10 (Almost Unknown) Tips to Triple Your Email Open Rates

Email is and will continue to be, the best way of keeping in touch with (and selling to) your audience, regardless of what your business is.

But what’s the point of sending emails or building an email list if your subs aren’t going to read them anyway…

Most people have extremely low open rates and can’t understand why.

I struggled with my open rates for a long time, but that along with my love for email marketing forced me to learn more than I could ever have imagined.

In this post, I will share with you my best hacks to get your subscribers to open, read, and anxiously wait for your next email.

After reading two amazing books on email marketing, I felt like an expert and was doing great until one day, when my open rates went from over 50% to under 5%.

I needed to understand what was going on, and again, dug deep into research and testing…

In a moment of despair, I even contacted my email service provider asking what was going on.

Why had people suddenly stopped receiving my emails?

You see, that’s the first thing you need to understand… To open your emails, people need to receive them. Which means that open rates are directly tied to deliverability just like click rate is to open rate.

First, we’ll focus on improving your deliverability and then I’ll share a few easy tricks that’ll get your subscribers opening every single email.

Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means that if you click on the link and buy something, I will receive an affiliate commission. This has no cost to you and I only recommend tools that I use or have used myself and that are within the most useful, to the best of my knowledge.

Tip #1 Use a Good Host

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After struggling for months to get to 10% opens on a welcome email, even though I was using all the techniques I’d studied, I learned my final lesson:

My host was crap and was using a shared server to send emails!

What does this mean?

Well, in a way, it’s like emailing from a Gmail account.

It only works if you’re emailing to 1 person at a time…

One of the factors that the receiving email service providers (ESPs) use to identify how to deliver your messages (spam, promotion or inbox) is domain reputation.

If people who receive emails from your domain flag them as spam, it signals the ESPs that your emails are probably not desired.

Now, let’s say your email marketing skills are awesome.

You’re applying all the tips you learned in this post, there are no reasons for your emails not to be delivered onto your subscribers’ inboxes…

But you’re using a shared hosting server.

If just one of the people emailing from that server is not following best practices and his/her subscribers flag those emails as spam, this will signal the email providers that all the emails coming from that server are likely to be spam (including yours).

Emailing from a dedicated domain and a good server means that your actions are your own. If you always follow best practices you’ll gain a good reputation!

I now host all my websites and domains with Bluehost!

After two years and 4 hosting companies, this is the only one with which I never had problems.

Tip #2 Keep Your Open Rates Up

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It sounds ambiguous, I know, but stay with me.

I told you about reputation. The same applies on a smaller scale.

If people are engaging with your emails, opening, clicking on links, etc, your reputation increases, so the higher your stats, the more your emails will land on the correct folder.

There’s a very easy technique I like to use to keep getting higher open rates and improve my reputation:

Always send more than one email – I like to send series of 3 or more emails.

These would be composed of:

1. Create curiosity without fully mentioning your offer/blog post, or whatever you intend to promote. Mention the result and that they can find out more by clicking the link.
   • Example subject: “Get [DESIRED RESULT] faster than ever”;
   • Drop link: “Click here to find out the fastest way to get [DESIRED RESULT]”;
2. Mention your offer or blog post and what it can do for your subscriber.
3. Scarcity – Inform that the offer will end soon, that you won’t send the link again, etc…

But the trick I use to very easily and constantly get very high open rates here is to send the second and third email only to those who opened the 1st.

For better results, you can even create a loop between emails using the p.s.: (e.g. “tomorrow I’ll share a little known tip on how to [DESIRED RESULT], make sure you open my email”).

You can later send email 2 and 3 to the rest of the list if you wish, but by this time you’ve already enjoyed an open rate of 50% for sure, which boosted your rep.

The following is an example of a series of 3 emails I sent to an inactive segment of my list to re-engage them:

These people had not opened my emails, so they automatically got sent to an inactive list.

After a couple of days, they received these 3 emails.

See how the initial email is sent to 139 people with an 11.51% open rate, the next 2 emails are only sent to the 15 who opened the first one.

This way, 40% and 60% of them (respectively) open the next 2 emails.

Easy and efficient!

Tip #3 Send a Welcome Email (Or Series)

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50% of all businesses still fail to send a welcome email to their subscribers.

This is unfortunate because these businesses are literally leaving money on the table.

The welcome email enjoys the highest open rates of all and if used correctly can ensure that the ones that follow will also be opened and engaged by more people.

This leads us back to the reputation issue, this time on an individual level.

A subscriber who opens your first email and engages with it in some form (clicks on a link, whitelists, etc.), is signaling to his/her email service provider that your emails are desired.

Furthermore, you’ll stay fresh in their minds.

How many times have you received an email from a company with whom you didn’t even remember subscribing?

It’s important to tell your subscribers who you are, remind them of the value they’re getting from your lead magnet and set expectations for further emails (how often and what they’ll gain).

I like to create a welcome series of 3 to 5 emails, which sound a little like this:

1. Welcome, I am Fran and want to give you… and to prove it to you, tomorrow I’ll send you my most valuable content on…
2. This is me keeping up my promise, awesome right? Tomorrow I’ll give you something even better. Stay tuned!
3. Here’s more awesomeness, this is what I’m all about. It’s worth it to open these emails, right? Expect more soon.

Tip #4 Don’t Include Too Many Links

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Emails with too many links are also a spam flag for ESPs.

So, how many links are too many?

It depends on the length of the text, but personally, I like to include only one link per email, and sometimes send emails without links.

Not only will this keep you away from the spam robots’ radars, but it increases clicks.

Too many options distract people and they end up not taking any.

Click or ignore. Make it hard to ignore and they must click.

If you’re using affiliate links, I advise you to use a link shortener with a branded domain.

The same rules apply to these links as to the domain you’re sending your emails from.

The ESPs don’t like affiliate links at all, and link shorteners share their domain reputation, which is usually not great since most people trying to promote affiliate products are quite spammy.

The solution is to use a service like Clickmagick and brand your links with a domain of yours. This way, just like with the email address, those links only carry your domain’s reputation.

If you have a website, you can also take advantage of your existing domain with a plugin like Pretty Links.

This does not offer the same tracking capabilities as Clickmagick, but will do the job when building your own email reputation.

Tip #5 Create a Plain Text Version of Your Emails

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Some devices and apps don’t support or won’t load the HTML version of your emails, which is what formats the text, applies colors, adds images, etc.

If your email doesn’t have a plain text version, the receiver will just see a bunch of code and probably instantly delete the email, or in the worst-case scenario, be flagged as spam.

Some Email Marketing Platforms have an option to include a plain text version of the email, make sure you use it every time.

Below is an example of how to create this version with GetResponse:

My chose email platform is GetResponse and the examples in this post are all with GR software. To learn more about GetResponse, read my full review here.

Tip #6 Deliver Your Lead Magnet Through Email

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Have you noticed how most of the times people seem to be over-complicating when you’re opting into their lists?

You just want to download a PDF but after you give them your email address they email you a link, which you have to click on only to be brought to another page to click download.

Couldn’t they just have given you the direct download in the first page?

They could, but then you would probably never even bother to open their emails if they even arrived in your inbox in the first place.

As I’ve explained, to ensure top deliverability, you should get your subscribers to engage with your first emails.

This process of finding the email, opening it and clicking on the link, will not only ensure future deliverability but it helps to start a relationship between you and your subscriber.

Pro Tip: You can include instructions on how to find an email in the spam folder in the thank you page after your lead introduces the email address. I like to use GIFs for this purpose.

Or just create a simple screenshot like this:

Applying these 6 tips should ensure your subscribers start receiving your emails in their main folder.

The first step for them to open your emails is to see them!

Now, after they see your email, how can you make sure they want to open it?

That’s what the next few tips are all about.

Tip #7 Segment Your List

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Even though you are probably working in a specific niche, your subscribers will not all be in the same phase of their journey…

Let’s say you’re a blogger writing about parenting tips.

I’m sure you’re not only writing about week-old babies…

Your subscribers might be parents of a newborn, a toddler, a young child, or even parents to be.

If you’re emailing a mother of a toddler with tips to give a newborn’s first bath, she’ll likely delete your email without even opening it. It’s just not relevant to her!

How can you ensure you remain relevant?

You can segment your list through your lead magnets (freebies).

Using the same example, that mother became a subscriber to receive a free email course about “How to Move Your 1-Year-Old From Your Bed to His/Her Own Bed Without Tears”.

She should be automatically tagged as having a 1-year-old and being a gentle parent. This way, you can email her only relevant information to her current needs or interests.

Performing this kind of segmentation will differ depending on your email software.

In GetResponse, this can be achieved either by sending the subscriber to a specific list or by applying a tag with the opt-in.

In the above case, I receive my subscribers on a specific list according to the opt-in method, deliver the welcome series (which is different for each opt-in), and then get them tagged and moved to the main list.

All of this is done automatically.

Tip #8 Never Under-Deliver (try to Over-Deliver)

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I know this sounds like the clichet: “Deliver value”.

Whilst this advice begins to sound very repetitive, it’s always applicable. That’s why we see it everywhere…

It’s very important to never fall short of your subscriber’s expectations.

If you promise that your lead magnet can solve a problem (which you should), make sure it really IS solving that problem!

I’ve seen so many times marketers giving away a little freebie which promises the world just to get my email address and when I consume it, the disappointment is so real that I instantly hit unsubscribe!

And those who don’t, won’t open any emails or will eventually stop doing so. Which contributes towards less deliverability as I explained earlier.

When the first thing I get from a marketer is so valuable that it makes me think they should be charging for it, I’ll be opening those emails for years to come.

If you don’t feel like you should be charging for your lead magnet then it’s not good enough to make people remember you.

Give more than what’s expected!

On my parenting website, I created a 7-day email course which took me almost 6 months to create. I really felt like I should charge people for such awesome content.

This is how it performs:

Tip #9 Curiosity Based Subject Line

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You need to hook your subscriber with your email’s subject line, but don’t give too much information.

You don’t want to click-bait because that will lead to unsubscribes, but you don’t want to give everything away in the subject either, because there’s no point in opening the email then.

With most mobile phones, people will receive the email notification and have the ability to read the subject line and the first paragraph of the email.

If you don’t give them a reason to open the email and read further, they’ll just delete it directly from the notifications panel.

Try to hint at the value inside the email without revealing it, thus creating curiosity.

Pro Tip: One of the most opened subject lines is something like “I’m sorry”.

I’ve tested a few emails with variations of this and got some astonishing results.

Don’t overuse these techniques though, and always use them in relevant situations.

For example, I have a welcome series that uses a similar subject in the following context:

• The subscriber opts-in through an amateur video I shot.
• In the welcome email, I apologize for the bad video quality and explain the reason.
• I use the opportunity to connect with my subscribers by showing that I’m human and that it was the best I could do at the time.

Tip #10 Schedule Your Emails to Go Out at the Right Time

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The average person receives over 170 emails per day!

I know, it sounds crazy, and this is the reason why the email service providers have had to start filtering these into different folders (inbox / social / promotional / spam).

This is also why you need to make sure your email arrives and gets their attention when they’re not too busy.

But how do you do that?

Well, you can do some testing and find out the optimum time for your subscribers.

Keeping in mind that late evening or early morning will get you the most opens, you can try moving your broadcast to an earlier or later time, one hour at a time.

For more accurate results, you should test with the same email to different fragments of your list. But this will only work with bigger lists.

Some email marketing platforms, like GetResponse, have options to simplify this process.

You can either schedule the email to be sent at a certain time of your subscriber’s local time (“time travel”) for each subscriber or have it sent at the “perfect time”.

The latter uses previous data gathered by the software about which times each person tends to open emails.

This is my favorite scheduling option.

Tip #11 (Bonus) Use the Same “From” and “Reply-to” Email Address

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Final Tip for an Engaged Email List

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Most people tend to focus too much on having a huge email list, put immense effort into having thousands of subscribers, but only a few of them ever open their emails.

By focusing on building an engaged list of subscribers instead of a big list, you’ll have the same results sooner, and once your list grows it will be much more profitable!

Would you rather have 500 people out of 10,000 (5%) opening your emails or 500 in a list of 1,000 (50%)?

These might sound like the same, and most would even choose the bigger list, I would go for the smaller, no doubt!

Why?

Because my deliverability would be much better and the more engaged subscribers will turn into buyers much faster.

And as my list grows, the number of people reading my emails will also grow faster!

These are not “plug-and-play” results, you won’t go from 5% to 50% as easy as you can drop the same values, but the sooner you start doing the right things, the faster your numbers will start to go up and your subscribers will start to love you!

If you’d like to learn how to build an incredibly engaged email list step-by-step without spending a bunch of money on tools, read our post here:

“What is the Best List Building Software [The One that Does it All]”

A Summary of Pro Tips for Email Open Rates Over 50%

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Tip #1 – Use a Good Hosting

Tip #2 – Keep Your Open Rates High

Tip #3 – Send a Welcome Email or a Welcome Series

Tip #4 – Don’t Include Too Many Links

Tip #5 – Create a Plain Text Version of the Email

Tip #6 – Deliver Your Lead Magnet Through Email

Tip #7 – Segment Your List

Tip #8 – Never Under-Deliver (try to Over-Deliver)

Tip #9 – Curiosity Based Subject Line

Tip #10 – Schedule Your Emails to the Ideal Time

What’s your biggest struggle when it comes to your email list?

Let us know in the comments!