A healthy email list doesn’t mean lots of subscribers. It means engaged subscribers.
In the long run, maintaining a healthy list accomplishes two things.
- it helps you foster a stronger relationship with your subscribers.
- it helps you cull the list of inactive emails and target new subscribers better.
Look at your open rate, click-through rate, and bounce rate. Drill down on the bounces, are they temporary glitches or permanent issues? Get rid of bounced emails to help you focus your resources on emails that actually reach the subscriber.
The industry average open rate for 2021 is 18.0 per cent while the average click-through rate is around 2.6 per cent, and the average click-to-open rate is 14.1 per cent. If your numbers match up, you’re good. If they’re higher, congratulations! Please share your secret. 🤓
And if you find that your email list isn’t giving you the return you’d hoped for, encourage subscribers by offering a value-based incentive. This also enables you to ask for more information and build a better set of data. You can then use this to segment your subscribers, personalise even further. Do go beyond the name, but don’t be a creep.
Pick a name from your list of subscribers, and write with that one subscriber in mind.
Automate, and make sure you don’t send out an email with “Dear [first_name]” as the opening.
[first_name] doesn’t like that. 😏
