A good email open rate are vital for your business if it relies on sales. Having your customers read an email and act upon it can improve dramatically if you adopt these 27 hacks that are evergreen in 2019.
Email still offers the best opportunity to create sales way beyond social media. But there are some key important ingredients to boost your email open rates, especially in 2019.
Let’s check out these ‘insider hacks’ now.
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Let’s get personal
We all love hearing our name being called or seeing it in print. It screams “I am important” and we all love the recognition.
Include the recipient’s name in the subject line.
My email supplier GetResponse reported a 42% increase in email open rates just by putting somebody’s name in the subject line.
I’m all in “George, Tom, Sally, Bianca. -
Go short with your subject line
It’s a fast world. We are a growing bunch of scanners.
We often view our emails off mobile devices. So it’s important that our subject lines are short and catch our readers attention.
Around 50-65 characters is ideal. -
Drop the money, free and get rich words from your subject line
Spam filters love these types of words and will gobble your email up in a flash.
And that means your recipient won’t see your email. All of the great message you crafted will be wasted to the junk box. Avoid like the plague! -
Open with enticement
You know the few lines of blurb you see when you start reading an email.
How do you rank – boring or enticing.
Make sure you come out of the blocks with some eye grabbing copy that makes your reader craving to read the rest.
Too many businesses adopt the ‘serious business tone’, use robot like speak and come across as stiff.
Emails need to be conversational. You can be professional be using your own personalty and not come off as a corporate bore. Loosen the tie and let your personal voice flow. -
Readers love numbers
25 email marketing hacks screams value.
Readers think there is value in the piece and will open your email.
Getting 25 email open rate hacks for FREE ids hot; right -
The world is not always positive – keep it real
I don’t know about you but my life isn’t always rosy.
Like everybody I have my up and down days. So get real when you email your customers.
A bit of negativity is ok but don’t over do it.
“The world is ending today unless you…..” Cheesy but you’d want to know the answer wouldn’t you if you could save the world. How about:
“3 foods that’ll keep you fat”. Now I would definitely read that one -
What would a friend say
This flows on from an earlier point but it’s important to remind you again.
When you speak to a mate, how do you talk.
Casual, friendly – right. Do the same in your emails. -
Divorce can be brutal, so can breaking up with a subscriber
The size of an email list can be deceptive. Big looks impressive.
But what if a large percentage of your list is ‘dead or non-responsive’. Worse still they never buy a thing from you.
It’s time to get brutal. Yep it’s time to clean up your subscriber list, cull the dead wood and only focus your well crafted emails on those you have a responsive relationship with.
Yes relationships are a two way street. If you love the content so far please don’t forget to leave a comment at the end. Thank you in advance -
Hubspot reckons emails without subject lines can also work.
According to gang at HS they have stats showing email open rates going up by 8% in some cases.
Give it a try. Experiment. See what works best for you. Personally I’m a ‘with subject line kind of guy’. -
Smiley faces get readers……..smiling
Emojis can brighten up your email copy especially if you throw in a few smiles.
Worth considering……….. -
Drop the ALL CAPITALS headline
Come on bro, there’s no need to shout.
In the pre 2019 era capitals were all the rage.
But this year’s customer friendly hack is to go lower case just lie how we would speak to somebody.
“I just wanted to let you know Joan that I love you”
Better to whisper than upset Joan’s spouse and besides I may be thanking her for her recent purchase and not offering a marriage proposal. -
Everybody loves to laugh even stiff professionals
It may not be your style but give it a go.
Humorous posts create good vibes and will generally be better remembered by your reader.
Marty Wilson Australia’s leading comic presenter says that comedy in talks and posts improves the message you are trying to deliver. -
Building trust by asking for help
Everybody loves to help somebody. It’s human nature. It makes the both the giver and recipient feel good.
And it builds trust between people.
So why not try “Can I ask you a favour?” or “Can you help me?” -
Start your subject line with a verb
Crikey I just did. Did you notice? Yep START is a verb.
Join, receive, hurry, discover, save are all great action verbs to start an email
Do it today………..( hmmm I’m starting to get a bit addicted to this stuff – next strategy….) -
Emails that form part of a series – let people know
Firstly it lets the reader know to expect more emails in their inbox shortly.
It indicates that a topic can not be delivered in just one email; so it must be important.
Real estate agent Tom Perry successfully uses this strategy for his auction bidding email campaign to potential buyers. “This is the first email in our 5 part series on how to successfully bid at an auction”. He finds his clients turn up educated and prepared to bid which leads to a successful sale for the seller. It’s a WIN:WIN. -
New is ….ummmm….errrr….new
New things attract our eye. New car, new shoes, new watch.
But it’s also a great way to let your readers know that you have something new for them, even when it’s not so obvious.
Use it in a headline “14 New Ways To Date The Girl Of Your Dreams”
You can also throw up a Facebook post or Youtube video and let people know you’ve got something new out today
” New Post: 5 Groundbreaking Strategies To Make You A Million Dollar Agent”
“New Video Out Today: Why I Fired My Best Salesperson And Doubled My Business” -
We love figures – throw in a stat
Subject lines that have a statistic in them get opened 27% more than non stat headlines according to LinkChump. People believe numbers; it’s that simple.
Numbers build trust
“73% of all primary school kids smoke before they enter high school”
If you’re a Mum of an eleven year old you’d want to read that article, wouldn’t you? -
Psst want to know a secret – we love secrets, don’t we?
What happens when somebody says to us “Want to hear a secret?” Our ears immediately prick up.The word secret written in a subject line fires up our curiosity to click on the title because we just have to know.
“The secret lies your real estate agent is keeping from you. Don’t get caught out – read this immediately AND share to your friends”
“The secret tactic I used to getting 23,869 Facebook followers last month” -
Be a name dropper – don’t we all at some time
We’re all a bit curious about celebrities even beyond musicians and film stars.
Celebrities in our own industry create a vibe and if you can drop their name into your article, especially into the subject line, then you will capture the interest of more readers.
“5 things Gary Vaynerchuk told me over lunch”
You could write a quote style article using a famous influencer to give more credibility. Evan Carmichael does this very well in his hit video series on YouTube “10 success tips from Tony Robbins/Tim Ferris/Eon Musk” -
You don’t need to giveaway the farm but a nice prize gets attention
Everybody loves the chance to win a prize. It doesn’t have to be a hugely expensive prize either.
Add free entry and boom watch your readership explode
“Subscribe to my newsletters and go into the draw to win a $100 Visa voucher) -
Short, one word subject lines win
Take a look at your inbox (just not right now though…lol).
Is it a cluttered mess. Are all the subject lines blending in to create one big blurred vision of mess?
Any subject lines standing out in this kaos? I bet it’s the one word heading.
How are you today Greg
14 lead magnets that are cool right now
Tools to run your six figure business
Boo
This might be the last email you get from me
We are adding a two step verification
Enter our raffle prize draw -
Readers love ‘how-to’ emails and posts
Knowing how to do something is a yearning for most people. We want to improve and by learning a new skill, we feel enriched.
The title immediately conveys that we will be taught something. Value is about to be added to our lives. And we love that.
“How to grow strawberries all year round”
“How to master Facebook ads even if you’re just getting started” -
Don’t buy email subscriber leads
You’ll just waste your money.
Email marketing is about building relationships. If you have no relationship with your subscriber, you’ll be able to sell them your product or service.
Besides this practice being blatant spam, your new ‘10,000 email subscribers for $19.99″ never asked to be placed onto your list and most likely don’t want to be there.
Cold leads will leave you cold….and broke…..and frustrated…. and in trouble. You’ll get shut down. DON’T DO IT! -
Be relevant – send an email that’s wanted
One message doesn’t fit all. Readers wanting to buy a house need different information to those who have already done so.
Therefore you need to segment your lists and provide customized information relevant to each list.
If you don’t you’ll see a decline in your list size. And that’s not good. -
Invest log term
Readers want to know that you are with them for the long haul.
They need to know that you are not a ‘one-email-wonder’. Commit to provide regular regular email updates to your readers and add value to their lives -
Video is hot in 2019
Mix up your emails by throwing in a video. Announce it in your subject line to spark interest.
The great thing with video is that you can transcribe the content using a service like Rev.com and use that to provide written content for your email or post -
Let the latest news to make your subject lines topical
This is a great 2019 hack to actually drive eyeballs to your content.
“What the Louisiana floods taught me about humanity”
“Donald Trump’s meeting with Democrat Nancy: Negotiating skills I need to learn”
Conclusion
If you want more people to read your emails, improve your copywriting.
Your email open rates will boom if you try the above hacks.
What’s hot in 2019 is consistently what’s been hot throughout time. That is, quality always reigns supreme.
Be mindful of who you are writing for. Toss in a bit of curiosity, the occasional bit of humour, stir things up with some negativity and try the numbered list format – any of these will bring you a ton of readers AND they’ll be rushing back for more.
Social media continues to be an influencer with email subject lines but video is the dominant hack for 2019. It’s given rise to the hybrid post – and in a fast paced world fast consumption of content is king.
What’s your favourite email open rate hack? Which one will you adopt? Let me know with a comment below.