A client recently asked me what type of open and click through rates they should expect from their ezine campaign. In general if you have a good, clean email list and relevant, interesting content then you can expect open rates between 15% and 30% and click through rates of 1% to 6%.
So, if you feel your campaign can perform better have a look at the tips below and make sure your next campaign follows these guidelines.
Your subject line is one of the most important elements of your email campaign. It’s got to be relevant and compelling to each and every one of your recipients. You should be spending a significant amount of time writing your subject line (don’t just slap this on right before you send). Your recipients get hundreds of emails a day. Why should they open yours?
Get Your Timing Right
Experiment by sending your campaign on different days (and times). If you’re trying to promote a weekend event, you might get better results with a Thursday campaign than a Monday campaign. You might also avoid the morning email flood, and send just after people have deleted their usual early-morning spam.
Don’t Wear Them Out!
Try not to become a nag by sending your campaigns too frequently. People will just get tired of hearing from you. You could send a little less often, or offer different types of communications (daily vs. weekly vs. monthly) that they can sign up for.
Know who you’re sending to
If you’re using a very old list of customers, a lot of the addresses on your list have probably gone bad. People change their email addresses all the time, such as when they start receiving too much spam, or change jobs.
Make sure your content is interesting and relevant
People get tons of email. Why should they read yours? If you’re not providing interesting, useful content in your emails, they’re not going to open it. People don’t want to just hear from you, they want something useful from you.
Avoid Spam Filters
The thing to remember here is that spam filters look for clues in your email to determine if you’re friend or foe. You should design your email and write your content with spam filters in mind, and keep the "spaminess" down to an absolute minimum. Don’t use spammy phrases, and don’t write with all caps, like "CLICK HERE NOW!!!" or, "LIMITED TIME OFFER!" There are plenty of factors that spam filters look for (too many to list here), but a few simple things you can do to avoid spam filters include: Avoid adding extraneous quotations marks (e.g. !!!! or €€€). Try not to include excessive use of words such as Free, or repeating words one after another and always ensure any claims you make are backed up on the website.
Open rates can also depend on your particular industry: for example an ezine from the healthcare industry is less likey to be opened. We're all used to getting spam about certain pharmaceuticals, miracle cures etc. so we are likely to over look the email and delete it. But if you're lucky enough to be in Food industry you're likey to get quite a good return and higher click through rate - of course everyone needs to eat!
Ruth has been making websites for almost a decade, and has been with Fireball as senior web designer for the last 4 years.
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