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May 21, 2024

What is a good open rate for email? 7 pro tips to boost open rates

Team Cymbal

As a venue owner, event planner, or promoter, you understand the role that digital marketing plays in marketing your events. Email marketing campaigns are a powerful avenue to connect with your audience and drive ticket sales. 

However, even if you send out fantastic newsletters with appealing email content, those emails won’t have the impact you want if your subscribers don’t open them. Ultimately, what matters is the open rate. 

Let’s discuss what an open rate is, why open rates matter, and, most importantly, how to improve your open rates. 

What is email open rate?

Before we get into tips and tricks to optimize your email open rates, let’s get on the same page about what the phrase means. When it comes to email marketing, the open rate is the percentage of email recipients who open and view your email out of the number of total recipients. 

Open rate is an important metric, as it directly reflects the effectiveness of your email campaign and your audience's engagement level. Of course, you want the total number of people who opt-in and open those emails to be as high as possible. A good email marketing strategy will help you maximize your email performance and achieve your goals.

What is the average open rate for event marketing?

What exactly is a strong open rate? Understanding industry benchmarks is essential for gauging the success of your email campaigns.

According to recent studies, the average open rate for event promotion emails is about 20 to 25 percent

However, achieving positive engagement rates goes beyond simply meeting the industry average. It involves employing strategies that resonate with your specific audience and align with the unique characteristics of the events you organize. 


How to improve your open rate

Improving your open rate is critical to a successful email marketing strategy. Here’s our tips on how to do so:


  1. Know your audience

Customizing your content to suit your audience is the first step towards higher open rates. Understanding their preferences, behaviors, and demographics enables you to craft messages that resonate. Consider using surveys or analytics tools to gather insights into your audience’s interests, helping you create more personalized, compelling, and relevant content they won’t want to unsubscribe from.

 

  1. Personalize and segment your content

Personalization is the key to capturing your audience’s attention. Segment your email list based on location, past event attendance, or music preferences. To get that information quickly, an automated platform like Cymbal can help you move fast when segmenting your email list. 

By delivering content that speaks directly to your potential customers’ interests, you will increase the likelihood of them opening and engaging with your emails, thus improving your open and click-through (CTR) rates. 


  1. Schedule emails appropriately

As with everything in life, timing matters! With email marketing, it’s a good idea to experiment with different days and times to identify when your audience is most receptive. Some of this is trial and error initially, but eventually, you will start to see patterns. Our analytics can help with this, too.

Understanding the optimal timing for your specific audience(s) can significantly boost open rates. Use scheduling features in your email marketing platform to streamline this process and maximize your time. 



  1. Test subject lines

Your subject line is the first thing your audience will see, so it must be compelling. Subject lines are arguably among the most critical yet underrated factors in email open rates. You could consider using a call to action to prompt a quick response from patrons. Emojis can also catch the attention of your fans; just don’t overdo it.


  1. Hone your tone

Craft your emails with a tone that aligns with your brand and allows you to connect with your fans. This is another example of where segmentation comes in handy. Your tone may differ for classic rock fans versus those interested in an underground hip-hop show. 

Still, some level of consistency is essential. It builds brand identity and fosters connections with your recipients. Experiment with different tones to discover what resonates best with your patrons. 


  1. Use links effectively

Guide your fanbase seamlessly through your emails and website by strategically placing links in the body of your emails. Whether it’s directing them to event pages, ticket sales, or exclusive artist content, make sure your links are clear, enticing, and simple to navigate. 


  1. Track your results

Monitoring and analyzing your email campaign’s performance is essential for success. With Cymbal’s help, you can easily track the number of emails opened, click-through rates, and conversion rates. This data is pure gold when it comes to providing insights about the effectiveness of your marketing strategies, which allows you to refine and optimize future email campaigns. 


Get the most out of your email list with Cymbal

Now that we’ve covered some fundamental strategies for maximizing your open rates let us introduce Cymbal’s innovative and effective marketing platform and explain how it can elevate your email marketing campaigns.

Time-saving tactics

Time is of the essence when planning and executing events. Cymbal streamlines your email marketing efforts with automation features that allow you to schedule campaigns in advance, set up triggered emails based on user activity, and efficiently manage your subscriber lists. 

Data-driven insights

Track the performance of your email campaigns in real time with Cymbal’s in-depth analytics. Identify trends, gain actionable insights, and make data-driven decisions so that you can make the most of your marketing efforts. 

Simple setup

There's no need to worry about complex setups here! Cymbal’s straightforward onboarding process is user-friendly and makes marketing accessible to everyone. Our intuitive design ensures a seamless setup process, allowing you to focus on what matters most: creating unforgettable experiences for your fans. 

Sources:

Open-Rate Controlled Experiment in E-Mail Marketing Campaigns | Market

The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2023 | HubSpot 

Inventive Ways to Grow Your Email List | Business.com

How To Identify Your Business's Target Audience | Forbes


Team Cymbal