How to double your open rate in 4 weeks and boost CTR in 3 simple steps

DEEP DIVE

If you’re tired of your email engagement declining, here’s a simple process that could double your open rate in 4 weeks.

Or at the very least increase open rate and CTR by 20%-30% or more.

Step 1: Fix your onboarding experience for new subscribers

Do this in 2 ways:

A) Incentivize welcome email opens on your thank you page.

Instead of saying “thanks for joining!” and hoping people will see and open your emails give them a reason to!

Tell new subscribers:

• Check their inbox for a free gift that’s inside your welcome email (this could be your lead magnet, best content, or a helpful resource)

AND/OR

• Tell them they must open your welcome email and follow the instructions inside or they won’t receive your newsletter.

Here’s an example:

Then you need to get new subscribers to take key deliverability actions after they open your welcome email.

B) Use the “WE-PAC” welcome email template

The most important email you send to subscribers is your welcome email.

It’s your first impression.

A great first impression = better engagement (open rate and CTR) and more sales.

Your welcome email must do these five things:

Welcome them to your newsletter

• Let subscribers know they just joined your newsletter.

• Give them a “welcome” and/or “thank you”.

• This only requires 1 or 2 sentences.

Expectations

• Share what your newsletter covers, when you send it, and how it will help.

• Keep it short, 1-3 sentences.

Primary inbox

• Ask them to move your email to their primary inbox

• If your audience is tech-savvy include one sentence on how to do this.

• If your audience is not, you can include instructions and a gif (visual instructions)

Ask for a reply

Ask for a simple 1-word reply that’s easy for the reader to do.

“Hit reply and send a simple “yes.” It tells Google (and other email providers) you actually want to get this.”

Always explain the reason why readers should reply, and do not ask an open-ended ending question. You’ll get fewer replies that way.

Click a link

Include a CTA for your lead magnet, social profile, newsletter issues, blog, product, podcast, YouTube channel, or anything relevant.

Clicks tell Gmail (and other email providers) that your email is valuable so future emails are less likely to land in the promotions or updates folders.

Include at least 2-3 links in your welcome email.

To maximize link clicks:

• Pick the links or offers you think will get the highest CTR.

• Have a call to action in your “P.S” section.

• Use a button, not just a hyperlink.

By making these changes to your welcome email you’ll boost the engagement and sales of all your future emails.

Note: Here’s my full welcome email guide.

Step 2: Improve your deliverability, reputation, and inbox placement with the base sending segment (BSS) progression

Your open rate, CTR, and inbox placement suck because you’re sending to subscribers who haven’t opened and clicked your emails in months.

By taking a step back and sending to a smaller, more active segment:

• Your engagement with your most active readers will improve

• Your reputation with email providers like Gmail and Yahoo will get better

• More of your emails will land in the primary folder and less in promotions

And, by sending to base sending segment (BSS) you actually could see more unique opens and clicks by sending to less subscribers.

Here’s how:

A) Create a base sending segment (BSS) of subscribers with this criteria

• Signed up in the last 10 days

• OR — 1 or more open in the last 30 days

• OR — 1 or more click in the last 60 days

Depending on your list size and engagement, this BSS will be about 50%-80% of your full list.

Then, follow this sending progression to boost engagement over 4 weeks:

Week 1 — Only send your newsletter to BSS 1 with this criteria

• Signed up in the last 10 days

• OR — 1 or more open in the last 30 days

• OR — 1 or more click in the last 60 days

If you send a weekly newsletter, this will be one send. If you send a daily or 2-5 per week newsletter, this could be 2-7 sends to this segment.

You’ll see engagement improve immediately.

Week 2 — Only send your newsletter to BSS 2 with this criteria

• Signed up in the last 14 days

• OR — 1 or more open in the last 45 days

• OR — 1 or more click in the last 90 days

In week 2, you’ll open up the segment to more people.

Week 3 — Only send your newsletter to BSS 3 with this criteria

• Signed up in the last 21 days

• OR — 1 or more open in the last 60 days

• OR — 1 or more click in the last 120 days

Again, you’ll send to a slightly larger segment.

Week 4 — Only send your newsletter to BSS 4 with this criteria

• Signed up in the last 30 days

• OR — 1 or more open in the last 90 days

• OR — 1 or more click in the last 180 days

Finally, during the last week you’ll send to the largest BSS.

Here’s why this works

By sending to a hyper engaged segment of your list, then slowly sending to more subscribers over time, your engagement, inbox placement, and deliverability will improve over this 4 week period.

Note: If you send marketing emails during this 4 week period, make sure they are sent to targeted segments that are smaller then your base sending segments.

Don’t blast your full list with a marketing email and damage your inbox reputation.

Also, make sure to exclude any segments you normally do. For example, exclude emails with 1 or more bounces.

Step 3: Win back dead subscribers with a re-engagement sequence

Now, you’re probably wondering what to do with the subscribers who are not in your base sending segments and will not be receiving emails.

First, understand that after a user has not opened or clicked an email in 60-90 days it’s extremely hard to win them back.

That’s why onboarding is important. It’s better to focus your efforts on new subscribers and active subscribers Vs disengaged subscribers.

Still, it’s worth trying to win them back.

Here’s how to do that:

The 2-part re-engagement sequence

Email 1 — The "Greatest Hits" Email

Who to send to:

• Send to subscribers with 0 opens or clicks in the past 30 days

When to send it:

• After a subscribers has not opened or clicked an email in 30 days

What to send:

• Share your most valuable content in one short email.

• Curate 3-5 of your best pieces of content or resources on the core benefit or topic your readers care most about.

• Use bullet points so readers can quickly read it and click a link.

• In the “PS” section, ask them to click a link and move this email to their primary inbox if they want to receive your content.

Email 2 — The “Good Bye” Email

Who to send to:

• Subscribers who received the “greatest hits” email and still have 0 opens or clicks in the past 30 days

When to send it:

• 3-5 days after you send the “greatest hits” email

What to send:

• Remind them who you are and how you help

• Tell them they will be removed from your email list and why

• Tell them how to stay on the list (click a button)

• Ask them to move your emails to their primary inbox and/or reply

Here are 3 examples of goodbye emails and here’s what mine looks like:

Putting it all together: Here’s what to do now

If you want to rapidly increase your open rate and CTR in the next 4 weeks, do all these 3 steps at once.

• Create a better onboarding experience for new subscribers

• Send the 2 re-engagement emails to win back dead subscribers

• Use the base sending segment progression to boost inbox reputation

By doing all 3 steps you’ll boost engagement with new subscribers, active subscribers, and inactive subscribers at once.

Hope this helps! Try it out and let me know your results.