Proven Ways to Increase Email Engagement_Cover Image
04 March 2022

10 Proven Ways to Increase Email Engagement

Create professional emails
Table of contents
  1. Way 1. Use double opt-in
  2. Way 2. Optimize your subject lines
  3. Way 3. Choose the best send time
  4. Way 4. Resend to non-openers
  5. Way 5. Personalize email content
  6. Way 6. Catch up with email marketing trends
  7. Way 7. Run surveys
  8. Way 8. Conduct A/B testing
  9. Way 9. Be helpful first/Give them more than they expect from you
  10. Way 10. Jazz up emails with gamification
  11. Wrap up
1.
Way 1. Use double opt-in

Email has been and still is the most powerful marketing channel available for digital marketers. But only if you do it right!

So how do you build an engaging email? There are a few ways to do that. 

Way 1. Use double opt-in

Why should you use double opt-in and what does it mean?

Double opt-in means that users confirm their willingness to receive emails from you. Put simply, they give you their written consent to send emails to them.

Ways to Improve Email Engagement_Double Opt-In

(Source: Email from Gusto)

Why use it?

First, non-existing email addresses will not get to your contact list. Second, it is required by legislation. 

Most importantly, people in your contact base are really interested in your content or your services. As a result, they are more likely to open your emails.

Stripo has prepared a bunch of email templates for your convenience.

Use our email templates to build verification emails faster 
Browse

Way 2. Optimize your subject lines

Like I said, there’s a huge competition in users’ inboxes as hundreds of new emails get there every day. No wonder, 64% of subscribers decide whether they want to open your email by the subject line only. Which makes it crucial to write a good, appealing one.

Best Ways to Improve Email Engagement_Optimizing Subject Lines

(Source: Gmail)

In our “Tips for writing subject lines”, we shared the best practices on how to create a powerful subject line. Check them out.

Way 3. Choose the best send time

Another great way to boost your email engagement is to send emails to subscribers when they are more likely to open them. 

The best send time does depend on your industry and business, and many other factors. 

iContact shared its tips on how to choose the best send time.

Way 4. Resend to non-openers

Look at subscribers that did not open or click your previous email. In a few days, you can send that email to them again to make sure that important content is received and viewed.

Way 5. Personalize email content

And according to Neverbounce, personalization in emails doubles conversion.

Of course, personalization is way more complex than just addressing by names.

Considering the user's geographical location, preferences, order history to generate personalized reports for each and every user, sending individual product recommendations, etc. — this all is personalization in email marketing. 

Improving Email Engagement_Personalization in Email

(Source: Email from Zillow)

Way 6. Catch up with email marketing trends

I’m not talking about design recommendations like adding videos or marketing recommendations like automation. Of course, they are important. But...

I’m talking about global things that are crucial to keep in mind when building your email campaign.

Dark mode and email accessibility are the two brightest examples here.

For instance, when in 2019 Google rolled out support for dark mode on Android and then iOS, we all had to act fast and learn to optimize our emails for dark mode to make sure our recipients that started using this featured dark mode on their phones would see our emails just the way we wanted them to.

Way 7. Run surveys

Sometimes it is reasonable to ask your users what they like or dislike about your email newsletters.

Of course, if your CTOR and OR go higher and higher, then probably you’re doing something right. But if you have noticed that user engagement remains at the same level, or is going down (heaven forbid), you need to ask users through the email what you’re missing in your email campaigns.

You can either run an entire campaign dedicated to it, or you can add the “How did you like this email” block at the end of every email. And if users give you 3 out of 5, you may ask them what exactly they do not like about it. If they give you five, then you just thank them for their time.

Last but not least:

From our personal experience, we can tell you that AMP forms and other interactive ways to collect users’ feedback normally give you 5 times more feedback than non-interactive ways.

In our “Interactive emails” blog post, we show in detail how you can build such start-ratings for your emails.

Way 8. Conduct A/B testing

You need to A/B test everything you can, starting from subject lines, the best send time to the color of your CTA buttons, and the tone of voice in your copy.

Way 9. Be helpful first/Give them more than they expect from you

No matter what you’re selling, no matter what business you run, if you deal with people, try to be helpful and useful for them.

If you are a Software, for example, you may find a subscriber’s problem and solve it. They may or may not choose your tool as a solution. But still, they will always remember it was you who helped them out.

If you run an eCommerce business, you may show your customers, for instance, how to remove stains from the pieces of clothing they bought from you.

Or if you own a restaurant, you may share some recipes with regular guests that can’t go to your restaurant on a holiday.

Boosting Engagement_Be helpful

(Source: Email from Freeosk)

Way 10. Jazz up emails with gamification

Games are always a good way to grab users’ attention and engage them. 

Why use gamification at all?

Because games in email:

  • increase conversion by 2.5 times;

  • increase average check by up  to 15%;

  • increase revenue by 300%.

Luckily, today it doesn’t take much time and effort to build a good game. Especially if you use our pre-built mechanics from our free eBook.

Wrap up

Find and give a try to new ways or use old kind ways, that you haven’t used in a while, to improve your email engagement.

Keeping customers interested in your brand, in your newsletters is one of the keys to success.

Implement any of these practices in your emails today
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2 comments
Karina 1 year ago
Thank you! You awesome!
Hanna Kuznietsova 1 year ago
Thank you, Karina. ?
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