Overcoming the inbox bloat that comes with election season

Election Day 2022 is less than a month away! Did you know there is a negative correlation between election proximity and email open rates? According to the Worldata Group, open rates drop 13% for B2B and 15% for B2C in the 60 days leading up to an election. And, unlike past elections, Gmail, with the approval of the FEC, has launched a new program to help ensure political emails won't go to spam. The learning? Expect inboxes to be packed and open rates to drop for the balance of October and into the first week of November.

Following are tips to help your brand stand out and get seen in a bloated inbox.

1. Tis the season for invites! Invitations hit on both exclusivity and timeliness, two important best practices for email subjects. Historically, invites sent in Q4 increase B2B open rates by a whopping 32%!*

2. Speaking of exclusivity and timeliness… This list of keywords can help boost your open rates.**

3. Forget Not the Friendly From. Having a From Name that aligns with the email content has been shown to boost open rates by up to 37%!^†

The From Name is the first thing a reader sees and is displayed more prominently than the subject line. Using a name (“Mario Facusse”), a brand/ department (“MLT Alumni Engagement”) or a description of the content (“OfficeDepotOrders”), or a combination of (“Dena@TheReviewWire.com”) encourages readers to click.

4. Timing, timing, timing! Do we send it on Tuesday? Perhaps Thursday? Turns out, day of the week doesn’t affect open rates much.^††

BUT… Time of day (and time of hour) does affect opens. Emails sent between 9 a.m. and Noon have the highest open rate. ^††† And, sending ten minutes after the hour has been shown to boost opens compared to those that arrive right on the hour.

Interested in learning more or need support optimizing your email marketing efforts? Contact our Digital team at digital@akhia.com.

*     Worldata Group, Scoop Edition 12, Oct. 21, 2021.
**   2022 HubSpot Inbound Conference, “Do This, Not That Email Tips That Work NOW.”
^†     2021 HubSpot Inbound Conference, “How to Radically Improve Email Performance.”
^††    Campaign Monitor, Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2022: By Industry and Day, https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/
^††† Hubspot, The Best Time to Send an Email [Research], https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-time-to-send-email