How to Improve Bulk Email Open Rates

As it relates to bulk email marketing, an open rate is a measure used to determine the percentage of mail you send out that is opened by the intended recipients. You have probably imagined just how important this measurement is because if your mail is not opened, the message cannot be read. For the marketers suffering from low open rates, it is their never-ending mission to increase this percentage and thus, improve the performance of their campaign.

The newsletter is often viewed as a surefire way to ensure that bulk email is read.  It all makes sense when you think about it, because a level of trust has already been established.  Readers typically subscribe to a newsletter, so this automatically sets you apart from a bothersome individual sending out spam mail.  This of course, is only the case if you have committed to sending email with a confirmation link that allows the subscriber to verify their interest in your campaign.  If you are looking for a way to increase the open rates for your bulk email program, getting people to subscribe to a newsletter is easily one of the most effective ways to do it. 

A quality newsletter can go a long way in helping to improve your open rates, but even this is only half the battle.  You must still figure out the right time to send email, another vital factor that determines if your message will be opened, or ignored and eventually deleted without being read.  While this may seem like a trivial matter on the surface, it is actually quite the opposite.  It would be more practical to time your bulk email campaign to deliver messages after lunch hours or during the middle of the day as opposed to the beginning or the end of the day, which are usually when recipient is the busiest.  Although this is merely one example, it does show how important an element timing is to improving rates. 

Content is often overlooked, but it is perhaps the most crucial factor that determines whether the initial, as well as the subsequent messages of your email campaign are opened.  After all, even if the subscriber does open your mail, it is very unlikely that they will do so again if the content is not to their liking.  For this reason, you must create content that maintains quality and relevance throughout the duration of your campaign.  All the other methods you employed to improve open rates will prove futile if your content does not offer purpose and value to the reader. 

Open rates are a hot topic in the world of email marketing.  As we mentioned earlier, a good newsletter can help you win half the battle but there are still many challenges that lie before you.  While everyone tends to have their own method regarding what works and what doesn’t, open rates are something you definitely need to keep a close eye on if you want to succeed with a bulk email strategy.