37 Tips for Writing Emails that Get Opened, Read, and Clicked

37 Tips for Writing Emails that Get Opened, Read, and Clicked Do you find it a challenge getting subscribers to open, read and click your emails?You spend a lot of time writing what you believe is a great email, you double check the grammar to make sure that there are no typos and other silly mistakes, craft what you believe is a clever subject line for your email, and then with a satisfied smile on your face, you click on the send button, waiting confidently to see an increase in page views, sales, or whatever you wanted to achieve by sending the email.After all, email is touted to be the most effective form of advertising, right?Unfortunately, things do not go as you expected.The surge in sales, page views, or subscriptions that you were expecting does not materialize.Checking your email stats, you realize that majority of your subscribers did not even open the email you sent.Among those who did, only an even smaller portion of them read it to the end and clicked-through as you wanted them to.Realizing that your subscribers are not reading an d clicking through your emails can be greatly disappointing. However, if you have experienced this, you are not alone. Majority of marketers are struggling with the same problem.Actually, emails not getting opened is a pretty common occurrence.For a minute, I want you to think about your non-work related email. How many emails are sitting unread in your inbox?I’m willing to bet there’s a bunch of them, and the reasons that made you not to open these emails are the same reasons why your subscribers are doing the same to your emails.However, just because your emails are not being read does not mean that you need to give up on your email marketing efforts. Email still provides you with a vast market and an awesome opportunity to market your products and services.Email has become a very influential channel of communication in this rapidly globalizing world.By the end of this year, email users are projected to rise up to 2.9 billion globally.Approximately 100 billion emails are sent to audiences in the world â€" a number that is expected to double by the end of 2020 according to research conducted by the Radicati group from 2015 to 2019.Currently, email marketing is among the top sources methods used for Business to Business communication.Studies have also revealed that 86% of business executives use email when communicating with their clients and for major business reasons. 59% of business managers and leaders acknowledge email marketing as their most effective medium for revenue generation.The above stats show that email is an important marketing tool, and therefore, you should not get tempted to ditch email marketing just because your subscribers have not been reading and clicking through your emails.What you should do instead is to learn how to write emails that get opened, read and clicked.Of course, this requires you to do something more than just writing an email and sending it out to your subscribers.You need to employ some tactics and strategy.To help you with this, we have compiled for you 37 tips that will increase the likelihood of your emails getting opened, read and clicked.TIPS FOR CREATING A CONNECTION WITH YOUR SUBSCRIBERSOnce again, I want you to think about your email inbox.Are there emails that you that you look forward to receiving? More importantly, do these emails come from your friend or some corporation? Easy to answer, right?You look forward to emails from your friends than you do to emails from some random corporations.You want your subscribers to anticipate your emails just like you do your friend’s.This means that you have to approach your email list just like you do your friend. You need to build a connection with them just like you have a connection with your friend.Below are some tips to help you build such a connection and get your subscribers looking forward to your emails.1. Treat Your Subscribers Like You Would Your FriendWhen sending out emails to your subscribers, you don’t want to come across as a big corporation seeking out click-throughs. You want to come across as a friend.This means that you need to drop the corporate sound and look and instead adopt the same kind of conversational and respectful tone you would use with a friend.Interact with your subscribers like you would with a friend, with the aim of building a trustworthy relationship with them.2. Personalize Your EmailsStop calling them subscribers. This only enhances the corporate tone. It shows that the email is a broadcast message addressed to many people without caring about who they are as individuals.What you want to do in this case is to personalize the email with your recipient’s name.This makes them feel special, like you are writing that email to no one else but them.This adds a more personal touch to the reader. Emails with a personalized subject line are 22% more likely to get opened, according to Khalid Saleh, founder of Invesp.3. Sign Off With Your NameSigning off the email with your own name allow s the email to come across as more personal. It also shows that you have nothing to hide.Compare someone who signs off their emails with “Head of Marketing, Company XYZ” to another who signs of their emails with “Kev, Company XYZ.”The second sign off is more personal.The reader knows that they have this friend named Kev who emails then on a particular day and tells them something of value. With time, they will start looking forward to Kev’s email.4. Add ValueDon’t just siphon your reader’s energy by always asking them to sign up for something or click through an ad. Offer something in return too.Give them information that is helpful to them without necessarily asking for something in return. Like a real friend.5. Give Them an Actual BenefitOffer them a reward for being a faithful subscriber.This could be a discount or something for free. Research shows people love free stuff, and using the word “free” in your email will increase the chances of your email being read .6. EmpathizeYour friends need to know that you share in their struggles.Show your clients that you understand the struggles they are going through, and that they do not need to go through these struggles alone, which is why you are offering your help.7. Don’t Waste Their TimeOnly send an email when you have something useful to say.Don’t clutter their inboxes with unnecessary messages. Remember, you also do not like such emails.If they realize that your emails only come to waste their time, your emails will start finding their way into more and more spam boxes.8. Be HonestLike the saying goes, honesty is the best policy.Don’t overpromise when you cannot deliver. Give them realistic gains of what you are selling. With time, they will look to you as a reliable source and might even encourage their friends to subscribe to your email listing.9. Don’t Be WeirdYou do not want to be that creepy friend from whom you run away.While personalization is good, don’t mention your subscr iber’s name too often; it will sound like a script. While using their name once or twice gives the email a personal touch, using it too much will come across as creepy.TIPS TO GET YOUR EMAILS OPENEDYour subscriber has seen your email.However, it is not the only email in their inbox, so what gets them to open yours when there are several other emails competing for his or her attention?In addition, Gmail Tabs have made it harder to make you visible, depending on the tab in which your emails fall.Emails that land in the primary tabs currently have a 22% rate, whereas those that fall in the promotions tab have an open rate of 19.2%.In this section, let us take a look at tips on how to improve the chances of your emails getting opened.10. Nail Your Subject Line A smart way to beat Gmail at their game is by having a subject line that catches your audience’s attention. Research conducted by Business to Business community shows that 47% of your recipients will open your email based on t he subject line.The same study showed that 69% of them report the email as spam because of the same. Sending emails with subjects also promises marketers an opening rate of 8%.A subject line is like a headline; it grabs your audience’s attention.Even on an article, only the catchy headline will get the most viewership. Think of the rules that follow headlines because they are equitably consequential.Here are some tricks you could have on your sleeve when crafting that subject line and get your email rate increasing.11. Keep it Short and SweetGet straight to the point. The number of characters on your subject will most definitely impact your open rate. On average, subject lines usually have 44 characters.Most email experts recommend a 60 characters subject line, which is generally the optimum for most providers like Yahoo and Gmail. Shorter subject lines have proven to be more compelling rather than long ones.They are also more mysterious and can pique your recipient’s curiosity more than their counterparts.12. EmojisIn a world where everyone communicates with emojis, you do not want to be the only one who does not.Adding emojis to your subject line draws your audience’s attention, brings a personal touch and friendliness and ultimately increases your open rate.Emojis range from funny and trendy ones to conservative ones â€" trademark symbols, copyright and registered ones. They will convey an idea to your recipients, engage them, and evoke an emotion, thus increasing the likelihood of the email getting opened.13. Think MobileDid you know that 81% of Americans own a smartphone? This is crucial as many of your recipients open their emails on their phones. Source: Movable InkAccording to a study done by Movable Ink, mobile phones are the most popular email reading environments. The research shows that 65% of your recipients open their emails on their mobile devices.Google on the other hand reports that 75% of its Gmail users open and access their emails via their phones.Therefore, when crafting your subject line, ensure that it fits well with the mobile email display.Tip: Beware that most email clients will display up to 33 characters on mobile, though it might vary depending on the device.14. Try Out New ThingsDon’t always stick to the old way of doing things. Go against the norm and try out something new with your subject lines. You will never know what works and what doesn’t if you don’t try.15. Catch Their AttentionCatch your readers’ attention with emotionally charged, and powerful words which will make your line stand out amidst the clutter of emails.16. Be SimpleSimplicity usually beats cleverness every single time. Make sure your email subject is simple, clear, and specific.17. Learn From OthersSubscribe to other email listing and get to know how they write their subject lines.Especially those whose emails you open regularly. You might learn something new that will help you in the long run.TIPS TO INCREASE YOUR READ RATESo now you got your subscribers to open your e-mail.How do you get them to read what you have written?18. Avoid Automated GreetingsForget the automated addresses as your audience is well acquainted with them. Try something warmer and less, mechanic. You could say, “Greetings from Cold London!” or add a dash of humor in the greetings. This makes it more personal and friendly.19. Show UrgencyIf you want to call your subscribers to a particular action, the best way is to convey urgency in your message.While you don’t want to pressure your recipients, you want to compel them to deal with your email immediately. Something like “Only Two Days Remaining” might work.20. TimingEma il marketing is reliant on your email scheduling. Think of times when your subscribers are most likely to read your emails. This can be done by conducting email testing.A study by Campaign Monitor showed that the highest read rates are reported on the weekends â€" preferably Saturday and Sunday with the lowest being reported on Thursdays and Tuesdays.The study also showed that people mostly read their emails when they arrive at work and before they leave the office.A small percentage also checks them before they sleep. Read rates are high after lunch too.21. State the PurposeWhy are you sending this email? Don’t waste a lot of time before telling your recipients why you are sending the email.The earlier they know the reason behind the email, the more likely they are to continue reading â€" if you provide a good reason.22. Keep it ShortYour subject line is not the only thing you need to keep short.Remember your clients do not spend all their time going through emails. Long emails w ill deter your recipients from reading and might bore them to death.You want to keep them interested.23. Take Advantage of the Preview TextThis is the line that your subscribers will even before they open your email. It’s the second part of your email that you should consider apart from your subject line â€" the preview text supports your subject line.This is an opportunity you do not want to waste as it will pique the interest of your recipients.While some email clients might not offer the preview text, others like Gmail will highlight the first sentence of your body as the preview text. Use it to grab your reader’s attention.24. Segment Your ListYou ought to have done a quick analysis of your audience and should be aware of their likes and interests. This will make help make your content relevant to them.If you have a diverse audience, you could segment them by their industry or purchase.This way, you will be able to interact with your recipients at a closer level and send the m more relevant, focused, and specific content.25. Take Care of Your Email DesignMake sure your email design can fit all screen sizes.If your emails are too wide, your recipients will find it difficult to follow through your email and quit reading altogether. If your email is long, use subheadings to improve readability.26. Promise Some BenefitIf people know from the very onset that they will get some benefit from reading your email, they are more likely to read it to the end.27. Use NumbersNumbers make a person confident of what they are consuming and make the information appear more accurate.For instance, an email that talks about “how to make an extra $1000 on the side” is more likely to get read than one that talks about how to “make more money on the side.”28. Make them CuriousYou want to entice your audience. Seduce them. Share information that piques their curiosity.They will want to know more about what you are purporting. This is especially true for new reports.Lean ing towards controversy has also proven to be an effective way of making people curious.29. Instill Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)This works every single time. If you show your recipients that they are the only ones who haven’t tried out something and accompany the claim with evidence of people it has worked for, then you are on your way to getting that email read.30. Keep TestingKeep testing your email marketing tactics to see what techniques and results result in higher read rates. Conducting A/B tests is a good way of doing this.HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CLICK-THROUGH RATELow click-through rates have bad implications for your business â€" fewer leads, fewer sales, fewer subscriptions, and so on. This in turn decreases your earning potential.In this section, we will familiarize you with tips on how to boost your email click-through rate so you can increase your leads and improve your sales.31. Understand that Click Rates Vary and are Not Very HighDigital marketing pros usually contend th at a 10% click rate is a positive sign, but evidence shows that many email listings do not get any close to that rate.For example, sports emails happen to have a 7.5% click-through rate which is the highest. Legal emails, on the other hand, are lowest with a 1.05% click-rate.Therefore, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve double digit click-through rates.32. Improve Your Open RateIf you do not have a high open-rate, you will get an even lower click-through rate. If people are not opening your emails, then you can bet no one is going to be clicking through.33. Use the Opt-InYou want your subscribers to give you their email address willingly.Give them a choice without forcing them to subscribe. Subscribers who gave you their email address willingly are more likely to interact with your emails, since it is already clear they are interested in your content.34. Provide Incentives for Clicking ThroughInstead of simply asking your readers to click through to your website, online shop or social pages, give them an incentive for doing so.For instance, you could say that clicking through and liking your social pages will enter them into a competition where they can win something, or will make them eligible to receive discounts, and so on. Such incentives will definitely increase your click-through rate.35. Spice Up Your ContentEven when your readers have opened and read your email, it’s the content that will drive them to click your links.Make your emails more engaging by combining text with multimedia. You can add images, GIFs, videos and thumbnails to your email.This will make the content more captivating and improve the likelihood of your readers clicking through to as you want them to.36. Make Your Emails InteractiveDon’t just share information or pass the message you want to pass and then ask your readers to click through.Instead, add content that makes the email more interactive, such as asking relevant questions and making it possible for your read ers to respond without necessarily replying to the email.37. Nail the Call to Action (CTA)A compelling call to action will win you higher clicks. If you want your readers to download an item, purchase a product, share that content on their social platforms, or click through to finish up an article, you need to ask them to do it.This is done using a nice CTA. For it to be effective, the CTA should be placed both near the top of the email and at the bottom of the email. This way, even those who do not get to the end of the email will still see the CTA.WRAPPING UPSending out emails and finding out that no one is opening, reading or clicking on them can be quite disheartening.However, with the 37 tips shared in this article, you can improve your email game and become one of the few marketers whose every email elicits the kind of response they wanted from their recipients.Remember, it’s all about treating your recipients as friends, creating a connection with them and providing them wi th value. If you keep that in mind, you are on your way to becoming an email marketing superstar.