When it comes to email marketing, the favorite statistic is the open-rate. It is considered as being the perfect indicator of how their mailings are received. This metric is important in judging the success of your email campaigns and newsletters. Your task is not only to get the email there but to ensure that it is opened. If your aim is to have your recipients read your email, then you have to achieve a high open-rate. This article will help you in getting a broad understanding about open-rates, how they are determined and whether they are reliable.

How is open-rate determined?

If you use email marketing tools like oemPro to send emails and newsletters to your audience, then the job of establishing the open-rate is not a major issue as it is done by oemPro. The tracking feature of your email marketing solution counts the number of ‘unique opens’, which implies that list members are never calculated twice, despite of the fact that they open the email more than once. Invisible graphics written in HTML are used to track the open-rate. They are placed on the server and when a list member opens and views your email, the graphic is downloaded. All downloads are spotted and the open-rate is subsequently obtained.

Are open-rates reliable?

The open-rate gives you a good estimate of the number of people who are opening your emails. However, two attributes, namely the ‘false negative’ and ‘false positive’ are involved in the ‘open-rate’ jargon, which can cause irregularity and unreliability.

• False Negative In case the email is downloaded from the server and then viewed offline, it will not be tracked and counted as the graphic has not been downloaded. A false negative occurs as the open-rate is actually higher.
• False Positive The recipient might have used the preview feature of his email client. The invisible graphic is downloaded and the email is recorded as opened though it has not been opened and read, but has only been previewed. The open-rate calculated will therefore exceed the real value, causing a false positive.
• With the increased use of anti-spam, some images are blocked to protect the recipient from seeing unwanted images. Therefore, the invisible graphics is not loaded and consequently not downloaded when the email is being opened and read.

You therefore cannot link the success of your email campaigns to only the open-rate. Other metrics should be used in parallel.

Email deliverability is an important feature of email marketing. Since it takes time to get new customer and undeliverable emails can imply a loss of clients, much concern must be granted to email deliverability. You must ensure that your emails are being correctly delivered and attempt to know the reasons behind in case your email deliverability is low. One big worry for email marketers nowadays is the result of spam filters, blacklists and email bounces which have an adverse effect on email deliverability. With the increase of spam, several email blocking and filtering techniques are being utilized to fight against this hazard. Blacklists are lists of domains whose job is to block emails with unknown source but the drawback is that your permission-based emails can be mistaken for spam and deleted or consequently, can be bounced back. Your emails are hence not opened and read, reducing your open-rates.

There are ways which can ensure that your legitimate emails get delivered:

• Your ‘From’ line and subject line should be carefully verified
• Language and tactics which might look as spam must not be used
  • Spam-like words such as ‘free’ and ‘guarantee’, etc.
  • Intense colors like red
  • Headers in all capital letters
  • Excessive punctuation
  • No ‘From’ line
  • Misleading subject line
• Contact recipients only after you have received their permission
• Never spam, else your image will be tarnished and you will be always recognized as spam
• Persuade your recipients to add your ‘From’ address to their address books. This will guarantee deliverability
• Use efficient email marketing tools like Oempro as it administers bounces and reports details about the bounce email addresses. Scrutinize your bounces and remove them from your list
• Remove subscribers from your list immediately when they want to unsubscribe and do not mail them again. Else, your emails will be regarded as spam

Email marketing softwares like Oempro, provides solution to the problem of legitimate emails being flagged as spam by granting the anti-spam rating feature which determines if your emails will be tagged as spam. With Oempro, email deliverability is not a big issue as your emails are delivered using the proper protocols. Octeth maintains strong permission policies and offers bounce management to facilitate your task.

The click-through ratio of your email newsletter comes into play after the bulletin has been opened. If you have achieved a good open-rate, you should now aim at a high click-though ratio, which is the ratio of people clicking the ad to that opening the email. First of all, you should know your target audience and hence provide what they are looking for. Your newsletter should contain pertinent articles to your business rather than loads of ads of no relevance to the reader. You should avoid long theoretical articles and should instead adopt short, well-written and useful guidelines.

The key articles should be placed at the top to grab the subscriber’s attention and make them starve to learn more. Ads can be placed besides high-quality text. The opposite applies if your email’s content is of poor quality. Here, placing the ads at the top will result in a higher click-through rate. The proper positioning of ads on the email has a direct impact on your click-through ratio. By regularly changing the area of placing the ads, you can experiment the region where the reader is more likely to focus.

Another important factor is the title. A good idea would be to give the title according to what it links. This will definitely lure the subscriber to click on the ad if it contains information of interest. Your newsletter must be given a distinct look and personality. A note from the editor can be added at the beginning to entice the reader. Pictures that are clickable and give an explicit image of your business can be added.

A few useful guidelines are included below:

• Your newsletter should be friendly, bear a sense of humor but at the same time be kept formal and professional. Write articles to tempt the user without boasting about your business.
• Talk about the advantages and benefits that are obtained from your newsletter. Your articles should reflect what other email newsletters might miss out. You can include the new features of your campaign.
• Include important events, new products or any other new things to compel the subscriber to read the newsletter. Use appealing words such as “sumptuous” instead of “good”.
• Adopt a new style and use of new words each time. Do not use the same standard wordings for every issue of your newsletter. Moreover, the paragraphs should be kept short.

Oempro provides advanced link and newsletter reporting features which can give you a better idea of what’s happening about your newsletters. You can decide a better newsletter layout based on these reports and increase your open rate and click-through ratio, thus bringing your business to great heights.

Email marketers use a number of ways to measure how successful their email campaigns are, and one of the key determinants is the open-rate, which defines the number of emails which have been opened. If your emails are not opened, all your efforts in setting and sending them are wasted. Your goal of creating brand awareness and boosting your sales remains unaccomplished. Open-rates have declined since the past few years due to SPAM issues. Senders are hence becoming more conscious about this particular metric. All email marketers want to improve their open-rates to bring about an enhancement in their email marketing. So how to optimize your open-rates? Oempro offers some tips which are bound on increasing your open-rates.

Your ‘From’ Line

The ‘From’ line should be made recognizable to all recipients. A good practice is to include your organization name in the ‘From’ line to prevent your emails from being deleted before opening. Your company or brand name in this field minimizes the probability of being recorded as being spam. This field must always be kept the same.

Your Subject Line

A good subject line, which summarizes your email’s content, will provide the recipients a compelling reason to open your emails. Take time to write an effective and creative subject line which will stimulate people to open the email and read the content and make it a priority. Your subject line should be kept short. By including your company or brand name, the chance that your email is marked as spam is eradicated. Never falsify your subject line.

Your Sending Times

Timing is a significant factor which influences your open-rates. The best day and time to send emails differs according to the company and the target. Test different alternatives to figure out which day and time works best for you.

Frequency

How often you send emails is important. If you mail too frequently, people will lose interest and might not open your emails. Mailing not often enough, on the other hand, will cause recipients to forget you and delete your emails before reading. A solution would be to give readers the opportunity to choose between weekly or monthly emails.

Rate Your Newslettter

Oempro provides the ability to rate your outgoing emails to know if they will be marked as spam by recipients. This feature helps in eliminating spamming phrases that trigger filters which can delete your emails before they are read. Your open-rates will considerably hoist.

HTML newsletters have in the last few years observed a huge boost but recently a slight increase in plain (or text) has been noticed. Studies made in 2002 showed that 62 percent of customers opted for text newsletters, while another report contradicted this by saying that 60 percent had a preference for HTML newsletters. But guess which format wins? Whereas some years ago, the answer could have been rather complex, today it comes down to subscriber preference and multipart messaging. HTML of course triumphs due to its eye-catching and attractive nature and usability, though a minute percentage of readers still insist on text.

HTML has gained popularity due to its fancy look which can include photos, graphics and colours and these newsletters can deliver videos, audios and Java applets. They are usually easy to read and include a layout which shows the newsletter’s structure, thus facilitating the navigation process. Publishers expect at least 10-25 % of subscribers to click on links when viewing HTML newsletters, which is not the case when sending plain text newsletters.

According to some readers, HTML email is a useless and unnecessary gimmick that can be put aside. In rural areas and non-developed countries, plain newsletters are preferred since they require less disc space, bandwidth and download time as well. They are unsuitable for subscribers who have slow connections or pay-by-the-minute internet access since they take longer to load. People with non-standard or old web-based email programs, which do not support HTML, will rather have programming codes on their screens. Publishers however consider it as disadvantageous as readers may lose interest when reading text without graphics and moreover, click-through-ratio is very small.

A wise idea would be to use a service which sends both formats of newsletters and detects the best one depending on the type of reader. Nowadays, many email software programs and services make use of ‘sniffing’ and detect if the reader’s email program can read HTML and accordingly delivers a plain text version a HTML version. For subscribers who want plain text newsletters, the version should be made user-friendly, easy to read, tight with fewer words to capture the readers’ minds.

Regardless, the key is to offer subscribers the choice of format when signing-up or provide … Some reliable email technology solutions, such as Oempro, provide multipart messaging to cater for both plain and HTML newsletters readers. Oempro sends the newsletter both HTML and plain text and it’s up to the subscriber’s email client to decide whether to accept the HTML version or present the plain text version. A tip when using HTML would be to keep the file size as small as possible and to always create a text-version for those who prefer or need them using a tool-supporting sniffing technique, or using email technology solutions which provides multipart messaging.

Oempro helps you in managing your email list easily. Whether you have a large list of customer email addresses or you are just starting off, Oempro offers the tools required to make the most of all your contacts. It allows you to identify maximum amounts for email lists and it provides the complete profile and action history of all your email list members, including messages sent, click-through rates and action tracking.

List management features include the building and the growing of email lists. Your email is one of your most precious assets, but building one is a slow process which might be time-consuming and strenuous. However by abiding by the following tips, you can quickly build your email list and increase your email marketing effectiveness by benefitting from communication with your readers.

When deciding to launch an email-marketing campaign, you must not limit your missives, as you will benefit by staying in touch with a wide variety of members and organizations. These contacts should always be kept informed through permission-based email to boost your business. If you already have an email list Oempro enables you to import it and manage the subscribers’ information.

An easy way to collect email addresses is to include a sign-up tag on your home page and other appropriate pages of your company website. You cannot afford to lose a single site visitor. You cannot miss the opportunity of turning visitors into your customers. Another effective method is to send emails to people which whom you already have a business relationship but you should provide a clear way for them to unsubscribe. Once you have built an email list, your highest priority now is grow the list as a larger number of subscribers imply more potential customers. Hence, a bigger list obviously implies a higher impact on your business.

If you do not have a website, you can still find ways to gather email addresses to grow your list:

• On invoices, feedback forms,
• In your guest book
• At functions

Building your list and growing it entail the same steps and are done similarly.

In today’s high-tech age of communication, email is considered as an ephemeral medium. Email, more precisely your email newsletter, is one of the most powerful tools for your business. The main reason behind is that due to the advent of reliable and proper email marketing tools such as oemPro, it takes little time to create and send personalized emails to your target audience. While unimportant emails can be sent once or twice a year, it is not the case for email newsletters. On the contrary, sending newsletter hardly ever can prove to be disastrous to your company as customers will forget about you and you might lose your readers.

You need to email your subscribers often enough to keep in contact with them and at the same time, notify about your new products and new developments. However, you must be careful not to bother them by sending newsletters too often, as this might compel them to unsubscribe though they like the content. Your newsletter can even be marked as spam if it is sent infrequently. How often you send your newsletter is therefore a major feature to consider to succeed in maintaining relationships with your customers and preventing your business from deteriorating by losing subscribers. Although there is no magic answer to which frequency of launching newsletters is the best, there are various factors which can affect your choice, depending on your capability and your subscribers as well.

The most imperative element is your ability to create and send newsletters. You cannot attempt to send more often than you are able to, else the quality of your newsletter will suffer, thereby leading to a decrease in the number of readers. If you think you are capable of preparing daily newsletters, go for semi-daily newsletters. Similarly, if your potential is to send weekly newsletters, choose to send newsletters every two weeks. If you promise a weekly newsletter, readers will expect a new issue every week. If this promise is not fulfilled, your subscribers’ trust in you as a newsletter publisher and merchant will be influenced. You should therefore cautiously decide on your schedule and once you have opted for one, you must stick to it. If ever you plan to change your frequency, inform your subscribers beforehand.

Generally speaking, a frequent publication schedule, such as a monthly issue or twice a month, is more valuable. The trick is to find the balance for you, where you can send newsletters as often as possible, while concentrating on the quality of the content. However, a less frequent newsletter, is not recommended. The rule of thumb is to test for a perfect frequency which will suit you and your company and simultaneously be appropriate to your target as well.

Reports have shown that email is the most used medium for online shopping during the holiday season. Email marketing, due to its affordability, effectiveness and straightforwardness, is much exploited to benefit the most from the holiday traffic and spending, hence generating a positive impression about the company as well as a higher revenue. Email marketing supplies the tools to target clients who are ready to spend money over the holidays. This period thus provides a plethora of prospects to boost your business. You should employ an efficient holiday marketing stratagem which solves your customers’ problems and target their interests. Sending holiday email campaigns is an excellent way for you to stay connected with your clients.

Tips to increase sales during holidays, making use of email marketing:

Email Early

Send your campaigns early, before the holiday shopping rush to grab more customers. You should avoid sending emails during the holidays as people do not tend to check their email regularly. A number of emails pile up and the chance that your email is deleted without being read increases. Therefore, emailing before the holidays is more efficient. Include a sense of exigency in your emails, such as limiting the time period, so that your recipients respond and buy quickly.

Email Frequency

If you have a propensity to rise the frequency of your mailing during the holidays, inform your recipients beforehand. Do not increase your email frequency without notification as this might irritate the receivers.

Notify About New Issues Or Updates

You should notify your recipients in case you plan not to publish issues during the holidays. You can also seize the opportunity to invite new people to subscribe to your email or newsletter. If new updates or offers are expected after the holidays, outline them before the holidays to whet your subscribers’ appetite.

Basics Of A Good Email

• A good "Subject" line which outlines a benefit and is free from spam-like words, such as free, or bad formatting, that is all capital letters and excessive punctuation.
• A fine and recognizable "From" line, which includes your brand.
• Send personalized HTML emails. The latter leads to a higher response rate and allows the tracking of opens and click-throughs. oemPro provides the ability of personalizing all your emails.

Holiday Greeting

You should send holiday greetings to all your prospects and customers. The latter will appreciate your thanks and regards.

The Header

The header, which is found at the top of your newsletter, is mainly used to build interest and has to be well-designed since it gives an image of the newsletter. It is used as a teaser, which tempts and pushes the reader to continue reading the newsletter and discover its interesting content. It should contain important information about the company, including the company’s name and logo. The content in the header should be relevant to the content of course. All headers should be consistent, and the publication date, issue and mainlines of the content should be clear.

The Footer

The footer is the text which appears below the newsletter’s content and is as much important as the content itself, but many marketers do not make use of it. It is the best place for inserting administrative notices and including CAN-SPAM compliance. It can also be used to advertise your products and services. Since from readers’ point of view, the footer is not considered as being part of the newsletter, you can allow yourself to incorporate other elements, spreading out from subjects related to your business. Though this section of the newsletter is not read at all the time, readers do often scroll down to view more information and the footer’s objective is therefore to ensure that it contains all that a reader might want to learn. Standard information about your business, such as contacts, must always be included, without putting aside your marketing aims, new products and secondary offers. The footer should without doubt comprise of links to your website and your other newsletters.

Some elements which are recommended in the footer are:

• Administrative information, such as contacts and copyright notice
• Links or instructions to subscribe, unsubscribe or modify accounts
• Links to interesting features of your website
• Links to your other newsletters
• Customer feedback link
• Link leading to more information about your business
• A teaser about the coming newsletter

Both headers and footers are essential in newsletters. You can define your header and footer of newsletters being sent through Oempro. It provides great flexibility and privilege mechanism which enables you to send personalized newsletters for each administrator.

A lot of work is put into crafting a perfect email, but the subject line, which is one of the most considerable components of an email is treated as an afterthought and has been too often overlooked. Over the last few decades, marketers have been agonizing over creating great emails, and only the last two minutes are spent on the subject line before sending the email. This is wrong. Subject lines should not be considered as a trivial matter and its significance cannot be minimized. Marketers should give as much importance to subject lines as any other constituent of their email efforts.

In a survey made in 2002, 63.3% of respondents cited the “From” line as the most imperative factor which motivates them to open emails. According to the report, 35% of respondents quoted the subject line as being the most vital factor. The subject line is the first impression that readers will have about your email and it is the element which will ensure that your email is delivered and read instead of being tossed. The subject line corresponds to the headline of a news story. The latter entices readers to know the whole story. Similarly, the subject line whets readers’ appetite about getting the complete message. The subject line should therefore be a compelling, and alluring short and precise message which catches the readers’ attention.

Writing good subject lines is a complex task. But what makes a good subject line? There is no universal applicable “silver bullet” subject line. Different types of marketing emails require different subject line approaches. Subject lines should convey who you are. This is done by incorporating your brand into the subject line if the “From” line does not make this clear. Moreover, you should be always consistent in your branding so that recipients get familiar to your emails. If the sender’s identity is unknown to the recipient, the subject line has the task of establishing the trust and comfort which will prevent your email from being marked as spam and deleted without being opened and read.

The typical subject line window can accommodate between 30 and 40 characters but the subject line should be kept short to ensure that the recipient pays attention to it. The benefits should be spelled out in the subject line. The reader should be aware that the content will improve his life. If appropriate, a limited time offer can also be used to draw the reader to open the email immediately. Unless your subject line is a question, punctuation must be eliminated. Furthermore, capital letters should not be used as all caps indicate spam.

The science in email marketing lies in the continual testing and retesting to find more about customers and their needs. If you really want to maximize success and create a great first impression, devote time and attention to the subject line and test and retest to have good results.