We were at our favorite pizza joint recently, and while waiting for our pie, we got to talking to the owner about email marketing. Hey, you can talk about what ever you want when it’s your turn to wait! Anyway, he was saying his email open rate was okay, but he’d love to see it improve. More opens = more business. So how do you get more opens for your emails? Here are 4 tips to get your email open rate climbing:

1. Remember to mail –Okay that sounds funny, but let us explain. Getting someone to give you their email address is a big deal and you gotta respect that. If you’ve promised to send an email every two weeks, you need to do that. If you don’t, they could forget they signed up and not open your email when you do send one. And make sure your email content is what they’re expecting, if you don’t deliver what you promised, they may stop opening or even unsubscribe.

2. Subject lines – We can’t say this enough, but subject lines are one of the most important parts of your email. It’s like the cheese on a pizza, you could leave it off, but why would you want to eat it? Subject lines and pre-header text tell your readers why they should open your email in the first place, so keep ’em eye catching and interesting. Hook ‘em from the start!

3. Send on a good day – This is a common question, “What’s the best day to send my email?” While the best time and day will depend a lot on your readers, you can start by mailing on the days someone is more apt to see your email – Tuesday or Wednesday. And send at a time they’re likely to catch it in their inbox – mid-morning or afternoon is a good place to start. Once you’ve sent out your email, check your reporting and see if it’s working. If not, test sending on a different day or time until you find the best fit for your readers.

4. Content – This is a biggie. While the subject line and time you send can grab the attention of your readers, the thing that will keep ’em coming back for more is your content. Content is king for a reason! Send the info they want, and keep it fresh and new. To keep your content from getting stale, include attention grabbing things like infographics, videos or tips. Think about what gets your attention in your own inbox and apply that to your email marketing.

We think these tips will help our pizza buddy see his email open rates go up, and yours too. Now all this talk about pizza has made us hungry, we’re off to grab a slice (or two)!

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