How to get a better open rate with your email campaigns?

A few days back we met the marketing manager of a big online marketing firm based in India who was discussing his email marketing strategies with us. Based on the fact that we have been in this game for a while, we just tried to confirm the open rate, to which the response we got was 2%, and on top of that is supposed to be the industry standard.

So, how come have we consistently maintained an average open rate of 21.8% for an eCommerce brand selling high purchase price items(taking out the unsubscribed and people who marked us as spam 🙁 )?

For a while, we were not even sure if apples and oranges were being compared. Based on further discussions the mistakes being made by a “big online marketing firm” were very evident.

So here is a list of dos and don’ts  for your next email marketing campaign:

Never buy a database: Every now and then you would be receiving emails where the email addresses of people of certain demographics and designations are sold. Never fall for these. As a user why would I like to receive an email from someone trying to sell me things and worst of all why would I open an email from an unknown brand.

Never wake anyone up: With the smartphone and tablet revolution, emails are mostly read on smartphones or tablets. People have email alerts set to alert them on their phones. Why would I like to be woken up in the middle of the night to see your email?  Be careful with your list and send it appropriately. Timing is important.

Never send to People who have Unsubscribed: They clearly did not like what was sent to them. Be ethical and mark them on your list and do not send an email to them again. This is also again the email policy of all the emailing platforms and the next step is that you will be marked as SPAM.

Set your email addresses/endpoints properly: There are whitepapers by https://aws.amazon.com discussing these in more detail. Follow these well, otherwise, you might end up blacklisting your domain.

Design your emails well: One word. KISS-Keep it simple stupid. No need to go full fancy on this. The bottom line is you get your point across and the thing opens on all platforms. Plus all email clients render HTML differently. The fancier your email, the more the chances for it breaking.

Check your grammar: Once you click the submit button, it’s gone. Make sure you proofread your email before sending it.

Get personal but don’t stalk: Using the person’s first name is good, using his designation; his demographic will classify you as a stalker.

Create a brand: This is the only interaction you would be having with most of these people, it has to be consistent with your brand.

We, Digitas Digital are also a digital marketing company, in addition to being a technology solutions provider. We’ve helped our clients grow digitally and we have grown with them. Contact us today and see if we can help you. I am sure we can 😉