Why is My Email Marketing Open Rate So Low?

Email marketing has been around since Al Gore “invented” the Internet. However, it remains relevant well into the 21st century, while other forms of digital marketing strategies have fallen off the marketing radar. Here’s why email marketing remains an integral part of any online marketing program:

• Builds powerful relationships with customers
• Develops a brand identity
• Improves your company’s credibility
• Helps you become an expert in your business niche
• Time and budget-friendly marketing strategy

However, many email marketing programs fail because of low open rates.

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Email Marketing Rate is Low

The primary goal of any email marketing strategy is to encourage customers to open emails. You cannot reach customers if they discard your marketing emails into the digital trash can.

Let’s examine the five most common reasons why your email marketing rate is so low.

Don’t Overload of Emails

How do you feel about a company that floods your inbox with marketing emails? You probably cross the company of your “Do business with” list. Anum Hussain, who authors an inbound marketing blog on Hubspot recently reported in a post that “69% of U.S. email users have unsubscribed from a business or non-profit email because the organization sends too many emails.”

The optimal number of emails to send every month to subscribers of a marketing email newsletter varies depending on the industry. For example, since Olive Garden runs frequent promotions, you can expect the national restaurant chain to send more marketing emails to subscribers than the number of marketing emails sent by a textile manufacturer.

You can A/B test different email delivery frequencies, as well as simply ask subscribers how often they prefer to receive marketing messages from your company. You can run a fun contest that rewards customers that come up with the correct email delivery number.

Use Attention-Grabbing Email Subject Lines

You might have heard that attention-grabbing headlines are an effective way to prompt visitors to your company website to read what you uploaded under the captivating headlines. The same principle applies to marketing email subject lines. A powerful subject line will dramatically increase the number of subscribers that open the email. You have countless sources of information online that will walk you through what is a relatively short learning curve. Just remember to eliminate hyperbole, as well as make claims you cannot support.

How Gmail is Posing Email Marketing

Gmail introduced a concept called “tabs,” which places marketing emails into a separate tab then the tabs used for other types of content. The other two tabs are labeled Primary and Social. This means many of your subscribers might not even know you have sent a marketing email. Although there is not a statistic stating the percentage of people that automatically delete the entire number of Promotions emails with one click, you can bet the percentage is high enough to worry about digital marketers. Think about how you treat the three Gmail tabs. You are sent directly to the Primary tab that holds all of the important electronic correspondence from friends, family members, and professional peers. Do you just delete the content in the other two tabs, without looking at what content is in each tab?

How to Avoid Your Email Marketing Going to Spam 

Yahoo sends a lot of emails-some of which you want to read-directly to the spam folder. As with the Social and Promotion tabs on Gmail, many people just delete an entire spam folder, without first checking into what is inside the folder. Content goes to spam folders for a number of reasons. You might be using high-risk words that prompt spam filters to catch your marketing emails. If you do not add a clear name on the From line, this can also cause a spam filter to catch your marketing emails. MailChimp offers an effective guide to help business owners and operators ensure their marketing emails go to the correct folder.

The Importance of Mobile in Email Marketing

If you have not heard, consumers are changing how they receive content online. The desktop computer is fast becoming a dinosaur and laptops no longer have the same appeal as the most advanced Smartphones. You have to adapt your marketing email content to fit mobile device screens, as well as ensure you limit images to increase the download speeds of your content. Litmus released a report in 2013, which was well before email marketing took off, that 43% of emails were opened by people using a mobile device.

Want to bet that percentage has increased in 2019?

How to Improve Your Email Marketing Open Rate

We have already suggested a few ways to increase your business marketing email rate. Now, let’s look at a few other methods to get more of your customers interested in your electronic marketing messages.

Get Rid of Dirty Data

Dirty data is information that is no longer valid. You might have a low open rate because you are sending marketing emails into the cyberspace abyss where they come back with a message that reads “Invalid recipient” or “Invalid email address.” Ask for unsubscribes or automate unsubscribing non-responsive emails and users.

Make Your Content Personalized

Your marketing email subscribers can detect content that uses the shotgun approach to writing. You want to implement a more targeted approach by personalizing content to match different buyer personas and personality traits.

Focus on Active Readers

Did you know you can target subscribers to your marketing email by referring to the last time they opened one of your emails. Target the subscribers that actively open your marketing emails to improve your open rate.

Write Compelling Content

We can connect this advice to a reason why subscribers discard marketing emails. If you are sending out way too many emails, the chances are good the content you are presenting is lackluster at best. More is not the merrier for content. It is quality that counts, and by quality we mean information that helps your subscribers solve difficult problems. For example, if you operate a countertop business, you can send out a marketing email that describes how to seal a marble countertop.

Solving subscriber problems will boost your credibility, which should increase your marketing email open rate.