Why are my email open rates suddenly dropping?

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that determining exact spam folder placement is difficult and requires relying on signals like low complaints combined with low opens. They emphasize the need to increase positive engagement (opens, clicks, replies, moving emails to inbox) regardless of whether emails land in the inbox or spam folder.

Email marketer from ReturnPath shares that monitoring email deliverability metrics is essential for identifying and addressing issues that can impact open rates. They recommend tracking metrics such as inbox placement rate, spam complaint rate, and bounce rate to gain insights into your email deliverability performance. These insights can help you optimize your email marketing strategy and improve your open rates.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares potential reasons for dropping open rates which can include sending to a specific provider or overall, sending to more or different people than usual, message clipping preventing open pixel loading, delays/blocks/complaints, authentication changes, and spam folder placement. They suggest checking email headers and investigating deliverability issues.

Email marketer from Warrior Forum shares the potential for a new spam filter impacting deliverability. They explained that new rules by mailbox providers or being blacklisted could be the reason. They suggest checking if their IP address or domain has been blacklisted.

Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that proper segmentation is crucial for improving email engagement and open rates. They recommend segmenting your email list based on demographics, interests, and behavior to target subscribers with relevant content. Personalized emails are more likely to be opened and engaged with.

Email marketer from Litmus shares the importance of subject line optimization for improving email open rates. They recommend testing different subject lines to identify which ones resonate best with your subscribers. Avoid using spammy keywords or misleading language, and ensure that your subject lines accurately reflect the content of your email.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that sometimes open rates drop when the audience is very niche. They explain that this can be due to saturation or the audience simply not being interested anymore. They suggest cleaning the list and running new campaigns to generate interest.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains a DMARC failure due to a typo in the DMARC record caused a significant drop in open rates. Alison Gootee further explains that a DMARC failure would cause emails to go to the spam folder, thus impacting open rates.

Email marketer from ZeroBounce emphasizes the importance of using email validation tools to ensure the accuracy and deliverability of your email list. They recommend using email validation services to identify and remove invalid email addresses, reducing bounce rates and improving sender reputation. High bounce rates can negatively impact your open rates.

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking if emails are clipped and investigating spam complaints within the ESP. They advise focusing on user acquisition/targeting and content, ensuring voluntary sign-ups with double opt-in. Furthermore, they recommend aligning content with expectations, managing email frequency, and ensuring easy unsubscription. Alison emphasizes the importance of generating positive engagement and understanding subscriber behavior to improve email outcomes, suggesting reducing volume and focusing on highly engaged users in the short term.

Email marketer from HubSpot explains the potential impact of list fatigue, which occurs when subscribers become less interested in your emails over time. This can lead to lower open rates and engagement. HubSpot recommends segmenting your list to target subscribers with relevant content and removing inactive subscribers to improve overall list quality. Also content relevancy can be an issue and needs to be addressed.

Email marketer from SparkPost explains that poor list hygiene practices can significantly impact email open rates. They recommend regularly cleaning your email list by removing inactive subscribers, bounced email addresses, and spam traps. Maintaining a clean email list helps improve your sender reputation and ensures that your emails reach engaged subscribers.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares to investigate recent changes in your email marketing strategy, such as changes in sending frequency, subject lines, or content. They suggest comparing your recent campaigns with previous ones to identify any significant differences. Additionally, they recommend checking your sender reputation and authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to ensure deliverability.

Email marketer from Email on Acid recommends optimizing email preview text to encourage opens. They suggest that crafting compelling preview text, which is the snippet of text that appears below the subject line in many email clients, can significantly improve open rates. It provides additional context and entices subscribers to open the email.

Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that several factors can affect your email open rates. These include changes in subscriber engagement, list quality issues (such as inactive subscribers or spam traps), deliverability problems (such as emails going to spam), and content relevance. A sudden drop could indicate a problem in one or more of these areas.

Expert from Word to the Wise Staff explains the effect of invalid email address on the delivery and open rates. They indicate list quality and the type of email send (marketing or transactional) can have negative effects. They suggest sending email validation regularly and cleaning lists.

Expert from Spam Resource, Laura Atkins, explains that declining engagement metrics, including open rates, are almost always due to a change in list, content, or reputation. New subscribers, changing content, or changing practices will all affect engagement. She emphasizes that email is permission-based and relies on consistent subscriber satisfaction.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for email deliverability. They advise monitoring your IP reputation and domain reputation in Postmaster Tools to identify any potential issues that could be affecting your open rates. Sudden drops in reputation can indicate spamming activity or other policy violations.

Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that helps protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks. Implementing DMARC can improve your sender reputation and ensure that your emails are delivered to the inbox, improving open rates.

Documentation from Microsoft SNDS explains that Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) allows you to monitor your IP reputation and identify potential issues that could be affecting your email deliverability to Outlook.com and Hotmail users. They advise checking SNDS regularly for any changes in your IP reputation or complaint rates, which can impact open rates.

Documentation from RFC 5322 explains the structure of email headers and the importance of proper formatting. They advise analyzing email headers to identify any potential issues with authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) or routing that could be causing deliverability problems and impacting open rates. Incorrectly formatted headers can lead to emails being filtered as spam.