Why are my email open rates low and how can I improve deliverability?

Summary

Low email open rates are a complex issue stemming from a combination of deliverability problems, poor engagement, and inadequate list hygiene. Improving open rates requires a multi-faceted approach, including implementing email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), actively managing sender reputation, cleaning email lists, creating relevant and engaging content, segmenting audiences, and A/B testing different email elements. Proactive monitoring, a focus on engagement metrics, and compliance with email marketing regulations are crucial for long-term success.

Key findings

  • Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for authenticating your email and preventing spoofing and phishing attacks.
  • Sender Reputation Management: Closely monitoring and proactively managing your sender reputation is critical for avoiding spam filters.
  • List Hygiene: Maintaining a clean email list by removing inactive or unengaged subscribers is crucial for improving deliverability and engagement.
  • Engagement Metrics: Engagement metrics, such as opens and clicks, directly impact deliverability; low engagement can lead to emails being flagged as spam.
  • Content Relevance: Creating relevant and valuable content that resonates with your audience increases engagement and open rates.
  • A/B Testing: A/B testing subject lines, sender names, and other email elements helps optimize open rates over time.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Continuously monitor deliverability metrics and address any issues promptly to maintain a healthy email program.

Key considerations

  • Audience Segmentation: Segmenting your audience allows you to send more targeted and relevant emails, boosting engagement and open rates.
  • Mobile Responsiveness: Ensuring your emails are responsive and display correctly on all devices is important for maximizing engagement.
  • Spam Trigger Words: Avoiding spam trigger words and phrases in your email content can help prevent it from being flagged as spam.
  • Unsubscribe Process: Making it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe reduces spam complaints and improves sender reputation.
  • Deliverability Consultant: Consider consulting with a deliverability expert to conduct an audit of your email program and identify areas for improvement.
  • Email Volume: If sending large volumes of email, implement a proper IP warm-up strategy to establish a positive sending reputation.
  • Email type: Determine whether the emails in question are bulk email or transactional emails as the approach is different for the two.

What email marketers say
10Marketer opinions

Low email open rates are a multifaceted problem stemming from issues like poor subject lines, lack of personalization, deliverability problems, and unengaged subscribers. Improving open rates requires a holistic approach, including authenticating your email, cleaning your email list, segmenting your audience, and testing different elements. It's crucial to consider recipient engagement, sender reputation, and the type of email being sent (bulk vs. transactional). Proactive management and continuous monitoring are essential for sustainable improvement.

Key opinions

  • Deliverability Issues: Low open rates can result from emails landing in spam folders due to deliverability problems, such as poor sender reputation or being blocklisted.
  • Engagement Matters: Recipient engagement (opens, clicks) signals email value to mailbox providers; low engagement negatively impacts deliverability.
  • List Hygiene: Maintaining a clean email list by removing inactive subscribers and those who haven't engaged in a while is crucial.
  • Content Relevance: Relevant and valuable content tailored to the audience increases engagement and improves deliverability.
  • Authentication: Authenticating your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is necessary to establish trust with mailbox providers and avoid spam filters.
  • Testing and Optimization: A/B testing subject lines, optimizing sender name/address, and checking email rendering are essential for continuous improvement.

Key considerations

  • Recipient Segmentation: Segmenting your audience allows you to send more targeted and relevant emails, improving engagement.
  • Email Type: The type of email (bulk vs. transactional) impacts the approach to deliverability; transactional emails often require stricter authentication.
  • Sender Reputation: Monitoring and maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for avoiding spam filters.
  • Spam Trigger Words: Avoiding spam trigger words and phrases in your email content helps prevent it from being flagged as spam.
  • Proactive Management: Proactively monitoring deliverability, addressing issues promptly, and implementing best practices are key to sustainable improvement.
  • Email volume: If you are sending large volumes of email consider warming up the IP address.
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus Blog responds that one of the first things to test is your authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). You should also avoid spammy content and make it easy to unsubscribe. Ensure your content is responsive for all devices.

May 2021 - Litmus Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor responds that optimizing your sender name and address, keeping your content relevant to your audience, and testing your emails before sending can significantly impact deliverability. Also, monitor bounce rates and unsubscribe requests.

October 2022 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog explains that email deliverability can be improved by checking if you are on any blocklists, and maintaining a good IP reputation. Also, make sure to check your email's rendering to see if it is being clipped.

September 2022 - Email on Acid Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that breaking out open rates by recipient domain/provider can indicate deliverability issues if lower open rates are seen at a particular domain. If rates are dropping evenly, it might be due to recipients' lack of interest in the subject line/brand or a potential spam issue. Considers if emails were requested and if recipients have shown recent engagement/interest.

December 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog shares that low open rates often stem from poor subject lines, sending emails at the wrong time, not segmenting your list, or having deliverability issues. They suggest A/B testing subject lines, sending at optimal times for your audience, and cleaning your email list.

March 2024 - HubSpot Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit user u/EmailPro2023 responds that focusing on list hygiene is crucial. Remove inactive subscribers and those who haven't engaged in a while. Also, ensure your content is relevant and valuable to your audience.

May 2021 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog explains that improving email open rates involves writing compelling subject lines, personalizing emails, segmenting your audience, cleaning your email list regularly, and testing different email elements.

December 2023 - Neil Patel Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks asks if the emails in question are bulk emails (newsletters, etc.) or one-to-one transactional emails, as the issues and solutions can differ.

October 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit user u/MarketingGuru42 shares that A/B testing subject lines is the best way to improve open rates over time. What works for one audience, may not work for another, so keep testing.

September 2023 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailchimp Resource responds that to improve deliverability, you should authenticate your email, avoid spam trigger words, maintain a clean email list, and warm up your IP address if you're sending large volumes of email.

September 2022 - Mailchimp Resource

What the experts say
3Expert opinions

Experts emphasize that improving email deliverability and open rates requires a focus on engagement, sender reputation, and proactive management. Low engagement signals to mailbox providers that your emails may not be valuable, leading to spam placement. Monitoring and actively managing your reputation, employing email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and potentially seeking expert consultation are crucial for resolving deliverability issues.

Key opinions

  • Engagement is Key: Engagement metrics (opens, clicks) are vital for deliverability; low engagement can lead to spam placement.
  • Sender Reputation Matters: Closely monitor your sender reputation to identify and address deliverability issues promptly.
  • Proactive Management: Proactive management, including monitoring reputation and addressing issues, prevents deliverability problems.
  • Authentication is Crucial: Employing email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is a best practice for improving deliverability.

Key considerations

  • Relevant Content: Focus on sending relevant content to engaged subscribers to increase engagement.
  • Expert Consultation: Consider hiring a deliverability consultant to audit your marketing program and identify areas for improvement.
  • List Management: Implement best practices for list management to maintain a healthy and engaged subscriber base.
  • Opt-in Practices: Consider your opt-in practices to ensure subscribers are genuinely interested in receiving your emails.
  • Technical Configuration: Review and optimize your technical configuration to ensure compliance with deliverability standards.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise discusses the importance of proactively managing deliverability. This includes closely monitoring your sender reputation, promptly addressing any deliverability issues, and implementing best practices for email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and list management. Being proactive helps prevent deliverability problems before they impact open rates.

October 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource explains that engagement metrics, such as opens and clicks, are increasingly important for determining deliverability. Low engagement can signal to mailbox providers that your emails are not valuable to recipients, leading to placement in spam folders. Focus on sending relevant content to engaged subscribers.

February 2023 - Spam Resource
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks suggests focusing on engagement to boost sender reputation. Also suggests potentially hiring a deliverability consultant to audit the marketing program, opt-in practices, technical configuration, and segmentation.

January 2024 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

Email authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is a cornerstone of email deliverability, ensuring that your emails are not blocked or marked as spam. Maintaining a good sender reputation, avoiding unwanted emails, and adhering to email marketing regulations are also essential. SPF detects forged sender addresses, DKIM verifies message integrity, and DMARC builds upon these to provide enhanced protection against spoofing and phishing.

Key findings

  • SPF Authentication: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method to detect forged sender addresses.
  • DKIM Authentication: DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) uses a DNS TXT record to verify the message integrity and confirms the content hasn't been altered.
  • DMARC Authentication: DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) builds on SPF and DKIM to protect against spoofing and phishing.
  • Sender Reputation: Maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for ensuring emails are not blocked or sent to spam.
  • Compliance: Complying with email marketing regulations helps improve and maintain email deliverability.

Key considerations

  • Unwanted Emails: Avoid sending unwanted emails, as this can negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability.
  • Unsubscribe Process: Make it easy for users to unsubscribe from your emails to reduce spam complaints.
  • Spam Traps: Avoid sending emails to spam traps, which can severely damage your sender reputation.
  • Feedback Loops: Monitor feedback loops to identify and address deliverability issues.
  • TXT Records: Ensure your DKIM records are correctly configured as TXT records in your DNS settings.
Technical article

Documentation from RFC Editor shares that the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication method designed to detect forging sender addresses during the delivery of email. SPF allows receiving mail servers to check that mail claiming to come from a specific domain is authorized by that domain's administrators.

May 2024 - RFC 4408
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains that to ensure email deliverability, configure SPF records, monitor your sender reputation, avoid sending to spam traps, and comply with email marketing regulations.

June 2024 - Microsoft Docs
Technical article

Documentation from DMARC.org shares that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that builds on SPF and DKIM to provide enhanced protection against spoofing and phishing attacks. It allows domain owners to specify how email receivers should handle messages that fail authentication checks.

January 2024 - DMARC.org
Technical article

Documentation from Gmail Help shares that to prevent emails from being blocked, you should authenticate your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. It also states to avoid sending unwanted emails, and make it easy for users to unsubscribe. Maintain a good sender reputation and monitor feedback loops.

January 2022 - Gmail Help
Technical article

Documentation from DKIM.org answers that a DKIM record is stored in the DNS as a TXT record. It begins with 'v=DKIM1;' and contains tag-value pairs describing the selector, key, and other parameters. A valid DKIM signature ensures that the message content hasn't been altered during transit.

July 2021 - DKIM.org