Five Ways to Improve Your Open and Click Through Rates

Many so-called experts have been saying that email marketing is on the way down, but don't let them fool you. If you know these five easy tips, you'll know how to optimize all the emails you send and increase your open and click-through rates dramatically.

Personalization

Personalizing your emails is important because it helps build familiarity and trust between you and your readers. Include your recipient's name in the following places:

• The subject line of the email (this immediately reassures recipients that the email isn't spam)
• The greeting (you can use their first name or last name here)
• In questions and statements in the body of the email

Using Layouts

Reading a computer screen can quickly cause eye strain. This means making your emails easy to read is very important. There are two rules to follow here.

First, limit email lines to 40 characters wide (doing this will require you to use carriage return instead of letting your email client determine the line width). This may look odd, but it vastly improves readability because the eye can scan down the email without moving from side to side. In fact, this is precisely why newspapers and magazines use columns.

Second, use a double return after every six to eight lines. Adding more white space to your copy gives it a neat, clean look that is very inviting, and breaks the text up into chunks that the eye can scan more easily.

What's your Call to Action?

What do you want your readers to do after they've read your email? That's your call to action. It should be easy to understand and tell the reader exactly how they can take the action. Ideally you should include the instructions at least twice.

Allow your Readers to Opt-Out

Every email you send should have a working opt-out link that allows your readers to opt-out quickly and easily. The system should be automatic so that when the recipient clicks the link they're directed to a page where one click will opt them out. This helps reassure your email recipients that you care about spam issues (and in many countries including an opt-out link is mandatory).

Don't Use Spam Language

Using symbols such as $$$!!% and ALL CAPS makes your emails look like spam both to readers and to spam filters. Adding this type of language will reduce your delivery rate considerably. It's a good idea to use a spam checker program to make sure you're not including any trigger words or symbols in your emails.

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