Getting More Clicks and Opens
When you go through your inbox, you probably pay close attention to only a few emails— maybe 10 percent.
What went wrong with the 90 percent of emails that you didn’ t engage with? Maybe they didn’ t have great copy or design, or you didn’ t like the sender’ s products or services. Maybe you don’ t have a trusted relationship with the senders, and those emails just got lost in the sea of emails in your inbox.
As we say earlier in“ Writing effective email subject lines,” you have about three to four seconds to grab your reader’ s attention, so a great subject line, perfect copy and design, and an awesome promotion aren’ t always enough. That may seem a bit unfair.
To get you over this final hump, here are some tips to give your emails an extra boost:
Get the timing right. Send your emails at times when others aren’ t sending email. Then your emails will stand out in people’ s inboxes and get a higher open rate. We’ ve found that the best times to send emails are from 8:30 to 10 a. m., 2:30 to 3:30 p. m., and 8 p. m. to midnight.
Call people by name. Our research shows that emails with a first name in the subject line garner a 23 percent higher open rate. That’ s an amazing boost, but don’ t use this trick too often. It loses its effectiveness if overused.
Be positive in the morning and negative at night. We all wake up bright-eyed and excited to face the new day( okay, after we’ ve had our coffee). Take advantage of that fact by sending positive email messages during the morning hours. In the evenings, negative messages are better accepted.
If you’ re going to send a negative message— perhaps about a declining market or an urgent need— make sure that you offer a solution to the problem as part of your email. No one likes to be made to feel hopeless.
Be controversial or relevant. Stand out in the inbox by bringing up controversial topics( even if you worry that some of your subscribers won’ t agree with you) or relevant content.
Use odd or specific numbers. Everyone has ten tips for doing just about everything. Try using different numbers:“ 6 ways to change your business tonight,”“ 14 simple ideas to teach your child math,” or“ The $ 234,423 idea that changed everything,” for example.