What makes your open rate work?

Email is a great channel for educating users and encouraging them to engage (or re-engage) with your app.

But before we get to things like click rate and unsubscribes, we need to talk about open rate.

Here are four ways you can improve the open rates on your campaigns:

1. Start with what matters most

In marketing channels like TV and print, people often talk about "the big reveal". It's that moment where the penny drops and the message finally lands with the audience.

But email isn't one of those channels. In fact, email is the complete opposite of those channels. So when you're writing your next subject line, avoid being enigmatic and get your point across quickly.

Here are a few examples:

• Discount campaign – Instead of "We've got a surprise for you", say "30% off. Must end Sunday."
• New feature release – Instead of "Check out this new feature", say "New: Auto-save your running routes".

If any of your campaigns have particularly low open rates, see if you can find a way to make the subject lines more direct. You'll be amazed at the difference a few simple tweaks can make.

2. Aim for a maximum of 40 characters

Your emails open rates live or die based on the length of your subject lines. Here's why.

Almost everyone reads their emails on mobile. And the decision of whether to open an email or not is based on the little preview in the notification panel.

As a general rule, those email previews are cropped to around 40 characters. This varies based on things like screen size and email clients. But if your subject lines are 50+ characters long, you can bet that part of your message is being cut off.

So don't worry about trying to say it all or trying to write in perfect English. Instead, just say the most important part as succinctly as possible.

3. Add the personalization tag

Another proven tactic for boosting open rates is to mention the recipient's name in the subject line.

Here are a few examples:

• Sarah, fancy 20% off your next bulb?
• Got 30 seconds to rate our app, John?
• Run, Lizzie, run! 3 miles to go.

To personalize your Copilot.cx email campaigns, you need to include the {{firstname|}} tag. You can find out more about this here.

4. Experiment with emojis

Some tests have shown that emojis can increase open rates by as much as 50%. But that doesn't mean they work every time – or for every brand and audience. It's all about experimenting to figure out what works best for you.

Here are our tips when it comes to using emojis in subject lines:

• Be selective about which emojis you use and consider what they say about your brand
• Run A/B tests to measure performance with and without emojis
• Avoid adding emojis to every email, otherwise you'll water down the impact of including them