Tips to Increase Newsletter Open Rates

There are so many poorly done newsletters/email campaigns. As someone who turned an organization's newsletter w/ 15-20% open rates (quarterly) into two weekly newsletters each with consistently 65-70% open rate for years, I've learned a lot of lessons. Here's how to make your email something your audience can't wait to read: -Find the anti-pattern -5x value rule -Get over yourself, focus on delight -Trash compactor mindset -Only serve your fans What these mean: 1. Find the anti-pattern Figure out what your audience is craving for, that difference that would be so refreshing they would exhale when they learn about what you write. When I worked my first VC job, most VC fund newsletters were self-congratulatory announcements about portfolio company raises, investor press mentions, and occasionally a thoughtful piece. Pattern: Self-promotion in service of fund promotion. Anti-pattern: Zero self-promotion, only pure value given. Figure out what everybody does that is bad, and flip the script. 2. 5x value rule A lot of writers lack the humility to consider the fact that their idea/message/offer is simply just not as valuable as they think. When marketers/writers ask me for feedback, I tell them to consider what they think would be enough to get someone to care about their writing. Then 5x that bar. Make it so high a bar for value that it would be an "of course" decision for someone to read/respond/share about your stuff. 3. Get over yourself, focus on delight. It is obvious when newsletters are written with a KPI/explicit transactional goal in mind. Impress LPs to get them to invest. Convert those customers to subscribe for a plan. Get people to request meetings with you. If you provide delight in their experience of your product, the results will come. What would you do if you only want to make them as delighted as possible by your email every time they read it, without any conversion needed? Do that. The conversions will come. 4. Trash compactor mindset Remove the excess volume from your emails. I don't just mean concision in terms of length. Every marginal word you write should provide something of value - learning, insight, engagement, social proof, etc. If the next sentence doesn't raise or maintain the average value per word of your piece, don't include it. That might mean segment your audiences with different versions. Every sentence is a chance for the reader to lean in, or for them to rationalize why this is the last one of yours that they will read. 5. Only serve your fans. Don't try to get people onto your newsletter for subscriber-growth-sake. Every subscriber should be on your distribution because they make the active choice to become an audience member. If you had to describe what you write about and someone wouldn't automatically sign up, don't do it for them. Make something that will be shared word-of-mouth that will get them anyway. Opt-out list building does not make up for a low bar for content.

An ecommerce company recently approached my team to do an email audit as they were facing challenges with low open and click-through rates. After analyzing their email account, here are our main recommendations to revive their email marketing channel: 1. Strategic Email Segmentation: Currently, your emails lack personal relevance due to a one-size-fits-all approach. This is a crucial area to address. Action Plan: Implement segmentation based on purchase history, engagement levels, browsing behavior, and demographic information. 2. Personalized Content Creation: Generic content won't cut it. Your audience needs to feel that each email is crafted for them. Action Plan: Develop emails specifically tailored to the different segments. This includes curated product recommendations, personalized offers, and content that aligns with their interests. 3. Subject Line A/B Testing: Your current subject lines aren't doing their job. You need to be implementing ongoing A/B subject line tests, as this is low-hanging fruit to improve your open rates. Action Plan: Regularly test different subject line styles and formats to identify what resonates best with each segment. Keep track of the metrics to inform future campaigns. 4. Mobile Optimization: A significant portion of your audience reads emails on mobile devices. Neglecting this is causing a decrease in your email engagement rates. Action Plan: Ensure all emails are responsive and visually appealing on various screen sizes. Test your emails on multiple devices before sending them out. Additional Campaign Strategies We Recommend: - Launch a Monthly Newsletter: This should include new arrivals, style guides, and user-generated content. It’s an excellent way to keep your brand in the minds of your customers. - Seasonal Campaign Integration: Tailor your campaigns to align with holidays and seasons. This approach can significantly boost engagement and sales during key periods. - Re-Engagement Campaigns: Specifically target subscribers who haven't interacted with your brand recently. Offer them unique incentives to rekindle their interest. Next steps: 1. If you found this helpful, please leave a comment and let me know. 2. If you own/run/work at an Ecommerce company doing at least $1 million in annual revenue, message me so my team can audit your email channel to see if there's a good fit for working together.

Ever delete an email without reading it? We all have. It’s not just you; it’s the uninteresting subject line. That’s where the battle is won or lost in email marketing. Here’s a real kicker from an experiment we ran for a tech client whose email open rates were dismal. The subject lines? As dry as dust. We flipped the script. Here’s how: 1. Curiosity is Key: We started crafting subject lines that piqued curiosity without giving everything away. Something like, "What tech giants won't tell you about cybersecurity." Who wouldn’t want to know industry secrets? 2. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): We leveraged time-sensitive offers. "24 hours left to see what everyone’s talking about!" This urgency made the difference, tapping into a natural fear of missing out. 3. Personal Touch: Adding a personal touch can make the recipient feel singled out. We used data to personalize subject lines, making them relevant to the recipient's recent activities or preferences. The outcome was eye-opening. Our client saw a 70% increase in open rates, simply because we made the entry point—subject lines—irresistible. Bottom line: Your email’s first impression is the subject line. Make it count. It’s not just about informing; it’s about enticing. Thinking of revamping your email strategy? Start with the subject lines. They’re the gatekeepers to your content. #EmailMarketing #Copywriting #DigitalMarketing #OpenRates #MarketingTips

Personalized emails can increase open rates by up to 50% – here's how to make it work for your brand 👇 1) Segment your subscribers: Differentiate your email list based on customer behavior, such as purchase history, browsing habits, and engagement with previous emails. → Segment customers who have purchased within the last 30 days from those who haven't purchased in over six months. Tailor your messaging to re-engage the latter with special offers or reminders about the benefits of your products. 2) Personalize subject lines: Create subject lines that include the recipient's name or reference past purchases. Studies show that personalized subject lines can increase open rates by 26%. → Instead of a generic "Check out our new arrivals," try "John, new arrivals just for you!" or "Loved those shoes? Here are matching accessories!" 3) Tailored content: Use dynamic content blocks to personalize email content for different segments. For example, recommend products based on past purchases or show relevant content based on browsing behavior. → For a customer who frequently purchases sportswear, include recommendations for new sports equipment or apparel. If a shopper has been browsing a particular category, such as electronics, highlight related products or special offers in that category. 4) A/B testing: Continuously A/B test your email campaigns to find the most effective personalization strategies. Test different variables such as subject lines, content layout, and send times. → Test two versions of an email - one with a personalized subject line and one without. Compare open rates and use the winning subject line strategy in future campaigns. Similarly, test different call-to-action (CTA) placements to see which drives more clicks. 5) Analyze and adjust: Analyze the performance of personalized emails and adjust your strategy based on what you learn. → Monitor metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates for your personalized emails. If a particular type of personalized content consistently performs well, include more of it in future campaigns. Conversely, if a strategy is underperforming, adjust your approach based on the data. 🤔 How have you used personalization in your email campaigns, and what results have you seen?

Johns Hopkins Hospital had a problem. They had a big email list of hundreds of thousands of subscribers…. But what were folks subscribing for? The newsletter was talking about medical breakthroughs, and profiling award winning staff, and highlighting deep dives into everything from Alzheimers, to women's health. The open rates were <10% as a byproduct of no expectation to reality match. A lot of brands as they grow fall into this trap. We did a few simple things to hike up engagement rates 3-4x... 1) We looked at what folks who were engaging with the newsletter were actually clicking into or inquiring about. This is how we determined the best dozen newsletters to create from probably 100+ topics. 2) We built a dozen newsletters specialized to different issues the readers cared about and then sent two emails over the course of a quarter focused on transitioning folks from a generalized newsletter to the specific newsletters they cared about (you can manage this easily via a preference center in tools like ActiveCampaign). A great added benefit was that instead of 1 newsletter that normally got ignored, many readers subscribed to 2-3 of their favorite topics so total opens went way up. 3) We cleaned out older or unengaged leads (unsubbed) that no longer were interested (some 10-20% of the list), improving deliverability and engagement dramatically over the following 6-12 months. More brands should consider multiple specialized newsletters. In a noisy world, folks want to read about exactly what they are interested in, with minimal fluff or extraneous info to dig through.

DAY 3/10: Email Subject Line Generator One line that doubled Marcus's income The Math: Average email open rate: 21%. Optimized subject lines: 47%. That's 124% more revenue from the same list. Real Story: E-commerce owner Marcus used AI subject line optimization, went from $8K to $17K monthly revenue. Same products, same list, better subject lines. The Science: Subject lines trigger psychological responses before conscious thought. AI identifies these micro-triggers humans miss. Build It (10 minutes): - ChatGPT + email platform API (MailChimp/ConvertKit) - Prompt: "Generate 10 subject lines for [email content] using: urgency, curiosity, personalization, social proof, and benefit-driven psychology" - A/B test automation: Send different lines to segments - Performance tracking dashboard Advanced Hack: Use sentiment analysis to match subject line emotion to audience mood based on recent engagement patterns. Monetization Streams: - E-commerce stores: $400-800/month - Newsletters: $200/month + performance bonuses Course creators: $500-1,500/month - Email marketing agencies: $2,000-5,000/month Quick Exercise: Take your last newsletter. Generate 10 AI subject lines. Send to small test segment. The winner likely outperforms your original by 30%+. Pro Insight: B2B audiences respond to data-driven subject lines ("47% increase"), B2C responds to emotional triggers ("You're missing out"). Tools analysis: ChatGPT API, MailChimp, Google Sheets Setup Cost: $25/month Revenue Potential: $1,500-8,000/month Tomorrow: Product Description Writer - Turn browsers into buyers with psychology. #EmailMarketing #Copywriting #ConversionOptimization #AIAutomation

One of the first things I did when I started at Product Hunt three years ago was change the way we do subject lines. A lesson I learned from Morning Brew. short short short This grew the daily newsletter open rate from 12% to 25% in just a couple of months (and kept going to 45% with other strategies). Here are a few of the best-performing ones: Adobe 💔 Figma ChatGPT killer? Bye, Siri Wunderlist is back Find My for pets 5 million sales in 5 days Tip: Intrigue, but don't clickbait. Challenge yourself to tell the story in 3-5 words.

The average business newsletter gets a 21.56% Open rate (h/t Intuit Mailchimp) Mine averages 47%. Here are 3 things I prioritize to help drive higher open rates: 1. Clear, compelling subject lines: I write them to explain exactly what the reader will learn when they open the email. Ex. : "How Marketers Can Earn More From their 9-5 Right Now" 2. Consistency: I've sent 2 emails/week since the newsletter launched nearly 2 months ago. Some are a day late (like today's), some are a little shorter than others, but they always get sent. My growing audience knows what to expect. 3. Hyper-focus: I've been aggressively focusing on only adding subscribers that I know will find value in the content. I don't want to grow the list just for the sake of growth. This naturally keeps the audience engaged, because they actually want to learn or benefit from the email in some way. Still very early days and 47% is under my goal (wanna stay above 50%). But every day I learn more and am reaching a slightly larger audience as a result. 🛠

A simple test you can run to show WHY it's okay to email unengaged segments less. I've been working through a deliverability and inbox placement project with a newsletter. This newsletter has just over 250k subscribers. We started with a sub-40% inbox placement rate. And we've worked our way up to a 91.5% inbox rate. One of the tactics we recently implemented to further refine our data is sending the newsletter by recency of engagement. Segments: > 0-30 Days > 31-60 Days > 61-90 Days > 91-180 Days > 181+ Days Wanna see some data? 0-30 Days >> 37.33% Open Rate >> 0.31% Click Rate 31-60 Days >> 7.18% Open Rate >> 0.19% Click Rate 61-90 Days >> 4.59% Open Rate >> 0.08% Click Rate 91-180 Days >> 2.23% Open Rate >> 0.04% Click Rate 181+ Days >> 4.70% Open Rate >> 0.11% Click Rate Interesting, interesting... ----- A few thoughts: 1) For the most part - MOST of any email engagement is coming from subscribers who have engaged in the last 60 days. This means if you have unengagement triggers set up beginning at 90 days... you're already 30 days too late. And I would argue you should trigger it at 45 days when the subscriber is showing signs of becoming unengaged/unresponsive. 2) Sending emails 1x or even 2x isn't enough. Email needs to have a full content strategy put in place with a variety of topics and content. 3) Blasting the whole list has never been a great strategy... ...but realizing that if you send to subs who haven't engaged with you in over 90+ days, you're largely being ignored... Treat those subscribers differently. They need a bit more TLC. 4) We need to move from an email channel strategy to a holistic communication channel strategy. This means email is an integrated part of a communication strategy that includes social DMs. And vice versa, social DMs are an integrated part of the email strategy. 5) Your sender name has never been more important. Your sender name has actual value assigned to it by subscribers and a goal should be to win the open based on your sender name alone. ----- Again, easy test to run - showing data to stakeholders why "just blasting everybody" is a poor strategy. Have you ever run a test like this before? #email #emailmarketing #emailmarketingstrategy

I write dozens of emails a week. Most of them get over a 50%+ open rate and a 2%+ click-through. I'm subscribed to a lot of women's health email lists. And I see so many emails from amazing creators and companies that I know are going unopened. If you're selling a women's health product, and your subject lines look like: > Exploring the vaginal microbiome > Understanding the different types of birth control > Hormones and vaginal dryness You're missing out on making the sale. Yes, all of these things are important to talk about. Super important! But only the very dedicated are going to open up an email that doesn't: + Make them CURIOUS + Help THEM solve a problem Maybe their microbiome is WHY they're having problems. But they are thinking about itching, discomfort, and not being able to enjoy things they want to enjoy. Not about microbes. So when you sit down to write your subject lines, keep these 2 things in mind, and watch your open rates - and sales - increase. I promise this works 😉