Best 10 Expert Tips to Improve Newsletter Open Rates

Are you sending newsletters but not getting enough people to open them?

Well, don’t worry, you’re not alone. With so many emails landing in inboxes every day, it’s easy for yours to get lost or ignored. However, here’s the great news for you that improving your open rates is simpler than you think (once you learn the right approach).

So, here in this blog, you’ll find 10 expert-approved tips to improve the open rates of your newsletters. All tips are simple, effective, and easy to put into action. No matter if you’re operating a business, building a blog channel, or just beginning with email marketing, these tips will help you increase the open rates of your newsletters.

Ready to make your emails impossible to ignore? But before we dive into the tips, let’s understand what exactly an email open rate is.

What is an Email Open Rate?

Let’s break it down in simple words for you.

Email open rate shows how many people actually opened your email after you sent it. It’s usually shown as a percentage.

For instance, let’s say you’re sending a newsletter to 100 people, and 25 of them open it. That means your open rate is 25%. Simple math, right?

Open rate is the key metric of email marketing. Think of it as the first big step in your email’s journey. Because if no one opens your email, they’ll never see what’s inside—no matter how good it is.

Open rate can tell you a lot about how your emails are performing. A high open rate usually means your subject line did its job, your timing is good, and your audience was curious to open and read your email. Whereas a low open rate is a red flag that something is going wrong with your email.

So yes, your open rate matters. And if you want more eyes on your emails, improving that open rate is the first step. Here, we’ll discuss expert tips to improve your open rates. Let’s get started.

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10 Expert Tips for Increasing Email Open Rates

Are your emails reaching inboxes but still not getting opened? Don’t worry, it happens to a lot of people. But you know the best part is that you can fix it.

Here are 10 tried-and-tested tips that can help you improve your email open rates. All these tips that we’re going to discuss here are easy to follow and actually work—no confusing tricks, just real results. Let’s get started.

#1. Craft Subject Lines That Spark Curiosity

Let’s start with one of the most important tips: creating an engaging subject line.

Well, it may be hard to accept, but most people decide whether to open an email or not just by reading the subject line. In fact,47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone, while 69% report emails as spam just by looking at them.

That means if your subject line isn’t interesting, your email probably won’t even get a second glance.

So, how do you fix that?

Always try to keep your subject lines short, clear, and, most importantly, make people curious to open your emails. It is also worth noting that Subject lines with6 to 10 wordshave the highest open rates.

👉So yes, if your subject line doesn’t grab the attention of the audience, your email might never be seen. And ultimately, it affects the open rates.

#2. Don’t Waste Your Preview Text

Right after the subject line, the preview text is your next big opportunity to hook the reader. So don’t overlook it.

Think of the preview text as a sneak peek of what’s inside the email. If the subject line grabs attention, the preview text helps seal the deal and encourages the open.

So, a boring or auto-filled preview (like “View this email in your browser”) is a wasted chance. Instead, use your preview text to add helpful context and spark curiosity to get more clicks on the email.

For instance, you can try:

Subject Line: “Your Morning Routine Is Missing This”
Preview Text: “Add this one-minute trick for a more productive day.”

See how the preview text adds helpful context and creates curiosity without repeating the subject line? That’s exactly what you want to increase the open rates.

📌 Must know: Emails with custom preview text can improve open rates by up to 45% compared to those that leave it blank or generic.

#3. Know Your Audience Inside-Out

Well, if you’re sending the same message to everyone without knowing what they care about, you’re just guessing. And in email marketing, guessing rarely works.

So, to increase open rates, first you need to know who you are talking to and their interests. Then only you can send emails that feel personal, relevant, and useful to your readers. And that only happens when you truly know your audience.

📌 Tip: You can use surveys, customer feedback, or look at past engagement to learn more about your subscribers.

#4. Segment Your Email List

Once you know your audience well, it’s time to take the next smart step: segment your email subscribers list.

So, rather than sending the same email to everyone, you can break your subscribers into smaller groups based on things like: What they signed up for, what they’ve clicked on, where they live, whether they’re new or loyal customers.

For instance, let’s say you run an online clothing store. You can make groups like:

Group A: Men who clicked on sportswear
Group B: Women who recently bought shoes

Now, instead of sending a generic “New Arrivals” email to everyone, you can send:

To Group A: “Fresh Drop: Men’s Athletic Tees You’ll Love”
To Group B: “Just In: Stylish Heels for Every Occasion”

👉 See the difference? The second one feels personal, not promotional, and that’s exactly what boosts open rates.

#5. Write Like a Human, Not a Marketing Robot

Let’s face it, no one enjoys emails that sound like they were written by a robot trying to sell something.

So, if your message feels cold, too formal, or packed with sales talk, readers will tune out—or worse, send it straight to spam. And if you want to grab their attention, write like a real person talking to another real person. Keep it friendly, clear, and casual.

📊 Even stat shows that emails with a conversational tone get 8% more opens and 13% more clicks than overly formal ones.

#6. Focus on Helping, Not Just Selling

Here’s the truth: people don’t open emails just to be sold to—they open them to learn, solve a problem, or get something valuable.

So, if your emails are all about “buy this” or “sign up now,” readers will quickly lose interest. But if you offer genuine value like tips, guides, and helpful resources, it keeps the readers engaged with your emails. It is backed by research that 78%of consumers are more likely to engage with a brand that provides helpful content over sales messages.

#7. Send at the Right Time

Well, timing can also make a huge difference in whether people open the emails or not.

While the best time varies from person to person, most studies show thatTuesday to Thursday mornings (around 9–11 AM) often perform best. Why? Because mid-week mornings are when most people are focused and actively checking their emails. On Mondays, people are usually busy catching up from the weekend, and on Fridays, they’re winding down and less likely to open newsletters.

But here’s the truth: there’s no universal “perfect time.” Your subscribers have different habits, industries, and time zones, which means you’ll need to test and find what truly works for your list.

🚀Pro Tip: Track when your audience opens emails and schedule accordingly. Use elink.io to monitor engagement and find your perfect send time.

#8. Be Recognizable at First Glance

When someone checks their inbox, the sender’s name is the first thing they notice. If it looks unfamiliar, the email is more likely to be ignored.

That’s why your sender name needs to be clear, consistent, and trustworthy. Stick with one name—whether it’s your brand or a real person and don’t keep switching it up, so readers can instantly recognize who the email is from. The more familiar you look, the more likely people are to open your emails.

📊 Quick Stat: Emails sent from a real name see up to 26%higher open rates than those from a generic brand name.

#9. Clean Up Your Email List Regularly

Over time, email lists get cluttered with inactive or fake addresses, and this can hurt your open rates.

So, regularly remove people who haven’t opened your emails in months. Because a smaller, engaged list is always better than a large, uninterested one.

📌 Why it matters: When too many people ignore or delete your emails, it signals to email providers like Gmail or Outlook that your content isn’t valuable. This can hurt the sender’s reputation, and they start pushing your emails into spam or promotions folders.

#10. Test, Track, Tweak

Here’s the secret: great open rates don’t happen by luck—they happen by testing and learning.

For example, you can A/B test two subject lines to see which grabs more attention, or try sending the same email at two different times to figure out when your audience is most active. You can even experiment with layout styles—like short, punchy emails versus longer, story-driven ones.

The key is to track the results closely. Look beyond just open rates—check click-throughs, replies, and even unsubscribes. These insights tell you what your readers actually want. When you continuously tweak based on real data, your newsletters won’t just improve—they’ll keep evolving with your audience.

Remember: Small changes can lead to big improvements over time.

So, if your email open rates have been stuck, you can follow these expert tips to make a real difference.

But wait, do you also consider creating eye-catching newsletters a time-consuming or tricky task? Well, here is one more bonus tool for you – Elink.io. Let’s explore how Elink.io can take your email marketing to the next level.

🚀Read This: The Best Newsletter CTA Formulas (That Actually Get Clicked)

📌Bonus Tip: Boost Your Newsletters with elink.io

Well, if creating newsletters feels time-consuming or tricky, elink.io is the tool you’ve been waiting for.

Elink.io is the smartest content curation tool that helps you craft gorgeous, professional newsletters in minutes with no design expertise or tech hassle required. So, if you’re a content creator, marketer, blogger, or business owner, it’s ridiculously easy with elink to:

Save time
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And keep your audience engaged

That’s why thousands of people use elink every day to create newsletters that are not only quick to create, but actually fun to build.

And the newsletter is just the beginning. Here are more awesome things that you can do with Elink:

✅ Design Stunning Newsletters in Minutes: Have yougot blog links, YouTube videos, product pages, or any web content to share? You have to simply paste the links into elink, and it instantly transforms them into a clean, visual newsletter. Easy, right?

✅ Use Professionally Designed Templates: With Elink, you do not have to start creating newsletters from scratch. You can pick from a wide variety of modern, mobile-friendly designs that fit your style. So, you just have to plug in your content and you’re done in minutes.

✅ Automation with RSS: Do you want your webpages to update automatically? You just have to connect your RSS feed, and Elink will auto-update newsletters every time new content is added.

✅ Embed Curated Content with Ease: Elink lets you embed your curated content directly into your website or blog, so visitors always see fresh, engaging updates without extra effort.

✅ Smart Integrations: You can export your Elink newsletters directly to your favorite platforms like Gmail, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, and more. You can also embed them on your website or share them as a web page.

✅ Track Engagement with Smart Analytics: Do you want to know which content is performing well? Elink provides you with in-depth performance reports, such as views, clicks, and engagement metrics—so you can enhance each email.

So, if you’re sick of dedicating hours to formatting emails, or you’re not a designer but want pro-level email results, elink can be a game-changer for you.

Start using Elink today!

Wrapping It Up

So, making people open your emails isn’t hard; you just need the right approach. And these 10 powerful tips will help you do exactly that.

You just have to keep one thing in mind: your objective isn’t merely to land in somebody’s inbox. It’s to make them desire to open your email and read what’s inside.

And if you also wish to create stunning, professional newsletters with no stress, elink.io is a must-try tool. It will help you in crafting beautiful newsletters within minutes—even if you’re not a designer or coding specialist.

So, you’ve got all the tools that you need to boost your newsletter open rates. Now, go and make it happen! 🚀

FAQs

Q1. What is a good newsletter open rate?

A good average newsletter open rate usually falls between 20% to 35%, depending on your industry and audience.

So, if your rate is above 25%, you’re doing well! But always aim to improve your open rates by testing subject lines, timing, and content. Remember, even small improvements can lead to better results over time.

Q2. How to increase email open rate?

Here are some easy steps to improve your open rate:

Create subject lines to attract the attention of your readers
Personalize your messages (address the reader by name or interest)
Send at the correct time and day
Segment your list according to interest or behavior

Q3. How can I avoid spam filters when sending newsletters?

To prevent your emails from landing in the spam folder, you can take care of the following things:

Do not use spammy terms such as “Buy now,” “FREE!!!” or “Click here quickly!”
Don’t use all caps or too many exclamation marks
Use a clean and verified email list
Include an unsubscribe link at the end
Use a trusted email service provider

Q4. How do compelling subject lines affect open rates?

A strong subject line is one of the biggest reasons people open an email.

If it’s boring, too long, or confusing, your email might get ignored. But if it’s clear, catchy, and sparks curiosity, people are more likely to click, open, and read the email.

Q5. How does email deliverability impact newsletter open rates?

Email deliverability means your email actually reaches the inbox, not in spam or promotions tabs. If your deliverability is bad, even the best email won’t be noticed, so your open rate usually suffers.

In other words, we can say that Good deliverability = more eyes on your email = higher open rates.

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