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Q. I have noticed that our open rates have continued to decline over the last year or so. What's going on?
A. The open rate has always been a fairly inaccurate measure of recipient interest. It has become even less so now because of changes in the way email clients display messages. Here are four major problem areas, with solutions and links to tips and strategies in our Resource Center:
1) Your list is aging.
Older names on your mailing list account for fewer opens and clicks than newer ones, especially if you have not been able to engage them in their first months on your list. Solutions:
- Engage new members right away by sending out value-filled welcome messages as soon as members join your list.
- Send members an invitation to fill out or add information to an online profile and include a short survey to see how they like your mailings.
- Re-engage subscribers who have not opened or clicked after six months or so with special offers or a link to unsubscribe.
Links:
2) Subscribers' email clients are blocking images from downloading and showing only partial content through preview panes.
More email clients now routinely block images from downloading automatically in HTML messages unless users change a setting. Email service providers and software solutions use a tracking image in each message to determine whether the message was opened or not. If images are blocked, you won’t know if your recipients have opened their emails.
Solution:
- Ask subscribers to add your “from” email address to their safe senders list or address book. This will allow images to load automatically.
- Include a link to a Web version of your message on your site so that readers can see your message as you intended it.
- Also, many email clients now use a preview pane to display only a portion of your message. Our research shows more people are using the preview pane to decide whether to open or delete a message.
- Place key content (HTML and text – no images) in the top left quadrant of your message in order to pique readers' interest and prompt them to open your message.
Links:
3) Your messages don't capture your readers' attention.
This can happen because you send either more email than your subscribers expected, you don't email often enough so they forget about you, or the email content you send doesn't match what they expected to receive from you. Also, your email message might not stand out in a crowded inbox because of the subject line or "from" line you use.
Solutions:
- Everywhere you ask for someone's email address for your mailing list, explain exactly what information you will send and how often.
- Use a subscriber preference page to allow subscribers to decide what information they want to receive and how often. Then, don't send them anything they have not asked to receive.
- Use your company or brand name in your "from" line instead of an email address or an unfamiliar person's name.
- Make the subject line reflect the message's content instead of a generic title.
Links:
4) Your messages are getting blocked or filtered.
You may have problems with your mailing list, your list-sending procedure, your content, or all three. Your mailing list may have too many outdated addresses; ISPs might be blocking your server's IP address because a known spammer is sharing it; or too many of your recipients are marking your emails as spam. Your message content may also be causing your emails to get filtered at the ISP, company or recipient level.
Solutions:
- Make sure your list-management software is set to remove all unsubscribed addresses immediately to avoid spam complaints.
- Apply for an ISP's whitelist of approved senders, and ask subscribers to add your sending address to their address books or contact lists.
- Monitor blacklists to track blocks or complaints against your IP address and resolve issues quickly.
- Run your content and HTML code through a message checker tool before each send.
Links:
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