Email open rates are the most influential metric in email marketing. If you’re able to increase the percentage of consumers who view your email (without misleading them), your current conversion rate will automatically produce more conversions. Aside from email delivery, the sender name and subject line have the biggest impact on email open rates.
Most email clients organize the inbox in rows with the sender name on the left, followed by the subject line and if there’s room the preheader will typically follow third as greyed-out text. While some users will scan email subject lines, a large percentage of users will read left-to-right and see the sender name first.
The Importance of the Sender Name
An effective sender name helps establish a connection with your brand and forms a foundation of trust. An effective sender name is consistent throughout an email series and aligns with your brand personality. It’s important to present your brand consistently; it lets your recipients familiarize themselves with your emails.
What Does a Sender Name Typically Look Like?
The sender name can be a company name, an individual’s name, or a combination of the two.
In this article we’re going to discuss the ways to infuse life and increase open rates with the email sender name. Here are 5 sender name ideas to help increase your email open rates:
1. Tim Cook or Apple: Personal or Corporate Sender Names
Will your recipient instantly recognize the individual’s name? If the answer is yes, using an individual’s name as the sender field is a personalization technique that could increase your email open rates.
If the individual’s name is unrecognizable, personalization might not be your best idea. It’s important to know your audience and what will resonate. Causing confusion amongst your audience will lessen the chances of the email getting opened – and increase the likelihood of the recipient sending your message to the spam folder.
2. Keep Your Sender Name Conventional
Using the company name as the sender field is the safest option. This option is a customary fixture seen in most inboxes for good reason; the company name reinforces the brand.
If you’ve built out a strong brand identity that your email recipients have fallen in love with, then using your company name as the sender will likely increase open rates. However, if you’re using email to build awareness or consideration then you may want to explore some more creative strategies for email sender names.
3. The Power of Exclusivity
In the example above, Sephora includes the standard company name plus a little more. “Beauty Insider” signifies this email is only sent to members of their rewards club, eliciting a feeling of exclusivity. Presenting exclusivity in your email marketing can positively affect open rates. Exclusivity is a powerful tool; it acts as a solution to the powerful feeling of FOMO , which can be a highly motivating factor in people’s decision-making. Feeling ahead of trends and feeling a part of a smaller, exclusive club who has access to these trends can lead to increased open rates and ultimately, more conversions.
4. Making Corporate Sender Names Friendly
We know that utilizing personalization in remarketing emails leads to increased open rates, but the personalization doesn’t have to stop with customer-specific content. Sender field “personalization can soften the edges of big business,” humanizing a company’s email relationship with their customers.
In the example above, Oilstop did a great job of adding personalization in their sender field. Open on a holiday? Those are my friends at Oilstop.
5. Combining Personal and Corporate Sender Names
Including your business name alongside a personal name helps your recipients recognize the company while developing a personal connection with a representative from your business.
Sierra Club demonstrates the effectiveness of the individual and company sender field combo. Sierra Club, an environmental organization, presents a unified voice against statewide environmental policy issues; each email targets a different policy. Rather than having every email sender name read “Sierra Club”, they include the corresponding policy advocate whose cause is being championed in that email. It’s a personal touch that goes a long way; Sierra Club’s brand is not lost in translation and the individual who sent the email gains recognition.
The Sender Name: It Matters Where You’re From
The sender name is often a secondary thought (or completely overlooked!) when sending out an email, but all content in an inbox should be considered marketing space. When it comes to a typical inbox, visibility is not a constant that carries throughout all email providers; your email subject line might not make the length cutoff. However, the sender field is a constant; where the email is from will always appear in an inbox.
The sender field is a great, often overlooked opportunity to increase email open rates. The sender field will always be visible and most recipients scan the sender field first (and immediately decide whether or not to mark as spam!)
Remember: trust and consistency are most important in an email relationship. Definitely creatively take advantage of the sender field’s inbox real estate, but make sure to maintain brand recognition.