Wondering if anyone is even opening those emails? Want to see your open rate increase this year? Your email marketing campaigns are only effective if people are engaging with them. We often hear from Jackrabbit clients in the gymnastics, dance, swim and childcare industries that they are frustrated with low open rates on emails. Here are 3 ways you can start improving yours today.

1. Keep Your List Squeaky Clean

Who’s on your list? Do you keep adding new contacts but don’t remove old ones? How can you be sure that the people on your email contact list still want to hear from you?

The idea of keeping your email subscriber list up to date and active isn’t a new one, but even with ongoing communication, subscriber lists can go stale. The contacts on your list may have changed their email addresses, moved out of your community or have children that have aged out of eligibility.

To keep your list fresh and filled with engaged readers, it’s a good idea to periodically remove those that are no longer interacting with you.  Try removing any subscribers who have not engaged with your emails in 6 months or more.

Pro-Tip: Before your cleanup, try to re-engage your inactive subscribers with an email that lets them know you’ll be removing them or that you miss them! FOMO can generate a lot of re-engagement!

2. Segment Like a Pro

Open your email and take a quick peek inside. When you decide which of those you’ll read and which you’ll immediately delete, chances are a few things stand out to you. You’re looking for subject lines or senders who are relevant to you.

The best way to be sure you’re sending out messages that are interesting to your readers is by segmenting your email lists.

Start by segmenting your list by enrollment status, classes, sessions and programs. Go for a deeper dive with indicators like sibling status, program interest, community event attendance and more.

Once you’ve got awesome segments built, your subject lines and messages will almost write themselves. Almost.

3. Don’t Forget, Timing is Everything

The time of day you send your emails out can have a huge effect on whether your audience will open them. Consider the things your list has in common. Where are they spending most of their day? When would normal breaks occur when they might take a quick look at their emails?

Chances are you have more in common with that audience that you might think. Keep track of your viewing time – when are you checking personal emails most?

If you’re looking for some immediate answers, a few good hints may lie in your social media insights. Channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow businesses to hone in on when their followers are checking in most often. Since most of us have routines when browsing our devices, there’s a good chance that if someone is scrolling through their feed, they’ve probably recently checked their emails, too.

Trends say open rates increase a few key times in the day:

Early Morning: Think: Checking your emails after you turn off your alarm

Top of the Hour: Think: Browsing your phone between meetings

Commute times: Sad, but oh, so true.

Dinner hours: Sadder, but, guilty as charged.

The bottom line on email send time is this: imagine a day in the life of the parents at your facility. What are they doing in the morning, afternoon, and evening? What does their workday look like? How late are they likely to be up? What time do you image their alarm goes off every morning?

Most importantly, try to remember that people’s inboxes are packed right now and there’s no end to that in sight. Everyone is looking for a reason to ignore, delete and unsubscribe. But if you appeal to them on a personal level, you’ll stand a better chance of getting an open. Think of your email audience as friends. Deliver messaging that they deserve to read during times they need it most.

Incorporating these ideas into your email nurture campaigns should help you see a few spikes in your open rates. More great ideas? Share it with us in the comments!