One issue that many people have when working with e-mail lists is the question of open rates, meaning how often the e-mails actually get opened by the people receiving them. You can generally track these numbers through your e-mail listserv program and it is quite important that you do so if you want to ensure that you get the most from e-mail lists that you buy or rent.
But just knowing that your e-mails are or are not getting opened is only one part of the equation. The other part is to know why they aren’t getting opened. Here are six questions to ask yourself if your e-mail list open rates are low:
Did You Have a Good Subject Line?
You want it to sound interesting and not spammy. I personally tend to delete the ones that try to get around spam filters with things like F’REE or F*REE. I also don’t like the ones which say that they are regarding my orders. While I am more likely to open them in case it’s something I really did order, I’m also more likely to hit the spam button for such junk once I see what it is. Try to make it something which sounds urgent but not like spam (Black Friday Sale for example).
Are You Sending Out Too Often?
People begin to tune you out if you send out e-mails to them too often. You want to make sure that you are sending out e-mails no more than a few times a week and often just once a week if you want to ensure that your e-mail lists will stay useful to you.
Is the Economy Bad?
There’s not a whole lot you can do about a crappy economy, but the fact remains that if the economy is bad, you can at least try to address this by offering limited time sales to attract additional customers. Mention this in the subject line when sending something to your e-mail list to ensure that they know that you are sensitive to their financial situation.
Do You Have Duds?
If you buy or rent an e-mail list from us, it’s usually going to be fairly fresh, with quality leads. However, if you have an old list or worse, one bought from elsewhere, it’s entirely possible that the list is full of dud e-mail addresses which are simply not valid anymore (if they ever were). You should be able to see the rejection rates for your e-mails as well to ensure that this isn’t a problem for you.
Are You Getting Dumped In Spam Filters?
There are two ways to end up in spam filters. The first is to constantly spam people and get your e-mail address marked as one that is owned by a spammer. The second way is to use spammy content or subject lines. As I noted above, if you try to game spam filters with silly tricks like writing F’REE, you are actually more likely to end up in spam filters because you look like a spammer.
Do You Have Lots of Freebie Seekers?
Finally, if you find that your subsequent e-mails are not getting opened, it’s possible that you have an e-mail list made up primarily of freebie seekers – people who didn’t really care about what you had for sale but who were merely interested in getting whatever you had for free. You can filter for this when building an e-mail list by offering a physical product which is “free” with a shipping charge. This will ensure that those who sign up for your e-mail lists are in fact people who have a credit card and spend money. While it won’t eliminate the deal seekers, it will cut down on them significantly.