B2B Marketing Strategy: Copywriting tips to get your Emails opened
B2B Marketing: How to get your Emails Opened, not junked
Maximise your B2B Marketing skills in copywriting and learn how to get your emails opened
The day and time you send emails affects whether or not they get opened, so consider when your recipients are most likely to have the time and interest to open it.
Most people claim that Tuesday or Wednesday mornings are a good time and that Friday afternoons and Monday mornings will just attract the delete button. Test alternatives to see whether they work better for your industry – for your HVPs.
There are two other important factors for getting your emails opened:
The Subject line – ‘Is this content personally relevant to me?’
It must provide a compelling reason to open the email. It must be engaging, arouse curiosity and offers some promise of relevant information. The more personal and relevant to them, the higher the open rate.
Keep the subject short—ideally 25-40 characters—so people can see at a glance whether it’s relevant.
Capitalise only the first letter of the first word. IF YOU HAVE A SUBJECT LINE THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS you will alienate your reader, as all capitals is the internet equivalent of being shouted at. It’s also likely to be blocked by spam filters.
Curiosity is a big factor that drives people to click open an email. One of the easiest ways to arouse curiosity is to start a sentence, then put an ellipsis and continue the sentence in the email body. E.g. “Here is a Method that Helps (your target audience)…” and you reveal the rest of the sentence as your first line of the email. These teasers can be very effective, but don’t use them too often.
An unfinished subject line creates a little tension, making the reader want to find out the rest of the sentence and thus, open the message.
However, a word of caution: a teaser subject line should be composed carefully. If it looks too spammy, it will hurt your open rate and ruin the recipient’s faith in you as a reputable business.
With all that said, the best way to write a teaser is to use implication. It should imply that the answer is in your email and tease the reader to open the message looking to find it. Another effective way of encouraging opening is to include a time clause in your subject line to prompt them to act quickly and read now, and not just to leave it to look at later.
If you include certain words in your subject line, however, junk mail programs will recognize them and banish you to the junk folder.
For example, emails may be automatically junked if:
- The subject line contains the word “advertisement.”
- It contains “!” and contains “$.”
- The subject line contains “!” and “free.”
- The body copy contains the words “money back.”
- The body copy contains the words “Guarantee” and also contains “satisfaction” or “absolute.”
- The body copy contains the words “SPECIAL PROMOTION”
The ‘From’ line
This needs to explain exactly who is sending the email. The name needs to be recognisable.
Your company name will suffice if you are emailing to existing clients or people who’ve subscribed to receive emails from you.
If you’re sending to people who haven’t registered to receive information from you, this may make them wary of opening. However, if you use just any name or your name and they don’t recognize it, you may make them even warier. After all, many people won’t bother to open emails if they don’t know the sender.
Be consistent over time with your ‘from’ line, so that you build up brand recognition.
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Cheers, Toby [B512]
Toby leads a team of young and international B2B Marketers at Lead Creation