Email Open Rate - 5 Tactics For Bigger Results

This is crucial guys! ???♂?

You can put a ton of effort into creating your automatization flow, sequencing, writing persuasive body text… But if your mail doesn’t get opened, you will not achieve any results from all of that!

The importance of the subject line is well known, but writing a good clickable subject line isn’t that easy.

You know that the best-performing ones have 40 characters or less. That means that in less than 40 characters, you need to give enough reasons to the user to open your mail next to the thousands of other emails within his inbox.

Thankfully, there are a couple of proven techniques that help you to quickly interest a user for the content inside your mail and lead it to the opening of your mail.

1. Scarcity & fear of missing out

We all know that this is a powerful motivator!

People react much more strongly when they feel they’re about to lose something than when they expect to gain something.

Let’s see some examples of how big brands used this tactic:

Uber: “Grab a ride pass before they’re gone” 

J.Crew Factory: “Click it or miss it, people: Over 500 styles under $25 is ending!” 

Charles Tyrwhitt: “Shirts for $39 ENDS MIDNIGHT” 

Wizard TIP ???♂? - The bigger the value of your offer-the bigger the effect of this tactic will be! 

When you use this technique on your landing page, email or headline, keep in mind that its primary function is to lead the user to take the desired action instantly. 

But before that, it’s important that users already have developed motivation for that product. 

If you say - ‘Hurry up! A 5% discount ends tonight!’ The user will not recognize the true value of your offer, and because of that, it will not get the feeling like he is truly losing something

2. Curiosity

What motivates you to watch episode after episode of your favorite tv show until 4 a.m. on the workdays?

I know that you know the answer - it’s curiosity!

What will happen next? Is he going to marry her? Oooo what a cliff hanger!

Use that in your subject line! ???♂?

Let’s see how the big faces are using this:

Madewell: “Everyone’s gonna ask you about these” 

Tory Burch: “This. Is. It.” 

Refinery29 Everywhere: “The $1,000 hair trend with a dirty little secret” 

3. Numbered list.

Do you know that headlines with numbers tend to generate 73% more social shares and engagement?

The effectiveness of this tactic is evident in the subject lines!

Wizard TIP ???♂? - When you use numbers - use big numbers.

When you’re trying to earn user’s click with numbers, the value of the content inside of the mail is determined with those numbers. So bigger the number is, bigger the value of the content will be in the user’s eyes. 

For eg. If the discount on your product which costs 20$ is 20%, use a 20% discount on your subject line. If the discount on your product which costs 1000$ is 20% then use a 200$ discount in your subject line.

Let's check some of the examples:

JetBlue: "1,750 points for you. Valentine's flowers & more for them."

Old Navy: “Thousands (yes! thousands!) of styles from $5”

Birchbox: “FREE Limited Edition Box (a $129 Value!) to Start the Fun”

4. Personalized

“A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Dale Carnegie

You are right Dale Carnegie!

Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.

And the best thing is that writing a personalized email and subject lines has never been easier!

Almost every email marketing platform has a different personalization option which helps you to move closer to the targeted user and build a deeper relationship with him.

Let’s see some of the examples:

LinkedIn: “[Name], people are looking at your LinkedIn profile”

Guess: “[Name], check out these hand-picked looks”

Rent the Runway: “Happy Birthday [Name] – Surprise Inside!”

5. Funny

The main reason why scarcity & fear of missing technique is giving such good results is that it quickly affects the user’s emotions.

But in order to attract user’s clicks, you don’t need to play only on negative emotions.

Waking up positive emotions within users with funny and creative subject lines shows superb open rates results, but more importantly, it ensures a good connotation of your brand.

This ensures a positive benefit on your further emails and their open rates!

So next time when the user sees the email from your brand: ‘Oooo this mail is from those crazy cool guys from ______, let’s see what they have for me this time’ 

Let’s see some of the genius examples of this:

Baby Bump: “Yes, I’m Pregnant. You Can Stop Staring At My Belly Now.”

Eater Boston: "Where to Drink Beer Right Now"

The Muse: “We Like Being Used”

Conclusion

There are many other techniques and creative innovative ways that can lead you to the improvement of your open rates and ultimately bring you better results of email marketing.

Write How to - Social Proof - Case Study Subject Lines, put the emoji’s or leave your subject line empty! But take one of the biggest advantages of digital marketing and test, test and test more!

Thank you for your time folks! ???♂?