuse consumer consent and send irrelevant content. Irrelevance is the new spam.

	»	Send at a time that makes sense to the consumer; it helps if you know where they are and what time zone they are in.

	»	Personalize your content, but avoid names in the subject line, as it looks like a spam. Personalize based on both explicit and implied data points. These could include name, email, frequency of message, location of subscriber services and offers.

E-Marketing Tips

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