Proven Ways to Get Your Email Opened and Your Phone to Ring

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October 11, 2012

Direct marketing is about driving response.  It is about getting your emails or direct mail pieces opened, links clicked, and phones ringing.  As you work on your next direct marketing campaign follow these insights to drive your recipient to action.

How long is too long?

You work diligently scripting and coding your email campaign only to look at your analytics and sigh with disappointment. A meager open rate makes your heart sink. What can you do better the next time around?

You can try a different list, offer, subject line, or send time.  Most email experts recommend starting with examining the subject line. According to Marketing Charts, the length of an email’s subject lines plays a big part in earning a high opening rate. Subject lines of less than 10 characters earned a 58% open rate while subject lines of 50-59 characters earned a 42% response rate in March.

Survey-related emails had the highest click rate (33.39%) while appeal-related emails had the lowest (14.63%), according to information supplied by Informz. Emails sent in the morning had the highest open rates based on metrics collected from more than 600 million emails sent by more than 700 companies. While emails sent in the morning had good open rates, they also had the lowest click rate.  (Source:  Pure360)

Most importantly, “Tell it, don’t sell it,” according to the researchers at MailChimp. You gain trust and credibility by telling the recipient what’s in his email rather than trying to be clever and sell him. A subject line that reads “April Newsletter from Martha Stewart” will more likely be opened than one that reads, “The Easter Bunny Might Skip Your Home This April.”

You can try a different list, offer, subject line, or send time.  Most email experts recommend starting with examining the subject line. According to Marketing Charts, the length of an email’s subject lines plays a big part in earning a high opening rate. Subject lines of less than 10 characters earned a 58% open rate while subject lines of 50-59 characters earned a 42% response rate in March.

Dimensional Mail Gets the Phone Ringing

As featured in the Aug. 2012 Deliver magazine, financial advisor Phillip Board of 1 on 1 Financial got 75% of 40 affluent investors with at least $500,000 to invest to call him based on a 3D direct mail piece he co-produced with his agency, Echo-Factory.

These soon-to-retire A-list prospects, received a black box with a note that read, “We haven’t heard from you,” printed on the outside flap and “We figured your phone must be broken,” on the inside flap. The box contained a cell phone with 20 minutes of talk time on it and Board’s number programmed when the prospect pressed “1.”

The cost of the mailing was more than worth the business earned, according to Board. He was spending up to $7,000 to earn one to two clients and this more targeted, customized, personalized approach was much more cost-effective.

Are you making it nearly impossible for your prospects not to open your emails or pick up the phone because of the offer or what they received in the mail? If not, follow suit with these tips and ideas. Highly targeted, relevant, offer rich emails and direct mail campaigns should be nearly irresistible.

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