Women in Ag Wednesday Webinar | Boosting Newsletter Open Rates Please Don’t Hit Delete! Kim Rush Lynch Urban Ag Conservation Planner Prince George’s Soil Conservation District
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 [email protected]
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
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