Discussion

How to increase your cold email open rates

When it comes to choosing the different marketing techniques for your business, one of the most popular and most effective is email marketing.

There are many ways that you can market your business digitally, and you will want to embrace various techniques rather than rely on just one.

Email marketing is one way that can help your business see significant growth and target your audience effectively. It is also a form of marketing that is easy to track, so that you can see the effects of your campaigns in real-time.

This allows you to work on the areas in which you need to improve. Figures show that for every £1 spent on your email marketing campaign, with a well-optimised email campaign, you can see a return of £30, so it is an effective form of marketing that your business cannot afford to ignore.

Whether you are currently running an email marketing campaign or considering starting one for your business, below are some tips to increase your emails’ open rates and generate more sales while also raising brand awareness.

Personalise Your Emails

When you send cold emails to potential prospects, you will need to personalise your emails to resonate with the recipient and entice them to interact with the message you send.

Use software that allows you to address each email with the first name of the person receiving it, and do not go straight into a sales pitch, instead focus on what you can offer potential customers and how you can alleviate their pain points.

You may also wish to include emoticons in your emails, which gives the impressions people are dealing with a person rather than automated emails. Over 56% of companies that use emoticons in their subject lines reported an increase in open rates for their emails, so it is something worth trying.

Finding the right email marketing platform

You will want to use an email system that allows you to alter the email templates’ layout and change the formatting to find a design that works best for your business. You will want an email marketing platform that is simple to use, with no coding, drag-and-drop design features, and mobile-friendly as most emails will appear on a mobile device.

There are many platforms available on the market, and it is often a case of trialling ones until you find one that suits you, your business, and your target audience best. Some popular choices include: Mailchimp, Sendinblue and ConstantContact. However, for agency owners instiller is a no-brainer. 

Test your designs

A significant part of optimising your email marketing campaign will revolve around testing. Using A B testing is an excellent way to improve your emails you send out and tailor your campaigns, ensuring they are as effective as possible.

You can test the design and layout of your emails, as well as the subject lines, and you can also look at the placement of your calls to action to see which ones entice better responses.

You can also look at the images you use in your emails and see whether using formal language or keeping it less formal has a better result.

Testing your emails’ layout and format can go a long way to increasing their success, and it is worth investing the time and effort to do. Different aspects of your design and layout that you can test are: 

  • Subject lines
    Personalised subject lines can see open rates increase up to 50%.
  • Email length
    Keeping the email length to between 50 & 125 words can see an increase in open rates up to 50%.
  • Content
    You will want to use various forms of content and using video can see an increase in click rates by up to 300%.
  • Content layout
    Keep it simple but eye-catching and try different layouts to see which are more effective. 
  • Images
    Using images in emails can also solicit higher response rates and help your brand stand out from your competitors.
  • CTA placement
    Try moving the calls to action (CTA) about and see which gets a better response from recipients. 
  • Personalisation
    Personalising emails is an excellent way to grab the attention of the recipient and increase your open rates. 
  • Styling
    Even changing the font you use in your emails can have a significant impact on their success and make your emails easier to read.

Be direct & brief

You only have a small amount of time to hold your recipients’ attention, so this means that your message will need to be short, direct and engage the recipient’s curiosity to find out more.

By personalising your emails, you are showing the recipient that you know and understand them.

Being direct and short can entice recipients to contact you for more information, rather than having all the information in the email which they do not read, which can help your campaign statistics and encourage positive actions from your emails.  

Work on your mailing lists

A significant reason many people may not interact and respond to your email marketing campaign is that the products or services you are offering are not relevant to them.

That does not mean they do not apply to their business, but their role does not encompass what you are trying to sell, so they will most likely ignore it.

It is better to send 200 emails to people that your services apply to rather than send out 2000 emails to random people in a company that you are targeting. You will want to work on your mailing lists and ensure your data integrity, making sure you are targeting the correct people in that business.

If you cut out the deadwood from your mailing lists, your message will get to the people it is relevant to, and it will also help improve your campaign statistics.

Constantly work on your results

When you adjust your email marketing campaigns to improve them, it is a job that is never complete, so you will want to be constantly refining your emails, working on them and testing them.

Even when you see a significant improvement in the email marketing metrics, you will not want to rest on your laurels and think you have cracked it. It is a vital part of your overall marketing strategy, so you should prioritise email marketing amongst your other marketing techniques.

You should not see this as a job for the junior person in the office to oversee, and a collective effort from the marketing department is the best way to improve results, with everyone having input.

When you work hard at collecting relevant contacts for your mailing lists and constantly refining the emails you send, you can see a significant improvement in your campaigns’ effectiveness and give your sales and brand awareness a boost.

Ready to try Instiller out?

Take a free & unlimited 14 day trial of Instiller and discover
how our solution could work for your agency.

Free trial

There's no commitment and we don't ask for payment details.