What is a good opt-in rate for email marketing?
There are many factors that determine your email opt-in rate, but don’t worry – we have all the information you need to get started.
Increasing your email opt-in rate is essential for any business looking to grow their customer base. Luckily, it’s not as difficult as it may seem.
Read this article now and learn more about what is good opt-in rate and how to increase your email opt-in rate!
What Is a Good Opt-in Rate?
TD; LR Summary
- The average email opt-in rate is about 1.97%.
- This number varies across industries, with some of the best email marketers seeing opt-in rates of up to 4%.
- The metric is so important because your other metrics are heavily reliant on how many people you have on your list.
- It is obviously not guaranteed that your extensive mailing list will translate to more sales, but a more significant number of relevant subscribers definitely give you an edge.
- Tell me the best email opt-in rates?
- Where can you place your opt-in form?
- How To Know What Your Audience Responds To So You Can Convert More Information
- Average email marketing campaign statistics of MailChimp customers by industry
- Tips for conversion rate optimization
- How can I increase my email opt-in rate with squeeze pages?
- Topics & Questions
- Conclusion
Tell me the best email opt-in rates?
The average email opt-in rate is about 1.97%. That translates to about 2 out of every person that comes across your site or landing page. If you are performing at this rate, you are doing quite well compared to the rest of the world.
This number varies across industries, with some of the best email marketers seeing opt-in rates of up to 4%.
This metric is so important because your other metrics are heavily reliant on how many people you have on your list. Ultimately, the larger the number of subscribers you have, the more likely you will make good sales.
It is obviously not guaranteed that your extensive mailing list will translate to more sales, but a more significant number of relevant subscribers definitely give you an edge.
I say relevant because most new email marketers gamble with the idea of simply buying emails and getting started with a massive list.
As we go on, I will explain why your opt-in strategy is vital to your overall email marketing efforts and share some tips and tricks you can use to increase your opt-in rate.
Where can you place your opt-in form?
Let’s begin by looking at the different placements of your opt-in form and how they appear on your site.
The different placements of your form directly affect how many people notice the form and further how many subscribe to your list. It is critical to track which one of your forms is getting the most traction and why.
That said, many marketers sometimes fail to pay attention to these details. The rate at which prospects sign up to your list shows you when and where you are doing something right. That takes us to our next important question.
How To Know What Your Audience Responds To So You Can Convert More Information
Good conversion means that you are capturing the attention of your targeted audience and inspiring them to take action. If you are looking at a low conversion rate, one of these issues applies to you.
Getting people interested in anything online requires more than the generic text you often see on some sites. A simple “join our newsletter” will not cut it anymore. There are too many exciting and distracting things for anyone even to notice in this section of your site.
Besides positioning your opt-in form strategically, it is vital that you pay attention to what information people see. Think of the user experience and think about what your ideal or targeted customer might want.
Understanding the customer is key
Which value proposition do you have for customers if they join your list? If this information is not clear, you are likely to leave a lot of qualified subscribers on the table.
It all begins with a great headline. Good is not enough if you are looking for a great conversion rate.
Your headline sets the stage for your customer and draws in your target audience. To figure out what your customer likes, test your headlines and compare. No two businesses are alike, which often means there is no sure way to know what works unless you test.
Come up with different headlines and split test each one. Keep track of your headlines’ metrics to know what is working and what isn’t.
Your headline should ideally set the expectation. Subscribers should know exactly what to expect when they read your headline.
Give them value in return
Besides having an excellent headline, put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. What is the biggest issue they are likely facing? Your ideal customers are often looking for solutions, and you should learn how to position yourself as the answer to their problems.
People are happier to give you their email address if you are offering them something of value. E-books, checklists and free courses are good examples of things you can give away in exchange for an email.
Build trust with your readers by becoming helpful, engaging, and informative right from the start. Authenticity, even in email marketing, wins. Your copy should always reflect who you are and what your reader should expect.
Average email marketing campaign statistics of MailChimp customers by industry
Email statistics help us make sense of seemingly random data. Email marketing software tracks large amounts of data and gives you insights into your audience.
MailChimp shared some of its data across industries to give email marketers an idea of the average numbers. This is a great benchmark marketers can use to gauge where they are and what can be achieved.
The software offered the average open rates, bounce rate, and click rate. These metrics allow users to keep track of how much engagement they need.
The data below is from users that had at least 1,000 subscribers and represents everyone, including fortune 500 companies, one-person startups, and SMEs.
| Industry | Average open rates | Average CTR | Hard Bounce | Soft Bounce | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All non-labeled accounts | 22.71% | 2.91% | 0.40% | 0.61% | 0.25% |
| Agriculture and Food Services | 23.31% | 2.94% | 0.32% | 0.50% | 0.28% |
| Architecture and Construction | 22.51% | 2.51% | 0.73% | 1.18% | 0.32% |
| Arts and Artists | 26.27% | 2.95% | 0.30% | 0.51% | 0.28% |
| Beauty and Personal Care | 16.65% | 1.92% | 0.26% | 0.33% | 0.30% |
| Business and Finance | 21.56% | 2.72% | 0.43% | 0.55% | 0.20% |
| Computers and Electronics | 19.29% | 2.08% | 0.47% | 0.79% | 0.27% |
| Construction | 21.77% | 2.26% | 0.86% | 1.28% | 0.39% |
| Consulting | 20.13% | 2.49% | 0.50% | 0.79% | 0.27% |
| Creative Services/Agency | 21.39% | 2.66% | 0.58% | 0.93% | 0.35% |
| Daily Deals/E-Coupons | 15.06% | 2.23% | 0.07% | 0.13% | 0.10% |
| E-Commerce | 15.68% | 2.01% | 0.19% | 0.26% | 0.27% |
| Education and Training | 23.42% | 2.90% | 0.32% | 0.51% | 0.21% |
| Entertainment and Events | 20.51% | 2.36% | 0.28% | 0.43% | 0.26% |
| Gambling | 21.62% | 3.30% | 0.42% | 0.38% | 0.15% |
| Games | 21.10% | 3.66% | 0.37% | 0.44% | 0.25% |
| Government | 28.77% | 3.99% | 0.33% | 0.50% | 0.13% |
| Health and Fitness | 21.48% | 2.69% | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0.40% |
| Hobbies | 27.74% | 5.01% | 0.18% | 0.31% | 0.23% |
| Home and Garden | 21.60% | 3.03% | 0.32% | 0.52% | 0.35% |
| Insurance | 21.36% | 2.13% | 0.67% | 0.71% | 0.25% |
| Legal | 22.00% | 2.81% | 0.52% | 0.66% | 0.22% |
| Manufacturing | 19.82% | 2.18% | 0.72% | 1.18% | 0.31% |
| Marketing and Advertising | 17.38% | 2.04% | 0.44% | 0.68% | 0.27% |
| Media and Publishing | 22.15% | 4.62% | 0.14% | 0.27% | 0.12% |
| Medical, Dental, and Healthcare | 21.72% | 2.49% | 0.51% | 0.63% | 0.28% |
| Mobile | 19.29% | 2.27% | 0.48% | 0.58% | 0.37% |
| Music and Musicians | 21.88% | 2.94% | 0.28% | 0.48% | 0.26% |
| Non-Profit | 25.17% | 2.79% | 0.33% | 0.49% | 0.20% |
| Pharmaceuticals | 18.58% | 2.25% | 0.39% | 0.53% | 0.17% |
| Photo and Video | 23.24% | 3.23% | 0.43% | 0.65% | 0.40% |
| Politics | 22.94% | 2.37% | 0.28% | 0.41% | 0.21% |
| Professional Services | 21.94% | 2.55% | 0.56% | 0.83% | 0.31% |
| Public Relations | 21.02% | 1.98% | 0.45% | 0.71% | 0.17% |
| Real Estate | 19.17% | 1.77% | 0.38% | 0.56% | 0.27% |
| Recruitment and Staffing | 21.14% | 2.53% | 0.45% | 0.53% | 0.30% |
| Religion | 27.62% | 3.16% | 0.17% | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| Restaurant | 19.77% | 1.34% | 0.37% | 0.50% | 0.28% |
| Restaurant and Venue | 20.39% | 1.40% | 0.32% | 0.45% | 0.39% |
| Retail | 18.39% | 2.25% | 0.22% | 0.32% | 0.25% |
| Social Networks and Online Communities | 21.06% | 3.32% | 0.20% | 0.34% | 0.22% |
| Software and Web App | 21.29% | 2.45% | 0.65% | 0.97% | 0.37% |
| Sports | 24.57% | 3.09% | 0.26% | 0.39% | 0.28% |
| Telecommunications | 20.92% | 2.27% | 0.63% | 0.87% | 0.23% |
| Travel and Transportation | 20.44% | 2.25% | 0.31% | 0.51% | 0.24% |
| Vitamin Supplements | 15.03% | 1.62% | 0.23% | 0.36% | 0.27% |
| Average Totals | 21.33% | 2.62% | 0.40% | 0.58% | 0.26% |
With a clear understanding of your industry’s average, it is time to rev up the gears and take your email marketing campaigns to the next level. Improving one’s conversions strategically can be summed up as conversion rate optimization.
You can include best practices in your efforts to make sure you are getting the best out of all your efforts. Tremendous opt-in rates are only worth your while if you have a great marketing strategy to keep your subscribers engaged.
Let’s check out some tips for conversion rate optimization and higher opt-in rates.
Tips for conversion rate optimization
Average opt-in rates are grand, but they may not necessarily matter because each website and audience is unique.
When managing your conversions and optimizing for the best results, think about your website as an individual.
Some things that you can test and optimize include;
1. Use an action color
Action colors are great when asking people to take a particular action on your landing page or website.
How do you draw attention to your call to action better? Use colors that drive people to do something.
Based on color psychology, these colors work well for conversion optimization. Let’s look at the three best action colors that convert well.
Red
The color red evokes passion and urgency. It works well for your call to action button when selling, asking for emails or offering an incentive in exchange for an email.
Green
Green is associated with calmness and the environment, and psychology. It is an excellent call-to-action (CTA) color often associated with go.
The fact that it makes people feel calm means that people generally feel less resistance which is perfect if you want people to take action.
Orange
Orange is often associated with fun, and many people find it fun and exciting. This is an excellent color for CTAs as it makes people get the feeling of looking forward to whatever is on the other side.
2. List builder
If you are yet to hear about List builder, you’re in for a treat. List Builder is an integration that works exceptionally well for people with a Point of Sale system and people in e-commerce.
This app allows users to update their contacts, build more extensive lists, and scale their businesses through running segmented campaigns.
It integrates seamlessly with multiple email marketing platforms and e-commerce sites like Aweber, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Shopify, and much more.
This is a sure way to manage all the new people that interact with your business and streamline your email marketing activities.
3. Watch your call to action
One way to improve your CTA is to remember to use the first persona. Address your customer directly, and you will see an improvement in your average click rate and successfully delivered emails.
Additionally, use your copy to your advantage by making it results-oriented. People are looking for solutions, so focus on telling them about all the excellent outcomes they should expect.
The words you choose to use can make or break your call to action efforts and determine how many visitors will sign up. Use powerful words and words that create a sense of urgency to bring in your customers.
Remember, if they leave without taking action, you might forget about them subscribing to your list.
Words like now, today, little, and words like sale, 10% off and indicators of frugality are all great directions you can take.
4. Increase subscribers with a dedicated landing page
I mentioned several sections on your site where you can include your opt-in forms. A dedicated email capture landing page is perfect for targeting multiple audiences online.
In simple terms, a dedicated landing page is created with a specific audience in mind. It works well because it is designed to suit the needs of that particular audience in their journey within your funnel.
In digital marketing, your email marketing stats will only improve if you employ marketing automation. A landing page helps you do that by improving subscriber engagement and increasing conversion rates.
It works well in reassuring customers they are in the right place and give them hope of getting what they want without overwhelming them.
5. Smart bar on your blog post
A smart bar is a non-intrusive way to ask potential customers to give you their email when they are reading relevant content on your site. It is designed not to affect your page load speeds and to work well across devices.
It is easy to set up and works like a charm in finding the best ways to get your readers to subscribe to your mailing list.
How can I increase my email opt-in rate with squeeze pages?
A squeeze page has a single goal: to get your visitor’s information such as name and email address. How exactly can you use a squeeze page in your email strategy?
Simple, give away a valuable lead magnet in exchange for your customers opting in.
There are several ways to go about this; the first is to offer some information to help your ideal customer solve their problem. That is the eBooks with instant pdf download and checklists we mentioned earlier.
Keep in mind that whatever you are offering needs to be exclusive. If you are offering something they can find on YouTube or elsewhere, they will not be convinced enough to give you their email address.
Topics & Questions
Let’s answer some questions that you might have regarding opt-in rates:
Conclusion
So, how do you increase your email opt-in rate?
There are a number of things you can do as mention in the blog, but we’ve found that using an email marketing tool like ActiveCampaign is one of the best ways to get those higher numbers.
If you want to see an increase in your own opt in rate, sign up for a free trial of ActiveCampaign today and see how easy it is to start collecting more emails from your customers.
