Dive Brief:
- Research from Retention Science analyzing over one billion emails found that question marks prompted more opens than exclamation points.
- The study also found that shorter subject lines are more successful with six to 10 words getting the highest open rates at 21%.
- Dollar-off savings may seem like the most appealing promotions, but they’re not as effective as other types of deals.
Dive Insight:
When looking to cut through the inbox clutter, punctuation matters. As does the offering you make consumers.
“Consumers are sifting through tons of emails a day and making at-a-glance judgments about which to open and which to trash, so it’s vital to be descriptive and brief,” Jerry Jao, CEO of Retention Science, said in a statement. “While six to 10 words is the sweet spot, our clients experimenting with even shorter subject lines, those in the one to two-word range, are seeing even more impressive results.”
Interestingly, click rates were highest in October and November at 30% and 27% respectively, and by far the highest conversion was found in July with rates 21% higher than average.
Further, Retention Science’s data shows customers are more receptive to percent-off deals with 38% of customers more likely to click, and 47% more likely to convert when they were presented with a percent-off offer vs. a dollar-off offer, according to the study.
Jao recently spoke with Marketing Dive regarding holiday email marketing. He advised brands to consider the entire customer experience when integrating email into multi-channel strategies. Make sure to "provide an experience that feels seamless across all channels by focusing on experience from first search to final purchase," he said.