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How can you make more of your customers open your emails?

Guest post by: Sarah Haines

Article Overview: The secret to sucess in email marketing is to get your customers to open the email that you send them. Emails that aren't opened are sales opportunities that can't be converted. We have some simple and easy tips on how to improve open rates for your email marketing campaigns.

How can you make more of your customers open your emails?

A common mistake is to assume that the fantastic return on investment on email marketing campaigns means miracle results. While open rates vary due to a number of factors, it is unrealistic to expect all your marketing emails to be opened, even when sending to customers that you have a great relationship with. Opening rates are rarely a reflection on your company or campaign, naturally customers simply dont open every email they receive. You can increase opening rates by learning from your first campaigns how to produce emails that appeal more to your customers, however, a track record of sending your customers useful email will have the greatest effect on opening rates. Instead of simply looking for a quick sale, think of your email marketing as a longer term strategy. Most email marketing campaigns will win sales, but if you dont look at the longer term picture too then the success will be limited.

Building a reputation for usefulness and sending your customers emails that bring value will result in longer term relationships and more sales. Industry specific news in your mailers will show clear value to consumers, articles containing tips and advice are also popular. Dont be afraid to draw your customers attention by asking them questions, you can even get them involved in product reviews in many industries. Engaging your customer with a simple survey can have a big influence on their willingness to open future emails from your company. By not simply sending your customers information about offers and promotions, conversely you are actually much more likely to get information about those offers in front of them.

Your mailing list is a key starting point for your targeted email campaign. It might seem obvious, but dont send email to people who dont want to receive it. Getting customers to opt in (rather than opt out) ensures that your target audience are receptive to emails from you. Opening rates will be very measurably higher if you approach email marketing in this way, and you will not be labelled as a spammer.

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Article Tags: email marketing campaigns, email marketing uk



Related Forum Posts
Re: Email autoresponder messages: what delivery intervals? - Depending on the campaign, but I do either daily or I make sure every 7 days people receive emails from me. Reason for this is if you opt-in on Monday, you might be more likely to open email again on Mondays. Also, if there are sales taking place, it's good to send out on the 1st and the 15th. Friday is a payday for many so that works out well. I haven't tested what time to send, but two friends who send more emails than I know send 11AM CST and 4AM CST.
Re: What i hate... - [quote="Trent Brownrigg":3srgv506]It does suck when people don't reply to emails. However, you need to take into consideration that some of them probably get hundreds of emails per day that they would have to reply to if they replied to them all. And with all the spam these days it's easy for a legitimate email to get overlooked or lost. I'm sure more often than not they are just not replying because they don't want to but there are some good reasons that might be the case.[/quote:3srgv506] I agree with Trent on this point. Also I think a lot of emails are sent from auto responders and they are general ones that go out to everyone one on the list, so many of these don't require answers. It's true that I also don't open emails if they come from someone I don't know. Who know what kind of virus can be in there. MichelleJ
Business Owners: Attention Please - Hi Guys I’m about to release what I call our Email Marketing System. This application will be progressively advanced in the coming months as we continually test the system. The application right now will allow companies to send mass (but personalized) emails to all their customers. You'll be able to send emails that say "Hi John…," "Hi Susan…,” etc. Once the email is sent, you will be able to track it (i.e. how many people open it, go to your website, forward it to a friend, subscribe to your send out, unsubscribe, etc). I am looking for a few business owners who are willing to test the system out, using it for their email marketing, and provide feedback from it. I want to test it first before opening it to the public. If you have never had an email campaign I can help you set it up. There will not be any charges while we are testing the system and I might keep it like that depending on usage vs. resources. If anyone is interested can you please PM me with your details. If you have any questions feel free to message me as well. And for those worried about privacy issues, I won’t have access nor be able to see the emails you have stored. Thanks guys!
Re: When is your interest peaked by unsolicited mail? - The worth spammers are like the one I got today. They have no shame, they will subscribe to your newsletter and use it to reply and spam you. The subject line is usually "RE:your subject", I recognize my emails, and this just make me so angry, because I am opening these emails, maybe one of my readers need my help, and this "lady" today, saying thank you for a valuable info, and then writing more and more and some more on her business, and how she made money, when we know she didn't, otherwise why is she sending me spam? 4 emails like this, the same text, from the same person, replying to 4 emails sent by my autoresponder. I have other things to do with my time, like sleeping!
Re: Strange behavior - [quote="OmnivoreInk":27iygbnb]If its just happening today, I'd say restart your computer, and then give the site another try...[/quote:27iygbnb] No, its been happening for several weeks - just getting tired of it. I wasn't getting reply emails for a couple of months and now I get emails and some of them open multiple pages. Strange??? Shri


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