Email marketing takes too much time and effort to settle for low open rates. Your open rates show which recipients open your emails and at what rate this happens for each email you send. Open rates on Klaviyo allow you to measure customer engagement and monitor the performance of your efforts. Low open rates can also damage your reputation with email providers, like Gmail and Hotmail, and your newsletter will be more likely to end up in the dreaded junk folder. When a campaign you send results in a critically low open rate, Klaviyo will alert you and prompt you to refine your approach. We’re here to help with that approach, improve your open rates and grow as a brand.

Open rates are important for many reasons - mainly so your subscribers see what you’re sending. Open emails suggest customer engagement and interest in your products. Those who engage with your email marketing are likely to make purchases. Email providers will recognise high open rates which improves your reputation as a sender. You will be less likely to wind up in the junk folder if your open rate is good. So, what makes a good open rate?

Good open rate: 20% or higher
Great open rate: 25% or higher

How to Increase Open Rates

There are five key steps to increase open rates:

  • Create engaged segments
  • Create targeted subject lines
  • Clean your lists regularly
  • Choose the right send time

Create Engaged Segments

Engaged segments inform you which of your subscribers you should target the most. As you refine your segments, you’ll gain insights into how to target them by who meets the criteria you have set. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Create your segment by adding criteria around how recently someone engaged with your emails. Your segment definition should include those in your main list, who either opened or clicked recently or subscribed to your list within the past month. 
  1. Regularly evaluate the segment’s performance and use the time range to widen or shrink your audience to a more engaged group. If your open rates are below 20%, reduce the time frame until you identify your core audience. If your open rates are over 20%, you can expand the time frame to include those who have engaged in your emails in the last 60 days rather than 30. The aim is that you’ll hone in on the most engaged subscribers.
  1. Improve segmentation by adding more specified criteria to your segment. This opens the door for personalised content that is relevant to the customers’ purchase history, location and interests. The more personalised, the higher the chance of email opens. 

Create Targeted Subject Lines

Now you’ve found your engaged segment, it's time to create targeted emails. Instead of overloading subscribers with generalised content, send content that your audience wants to receive with a clear call-to-action. 

  • Be personal
  • Add call-to-action to the subject line
  • Create a sense of urgency, for example, ‘Sale ends today’
  • Add the recipient's first name to your subject line
  • A/B test

Send Time

Sending too early in the morning or too late in the day might harm your open rate. Is your marketing relevant to people at work? Then sending early in the day might be useful? Or if you’re advertising holidays or alcohol you may want to send it towards the end of a working day. Your send time should be industry dependent. Using Smart Send Time uses your business' data to find an optimal send time for your subscribers.

Clean Your Lists Regularly

An essential part of email marketing is cleaning your main subscriber list. Removing unengaged, fake or spam email addresses that collect over time will increase your open rate as there will be fewer profiles that don’t open your emails. These email addresses you remove will improve your open rate which improves your send reputation with inbox providers.

Monitor Your Performance

Monitoring campaigns and keeping track of deliverability metrics that affect open rates is part of good practice. When you identify a dip in open rates, you should readjust your campaigns for the relevant segment. Review campaign analytics after sending a campaign to see how well your emails perform and make adjustments.

With this guide to increasing your EDM open rates, you’re ready to spend time improving your email marketing. If you need more support with email marketing, contact us today.

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    Nudi Point ★★★★★ FINALLY... a digital marketing company that actually gets the results. This is the 5th business I have dealt with in the last 7 years - and the only business that has proven results. Our sales have increased hugely and it's only been 1 month. Harry is amazing to work with and the whole team at Sprocket Digital know exactly what they're doing. The results speak for themselves. Highly recommend!Maggie from Astound Smile ★★★★★ We have worked with a couple of other agencies that did not deliver and I'm impressed with the level of service, support & results we get from Sprocket. Within a few weeks of working with Sprocket, we can see immediate improvement on our sales. Harry and the team has taken the time to understand our business and continue to work on delivering results. We look forward to continue working with Sprocket to grow our business. If you are looking for a result-focused agency, you can't go wrong with Sprocket!Beautiful You Holidays ★★★★★ Covid lockdowns meant complete operational shut down for our small NZ owned business. However, in the last few months we have finally got back up and running again with the help from Josh and his Sprocket team.Their understanding, resources and communication has been unwavering in this process and we have seen measurable results month on month. Trust plays a big role in digital marketing and I believe their formula is full proof.Sprocket has had a big role to play in getting our small business back on it's feet. I couldn't recommend this company enough!NZ-Online-Pharmacy ★★★★★ The results speak for themselves. Our website has been lifted to the next level, in both hits & resulting translations into physical orders. Thanks Kieran & Team!Ketaki Rasmussen ★★★★★ Sprocket has experts who can take your digital marketing to the next level, and you get personalised service with a dedicated account manager to help you achieve growth. Great to deal with.Speednation ★★★★★ Outstanding, the team at Sprocket have been tremendous, and taken our store to the next level. Ronnie and the team are on to it and get things done quickly to a high standard. If you are looking for a marketing team, this is your one stop shop for all your marketing needs!Team at Speednation.co.nzcam scott ★★★★★ So far all of my requests from Sprocket Digital have been handled very professionally and timely. I am really enjoying the level of communication and how easily approachable the team is.Andrina Shieffelbein ★★★★★ Sprocket has been amazing for my small buisness! Can't recommend enough if you want results from your advertising!Meelee Joe ★★★★★ Great working with the team at Sprocket Digital! We found the company friendly, accomodating, and they helped us to develop our knowledge of the business analyticsLance Metz ★★★★★ Sprocket has been an incredible digital marketing partner, helping us grow our monthly turnover. They are extremely helpful and are quick to respond to any needs we may have. I would highly recommend for any company looking to take on a digital transformation journey.Matt Boylan ★★★★★ This is the second time I have used Sprocket Digital in my role as Marketing Manager for small to medium sized businesses. Given our marketing team is very small and we don't have a specific digital marketing resource internally, it gives me peace of mind knowing that all our digital needs are being outsourced to Sprocket. On both occasions of working with Sprocket, the team have very quickly got up to speed on our business. The setup is seamless and my regular meetings with the team help to identify opportunities for us to leverage. The entire team are really knowledgeable and down to earth even though they have some very experienced people working on our account. I would highly recommend Sprocket to any other business who wants expert advice and guidance on their digital marketing with an accessible and down to earth approach.Dylan Carter ★★★★★ Sprocket Digital is the real deal! They have turned our company around in our initial month of working with them and I could not recommend them more.The team is super helpful always making the time to have meetings with us and answer our endless amounts of questions.We are looking forwarded to working with them for the long term!Richie Stott ★★★★★ It has been a seamless transition to Sprocket and they have delivered on the goods. Very happy with the service and results. Our account manager, Kieran is great to deal with.Chris Sinclair ★★★★★ Great team to work with, we've experienced growth from day 1 and we're still going! Thank you team Sprocket DigitalMegan Blincoe ★★★★★ We are a new Client of Sprocket and I cannot fault them! Especially Ethan, he has been so available and clearly knows what he's talking about. He has been very patient with us and has thoroughly updated and explained every part of the set up and progress to date. Highly recommend using Sprocket DigitalAlastair Pope ★★★★★ Harry and the Sprocket team have been amazing in connecting with and successfully converting a new audience for our business. During these challenging economic conditions, the additional revenue they've generated has proven to be invaluable. Their professional, transparent, and data-driven approach has rekindled my confidence in the agency model.Josef Arnet ★★★★★ Sprocket Digital has been great to work with and has provided great inside and addition to the digital side of our business (Kitchen Things) their SEO team is fantastic and Harrison their Email marketing specialist is an absolute savant when it comes to knowing how set up email campaigns, templates as well as automatic email flows and the logic required to make them impactful and effective for a business. They always continue to impress with the work they do.Gabi Metz ★★★★★ Working with Sprocket has been so easy! Like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders. And the results so far have been fantastic!Sheree Palmer ★★★★★ Great Team to work with, communication is great and they are actively engaged with working with you.js_loader

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