Email is one of the most personal and primary modes of communication a marketer can have. But writing an email is no easy task. So after writing it, perfecting it, and sending it, you naturally want to know if your emails are being opened and how your subscribers are engaging with them.
Why is it important to know if your emails are being opened?
Besides the validation of knowing your emails are being seen, why should you care about email opens?
Knowing whether or not your email has been opened will enable you to proceed with follow-up tactics.
A study conducted by Radicati revealed that the average adult receives an average of 92 emails a day. Considering that your recipient leads a busy life, there’s a possibility that your email might go unopened—and your well-crafted message won’t get read.
For example, if an email to a prospect goes unopened for some weeks, you can attempt to re-engage your prospect by sending a tailored follow-up email.
Another scenario could be that you sent a promotional email to your email list. No matter how engaged your list may be, there are those who, for some reason or the other, stop opening your emails. Knowing this allows you to create a campaign targeted at those subscribers to either re-engage them or clean them from your list.
Source: Really Good Emails
These are just a few reasons why open rates are a crucial metric for your brand.
Unopened emails give you critical information you can use to create a more robust email marketing strategy.
How can you see if your email has been opened?
Now you understand the importance of seeing whether your emails have been opened or not. Naturally, the next step is knowing how to see email opens.
One way to know if recipients opened your email is through a read receipt requests. Most email service providers offer this service, and all you have to do is “tick” the read receipt box before sending your email. This method isn’t perfect, however. For instance, the recipient can choose to ignore the receipt.
Another (better) option is an email tracking tool. Email tracking tools are the perfect alternative to read receipts, because they don’t require recipient participation.
The best part? Email tracking tools do more than show opens: They also give insights into devices, where the email was opened, and how the recipient interacted with your email. This is why using an email service provider with integrated tracking tools is so important.
These insights are a wealth of knowledge that can help you plan and optimize your email marketing campaigns.
Does it matter?
Knowing whether your subscribers are opening your emails is crucial for your email campaigns. A simple email open can offer you valuable data that can be used to improve marketing efforts.
For example, when a number of your emails go unopened, this could indicate your subject line is weak or that you’re sending out your emails at the wrong time.
What now?
Now that you know the importance of an email open and how you can see if your email has been opened, you may want to look into some email tracking tools to help you out.
While you’re at it, why not check out our guide on email open rates.