It takes 4 elements to boost open rates
Call it the envelope. Before they’ll open your email, your recipient considers four things: 1) the sender (or “from” name), 2) the subject line, 3) the preheader and 4) the preview pane.
If you’re just focused on the subject line, you could be ignoring 75% of the elements that could get your email opened — or deleted. Are you addressing your:
1. From line
When users review their inboxes, they look at the From line first to confirm that they recognize the sender. Then they look at the subject line to confirm that they want to open a message.
Indeed, more than two-thirds of email recipients use the From line to decide whether to open your message, according to a study by Campaign Monitor.
2. Subject line
The From line is how email recipients decide whether to delete your message. The subject line is how they decide whether to open.
Or so says Loren McDonald, chief marketing officer of J.L. Halsey, a marketing technology and services firm.
Indeed, 35% of email recipients use subject lines to decide whether to open a message, according to a study by DoubleClick. And 47% of people use the subject line to decide whether to open brand emails, according to a study by Chadwick Martin Bailey.
3. Preheader
Preheader text can have a dramatic effect on your email open and click-through rates: Some 24% of respondents looked at the preheader first when deciding whether to open an email, according to a joint survey between Litmus and Fluent.
4. Preview pane
Eight out of 10 businesspeople and more than half of consumers use preview panes to decide whether to open an email, according to Lyris Technologies.
That makes the preview pane one of the top elements desktop and laptop readers consider when deciding whether to open or delete your email message.
Are you using all of the tools at your disposal to get your message opened? If you’re just focused on your subject line, you’re ignoring 75%.
How can you get your emails opened?
Your subject line is only one of four elements recipients consider before deciding whether to open or click.
If you’re only writing the subject line, you’re losing 75% of your chance to get opened.
Learn to address all four elements of “the envelope” at Think Inside the Inbox, our email-newsletter- and email-marketing-writing workshop that begins Oct. 17.
Plus: Learn how to write email subject lines that get clicked, how to increase campaign revenue by 760% by going beyond personalized emails, and how one organization multiplied campaign success by 1,000% by adding one more data point to tailored emails.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
