Why are my email open rates low and how can I improve deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
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.
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.
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.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.