How to Increase Email Open Rates with H2H Subject Lines | Literal Humans

How to Increase Email Open Rates with H2H Subject Lines | Literal Humans

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The average email open rate across industries is 19.66% in 2022. This statistic may be disheartening for many email marketers, but it's crucial to understand the reasons behind low open rates to improve them effectively. There are two primary reasons why subscribers may not be opening your emails. Firstly, they may feel disinterested or disconnected from your content. However, this is unlikely since they willingly signed up for your emails. The second reason is that your subject lines may fail to capture their attention and make them curious about the content within.

Before people open your email, they want to know that it's written specifically for them. The job of the email subject line is to make the reader feel compelled to open it. It's essential to shift the focus from yourself or your product to what's in it for the reader. In 2020, a team of researchers conducted a study on solar adoption in 29 different cities. They discovered that people were twice as likely to adopt solar power when the messaging focused on personal gain rather than social responsibility. This highlights the importance of framing your subject lines in a way that emphasizes the benefits for the recipient.

Curiosity plays a significant role in driving email open rates. Our brains release dopamine, a feel-good chemical, when we satisfy our curiosity. By creating subject lines that cater to at least one of the five dimensions of curiosity, you can pique the interest of your subscribers. These dimensions include deprivation sensitivity, joyous exploration, social curiosity, stress tolerance, and thrill-seeking. By tapping into these aspects, you can create subject lines that trigger curiosity and intrigue, increasing the likelihood of your emails being opened.

In a study conducted by GetResponse, it was found that triggered emails performed almost twice as well as newsletters in terms of open rates. Triggered emails had an impressive open rate of 35.64%, while newsletters lagged behind at 20.58%. This highlights the importance of sending targeted and personalized emails based on specific triggers or actions taken by the recipient. Personalization goes beyond simply adding a first name tag to the subject line. In fact, the study found that open rates were lower when subject lines included this form of personalization.

To optimize your subject lines further, it's important to be specific and create a sense of urgency. Specificity sets clear expectations and allows readers to visualize a clear outcome or benefit. GetResponse found that subject lines with the word "now" scored an open rate of 31.73%. This suggests that creating a sense of urgency can significantly impact open rates. Additionally, it's crucial to consider the limitations of mobile devices. Most people open emails on their mobile phones, and these devices have limited space to display subject lines. While the average subject line is 44 characters long, mobile phones can only accommodate around 33 characters in the field of view. By keeping your subject lines concise and to the point, you can ensure that they are fully visible and compelling on mobile devices.

In conclusion, increasing email open rates requires a strategic approach that focuses on the recipient's perspective. By framing subject lines to show what's in it for the reader, tapping into curiosity, sending targeted triggered emails, and creating specificity and urgency, you can improve your email open rates significantly. Remember, it's not about you or your product, but about providing value and engaging your subscribers effectively. So, start crafting H2H (human-to-human) subject lines that resonate with your audience and watch your open rates soar.