Please Don’t Hit Delete! - University Of Maryland...Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates. Why Improve My Email Open Rates? • Entice people to do business

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Please Don’t Hit Delete!

Kim Rush LynchUrban Ag Conservation Planner

Prince George’s Soil Conservation District

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Why Improve My Email Open Rates?

• Entice people to do business with you.• Drive people to your website, blog, or e-commerce

page!• Compel people to share your content.• Optimize your return on investment (ROI).

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Why Newsletters?

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Why Bother with a Newsletter?

• Deliver important content to inboxes• Build relationships• Build credibility• Share expert information & good news• Invite customers to events• Develop your brand• Provide venue for promotions &

PURCHASE• Pair with other digital marketing channels

(i.e. social media)

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Tips & Tools Webinar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYM7cHyfxB4&t=165s

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Boosting Open Rates

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Industry Averages

Source: campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/ (8/2019)

Average open rate: 17.92%

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Best Open Rates by Day

Source: campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/ (8/2019)

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Top Techniques

• Develop splashy subject lines.• Avoid salesy subject lines.• A/B test your subject lines.• Use preview text wisely.• Send from a real name & email address.• Segment your email list.• Optimize send time.• Clean-up your email list.• Tailor your newsletter content to your readers.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Splashy Subject Lines

Say NO to genericsubject lines!

July Newsletter

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Splashy Subject Lines

• Personalize it.• Surprise them.• Propose

something of value.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Personalize It!

• Use first names.• Write to one person...a

friend.• Try emojis.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Surprise Them!

• Fear … No. Try FOMO instead.• Include compelling content.• Try a joke?

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Give Them Something!

• Include a values proposition for your reader.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Your Turn!

Develop a splashy subject line for a brewery e-newsletter and enter into the chat box.

“Bob’s Brewery September 2019 Newsletter”

“Kim, wish you were beer. New brew released today.”

Which would you open?

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Salesy Subject Lines • Ditch ALL CAPS.• Dump excessive exclamation

points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!• Avoid sales promotions in the subject line. • Forget words like `Buy Now’ or `Free.’

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Test Subject Lines

• Focus on one element.• Test out 2 subject lines with a small segment.• Wait a few hours to see which had better open

rates.• Send email to entire list with the winning subject

line.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Preview Text

• Include a pre-header (second subject line).• Summarize the email.• Add a call to action.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Preview Text

Be mobile friendly!

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Reply Names & Emails

Who would you be more tempted to open an email from?

Kim Rush Lynchkarlynch@co.pg.md.us

No Replynoreply@somestore.com

64% of subscribers say they are likely to read your email because of who it’s from, and 47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line. Source: https://www.superoffice.com (6/2019)

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

List Segmentation• Join an email service with list

segmentation tools.• Spend time thinking about

segments.• Allow subscribers to opt-in to

segments• Provide ‘Lead Magnets.’

Source: smallfarmnation.com

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Lead Magnet

Source: sharedlegacyfarms.com

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Send Time Optimization

• Subscribe to an email service with built-in STO.

• Use time zone optimization.

• A/B testing of open rates on various days and times.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

List Maintenance• Remove bounces/bad email addresses.• Remove or re-engage unengaged

subscribers.• Review subscriber lists for appropriateness.• Make it easy to unsubscribe or update

preferences.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Survey Readers• Ask your readers what they want to learn about

your farm business.• Narrow down what you want to learn from them

& design a survey.• Target your list segments.• Embed the survey in the email.• Draft a compelling survey invitation.• Thank your readers for their feedback.• Adjust future emails accordingly.

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Questions?

Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates

Contact Information

Kim Rush LynchUrban Ag Conservation Planner

karlynch@co.pg.md.us

Prince George’s Soil Conservation District5301 Marlboro Race Track Road suite 100

Upper Marlboro, Marylandph: 301.574.5162 ext.3

www.pgscd.org | www.bloominpgc.com