Open Sesame! Proven Ways to Improve Your Email Open Rates

reading an email on phone

Think about the last email you opened—what made you click? Maybe the subject line promised a solution to a pressing problem, or perhaps it came from a brand you love. Whatever the reason, something made you take action, which is the goal of every email marketer. But getting your audience to open an email isn’t always easy.

According to a recent study by Litmus, email marketing has a high ROI, generating $36 for every $1 spent. But, as we all know, the effectiveness of email marketing hinges on one crucial factor: open rates. A high open rate means more people are seeing your content, which can lead to increased engagement, conversions, and revenue.

At Green Apple Strategy, we love getting into the nitty-gritty of effective marketing tactics. We’ve spent years fine-tuning our approach to help clients maximize their email marketing efforts. Today, we’re sharing some of the best practices we’ve learned to help you improve your email open rates and get more engagement from your campaigns.

The Magic Behind Why People Open Emails

The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It depends on a variety of factors, including:

     

      • A Connection with Your Brand — People are more likely to open emails from brands they love. Building that kind of loyalty goes beyond email alone. It’s cultivated through a consistent, personalized approach across all marketing channels. 

      • Relevant Content — Even if someone loves your brand, they still might skip your emails if the content isn’t relevant to them. That’s why segmentation and personalization are crucial for boosting open rates. We’ll dig deeper into these differentiators in the next section.

      • A Compelling or Intriguing Subject Line — A subject line is your first impression, and it can inspire readers to open an email. A great subject line should spark curiosity, offer value, or evoke emotion—anything could motivate the reader to click.

      • A Convenient Send Time — You may have the perfect message, but if it arrives at the wrong time, it could go unopened. Timing is a critical element in email success, and knowing your audience’s habits can make all the difference.

    Secrets for Boosting Your Email Open Rates

    Now that we know why emails get opened (or don’t), let’s dive into some actionable strategies to improve your email marketing open rates.

    1. Subject Line Optimization

    Your subject line is like the headline of a news story—it has to grab attention quickly. Here are some keys to craft email subject lines that will stand out in your reader’s inbox:

     

      • Keep it short and sweet: Aim for six words or less and 40 characters or less.

      • Use sentence case: Avoid all caps or excessive capitalization.

      • Include power words: Words like “can,” “do,” “find,” “get,” “latest,” and “try” can be effective.

      • Use numbers: “5 tips to improve your email marketing” is more likely to be opened than “Email marketing tips.”

      • Use emojis sparingly: A well-placed emoji can help your email stand out, but don’t overdo it.

      • Consider mobile readers: Ensure your subject line is readable on both desktop and mobile devices.

    2. Segmentation for Personalization

    Sending the right message to the right person is also key to improving open rates. The more targeted you can make your emails, the more likely they are to resonate. Here are a few best practices for effective segmentation:

     

      • Segment your audience as much as possible: Divide your email list into smaller, more targeted groups based on demographics, interests, behavior, or other criteria.

      • Personalize your content: Tailor your email content to the specific needs and interests of each segment.

      • Use dynamic content: Incorporate personalized elements like the recipient’s name or past purchase history.

    3. Optimize Send Times

    Increasing open rates is not just about what you send but when you send it. Consider the following timing strategies:

     

      • Test different send times: Experiment with sending your emails at various times of the day and week to see what works best for your audience.

      • Consider your audience: Think about when your subscribers are most likely to be checking their email.

      • Avoid peak times: Avoid sending emails during times when people are most likely to be overwhelmed with emails, such as early mornings or late afternoons.

    Bonus Tip: A/B Testing for All of the Above 

    For each of these tactics—whether it’s your subject line, segmentation strategy, or send time—it’s essential to conduct A/B tests. This allows you to experiment with different approaches and track what your audience responds to best. Keep detailed records of your tests to build on what works and refine your strategy over time.

    Mastering the Magic: Making Your Emails Unmissable

    Standing out in a crowded inbox might be more difficult than ever, but with the right strategies in place, it’s definitely possible. By optimizing your subject lines, segmenting your audience, and fine-tuning your send times, you can significantly increase your email open rates and ultimately drive more engagement. If you’re ready to take your email marketing to the next level, sign up for Green Apple Strategy’s newsletter for monthly insights into timely and relevant marketing best practices. We can help make sure your emails reach your audience and are opened—not just languishing in an inbox.

    Email Marketing Best Practices: Building and Nurturing Your Subscriber List

    Email marketing remains a potent tool for most B2B and B2C businesses. Despite the rise of social media and other digital channels, email continues to deliver impressive ROI. According to the latest statistics compiled by Louisa Zhou: 

    • 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers
    • 89% of marketers use email as the primary channel for generating leads
    • 4 out of 5 marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing

    However, email marketing only works if subscribers want to receive emails from your company. Reaching the right audience with a timely message has become critical for marketers focused on results.

    For this article, we’ve compiled a list of the most important email marketing best practices for building and nurturing your subscriber list from our team of experts at Green Apple Strategy. 

    7 Email Marketing Best Practices for Your Subscriber List

    1. Create Valuable and Relevant Content

    The cornerstone of successful email marketing is providing value to your subscribers. High-quality content positions you as an industry expert and keeps subscribers engaged, building trust and loyalty.

    Whether it’s educational resources, industry insights, or exclusive offers, delivering content that resonates with your audience is key to building a loyal subscriber base. Make sure your content aligns with your audience’s needs and interests, and consistently deliver high-quality content to keep them engaged.

    Action Step: Develop a content calendar outlining topics that directly address your audience’s pain points and questions.

    2. Clearly Communicate Subscriber Value and Make Signup Effortless

    A clear value proposition and easy signup process convert website visitors into engaged subscribers. Whenever you promote your newsletter sign up, clearly articulate the benefits subscribers will gain by signing up for your email list. Use clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) on your website and social media channels. Consider offering a lead magnet, such as an ebook or free consultation, to incentivize sign-ups.

    Action Step: Create a clear and concise value proposition for your email list and prominently display it on your website.

    3. Elevate Your Email Game with Stunning Design and Strong Branding

    A visually appealing email is more likely to capture attention and drive engagement. Consistent branding reinforces your company’s identity and creates a professional image. According to a study by HubSpot, emails with visually appealing content are opened 56% more often than plain text emails. Invest time in creating email templates that align with your brand aesthetic. Many  subscribers will be reading your email on their phones, so make sure your email templates are also optimized for mobile devices.

    Action Step: Develop a consistent email template that incorporates your brand colors, fonts, and imagery.

    4. Listen to Your Audience by Analyzing Email Performance

    Regularly analyzing your email performance is essential to understand what resonates with your audience. Key metrics to track include open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates. By monitoring these metrics, you can identify trends, optimize your campaigns, and tailor your content to meet subscriber preferences. Most email marketing software includes tracking analytics, but you can also use Google Analytics for a free tool to begin following these stats. 

    Action Step: Set up email performance tracking and analyze open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates regularly.

    5. Connect on a Human Level for Authentic Engagement

    People do business with people they like. Inject personality into your emails to build rapport with your subscribers. Use a conversational tone, share personal stories, and show your audience that you genuinely care about their needs. Authenticity fosters trust and loyalty, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

    Action Step: Write emails in a conversational tone and use personal stories or anecdotes to connect with your audience.

    6. Keep Your List Clean and Healthy for Optimal Deliverability

    Maintaining a clean email list is crucial for deliverability and campaign effectiveness. Regularly remove inactive subscribers, bounced emails, and invalid addresses to improve your sender reputation. If some of your analytics are flagging, consider implementing a re-engagement campaign to reactivate dormant subscribers.

    Action Step: Implement an email list cleaning process to remove inactive or invalid subscribers every quarter.

    7. Empower Subscribers with Choice Through a Preference Center

    Give subscribers control over the type of content they receive by offering a preference center. This tool allows them to customize their email preferences, ensuring they only receive content that interests them. Consider options like email frequency, content topics, and format preferences when you’re offering choices. You may see several analytics rise with this approach, as subscribers receive the information most relevant to them. 

    Action Step: Use your email marketing platform to create a preference center that allows subscribers to choose their preferred content topics and email frequency.

    Master the Art of Email Marketing

    Building and nurturing a strong email subscriber list is essential for long-term business success. By following these best practices and consistently delivering valuable content, you can create a loyal audience that drives conversions and strengthens your brand.

    Ready to elevate your email marketing game? Sign up for The Core, our monthly newsletter featuring the latest marketing trends and insights to help your business thrive.

    Unlock the Power of Automation: How to Build a Customer Email Journey

    Imagine this: you spend hours crafting the perfect email campaign. You hit “send” with a triumphant flourish, only to be met with…crickets. No clicks. No conversions. Just the deafening silence of an unengaged audience.

    Navigating the world of email automation is a common struggle for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). You know the power of email and its ability to nurture leads, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales. But translating that potential into reality can feel impossible. 

    At Green Apple Strategy, we’ve helped businesses of all shapes and sizes leverage the power of email automation. We’ve collaborated with brands with dedicated marketing teams and bustling sales departments as well as smaller businesses with a single sales representative. Through these experiences, our digital team has identified key best practices that every SMB can utilize to build a customer email journey that fosters engagement and drives results.


    How to Build an Effective Automated Email Journey

    Chart Your Course Before Setting Sail

    It’s always important to map out where you’re going before you invest time and energy building your automated campaigns. Think of your email journey as a roadmap. Where are potential customers in their buying journey, and where do you want to take them? Identify your goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, customer retention) and use them as guideposts. Continually review data to ensure your journey aligns with these goals.


    Leverage Automation for Key Customer Journey Milestones

    Another helpful tactic as you build your automation roadmap is to take a deep dive into your typical buyer’s journey. Are there specific touchpoints where potential customers seem to stall? Can email automation free up your sales team’s time by providing support during these crucial phases? Identify these opportunities and design targeted email sequences to nurture leads and guide them toward the next step.


    Segmentation is Key: Speak to the Right People.

    When it comes to email automation best practices, it’s essential to remember that targeted messages resonate better and drive higher engagement. As you consider the automated email campaign you’re building, take the time to understand your audience and segment your emails based on demographics, interests, or past behavior. For example, you may want to start with an automated welcome campaign that introduces your brand to new email subscribers. From there, you can build out more specific campaigns to support your sales process. 


    Humanize the Interaction: Because Robots Can’t Build Relationships

    Personalization is key, especially in automated emails. Wherever possible, use subscriber names and tailor content to their interests. Maintain a conversational tone—imagine you’re having a one-on-one chat with a potential customer, not blasting a generic message to a faceless list.


    Don’t Be a Set-It-and-Forget-It Marketer

    Email automation shouldn’t be a “set it and forget it” strategy. If you truly want to maximize its potential, it’s important to regularly assess performance metrics and glean insights from subscriber behavior. You want to monitor results and use this data to refine your messages and optimize your email journeys to achieve your intended results. 


    Test, Learn, and Optimize: Because There’s Always Room for Improvement

    One of the most powerful aspects of digital marketing is that it provides the opportunity to constantly learn and improve as you go. Do you consistently send out the same emails and workflows? If so, this is a prime opportunity for A/B testing! Experiment with different subject lines, email structures, and calls to action. This allows you to gather invaluable subscriber data and continuously optimize your email journey for maximum impact.


    Bonus: Don’t Forget about People Who’ve Fallen Off the Radar

    There’s a reason that email open rates rarely rise above 50%. People are busy. Not everyone will actively engage with every email. Once you build out your initial email campaigns, a bonus tactic is to design re-engagement campaigns to reignite conversations with unengaged subscribers. A well-crafted email sequence might be a powerful tool to win back valuable leads—or it can be an opportunity to invite them to unsubscribe, which would clean up your email list and lead to better results. 

     

    Experience The Transformative Power of Email Automation

    Email automation offers a powerful tool to connect with potential customers, nurture leads, and cultivate lasting customer relationships. By implementing these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to developing an automated email journey that drives results and fosters brand loyalty.


    Ready to take your email marketing to the next level?

    Sign up for our insightful newsletter, The Core, for marketing tips and strategies for small to mid-sized businesses.

    What Small Businesses Should Know About Google & Yahoo Email Authentication Updates 

    In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for small businesses to maintain effective communication with their customers. One significant update that demands the attention of small businesses is the impending Google and Yahoo email authentication updates that are set to roll out in February 2024. This might sound like tech jargon, but adapting to these updates is crucial for reaching customers through email.

    As a trusted full-service marketing agency working with both B2B and B2C small businesses, Green Apple Strategy is here to guide you through these changes so that your email marketing efforts remain successful. So let’s break down what’s on the horizon and how to navigate these email authentication updates with confidence.

    Why the Update? What’s Changing?

    Email authentication is a critical aspect of email marketing, as it helps establish the legitimacy of the email sender. It verifies the sender’s identity, ensuring emails are legitimate and not sneaky spam. 

    On February 1, 2024, Google and Yahoo are turning what was once considered best practices for email authentication into mandatory requirements. The updates primarily focus on strengthening the protocols that verify the authenticity of the email sender’s domain and ensure that emails are not being spoofed or manipulated by malicious cybersecurity attackers.

    Ultimately, these authentication updates are a proactive step toward a more secure email environment. For small businesses, that’s a good thing! Fewer spammy messages mean a cleaner, more trusted email environment, which ultimately benefits everyone.

    Actionable Steps for Small Businesses 

    If you’re a small business relying on email to reach customers or partnering with a marketing agency for your digital marketing efforts, here’s how to update your email protocols so that any emails you send are not blocked or marked as spam:

    Make Sure You’re Sending Emails from a Domain You Own

    One of the key requirements for the new authentication protocols is that small businesses should be sending mail from a domain that belongs to your organization. For example, we send emails from “NAME@greenapplestrategy.com” 

    Your domain name is an important part of your business or organization’s online identity, and sending emails from your own domain is key to maintaining a relationship with your subscribers. 

    Implement DMARC & SPF at the Enforcement Level

    The updates primarily focus on strengthening authentication protocols such as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework). At Green Apple, we’ve already helped clients update these authentications at the enforcement level. These changes instruct email providers about how to handle unauthorized emails claiming to be from a certain domain. 

    Get Technical (or Find Someone Who Is)

    Setting up these protocols might sound like tech jargon, but fear not! Most email service providers offer user-friendly guides and support. For example, Campaign Monitor offers built-in tools for DMARC reporting and authentication management. You can definitely DIY this process, but you must ensure the new authentications are done correctly. You’ll also want to make sure that they’re used effectively after they’re implemented.

    Lean on Agency Expertise for Authentication Readiness

    With the complexity of the updates, it’s even more crucial to rely on your agency’s expertise in email authentication and deliverability practices. Ensure your agency has implemented SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on your domain and configured them properly. Ask for specific details about their implementation process and compliance status.

    Stay Informed Through Collaboration

    Regular communication means that your business will be able to quickly adapt to evolving email authentication standards. That’s why it’s important to foster a collaborative environment that enables you to stay informed about industry updates, best practices, and any additional recommendations from your marketing agency. 

    Monitor Performance and Adapt Strategies

    The final step you want to take is to work closely with your marketing agency to review and adapt your email marketing strategies in response to the updates. Your agency should inform you about any significant decreases you see in open rates and work together to identify and address the root cause.

    Don’t Panic, Get Prepared!

    These updates might seem daunting, but with a little proactive effort, you can avoid any serious issues. Partnering with a competent and proactive marketing agency can help you navigate the email authentication updates smoothly. Trust their expertise, communicate openly, and monitor performance for a successful email marketing strategy in 2024 and beyond.

    For Green Apple clients: Our dedicated digital marketing team is proactively working to help our clients seamlessly meet and comply with the new email authentication protocols, guaranteeing the continued success of their email marketing campaigns.

    Bonus Tips and Resources

    In addition to following these guidelines, implementing email marketing best practices is crucial. Good email practices will ensure your newsletters and marketing campaigns land in your audience’s inbox and captivate their attention. The resources below can help you build an email strategy with a solid ROI. 

    The 7 Strategies Your Email Newsletter Should Use

    woman working on a laptop

    When it comes to the basic “blocking and tackling” of effective email strategy in 2022, email newsletters are on the starting line. After all, 81% of B2B businesses name newsletters as their top content marketing strategy. However, the popularity of newsletters often makes it one of the most difficult tactics to deploy. It’s important for every business to consider how their newsletter is going to stand out in the crowded inboxes of their audience.

    3 Benefits of Email Newsletters for Marketing

    Before we dive into the email strategy for developing an effective newsletter, here are just a few important factors to consider:

    1. Newsletters provide a way to educate current and prospective customers.

    An effective email newsletter is informative and relevant. It should appeal directly to the subscriber’s interests and cover the topics from the industry. Because of this, newsletters provide your audience with a better understanding and knowledge of your brand in a way that is helpful. 

    2. Newsletters help you keep leads warm.

    Not everyone who visits your website or submits their email address is ready to buy. Newsletters can be a great way to keep potential customers engaged and informed until they’re ready to make the decision to buy. 

    3. Newsletters can enhance your brand reputation and highlight your expertise.

    Newsletters also provide a way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build expertise. By sharing relevant industry news and providing perspective on important topics for your audience in your newsletter, you become a trusted voice for them. 

    7 Effective Strategies for Email Newsletters

    So how do you create an engaging newsletter that creates momentum for your marketing efforts? Here are seven strategies to consider:

    1. Choose an Email Software that Works for Your Brand

    There are many email service providers out there on the market and choosing the right one is not easy. While we’ve used several survey platforms to send newsletters for our clients, our team likes the features and functionality that Campaign Monitor provides. The key is to find software that can meet your requirements and can guarantee both high deliverability and quality of your emails.

    2. Set the Right Expectations by Letting People Know What to Expect from Your Newsletter

    Because of how many emails are sent daily, people are more and more reluctant to share their email addresses. Whenever you’re asking people to sign up for your newsletter, it’s helpful to answer the question “What’s in it for me?”

    Helping people recognize the value of subscribing to your newsletter and setting expectations for how you will communicate with them goes a long way in maximizing the ROI of your campaigns. 

    3. Use a Clean and Consistent Template

    You want to make sure your newsletters are skimmable and easy to read. Whether you use an out-of-the-box template or get one created especially for your brand, using a consistent design will help your brand achieve a layer of cohesiveness and flow.  

    4. Make Sure Your Subject Line is Compelling

    You only get one chance to make a great first impression with your subject line. According to research, 64% of readers make the decision to open an email based on the subject line alone. Here are a few different subject lines you can use to elevate your email newsletters.  

    5. Consider Adding an Emoji to Your Subject Line

    At Green Apple, we’ve found emojis help our clients’ newsletters stand out in a crowded inbox. One study analyzed over 9K email campaigns on mobile and found that subject lines that included emojis increased email open rates by 1,071% on Android and by 662% on iOS.

    6. Make Your Newsletter Helpful & Informational More than Sales-Driven

    Newsletters are better for cultivating customer loyalty and brand equity than they are for hard selling. When it comes to the content you create, it’s important to embrace the mindset of “always be helping.” One way to integrate this into your newsletters is the 90/10 rule: 90% informational content, 10% sales material. With the right balance, less is more and the educational material will lead to more sales than product copy.

    7. Continually Analyze & Test to Find What Works

    As with any marketing tactic, in email strategy, it’s important to constantly test and analyze your newsletter to see what works. You want to track the metrics that indicate whether or not your newsletter is working and test new ideas along the way. This includes testing out different strategies for send date, layout & design, calls-to-action, etc. 

    Email newsletters might be something we’re all familiar with, but it can challenging to create a successful one for your own brand. We hope these insights and strategies help you develop a newsletter that delights subscribers and creates momentum for your marketing efforts.

    Campaign Monitor: A Marketing Agency’s Review

    two people talking to each other in an office setting

    In a world where marketing trends evolve rapidly, email marketing remains a tried-and-true strategy for engaging with customers. Whether you’re nurturing leads or driving sales, email continues to deliver exceptional ROI. Recent data supports its relevance:

    • Email marketing revenue worldwide is projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027 (Statista).
    • 99% of consumers check their email daily, making it one of the most effective ways to reach them (Hubspot).
    • Email generates $36 for every $1 spent, highlighting its unmatched ROI potential. (Litmus).
    • For B2B businesses, 73% consider email marketing essential to their strategy (SoCal News Group).

    Selecting the right platform is essential to maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns. At Green Apple Strategy, we’ve experimented with numerous email marketing platforms over the years. After extensive testing and evaluations, Campaign Monitor consistently stands out as our top choice—particularly for B2B and service-based businesses.

    Our digital marketing team recently conducted an in-depth audit of available email marketing platforms to ensure we’re using the best tools for our clients. Campaign Monitor emerged as the clear winner. Here’s why we’ve made it our platform of choice and continue to rely on it to drive exceptional results:

    Why We Recommend Campaign Monitor

    Campaign Monitor offers an intuitive experience with powerful features designed to optimize email marketing efforts. It’s easy to use, provides robust reporting, and offers upgrade options to scale alongside your business needs. As we continue to explore add-on features, we’re confident it will remain an invaluable resource for email campaigns this year and beyond.

    1. User-Friendly Platform

    Campaign Monitor’s simple and intuitive interface makes it easy for marketers of all experience levels to create, manage, and optimize email campaigns. Here are some key highlights:

    • Easy-to-Use Templates: With pre-designed templates, creating beautiful and functional emails is straightforward. The templates are easily customizable, allowing us to quickly tailor content to fit our clients’ branding.
    • Centralized Client Management: Managing multiple campaigns is seamless because all client accounts are accessible from one central dashboard. This feature is invaluable for marketing agencies juggling several client projects simultaneously.
    • Responsive Customer Support: Campaign Monitor’s customer service team is prompt, knowledgeable, and quick to offer helpful guidance whenever we have questions.

    Another standout feature is the automation builder. 

    campaign monitor automation

    This essential tool allows us to craft personalized customer journeys and lead nurturing campaigns, ensuring subscribers receive timely and relevant communications. Campaign Monitor’s email automation tools can streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and enhance audience engagement—all vital for growth-driven marketing.

    2. Easy Creation of Beautiful, Effective Emails

    Email design plays a significant role in conversion rates. With Campaign Monitor, even marketers without design experience can produce professional emails. Here’s why:

    • Drag and Drop Layout Editor: This tool simplifies the process of building and editing emails, allowing users to easily add images, text, and other elements without needing coding knowledge. It’s intuitive and user-friendly, reducing the time spent on design.
    • Customizable Templates: While the platform’s default templates are excellent, Campaign Monitor also supports custom design work, making it possible to craft unique, branded emails tailored to specific campaign goals.
    • Mobile-Responsive Design: All templates automatically adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring emails look great on any device—a crucial feature.

    3. Valuable Insights and Reporting Tools

    Data-driven insights are essential for refining and improving email marketing strategies. Campaign Monitor’s reporting tools provide clear, actionable information:

    • Detailed Analytics: Metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and engagement trends are easily accessible. This data helps identify what resonates with audiences and informs future campaign strategies.
    • Campaign Dashboards: The platform’s dashboards offer a comprehensive overview of performance, making it simple to evaluate the effectiveness of each email.
    • Client-Friendly Reports: We can quickly generate reports that clients can easily understand, providing them with transparency and insight into their campaign performance.

    One standout feature is click maps, which visually display where users are clicking within an email. This makes it simple to identify high-performing content areas and adjust future designs for maximum engagement. Additionally, A/B testing capabilities allow us to test subject lines, content, and layouts to determine what drives the best results.

    Elevate Your Email Marketing with Green Apple Strategy

    At Green Apple Strategy, we are always searching for innovative ways to help our clients engage their audiences and achieve marketing success. Campaign Monitor has proven to be an invaluable tool for building impactful email campaigns, and we’re excited to continue leveraging its features for our clients.

    If you’re looking to elevate your content marketing strategy and optimize your marketing campaigns for growth, our experienced team is here to help. Reach out today for a consultation and discover how we can help you create a roadmap for marketing success.

    4 Signs Your Email Campaigns Aren’t Working (And How to Fix Them)

    computer screen showing emails

    Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience and turn subscribers into buyers. However, simply having a strategy and sending regular emails to your intended audience doesn’t mean email campaigns are working. The only way to know if your campaign is working is to track it. If you want to elevate your email campaigns, it’s important to evaluate each of the factors that determine your success.

    In order to help, we wanted to highlight a few of the common reasons your email campaigns might not be working and provide some quick ideas for how to fix them. Here are four areas to evaluate and improve if you’re looking to generate better results from your email marketing campaigns. 

     

    1. Your Emails Are Ending Up in Spam Folders

    Your audience will likely never see your email if it ends up in their spam folder. How do you measure this? Check the deliverability rate of your campaigns. Deliverability measures the rate at which emails reach subscribers’ inboxes. 

    If you notice your deliverability rate is low, here are a few things you can do:

    • Make sure you’re using a reliable email service provider and avoid spam triggers.
    • Delete old or inactive email addresses from your list and keep only people who are engaged.
    • Check which email addresses bounced and remove those email addresses from your list.

     

    2. Your Emails Aren’t Being Opened 

    As the old “tree falling in the woods” adage teaches us: if an email is never opened, will anyone read the message? The answer is no. The two biggest factors for determining open rates are often the subject line and send time. 

    That’s why your subject line is one of the most important aspects of elevating your email marketing campaigns. If you’ve struggled to increase open rates: 

    • Consider tweaking your subject line strategy to find more effective ways to capture attention and inspire your audience to open the email. 
    • You can also test the day and time that you send your email to see what works best.
    • Use A/B testing to try out several versions of an email campaign to determine which is the most effective at increasing engagement. 

     

    ​

    3. People Aren’t Clicking Through or Taking Action

    Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on your calls-to-action (CTAs). This is the ultimate goal of any email campaign. The email is the vehicle you use to inspire your audience to take the next step. Taking the time to create UTM codes that track post-visitor engagement is a great way to determine the effectiveness of every single email you send. 

    If you’re experiencing lower clickthrough rates than you used to generate, you might consider:

    • Segmenting your emails to create more personal and targeted campaigns for your various target audiences.
    • Optimizing the format of your content to ensure it’s easy for people to read.
    • Testing different CTA formats to see what generates the greatest response, including buttons, links, images, and questions.

     

    4. People Are Unsubscribing

    An unsubscribe rate measures the number of people who opt out of your email list once they receive an email from you. If someone unsubscribes from your list, you’ve lost your chance to engaging with them through email. So how do you avoid people unsubscribing from your email campaigns? Here are a few ideas:

     

    You spend a lot of time and energy crafting emails for your audience. The last thing you want is for the work you do to be ignored. Constantly testing and tweaking your emails is essential for keeping up with customer demand and ensuring the work you put into your campaigns generates the results you want. If you’re looking for ways to stay on top of the latest email trends, subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll provide helpful insights you can use to reach more customers. 

    How to Leverage Marketing Automation to Support Your Sales Team


    When most businesses think about marketing automation, they tend to focus on—you guessed it—marketing. They’ll use marketing automation to send welcome series, lead generation campaigns, emails for conferences, newsletters, etc. And, that makes sense. Marketing automation is a great way to create personal and relevant marketing experiences for your customers and potential buyers.

    However, one of the often overlooked marketing automation strategies is sales enablement. As I’ve mentioned before, when marketing and sales work together, businesses thrive. But, what role does marketing automation play in that effort?

    How to Leverage Marketing Automation to Support Your Sales Team

    Here are two simple advantages every marketing automation platform provides your sales team:

    1. Equipping your sales team with insights on any activity from the account. Marketing automation allows you to track everything from email opens to how long someone watched a webinar. This is valuable information for sales representatives when they’re following up with a potential lead. But, in many cases, looking for insights beyond the individual prospect they’re following up with can make a tremendous difference. Finding out what other people within the account are also downloading can provide sales members with a more comprehensive view into all of the potential challenges the organization is facing.
    2. Sending sales emails on behalf of your sales team. There are a couple of benefits for leveraging marketing automation to send emails on behalf of your sales team. First, these emails are tracked. This helps your sales team actually know who is opening your email, who is acting on it, and who isn’t interested. Another advantage is that it gives both marketing and sales the ability to test and see which type of subject lines, messages, and calls-to-action are most effective for converting new business.

    Marketing automation isn’t just a marketing tool. It’s a sales tool. However, in order for it to truly work, you need to make sure your marketing and sales teams are completely aligned. Taking the time to discover how you can leverage marketing automation to support sales will not only make your sales teams more efficient, it will ultimately help them be more effective.