Is Your List Reading Your Email?
Memorial Day weekend officially kicked off summer, which means summer vacations are coming. For many email marketers, that means a huge spike in “Out of Office” responders and a nagging feeling that those carefully crafted email campaigns are not being read.
Good news email marketers. Out of Office messages don’t mean your message isn’t being read. Out of Office messages are just one trick people are increasingly using to manage their inbox. Studies show that the more efforts people make to organize incoming email, the more likely they are to actually read the emails they get.
Another trick to manage the inbox is filtering messages. By automatically filtering messages into different folders, email recipients aren’t responding to messages as they come in. Rather, they decide when they have time to read messages from their favorite senders, which makes them more likely to respond to your offers. That means the email that wasn’t opened the day you sent it may well be opened next week.
How to Get Your Email Read
Even if your reader is relaxed and receptive when viewing your emails, you still need to make sure you are practicing good email marketing tactics. That means:
- You are sending your emails to a good list, one with recipients who are interested in your message.
- You are using compelling subject lines that grab their attention (making sure you test different ones).
- Your content is clear, concise, and relevant.
So don’t let those Out of Office responders worry you this summer. Your list is getting your emails, and they’re probably reading them at a time when they are more likely to buy.