How to get your email opened and read

I get them, you get them, everyone gets them: junk mail. What used to fill the mailboxes of suburbia now fills the inboxes of every email address on the planet.

But your business has a message to share, and because nearly everyone uses email, it is a great way to reach a large audience quickly without paying for snail mail postage.

So how to you get people to open and read your email?

Here are some tips:

• Make it personal. Use a personal subject line whenever possible. GetResponse reports that emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% higher open rate than those with generic subject lines. Use direct language in the message wording, words like “you” and details such as last purchases. For example, “Your last purchase of Hello Kitty sheets would look great with our new Hello Kitty curtains! Check them out here (link to product site).

• Time is of the essence. Try using a trigger word in your subject line such as “announcing, limited or final.”

• Keep it simple. As tempting as it is to cram a ton of information into an email subject line and body it's not a good idea. With email less really is more. Keep your subject line 6 to 10 words and don't be dishonest or click-bait. Side note, click bait is just awful stuff in general! “Click here to see what these 90s era celebs look like now!” No thanks.

The email should have one purpose, so decide that before you create your marketing plan. Do you want to push online sales? Is your business hosting a food drive? Focus on one thing in five or less sentences. And remember to write like you talk, don't try to make it fancy with big words that no one uses in natural every day speech. Don't say “ebullient” when you could just say “eager.”

• Include a call to action. Face it, when you open an email the first thing you think is “how can this benefit me, what does this have to offer me?” Your message must have value. Include a call to action that offers something. Instead of “click here to learn more,” say “click here to start your free trial.”

• Timing. Believe it or not there are good and bad days and times to send email if you want it to get opened. The worst days are, not surprisingly, Saturday and Sunday. Who wants to read email on the weekends unless your sister emailed you photos of your new niece or nephew.

The best days? Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

• On the go. Perhaps the most important thing you can do to increase the open rates of your marketing emails is to make sure they work on mobile devices. About half of all emails are opened on a mobile device, so if your message looks terrible or won't display correctly you're immediately losing half your audience. Try testing your message before you send it. Check it on tablets and mobile devices. Be sure to check it on Apple and Android devices.

Get more digital marketing advice at www.isjmedia.net