# Weekly Email Marketing News Digest

We’re looking at ways to increase an email’s open rate this week! From welcome emails, to subject lines & design elements, here are some tips for better performing emails.

**[The Importance of Welcoming New Subscribers](http://myemma.com/blog/article/the-importance-of-welcoming-new-subscribers "The Importance of Welcoming New Subscribers")**

The average open rate for welcome emails is 50%, which is 86% more effective than the [newsletter](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/weekly-digest-023/ "Weekly Email Marketing News Digest: Ways to Improve Your Email Newsletter For Customer Engagement"). Welcome emails are also 9x more effective than other transactional email in generating sales so here are a few tips to get started:

- Send a coupon
- Get a [confirmation opt-in](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/weekly-digest-021/ "Weekly Email Marketing News Digest: The Debate on Confirmation Opt-Ins – Are they always necessary?")
- Share links to [social sites](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/weekly-digest-019/ "Weekly Email Marketing News Digest: The Biggest DDoS Attack Ever, Subject Lines, Autoresponders, SEO & Social Sharing") 

**[Using Email Design To Increase Conversions](http://blog.indiemark.com/2013/07/23/using-email-design-to-increase-conversions/ "Using Email Design to Increase Conversions")**

From colours to images, email design has a huge impact on your brand reputation. Here are some things to consider:

- Building brand awareness through design elements
- Ensure your most important message appears in the preview pane
- Pictures have impact but remember the alt tag
- Colour has an impact on different viewers
- Have a prominent call-to-action

Pictures can dazzle…

… or annoy.

**[15 Email Subject Line Formulas To Get You More Opens](http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/206322/15-email-subject-line-formulas-to-get-you-more-ope.html#axzz2c3dYyH3R "15 Email Subject Line Formulas To Get You More Opens")**

Besides the welcome email, subject lines are a great way of getting your audience to sit up and take notice of your brand. The 15 email subject line formulas listed in this article revolve around the topics of:

- Announcement / Invitation
- Company Newsletter
- Content Localization
- Call To Action
- Helpful Content

While you can use the examples in the article straight away to increase opens, it’d be great to mix it up a little, A / B test some subject lines and find out what works best for your business!

**[Majority of Email Opens Seen Occurring in the First 6 Hours Post-Delivery](http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/interactive/majority-of-email-opens-seen-occurring-in-first-6-hours-post-delivery-35890/ "Majority of Email Opens Seen Occurring in the First 6 Hours Post-Delivery")**

Subject lines aside, it seems like timing is everything, so make sure you send those emails at an opportune time when it is convenient for your subscribers to open. A study from [MailerMailer](http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/it-marketing-crash-course/ "The IT Marketing Crash Course: How To Get Clients For Your Technology Business") shows that email opens peak at 11.1% – one hour after the email is delivered. At six hours after delivery, 51.8% of an email’s opens have occurred.

**[\[Infographic\] 160 B2C Welcome Email Campaigns Analyzed](http://blog.indiemark.com/2013/07/23/using-email-design-to-increase-conversions/ "160 B2C Welcome Email Campaigns Analyzed")**

_If you’re using open source software to run your email campaigns, you may be paying too much. Download our eBook on **[The High Cost of Free Software](http://www.messagesystems.com/resources/digital-library/ebooks/high-cost-free-messaging-software?src=Blog&pc=BlogDL-eBookFreeSoftware "The High Cost of Free Software eBook")** to find out why!_