Wednesday, March 11, 2009

How to improve your open rates.

To increase your open rate, you need to re-evaluate three things: your 1) content, 2) delivery time and day, and 3) contact list quality and age.

Check your content.

Use a recognizable "From" name.
Make sure you use a "From" name and address that includes your name, company, product, or service name - whichever the recipient will know best. When you repeatedly brand the "From" line like this over time, you assure the recipient that the email is coming from a reliable and trusted source and builds familiarity and credibility.

Grab them with the "Subject" line. Make sure the subject is short and to the point, between 30 and 40 characters and no more than 5-8 words, and state a clear benefit to opening the email. Make sure the subject line does not look like spam. You do not want to use any unnecessary punctuation, all capitals, or have your email come across as a trick or gimmick.

Target your audience. Send a short survey to learn more about your audience. You can then segment your audience by saving respondents with similar interests and preferences into new contact lists.

Consider your delivery day and time. Industry statistics suggest that recipients are more receptive to offers in the mid-day, mid-week timeframe. See our previous blog on when to e-mail your newsletters.

Evaluate your list. Sometimes your email or survey content is good but, if you are getting a lot of bounced emails or any spam reports, your contact list needs cleaning. Keep your list up to date.

When you utilize an Internet program like Constant Contact, they have a report center so you can evaluate each e-mail blast including, open rate, click through, bounces, and spam reports.

Take a look at this system: click here or go to:

http://newsletterville.constantcontact.com

Please note that if you need any help feel free to give Sorrell Associates & Newsletterville.com a call at 740-824-4842.

Need help getting your marketing up and running? Contact us today.

Got Newsletter? Need Help?

Take a look at some of the newsletters that we have created for our clients.

Go to: http://www.newsletterville.com/page2.html

Also, you will find over 10 Free Newsletter Templates to use for your newsletters.

Free templates can be found at:

http://www.newsletterville.com/free_newsletter_templates.htm

Call or e-mail if you have any questions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Gary 740-824-4842 ~ Gary@newsletterville.com

PS - sign up for our Free Newsletter and receive 3 Free Special Reports...Instantly. Click here.

Free Special Reports

  • Free Report 1- 4 Time Saving E-Mail Tips.htm

  • Free Report 2- Do’s & Don’ts For E-Mail Subject Lines

  • Free Report 3- How To Encourage Visitors To Your Web Site

  • Plus an added report on the CanSpam law.

    PSS – we have boiler plate newsletter templates too. Includes content, formatting, graphics, and layout. For the do it yourself style newsletter.

    Go to: http://www.newsletterville.com/boilerplate_newsletters.htm

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