Poor open and click rates

[pd22]

Hi,

Have been witnessing very low open and click through rates for our emails.

Have already gone through some of the past discussions on the HubSpot community and general resources.

Things that have already been explored or underway:

- working on improving content, design and layout

- trying A/B testing

- not sending email from "general" company email Id

- verified SPF / DKIM and DMARC configurations

- not spamming contacts and not buying email lists either (sending emails purely to the Target audience) - aim is "nuture"

- spoken to the HubSpot rep and they shared some best practices resources

However, the engagement rate continues to remain poor. How can I resolve this?

Appreciate your thoughts and suggestions

[JWheeler3]

The same has happened to us with no rational or reasoning. We have since tested with MailChimp, Clickfunnels and MailerLite.

All 3 tests were done to the same list using the type of emails and subject lines. Hubspot shows under 5% open rates and under 1% click rates. The other 3 mail apps all show 20-29% open rates and 3-6% click rates.

Something is wrong with HS email. Last year we had 20%+ open rates and roughly 5% click rates which is consistent with MailChimp and Clickfunnels. 

We have a ticket in with the dev's but something is definitely going on

[Jnix284]

@JWheeler3 what I'm curious about with your tests is whether HubSpot's results are more accurate because it's filtering out bots better, or if there is actually a deliverability issue.

It sounds like the list was successfully sent from all of the providers in your test, including HubSpot, so if that's the case, I would imagine that the other mail apps are showing inflated results because they aren't as accurate rather than there being something wrong with HubSpot.

[Opveng]

Hey pd22! What I would suggest is to check and implement the following things which might improve your open and click rates

1. Check the number of unengaged contacts you have in your CRM (You can create a list and define unengaged criteria like people who haven't opened the last 8-10 emails). You can then exclude this list while sending out emails so that only the engaged ones receive your emails and you get better click and open rates.

2. Create a list of bounced contacts in the CRM and exclude them while sending out your emails.

3. Check the industry standard open and click rates for your industry to check if yours is an anomaly or it adheres to the industry standards.

4. Optimise your Subject lines. That is something which has helped my company a lot because that is the first thing people read when they receive your email.

All the best with your efforts!

[Jnix284 · Accepted solution]

@pd22 happy to help with improving your email engagement.

I would focus primarily on the click rates, open rate has become very unreliable with all the changes made by ESPs.

Can you share a screenshot of your Email Health? It doesn't need to show any identifying info, just this part:

This will help provide a concise overview to get a more holistic view of your performance to make more relevant recommendations.