Email Marketing: Inbox Competition

You are not alone. At least not in your reader’s inbox. On average, 29% of their emails are marketing messages, according to a recent study by ReturnPath. If the average person receives 50-60 emails per day, that means around 16-17 emails per day, including yours. That can be some steep competition when you factor in short attention spans, busy schedules, and frequent interruptions.

Never fear, we wouldn’t scare you and leave you without answers.

When you send: The majority of emails are going to land first thing in the morning. None of the 15 emails waiting for me each morning are personal. Many people will look through one or two before getting swept away with something else in the morning. Another shuffle to avoid: the afternoon pile-up. Try sending around 8 AM or 7 PM in your readers’ local time if possible. Follow up by looking at your open rates, and test for the best day to send.

Subject line: Most users will select the most interesting email out of their unread emails to read immediately or in the near future. Some may go into a special folder for great deals. Others are deleted or forgotten. If you want to be the email that gets the attention, your subject line absolutely counts. In order to get attention, use subject lines that are short, to the point, and descriptive of the contents. Generic subject lines like “update” and “monthly newsletter” position your email poorly against “50% Off 1/17-1/21.”

Consistently Good Stuff: No matter when you send or what the subject line, if you don’t have content that is always juicy, your readers will drop off like flies in favor of those other 28 emails in their box. Good content can include updates about your business, but should provide value and exclusivity to your readers. Give the people what they want and they will give you what you want.

Goes without saying: Use your business name in the “send from” name. Use the same email in the “sender’s email address” box.

Looking for more tips to position yourself well among the spammers and spam traps? AJ has the scoop.