Do you know the open rate for your email newsletter? The open rate is the percentage of people who actually open and read your newsletter. Most better email distribution programs can give you fairly detailed statistics about your open rate, including the percentage that opened the broadcast, the links that they clicked on (called click-throughs), the specific subscribers who opened the ezine, and in some cases, info about which issues were forwarded to others.

A good open rate is considered to be 30-40%, which means that between 30 and 40% of your list is actually reading your broadcast. That number mean seem disappointing, as you want everyone on your list to read your ezine. Unfortunately, a 100% open rate will probably never happen for most of us, as most people are simply too busy to pay close attention to the bulk of email that they receive.

If you're using your ezine as your "stay in touch" device for your email list as the way your prospects get to like, know and trust you so that you'll be the top of mind person they contact when they are ready to fix the problem that ails them, then you want to ensure that as many of them as possible open your ezine when it arrives. It's a crowded world out there in the world of email newsletters and can be difficult to make yours stand out above the rest.

Here are 5 strategies you can use to increase the open rate of your ezine:

1. Publish regularly. Your list needs to be accustomed to hearing from you, so publishing on a regular schedule is important. Many studies have been done to determine the "best" day to send an email broadcast, and as soon as a bunch of email marketers follow those guidelines, then the days change again according to another study. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter what day you choose to publish -- just do it the same time every time. The more frequently you publish (preferably weekly), the more quickly your list will get to know you.

2. Personalize your ezine headline and body. What happens when you see your name in an email? You look at it, don't you? That's why it's so important to use the customization features in your email broadcast program to insert your recipient's first name in the subject line and in the body of the email. Many readers aren't savvy to the world of Internet marketing strategies, so they think that you've crafted an email solely for them. And, of course, to personalize the broadcast, you need to request both a name and an email address when someone signs up for your list.

3. Create a compelling subject line. A great subject line (or headline) is just like a book cover -- it will make people curious/compelled to open the email, or not. The subject lines that get the highest open rate are consistent, or are formatted in the same way each week. Secondly, they give a glimpse of what's inside the email. Lastly, they aren't too long -- no more than 50-60 characters, which is the average subject line length that most email programs will display. I used to publish a month/year of broadcast and an issue number of my email newsletters and quickly discovered that I was wasting my subject line space. Now, I'd suggest your format to be: [Ezine name]: first name, subject line here.

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