In part one, I talked you through the steps needed get your mailout into readers' inboxes. Now it's time to optimize your mass mailing so people will open and read it. 

1. It's All in the Name

Start with the title. It should be a summary of the the content that's straightforward and sexy enough to grab the recipients' attention. Eye-catching, mysterious, a hot topic - whatever you can do to make your title stand out. There's no magic formula, so do a split test with different versions to see what works best. Remember, one word can make all the difference. Have a look at our examples of good and bad titles.

First example: Wrong title, misleading the reader.

• Opening rate: 21.36%  People wants tips from us!
• Click-through rate: 0.62% They read the mail and... Where the hell are the tips?
• Unsubscrive rate: 1.66% Let's not receive these fake tips anymore....

Second example: A good title, straight to the point and a feeling of opportunity

• Opening rate: 24.11% (A special advantage of Odoo? Of course I will open it!)
• Click-through rate: 1.47% (More than the double! Odoo at bargain price, I am lovin it)
• Unsubscribe rate: 1.37% (Honesty brings a bit more loyalty)

2. Flawless Layout

Make your mailing consistent with your brand's image - use your company's colours, logo and graphics, so you're sure to at reinforce your image, even if the readers do only skim over the content. But - don't try to jazz up your mailing by adding images that take a long time to load up.  Keep the formatting simple so the mail can be opened on any type of  device - from desktop computer, to tablet or mobile phone. Don't underline any text that isn't a hyperlink because it could confuse readers.

3. Going, Going, Gone

You don't want to lose the momentum, giving readers the chance to be indecisive and leave your mail lingering in their inbox. A good mass mailing must contain a call to action, but not be a call to action. Your CTA should be in keeping with the goal of your mass mailing (if you don’t have a clear goal, you might as well forget creating an effective mailout – see part one for details). CTAs like "Purchase Now" or "Click Here to Sign Up" prompt quick response. You can even ask people to join you on social media. Combining the call to action with a deadline can be even more effective. You can try "Offer ends..." with a date. Spamming and repeating your CTA won’t convince people to follow through.

4. The Perfect Landing Page

The landing page the reader clicks through to should be consistent with your mailing. Readers will expect clear, relevant and easy to find content once they arrive at the landing page. Some people quickly click on the CTA, expecting to immediately have all the information they need. Nothing is more frustrating than having to go back to the mailout to search. So, make the experience smooth. Provide  different ways the reader can get in touch by giving all contact  details (email, phone numbers, etc) and put communication at the click of a button by using hyperlinks.

5. The Sending... and Resending

Once you’re ready to hit the send button, there are tactics you can use to increase the chances that your mailout will be read. Pinpoint the time and day that would be optimal. For B2B, it’s during working hours Monday to Friday, but for techies (like developers), it’s all about the evenings. Timings can totally change your opening rate, so experiment to find out when works best. And what about sending speed? If your database is set on the same email provider, there’s a chance that a huge volume within a short space of time may alert the spam filter. This isn’t definite, but it could happen so it’s better not to risk it. Set the sending speed according to your ability to deal with reactions from the readers. There’s no point sending all the mailings out in one hour if you know your sales team can’t cope with a deluge of responses. It’s better to try and achieve a steady flow of reactions rather than a big peak so that you don’t crash your server.

If you want another bite of the apple, after a few days, you can resend your email to same contacts in your database using a slightly different title like “Reminder...”. Configure your settings so the second mailout only goes to people that didn’t open the first one.

6. Test, Test and Test Again

Focus on your database – learn from it; experiment on it; test various titles, contents, and formats. Fine tune everything to meet your needs as well as possible. Here's another example of one of our successful mass mailing campaigns:

7. Don’t Do Dirty Work

A neat and tidy database is a huge bonus. So, clean your database frequently, going through it, removing, for example, people who have unsubscribed and inactive members. Removing inactive members (for example someone who hasn’t opened the last 10 emails) will help you get a more accurate opening rate.

Why not have a go at creating your mass mailing and seeing how you can monitor the data using our free demo.