Welcome to Vol.29 of Email Advice in Your Inbox!

Friend, it's good to have you back.

If you've been around long enough, you'll notice we've stuck with a pretty standard (and possibly boring) subject line formula.


This week, we've turned things on their head a little, because we're talking about what gets your emails opened.

Our (possibly) quirky take may have prompted you to open this email. Or, you'll know we send some pretty neat stuff, which is why you're here.

Today's knowledge builds on perceptions and findings we're seeing in the email space, and how you can use this to boost email opens.


We're also sharing a few of our regular (and awesome) tools, resources and knowledge from the email community, curated just for you.

 

Here's what you'll learn this week
 

• What gets your emails opened
   

• This week's top email resources
   

• Email expert practical tip of the week
   

• Smart email senders we're learning from
   

• The fun stuff: The unspoken corporate email culture
  
   

Ready to boost open rates? 🚀

There's often a debate about what actually gets emails opened.

In many email-sending circles, opinions are divided between three variables that drive a reader to open an email.

Is it:

• The email sender?
• The email's subject line?
• Or the time the email is sent?

Or perhaps the segment the email was sent to, what type of email it is, or even which device they're using to open it?

The jury is out.
 

We were curious, so we put a vote out to our community on LinkedIn to find out what they thought. The results were interesting:

This is a small dataset, and results may be skewed because we're connected with many marketers, but it seems the consensus is that an email subject line drives email opens most.

We thought we'd offer a quick take on our perspective, and address how a combination of the above, used well, can drive open rates in your emails.
 

Yes, opinions may be divided about which is more effective, but your sender name and subject line both play crucial but distinct roles.
 

Instead of looking at them as competing, we need to shift our mindset to seeing them as collaborative instead.

Let's look at what each element comprises, and also where the timing of your emails contributes heavily to open rates.
 

1. Sender Name: Trust first, recognition next

The sender's name is arguably the first thing readers notice.

When an email arrives in an inbox, readers often quickly scan for familiar names. If the sender is recognised and trusted, it’s more likely the email will be opened, and we say (controversially), regardless of the subject line.
 

There are two elements to nailing this:

• Your Brand or Personal Name: Whether you're sending as a brand (e.g., "Nike") or a recognisable individual (e.g., "Sara from ABSA"), this creates an immediate association. Known brands or people carry trust, which leads to higher open rates.
   
• Consistency: Using a consistent sender name reinforces familiarity. If your name keeps changing, you might confuse your audience, which could lead to decreased open rates (or a lack of trust).
   

In short, a trusted sender name builds long-term loyalty, and its effect on open rates increases over time as your readers become familiar with you.
 

2. Subject Line: Do you create curiosity and value?

Your subject line is the hook that's designed to support your email opens.

After recognising you as the sender, your subject line ultimately drives curiosity or interest to your readers. A great subject line often affects how your email stands out in a crowded inbox.
 

The thing is, there are critical elements needed in your subject line to do this well:

• Relevance: An effective subject line offers value or relevance to the reader, and most often piques curiosity. If your subject line has no logical strategy or relevance to you as a sender, or your email content, then this falls flat.
   
• Familiarity: As with your sender name, if your subject line doesn't follow familiar associations with your email content or even your brand as a sender, then your opens are going to take a knock.
   
• Contextuality: Sending emails about "Black Friday" in April may not be a great strategy. Yes, you may garner opens purely on incredulity, but if your subject line isn't contextual to who, what, when, why, or to whom you're sending, then you'll negatively impact opens.
   

Here's the harsh reality: No matter how good your subject line is, if your sender name isn't trusted or recognised, it’s less likely to have an impact.

(You can, however, try different tactics, like these from our friend Anatoly).

You'll need to consider your relationship and the relevance of your subject line to win, but there's one more element you'll want to tie in.

This is where timing comes into the mix 🕰️
 

Timing adds another layer of strategy to your email open rates.
 

Sending emails at the wrong time often means landing in the inbox when it's likely crowded, or when your frequency and cadence miss the mark.

(Before we look at these, we wrote about getting your cadence and frequency right here, so understand why both matter before reading on.
 

We believe your timing adds another layer of strategy to getting emails opened, and this comprises two broad elements:

• When you send: Think about when your audience is in their inbox, what they're doing there, and when you'll grab their attention best.
  
  them This also means sending at the right time. If most emails from the evening before are in someone's inbox at 8 am, does it make sense to send yours at 8 am? Also, if most emails are scheduled to be sent on the hour, does waiting until a random time (like 3.23 pm today, friend) not seem better?
  
  Be smart about this and monitor your email open times too.
   
• Frequency: Overloading recipients with too many emails can result in fatigue. This decreases open rates over time. Balancing frequency is critical - Your readers don't want to feel overwhelmed in their inbox.
  
  This also often means giving your audience a chance to control how often they hear from you. Offer an opt-down to stagger emails to them less frequently, or allow them to opt out of upcoming, higher-frequency email promos.
  
  Think about your audience first 🤝
   

As you'll now realise, balancing sender name relationships, subject line forethought, and strategic timing needs to happen simultaneously to win reader email opens.
 

Your sender name establishes trust, your subject line entices curiosity and gives context, and your timing is solid, all ensure your email is seen when your audience is most likely to engage.

There are other elements such as your previous email value, where someone is in the lifecycle of your email strategy, and other elements, but the big three mentioned here are where to begin, we think.

The question is: Do you have a strategy for each element and are you using them together?

There's one strategy we haven't yet discussed...

Should you resend emails to folks who have not yet opened them?

Our next Volume, our 30th, will cover this topic and give you some perspectives on whether you should pursue this strategy to build on email opens.

Stay tuned for that and don't forget to give us some quick feedback below!
 

What drove you to open this email?

Here's a quick social experiment, but we'd love to know what drove you to open today's Volume!

We'd love to build on the above strategies, but the way you engage tells us a ton about where to enhance your email experience.

We'd appreciate it, friend.
 

Let us know👇

Email resources of the week

Cool articles and resources to help you become a better email sender

Email Expert Practical Tip of the Week

Today's tip is from email and newsletter expert, Jeff Felten.
 

Jeff shares some quick insights on laying a foundation for your first 1000 subscribers.

He goes a step further, laying this out in a clever sketched diagram to make it easy to visualise for your emails.


Give Jeff a follow on Threads here👈

Smart email senders we're learning from

We believe that learning from some of the greatest in the industry is one of the best ways to improve.

Here are three emails we found that followed sound email principles or used innovative strategies to nail their email goals.

Take a look at this week's best 👌
 

Some more (email) fun to make your day better

If you work in a team (and even between client/ supplier relationships), you'll be familiar with unspoken work email etiquette that simply must be followed.


Sometimes, it can be infuriating, but hey, we all have bills haven't we? 😅

This email culture exists across most industries and roles, but we're willing to bet you'll enjoy this list of hilarious email sentiments.


(PS: The funny part is that I work for a Greg 😂).

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