We can all agree sending emails that don’t get opened is very frustrating. You’ve done it all, checked the creative inboxes well across the major email service providers, chose an intriguing subject line that doesn’t contain any spammy wording and broadcasted from your prime dedicated IP range. So why such a poor open rate?

The bottom line is no one really knows which emails will be opened by their target audience but there’s a few key points mailers tend to overlook.

When a consumer receives a promotional email they’re much less likely to open compared to a email from a brand which they have previously bought from in the past so we are already at a disadvantage. Here’s our top tips to level the playing field:

• Data. The data you’re sending to is by far the most important factor, especially for long term engagement. We run a very strict cleaning program that’s constantly learning and improving. Cleaning out hard bounces, users with full inboxes, spam & honey traps, etc etc are the obvious ones. However, be brave and implement a strict sunsetting policy. Start removing those who haven’t engaged in a while, your base will decrease in size but will drastically improve in quality which will help future delivery. With email, always be working to improve future delivery.
• Timing. Don’t under estimate the power of timing. Hitting the consumer at the time they’re most likely to engage will provide a huge uplift to the engagement you see. Catching the consumer at the right time is vital and will help your email stand out over the clutter of the competition. Luckily our proprietary sending platform monitors every email we send to constantly learn our databases behaviour at user level, not all ESP’s will do this.
• Frequency & volume. Don’t send too often (no more than once per week) and keep volumes at similar levels especially if sending via dedicated IP’s. Remember, email service providers are not keen on big spikes of volume.
• Targeting. This feels like the most obvious method to improve engagement but its actually pretty difficult to segment an audience in most ESP’s. With OPEND, you can target by age, sex, location and interest in the click of a few buttons but this isn’t the case with most ESP’s.

We hope these tips knock your open and click thought rates into shape!