how to get your emails opened.

Email marketing has helped many of my clients stay in touch with customers, nurture prospects and reach new audiences. For Strategio, targeted campaigns to membership-organisation leaders averaged a 25% open rate, with a 20% click-through to the website. Here’s what makes the difference.

1. check your authentication first

If you send from your own domain, set up email authentication before anything else. It’s a digital signature that proves your emails are really from you, and it makes it far more likely they reach the inbox. Platforms such as Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor will guide you through it.

2. avoid spam triggers

• subject lines in capitals
• random capitalisation and lots of exclamation marks
• odd spacing or lots of empty space
• poor spelling
• subject lines that look like a scam

3. write a subject line worth opening

• Write it first. It gives your email direction.
• Keep it short. On a phone, only a few words show.
• Be specific. “Do you have a minute?” is too vague.
• Say if action is needed, such as “only ten places left”.

4. send to the right people

The best subject line won’t rescue the wrong list. Profiled, GDPR-compliant data means you’re writing to people who have a reason to care.

5. make it worth reading

Helpful, thought-provoking content earns the next open. Libera registered 35 people for its first workshop after just two emails and one LinkedIn post, because the topic mattered to the audience.