why do people open emails?
TRANSCRIPT
WHY DO PEOPLE OPEN EMAILS?Alookat85,637subjectlines,1.7bsends&232mopens
EVERYONE GETS TOO MANY EMAILS
AND THE TRUTH IS, MOST EMAILS AREN’T OPENED :(
The85,637emailcampaignswelookedattotaled1.7billionsends.Only232million-or
13.53%-wereopened.
BUT SOME EMAILS DID MUCH BETTER THAN OTHERS
While2in5emailshadopenratesunder10%,1in5hadanopenrateabove50%.
WHY?Whatisitthatgetsapersonto
openanemail?
AND HOW CAN SUBJECT LINES INCREASE OR DECREASE OPEN RATES?
UsingMixpanel’sdata,weputbestpracMcesandconvenMonalwisdomtothetest.
HOW LONG SHOULD A SUBJECT LINE BE?40to60characters?30to50characters?
NOPEUnder30charactersworksbest.(Literally,theshorter,thebeRer.)
OPEN RATE BY SUBJECT LENGTH
WHY?WhydoopenratesdropaTer
30characters?
APPS LIKE GOOGLE’S INBOX TRUNCATE AFTER 30 CHARACTERS
MOBILE
PEOPLE READ EMAILS ON THEIR PHONES
Itcanbehardtogetsubjectlinesthatshort,butlookatthefirst27charactersofyoursubjectlineandmake
surethey’recompelling.
“HunterWalkgrewYouTubeby…”
DOES PERSONALIZING AN EMAIL INCREASE OPENS?
IT’S CERTAINLY POPULAR
1in14subjectlinesusepersonalizaMon.
ThemostpopularusecasewasinserMngtherecipientsfirstnameinthesubjectline.
BUT OVERALL, IT DECREASED OPEN RATES :(
Personalizedemailswereonlyopened9.34%oftheMme(-3.29%)
PERSONALIZATION CAN BE COMPELLING THOUGH
PersonalizaMonisatool,andwedon’talwaysuseitwell.Justpu\nganameinasubjectlinewon’tincreaseopens.
Othervariables,likeincludingthenameofanitemleTinthecart,resultedinhighopenrates(34%).
HOW DOES WORD AND PUNCTUATION CHOICE AFFECT
OPEN RATE?
BE NICESubjectlinesthatusepolitewordslike“please”,“thanks”,and“sorry”havea
22.98%openrate(+9.45%).
AND DON’T SHOUTIncludinga“!”droppedopenratesdownto10.92%.AndemailswithmulMpleexclamaMonmarkswereevenlower.
ASK QUESTIONSEmailsthataskedquesMonshada
15.21%openrate(+1.68%).
AND ANSWER THEMSubjectlineswith“Howto”were
opened20.66%oftheMme(+7.13%).
USE INFORMAL LANGUAGEAgainandagain,subjectlineswithinformallanguagehadhigheropenratesthantheirformalcounterparts.
SAY THANKS, NOT THANK YOU
HELP BEATS ASSIST
CHECK, NOT VERIFY
GET DOUBLES RECEIVE
URGENCY DOESN’T INCREASE OPENS
Wordslike“today”,“tomorrow”,“tonight”,or“now”didn’tincreaseopens.Infact,theyhadaslightlyloweropenrate,at12.67%(-0.86%).
SALES-Y LANGUAGE DROPS OPEN RATES
Emailswithwordslike‘offer’,‘code’,‘coupon’,‘sale’,‘$’,‘discount’havea10.34%openrate(-3.19%).
“FREE” WORKS?Yep.It’sgota17.27%openrate.Why?Yourguessisasgoodasmine.Butit’sworking–solet’sallgo
ruinitagain.
DON’T BUILD TOMORROW’S EMAILS WITH YESTERDAY’S BEST PRACTICESDon’twritebestpracMcesinstone,beempatheMcandthinkaboutyourreaderasaperson.Talklikea
realperson,beniceandbecompelling.
[email protected] the full report at The Signal & email me your questions
WHY DO PEOPLE OPEN EMAILS?Alookat85,637subjectlines,1.7bsends&232mopens
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