Some sobering news from eMarketer: fewer consumers worldwide are opening marketing emails, according to a November 2008 study by MailerMailer.

MailerMailer found that the average marketing email open rate was just 13.20 percent in the first half of 2008, compared with 16.11 percent in the first half of 2007. Click through rates also decreased - from 3.18 percent in the first half of 2007 to 2.73 percent in the first half of 2008.

MailerMailer found that some industries had higher open rates – namely banking/finance, religious/spiritual, government and telecommunications.

It also found that shorter subject lines performed better than longer ones. Subject lines of less than 35 characters had an average open rate of 19.6 percent and a 3.1 percent average click-through rate. Meanwhile, emails with subject lines of 35 or more characters had an average open rate of 14.8 percent and an average click rate of just 1.9 percent.

As we’ve discussed before, lower open and click-through rates are to be expected as more people use email clients that require them to actively download images. Since an ‘open’ is only recorded when a small image is downloaded, a lower open rate is almost inevitable. Also, the study focused on email subscribers in general… NOT on customers, which would be expected to generate higher open and clickthrough rates alike.

Having said that, it is likely that with more email hitting people’s inboxes than ever, fewer people will actually open and click on their emails.

In any case, it’s DEFINITELY worth monitoring the trends in YOUR open rates and clickthrough rates, and aiming to continually improve responsiveness by testing subject lines, content, offers, email frequency, and other variables. Watch for sharp spikes or drops which may indicate content and/or offers that do or don’t resonate with people… or may even indicate deliverability issues.

Source: eMarketer, “Consumers Opening Fewer Emails”, eMarketer, November 14, 2008

Can you believe it? I’m writing about that beach bum Frank Kern again.

A few days ago Frank released a video mentioning the effectiveness of using negative email subject lines. In the video he went through a few examples of emails where using “bad news” and similar subject lines achieved substantially higher email open rates than his more “friendly” or “matter of fact” subject lines. Like DOUBLE the open rates of such other subject lines.

Lo and behold, almost as soon as Frank’s video became public, I - and perhaps you too - got all these emails with “bad news” in the subject line.

Don’t these people get it? Using “bad news” in your subject line may well cause your email open rate to increase (I literally used it myself just a few months ago)… but not if everyone is using it at the same time!

Marketing - and especially email marketing - isn’t done in a vacuum. Quite the contrary - the effectiveness of your marketing is not just a function of what YOU do… it’s also a function of what EVERYONE ELSE (who are all competing for your prospects’ attention) DOES OR DOESN’T DO.

And if you DID receive a stack of “bad news” emails in the last day or so, let me ask you… how impactful was the last email you got with “bad news” in the subject line?

Still not convinced that sending out a barrage of “bad news” emails is not a good idea? Okay, well I have 74 emails from Frank Kern in my email folder, collected in a period of a little over a year. How many times do you think Frank used the subject line “bad news”?

He used it an incredible… ONE time!

So if Frank really believes that using “bad news” is bound to double his “normal” open rate every time… why don’t ALL his emails have “bad news” in the subject line?

I’ll let Frank answer. This is what he said in a Warrior Forum discussion thread on the topic:

“Doh! I didn’t mean for everyone to start using the subject line “BAD NEWS” all the time. There has to be context and finesse with this technique… The intended message was that if people just work on optimizing their open rates, they can realistically double their business (assuming all other numbers remain constant)… It wasn’t meant to be about the subject line.”

That - and the fact that negative subject lines CAN work exceptionally well (in context and with finesse!) - should be the major take-out from Frank’s video… not that you should necessarily stick “bad news” in the subject line of your next email broadcast.

And yes, I have used “bad news” in MY subject line… I’m curious to see the impact (if any) on my open rate…

Sources: Frank Kern, “Bad News” Video, Warrior Forum, “Bad News”, August 12, 2008