WHY DO PEOPLE OPEN EMAILS?Alookat85,637subjectlines,1.7bsends&232mopens

EVERYONE GETS TOO MANY EMAILS

AND THE TRUTH IS, MOST EMAILS AREN’T OPENED :(

The85,637emailcampaignswelookedattotaled1.7billionsends.Only232million-or

13.53%-wereopened.

BUT SOME EMAILS DID MUCH BETTER THAN OTHERS

While2in5emailshadopenratesunder10%,1in5hadanopenrateabove50%.

WHY?Whatisitthatgetsapersonto

openanemail?

AND HOW CAN SUBJECT LINES INCREASE OR DECREASE OPEN RATES?

UsingMixpanel’sdata,weputbestpracMcesandconvenMonalwisdomtothetest.

HOW LONG SHOULD A SUBJECT LINE BE?40to60characters?30to50characters?

NOPEUnder30charactersworksbest.(Literally,theshorter,thebeRer.)

OPEN RATE BY SUBJECT LENGTH

WHY?WhydoopenratesdropaTer

30characters?

APPS LIKE GOOGLE’S INBOX TRUNCATE AFTER 30 CHARACTERS

MOBILE

PEOPLE READ EMAILS ON THEIR PHONES

Itcanbehardtogetsubjectlinesthatshort,butlookatthefirst27charactersofyoursubjectlineandmake

surethey’recompelling.

“HunterWalkgrewYouTubeby…”

DOES PERSONALIZING AN EMAIL INCREASE OPENS?

IT’S CERTAINLY POPULAR

1in14subjectlinesusepersonalizaMon.

ThemostpopularusecasewasinserMngtherecipientsfirstnameinthesubjectline.

BUT OVERALL, IT DECREASED OPEN RATES :(

Personalizedemailswereonlyopened9.34%oftheMme(-3.29%)

PERSONALIZATION CAN BE COMPELLING THOUGH

PersonalizaMonisatool,andwedon’talwaysuseitwell.Justpu\nganameinasubjectlinewon’tincreaseopens.

Othervariables,likeincludingthenameofanitemleTinthecart,resultedinhighopenrates(34%).

HOW DOES WORD AND PUNCTUATION CHOICE AFFECT

OPEN RATE?

BE NICESubjectlinesthatusepolitewordslike“please”,“thanks”,and“sorry”havea

22.98%openrate(+9.45%).

AND DON’T SHOUTIncludinga“!”droppedopenratesdownto10.92%.AndemailswithmulMpleexclamaMonmarkswereevenlower.

ASK QUESTIONSEmailsthataskedquesMonshada

15.21%openrate(+1.68%).

AND ANSWER THEMSubjectlineswith“Howto”were

opened20.66%oftheMme(+7.13%).

USE INFORMAL LANGUAGEAgainandagain,subjectlineswithinformallanguagehadhigheropenratesthantheirformalcounterparts.

SAY THANKS, NOT THANK YOU

HELP BEATS ASSIST

CHECK, NOT VERIFY

GET DOUBLES RECEIVE

URGENCY DOESN’T INCREASE OPENS

Wordslike“today”,“tomorrow”,“tonight”,or“now”didn’tincreaseopens.Infact,theyhadaslightlyloweropenrate,at12.67%(-0.86%).

SALES-Y LANGUAGE DROPS OPEN RATES

Emailswithwordslike‘offer’,‘code’,‘coupon’,‘sale’,‘$’,‘discount’havea10.34%openrate(-3.19%).

“FREE” WORKS?Yep.It’sgota17.27%openrate.Why?Yourguessisasgoodasmine.Butit’sworking–solet’sallgo

ruinitagain.

DON’T BUILD TOMORROW’S EMAILS WITH YESTERDAY’S BEST PRACTICESDon’twritebestpracMcesinstone,beempatheMcandthinkaboutyourreaderasaperson.Talklikea

realperson,beniceandbecompelling.

justin.megahan@mixpanel.comRead the full report at The Signal & email me your questions

WHY DO PEOPLE OPEN EMAILS?Alookat85,637subjectlines,1.7bsends&232mopens

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