And on the seventh day God rested...
and then checked his emails.
By Robin Painter - Project Manager
Having managed a number of email marketing campaigns during my time at AlphaQuad, I’ve realised the importance of staying in touch with consumer trends. This area of online marketing is as ever-changing and dynamic as any other, if not more so.
So, what are the latest trends in consumer behaviour when it comes to email marketing? Well, the most impacting trend to note is that sending email campaigns on a Sunday can now get you the highest opening rates. Clearly it’s not a day of rest for all…
The prime reason for this seems to be that overall email volume is lower on a Sunday than any other day. As such, your campaign is unlikely to get hidden amongst a vast amount of other, more important messages.
Secondly, I don’t know about you, but having worked on a PC from Monday to Friday I try to avoid them at the weekend - so if an email is waiting for me when I am fresh and receptive on a Monday morning then I’m more inclined to read it.
As a result of this new trend, we’ll be changing our recommended send day from Monday to Sunday (Monday is now the second best day to distribute your campaign, with open rates decreasing as the week progresses).
Thankfully, as keen and enthusiastic as we are about online marketing here at AlphaQuad, it doesn’t mean that we have to work on a Sunday to initiate the send. We have technology already set up to automate an email campaign send on any day, and at any time.
Fastest finger first
Other changes in consumer behaviour reveal emails are getting opened a lot faster than they used to be. Actually, the highest majority of opens happen within two hours of the email being sent. This is due to the fact that email is a lot more accessible, and people can use mobile technology to check their inbox without having to log on to a PC.
Short and simple
Shorter subject lines work best. In fact, email subjects with less than 35 characters have proven to be considerably more successful in tests.
One final tip towards an effective email campaign - make sure you describe the subject of your email in the subject line. Sounds obvious I know, but you’d be amazed at the amount of emails that go out with a subject line that doesn’t accurately describe its content, thus raising false expectation. Too many email newsletters treat the subject line as a sales pitch which can be an instant turn-off for the reader. The simple rule is: tell what’s inside, don’t sell what’s inside.
Of course, all of the above won’t guarantee a successful email campaign. Your email will still need to look the part, and feature a clear and compelling message in a style to fit your target audience.
Send on a Sunday though, with the right subject line, and you might just reach more of that audience than you thought possible.
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