# Weekly Email Marketing News Digest

Perhaps the most important article in this week’s email marketing news is the one that highlights lost marketing opportunities in [transactional email](http://www.messagesystems.com/resources/glossary/transactional-alert "Transactional Alerts"). In general, people are highly engaged with transactional email as it contains important personal information that is of value to them. They actively look out for it and [rescue it from the spam box](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/a-look-at-the-email-inbox/ "A Look At The Email Inbox – Weekly Email Marketing News Digest"), hence it represents a great opportunity to upsell products. Not having a call-to-action in emails, in general, negate the effect of [scheduled hours](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/value-of-welcome-email/ "The Value of the Welcome Email – Weekly Email Marketing News Digest") and enticing [subject lines](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/weekly-digest-019/ "Weekly Email Marketing News Digest: The Biggest DDoS Attack Ever, Subject Lines, Autoresponders, SEO & Social Sharing"), wasting all those hours of testing for open and click rates.

**[Email Open and Click Rates, By Hour Scheduled](http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/topics/email/the-best-times-to-schedule-emails-35809/ "Email Open and Click Rates, By Hour Scheduled")**

One of the first factors that determine whether or not your email is seen, is the time it arrives in the inbox. [MailerMailer’s](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/it-marketing-crash-course/ "The IT Marketing Crash Course: How To Get Clients For Your Technology Business") Email Marketing Metrics Report looks at just this factor, compiling open rates by time scheduled.

The results show the emails sent between the early evening and early morning receive the best open rates.

**[Which Subject Line Keywords Would Get Your Mail Opened Every Time?](http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/2013/08/which-subject-line-keywords-would-get-your-email-opened-every-time.html "Which Subject Line Keyword Would Get Your Mail Opened Every Time")**

Which words push your buttons? Adestra’s 2013 Subject Line Analysis Report has the answer.

- Sale (Open Rate: +23.2%, Click Rate: +60.7% )
- New (Open Rate: +17.2%, Click Rate: +38.2%)
- Video (Open Rate: +18.5%, Click Rate: +64.8%)
- Alert (Open Rate: +38.1%, Click Rate: +61.8%)
- Daily (Open Rate: +27.8%, Click Rate: +100.3%)
- Weekly (Open Rate: +27.1%, Click Rate: +50.6%)
- Free Delivery (Open Rate: +50.7%, Click Rate: +135.4%)
- Percentage Off (Open Rate: +10.5%, Click Rate: +27.4%)

The report has a list of words that don’t work so well too, so be sure to check out the words you should be using less of in your email communications.

**[The Missed Opportunity of Dead-End Emails](http://blog.deliverability.com/2013/08/the-missed-opportunity-of-dead-end-emails.html "The Missed Opportunity of Dead-End Emails")**

Food for thought: It doesn’t matter that your emails are being opened, if you don’t have a clear call-to-action. Transactional emails receive 30% to 40% open rates, yet most are mere plain text emails. Including upsell opportunities in receipts for example can increase clickthroughs by 20%.

**[The Four Commandments of Email](http://www.dmnews.com/the-four-commandments-of-email/article/308322/ "The Four Commandments of Email")** 

Tom Monaghan, Hubspot’s email product manager, shares his four rules when it comes to email marketer.

1.  Have a standard format of a salutation, a body and a closing. 
2.  Only contact customers when you have something relevant to say.
3.  Replies are the best gauge of engagement.
4.  Send fewer and more specific emails to fill specific needs.

**[\[Infographic\] Mind the Digital Marketing Gap: The Economist Intelligence Unit Banking Survey Findings](http://blog.lyris.com/us/infographic-mind-the-digital-marketing-gap-the-economist-intelligence-unit-banking-survey-findings/ "[Infographic] Mind the Digital Marketing Gap: The Economist Intelligence Unit Banking Survey Findings - See more at: http://blog.lyris.com/us/infographic-mind-the-digital-marketing-gap-the-economist-intelligence-unit-banking-survey-findings/#sthash.HLvMKiuj.dpuf")**

_Want to see real life examples of how brands are using transactional email to upsell to customers? Download our free eBook on **[Transactional Messaging Best Practices](http://www.messagesystems.com/resources/digital-library/ebooks/transactional-messaging-best-practices?src=Blog&pc=BlogDL-eBookTransactional "Transactional Messaging Best Practices")** today!_