Bulk Email Marketing Tips: How to Boost Open Rates and Click-Throughs

As more businesses turn to email marketing, competition for subscribers' attention is becoming increasingly fierce. With a whopping 333.2 billion emails projected to be sent and received per day in 2023, it's clear that cutting through the noise and getting your emails opened, read, and acted upon is essential to the success of your marketing campaigns. Enter: Bulk email marketing. 

Table of contents

• What is Bulk Email Marketing?
• Reasons to Send Bulk Emails
• How to Measure the Success of Bulk Email Marketing Campaigns
• 5 Simple Bulk Email Marketing Strategies to Improve Open Rates
• Bulk Email Best Practices to Boost Click-through Rates
• Key Takeaways

Today we’re sharing more about what bulk email marketing is and 11 bulk email best practices you can implement to boost open rates and click-throughs.

Ready to learn how to put these insights into action?

Let’s begin!

What is Bulk Email Marketing?

Bulk email marketing is a term that means sending mass emails or “email blasts” to your contact list in order to promote an offer, convert leads, or encourage sales.

Some advantages of bulk email marketing include:

• Sharing your offer with a wide array of qualified leads
• Engaging in real-time messaging
• Accessing test marketing insights 
• Promoting information sharing
• Enjoying reduced overhead costs

Some common challenges you might face when utilizing bulk email marketing include‌ low open rates and click-throughs, poor recipient response rates, and struggling to achieve personalization. 

In today’s article, we’ll show you how to set your email campaign up for success.

Reasons to Send Bulk Emails

Sending a bulk email because you feel like it isn’t going to cut it. Make sure you have a good reason for sending email blasts, such as sharing your monthly newsletter or sending irresistible promotions and special offers.

Other specific reasons to send bulk emails include:

• Spreading the word about new product updates or launches
• Sending personalized event invitations
• Starting re-engagement or drip campaigns
• Sending important brand updates and recent news 
• Sharing new brand collabs your audience would love

How to Measure the Success of Bulk Email Marketing Campaigns

To measure the success of your bulk email marketing campaigns, you’ll need to set specific goals for each one. 

For instance, if you’re notifying email recipients about your latest product launch, and you’d like your campaign to boost sales, then set profit and conversion goals, such as:

“We’re sending a mass email to 5,000 email addresses. We’d like 100 recipients on our email list to sign up for a subscription to our new productivity software without trialing the product. We’d like 500 recipients to sign up for a free trial. We’ll add trial users to an automated, segmented email campaign to encourage conversions.”

“We'll also monitor other important metrics, such as:

• Email open rates
• Email click-through rates 
• Unsubscribe rates
• Subscribe rates
• Email delivery rates”

5 Simple Bulk Email Marketing Strategies to Improve Open Rates

Now that we’re clear on the basics, let’s review five bulk email strategies you can implement to encourage higher open rates.

Craft Compelling Email Subject Lines

Hook email recipients with compelling email subject lines. A simple way to do so is to integrate solutions to their pain points in your subject line copy.

For instance, if your audience loathes slow shipping options and doesn’t appreciate paying extra for faster delivery, consider adding “same-day delivery” in the subject line when sending promo emails.

When in doubt — personalize! Use relevant emojis, draw attention to things your audience cares about, and integrate keywords based on your target customer’s search intent.

Use the Preheader Text to Your Advantage

Preheader text is the line of copy you see directly under the subject line when you’re browsing messages in your inbox. It essentially gives you a teaser into what the email body will be covering. 

To effectively use preheader text, write descriptive verbs and language so your audience knows what to expect from your message. 

You can also use this section as a connection point if you know your audience really well. For instance, you could highlight an inside joke, tug on emotion, or use sarcasm to peak curiosity.

For instance, in the following examples, Jen Olmstead uses preheader text, such as “The breakdown you probably haven’t been waiting for?” and “Camping with the wolves” to grab the audience’s attention.

Optimize Email Send Times

Research the best times and days to send emails. Be sure to test and adjust email send times based on your audience’s email viewing habits.

Segment Your Email List

Send relevant and personalized emails by segmenting your email list based on audience pain points, funnel stages, or customer history. 

For instance, you could have:

• Segment A: Recipients who struggle with rosacea 
• Segment B: Recipients who struggle with acne
• Segment C: Recipients who struggle with skin pigmentation 

List building, personalization, and segmentation in bulk email marketing are key to producing email campaigns that have the best chance of converting. 

By building a list of subscribers that are interested in your products and services, you can tailor your emails to address their specific needs and preferences. 

For instance, AmericanTrucks, a leading provider of truck parts and accessories, has been running a series of events to grow its email list, such as its popular summer sweepstakes:

In the above example, AmericanTrucks encourages website visitors to sign up with their email addresses to participate in its sweepstakes event. With this strategy in tow, AmericanTrucks has been able to build a laser-targeted sweepstakes email list. 

With a targeted list in hand, AmericanTrucks’ emails have a better chance of reaching an engaged audience that’s interested in learning more about its latest products and promotions. It can then segment this particular list as its “summer sweepstakes” list and group other recipients on its previous list into relevant categories to send even more personalized messages. 

For instance, it could have:

• Segment A: Summer sweepstakes segment
• Segment B: Truck parts and accessories segment 
• Segment C: Used trucks segment
• Segment D: New trucks segment 
• Segment E: Trucks enthusiasts segment 

Avoid Spam Filters

Do your best to avoid common spam traps so you can get your emails into your subscribers' inboxes. 

A simple way to do so is by avoiding common spam trigger words and phrases, such as: “Free”, "dear recipient", "cash", "click here", or "make money". If you suspect it could trigger or be perceived as a red flag, don’t include it.

It’s also important to keep a close eye on your email deliverability rate. An easy way to prevent sending invalid emails and eliminate unreachable contacts is by using an email verification tool.

Bulk Email Best Practices to Boost Click-through Rates

Now that we’re clear on how to encourage higher open rates, let’s take a look at some strategies you can apply to boost click-through rates.

Create Engaging and Valuable Content That Resonates

Never send a bulk email campaign if you’re unclear on your email message and end goal. 

To truly create engaging and valuable content that resonates with your audience, you need to know what makes them tick, what their core needs are, and how you can solve their problems better than anyone else can. Then, you need to convince them you’re the solution they need and follow it up with a strong call to action (CTA).

Here’s an example:

Conduct a Competitor Analysis and Identify Improvement Areas

For any business looking to achieve success through email marketing, it's crucial to have a competitive edge. This is where conducting a thorough competitive landscape analysis comes into play. By analyzing your competitors' strategies and identifying areas for improvement, you can optimize your own email marketing efforts to get better results. 
Pro-Tip: Add a “What makes us different from our competitors” section in your email body or as a footer to showcase the unique value your brand offers.

Design Emails That Are Easy to Read

Use a customizable email template with a responsive layout and design. Or, create your own email design and turn it into several branded template options. Either option can help you send perfectly on-brand emails that are clean and easy to read (regardless of device or screen size), every time.

When working on your email layout, include plenty of negative space to avoid overwhelming the recipient. Break up large chunks of text with images and interactive content, bulleted lists, and formatted headers.

The importance of optimized visuals 

Use vector images to make sure your graphics and illustrations load properly and quickly on a variety of screens and devices. These images are highly scalable and retain their quality, regardless of how you size them, making them the perfect solution for marketing campaigns.

Priotize Mobile Optimization

Always design your emails with a mobile-first approach. This is key to making sure your emails are mobile-friendly and display well on mobile devices. 

Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly by testing them on mobile devices or by using responsive web design as we covered in the section above.

Use A/B Testing to Find What Works

Regularly check email analytics and test different aspects of your emails to see what’s working. 

A robust email marketing platform, like Elastic Email, is commonly utilized by full-service email marketing agencies to create polished emails and schedule bulk messages for several campaigns, simultaneously. But you can use it on its own, too! 

With Elastic Email, you can conduct A/B tests, track your clicks, verify your contacts, and get access to rich data to create successful bulk email campaigns in line with your business goals.

Harness the Power of Automation to Send Bulk Emails

Streamline your bulk email marketing efforts by using software that allows you to set up segmented, automated email campaigns. 

Automating your campaigns can help you make the most of your time, so you can focus more on analyzing patterns to see what’s working and what needs to be improved. This also frees up your marketing team’s time to focus more on strategy and less on redundant tasks. 

With Elastic Email’s automation features, you can improve your bulk email marketing campaigns’ open rates and click-through rates with ease. Our platform allows you to customize every aspect of your email sending so you can provide your audience with the content they want, every time. Create beautiful, branded emails at the click of a button with Elastic Email, today.

Key Takeaways

Whether you’re looking to convert leads, get eyes on a specific product, or maintain ongoing communication with your target audience, applying the strategic bulk email marketing tips we covered today can help you reach your goals. 

For good measure, here’s a quick summary of the key takeaways we shared today:

1. Craft compelling email subject lines 
2. Use the pre-header text to your advantage
3. Optimize email send times
4. Segment your email list
5. Avoid spam filters
6. Create engaging and valuable content that resonates 
7. Conduct a competitor analysis and identify Improvement areas 
8. Design emails that are easy to read 
9. Prioritize mobile optimization 
10. Use A/B testing to find what works 
11. Harness the power of automation

And that’s it!

Are you ready to craft compelling bulk emails that convert? Take your email marketing and email delivery to the next level with Elastic Email. Discover how you can grow your business with our powerful multi-product platform. Try it for free, today.

Here’s to your success!