SEO Hosting Blog

So, today is my birthday. And this morning, while I was busy trying to decide whether or not I should work today (I decided to work), I was sifting through my emails and noticed something interesting. I had received a number of “Happy Birthday” messages from various companies whose email lists I’m subscribed to.

So far, I’ve received “Happy Birthday” messages from ING Direct, GoDaddy.com, EA Games, Flying Saucer, Gugliani’s (a Houston-based Italian restaurant), some local golf courses, and a couple of other companies that I’ve now forgotten.

Each of these emails contained a special birthday offer from the company. These ranged from coupons for a certain percentage off my next purchase to free gifts (I get a free pint the next time I go to Flying Saucer!).

All of this got me thinking. I wonder how many companies offer birthday gifts to their subscribers. The messages certainly got my attention because they stood out greatly from the regular commercial emails I’m used to receiving. And I’ve already taken advantage of a few of the special birthday offers I’ve been receiving (I can’t resist a free round of golf!).

But beyond earning my business, these companies helped to further build their relationships with me. The simple act of telling me “Happy Birthday” added a personal touch to their email marketing efforts, and it made me feel like they valued me as a customer.

If you’re interested in sending birthday emails to your subscribers, there are a few things you should do.

• Capture this info at opt-in—Encourage users to put their date of birth in the opt-in form when they sign up for your email list. Let them know they’ll receive a special birthday offer for doing so.
• Personalize your message—While the jury is still out on the effectiveness of personalized commercial emails, there’s no doubt that the birthday email is certainly the right time and place for personalization. Address the birthday recipient by name and wish them a happy birthday.
• Make them an offer they can’t refuse—A birthday offer should be better than the typical offers you send to subscribers week in and week out. It needs to feel like something truly special to the recipient, otherwise they won’t convert.

Do you send birthday offers to your email subscribers?

Testing out new things is the key to running a successful email marketing campaign. When you test certain variations side-by-side, you can identify which changes you can make to improve open rates, increase click-throughs, and run a more profitable email marketing campaign.

So, what are some of the things you can test out?

1. Personalization—The jury still seems to be out on email personalization. While some studies have found that personalizing your messages with the recipient’s name can actually cause a decline in open rates, others have shown that personalized emails are more effective. Regardless of the outcome, when personalizing your emails you have to make sure to get the recipients’ names correct. Also, don’t overdo it with the personalization. Mentioning their name too many times can make your email feel awkward and spammy. Test it out and see how it works for you.

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If you’ve ever subscribed to any email lists before, you’re probably familiar with the concept of the welcome email. This is the email that’s sent to new subscribers to welcome them to the list, confirm that they really did subscribe, share certain information/offers for new subscribers, learn their preferences, and more.

Does your company use email marketing? If so, you should already be sending welcome emails to new subscribers. If you’re not, here are some good reasons to do it.

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One of the main reasons subscribers stop opening emails and unsubscribe from lists is because the content they’re receiving isn’t matched to their preferences. You might be sending them messages on subjects that don’t interest them, or you could just be emailing them more often than they prefer.

That’s why it’s so important that you get to know the preferences of your email subscribers. When you know what they want and act upon it, you can increase open rates, boost response rates, and run a more profitable email marketing campaign.

Many savvy companies have started sending welcome messages to new subscribers with links to a subscriber preferences form. The subscriber can then indicate his or her preferences on a range of different factors, and the marketer can adjust communication accordingly.

If you’re going to implement a subscriber’s preferences tool in your campaign, make sure it includes the following:

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It’s pretty simple really. If your email subscribers don’t open your emails, you’re not going to have much success with email marketing. Subscribers who don’t open emails don’t respond to your special offers, don’t share your emails with their friends, and don’t take any other action you might want them to take.

So, what can you do to improve your open rates? Here are 5 simple tips to help you out.

1. Send your emails on the right days—Did you know that an email you send on Monday probably won’t get as good of an open rate as one you send on Wednesday? It’s true. There are certain days when your subscribers are likelier to open emails. In general, the middle of the week is best—Tuesday-Thursday. Fridays, people tend to be looking forward to the weekend and wrapping up their week. Mondays, they’re usually still trying to get back in the swing of things.
2. Include one of these things in your subject line—Marketing Sherpa recently released a study that found subject lines with the best open rates have one of the following: free product offer, discount offer, or a recognized brand name. Craft your subject lines accordingly.
3. Don’t email too often—More than half of all people who unsubscribe from an email list say they do so because they’re getting emailed too often from the sender. If you’re always bombarding your subscribers with emails, you’re going to wear out your welcome, and they will start to ignore you.
4. Build your own email list—Email lists that you build yourself will outperform email lists that you buy from somebody else. That’s because house built email lists are full of subscribers who actually request to hear from you, rather than random people who may not even know who you are.
5. Ask your subscribers what they want—If subscribers aren’t getting what they expected from your emails, they’ll stop opening them. Take the time to listen to what your subscribers want, and then make sure your emails deliver upon that.

What are some other things you’ve done to increase your email open rates? Share your best tips by leaving a comment below.