Seven Novel Ways to Increase Your Email Engagement Rates

Are you happy with your email engagement and response rates?

For most marketers, the answer is NO, especially since more and more people are overrun with emails and ignoring them.

Ways to Increase Your Email Engagement

Don’t Give Up

We’ve come up with some novel yet scientifically proven ways to increase your email engagement rates. They all involve playing on deep seeded psychological needs and traits that people don’t realize they have. You owe it to your business to try them out so you can take your email program to the next level.

The Right Day Can Make All the Difference

There are special days that represent big transition points in people’s lives.

For most individuals, their 30th birthday is a much bigger deal than their 28th. There’s something about those decade milestones that make them seem like a major issue. It’s why people are more likely to run their first marathon at 29, rather than 30, 31, or 28. They do this because they want to feel prepared for the new beginning that entering a fresh decade of life provides.

It’s at times like these, whether it’s birthdays, major anniversaries, graduations, or even holidays like New Year’s Day, that marketers can leverage. Take advantage of these points in time when people are more likely to want to make changes or take action.

Connect your email to a life or calendar event. Or send it at the beginning of the week or weekend, when people are in more of a “new” rather than “tired” mindset. Home improvement stores often exploit the start of the weekend timing and messaging: Now that the weekend’s here, isn’t it time for you to finally plant that vegetable garden?

If you offer a product or service that benefits from a mindset open to change, timing your message carefully could be a smart move for you.

That’s Not Fair

Despite much of what we see in the news every day, most people have an intense desire for fairness and strongly disdain inequality. Fair behaviors and outcomes activate the brain’s reward center. Unfair or unequal ones do not.

This is a deep seated truth that you can take advantage of in your email messaging.

Simply appeal to the sense of fairness desired by the people you’re emailing. Charities are particularly good at this: “There are pets that are hungry, cold, and unloved all over the United States. Does that seem right or fair?” So many charitable organizations, whether for children, related to diseases or homelessness or hunger, use this tactic because it works.

Businesses can do the same thing. For example, large companies have had access to artificial intelligence for years, while smaller organizations have not. Does that seem fair? Of course not! That’s why Ajax Tech is leveling the playing field. Few small business owners can say no to an opportunity to compete more fairly and equitably.

This tactic can be used for any product or service that can be positioned in a competitive light, including pharmaceuticals, exercising, weight loss, time saving services, and more.

It Took FOREVER

People have a natural bias toward things that take a long time to do:

• A slow cooked meal must be better than fast food.

• A report that takes a month to write should get an A. One that takes a week only deserves a C–.

• A two hour spa treatment must be better than a thirty second beauty remedy.

Here’s another way to think about this: Many hairstylists can complete a haircut in 10 or 15 minutes, but extend the time out of concern that clients won’t respect a cut that’s too quick.

Leverage this in your emails by focusing on how much time and care goes into making your product or providing your service. Some examples:

• We searched the seven continents to come up with our new solution.

• Every inch of it is made by hand.

• Prepared the way your grandmother did.

It’s ironic that at a time when speed and technology seem to be driving everything, there is a deep human desire for thoughtfulness, quality, time, and care.

Make It Rhyme

It’s simple: Things that rhyme are easier to remember: The best part of waking up is Folgers in your…

Not only are they easier to remember, but they also engender trust in humans because things that rhyme seem more natural and persuasive. When compared with normal prose, scientists find that rhymes are faster and easier for the human brain to process. When something seems to come naturally, it just feels right, and most people will accept it as correct.

Leverage some simple rhyming language in your emails. Don’t turn them into limericks or sonnets. Instead, add it into key phrases or calls to action. For example: “Don’t delay, sign up today!” is far more compelling than “Register now”. Writing this way may not come easy to you, but the extra effort will increase engagement with your emails, build trust, and get readers to take action.

Give People Options But Not Too Many

Do you like being told what to do? Of course not,

How about only having one option? Even if you want chocolate ice cream, you probably won’t be happy if vanilla isn’t a possibility.

The human need to have choices is a powerful one.

When you give people options in your emails, they’re more likely to take action because they don’t feel that they’re only offered a single path that they can take. By giving them options, you shift thinking from “Do I want this or not?” to “Which of these do I want?” It gives people a greater sense of control.

When giving people options, don’t take things too far. People can usually decide between chocolate and vanilla or chocolate and vanilla and strawberry.

Tip: Don’t limit your choices to product or service options. Also, give people an opportunity to choose how to respond to your email, whether it’s by email, phone call, or text.

Get Progressive and Bundle It

Progressive is famous for its bundled insurance packages. It’s been offering them for years.

The reason: Bundles work.

They reduce the pain of paying because you’re getting more for your money while covering multiple needs.

However, not all bundles are created equal. The discount aspect of the bundle should never be the add-on. It should be on the most necessary or desirable aspect of the bundle. It’s a proven way to drive interest in the total bundle package.

Progressive doesn’t throw in umbrella insurance to get people to take action. The deal is based on the homeowners and auto insurance everyone needs.

When you bundle things in your emails, always complete the bundle with the most attractive item.

Label People

It might seem counterintuitive, but people actually like to be labeled when it’s appealing to them. For example, if someone is labeled as a “voter”, scientists have found that they are more likely to vote, whether the label is true or not.

This is because nouns provide a sense of who we are, and once we know that, it guides what we do. Leverage this in your emails by labeling people based on the actions you want them to take. If you’re trying to sell them clothes, label your target an “informed fashionista”. If you’re promoting nutrition supplements, refer to your email reader as a “fitness guru”. It will make them feel that they’re a part of your club, a club that they want to support.

Think about it: If we label you an “email thought leader”, doesn’t it make you want to try out the tips in this article?