Stop Getting Stuck: 5 Proven Tips to Get Your Email Open

Them: There's nothing worse than an email that doesn't get opened.

Me: There's nothing worse than an email that gets opened and disappoints

It's 2022, and I'm anxiously holding my breath  - I've somehow managed to convince 26 people to subscribe to my newsletter, and now I'm a nervous wreck.

What if no one reads it?

What if they don't like it?

What if they all unsubscribe?

When the analytics finally came back, I had a 50% Open Rate (I had to Google what was a good open rate).

And while Email Open Rates shouldn't be your deciding metric (since what qualifies as a “great” open rate will vary from list to list and industry to industry), I've found this metric to be a good tell-tale diagnosis of where I'm going right and where I'm going wrong.

People Don’t Want Fewer Emails — They Want a Reason to Read

(And a reason to forward it to their team.)

In B2B, your email doesn’t just land in one inbox.

It walks into a meeting and gets dissected by five people you’ve never met.

It gets dropped into a Slack thread and summarised in one sentence.

It’s screenshotted and passed around and judged on its font size in ten seconds.

Your message has to survive movement.

It needs to make sense when skimmed, forwarded, summarised, or retold out loud.

If your message only works when read in a quiet office, it’s not built for how communication actually happens inside most organizations.

So, the question isn’t just “how do I get more opens?”

It’s “how do I write something that survives their inbox zero.

Here are 5 of my non-negotiables

1.  Build Trust like your message depends on it (Because it does.)

In a study by CMB (a marketing research agency), they found the number 1 reason people opened emails was the sender.

Not the subject line. Not the offer. The sender.

Your subscriber handed you their email most likely because they were interested in your content and what you stand for. They gave you access to their inbox because they believed you had something valuable to say.

If your messaging drifts from that — if your “educational insights” newsletter suddenly turns into sales pitch to build a personal brand, you break the mental contract that got you in the door and they'll hit unsubscribe quicker than you can say "LinkedIn Profile."

Add a real name even if its from a company - this can be your name or, in the case of OptinMonster’s, they insert Angie, their General Manager's name to add a personal and friendly tone to their email marketing.

While this strategy might not be right for everyone, the idea of ditching the generic company or email@blahcom not only makes your email personal but will also help you write to your reader like a friend.

2/ Don't Push for a High Ticket Sale in Email 1.

You wouldn’t walk into a boardroom and pitch a $50K contract before saying hello. So why do we do it in a welcome email?

They subscribed so they could download your report on how to market to Gen Z, but now you're sending them a daily barrage of "last Chance to Buy" FOMO-based emails.

That’s not nurturing. That’s nagging.

Emails aren’t ads, they're permission-based relationships. Treat your recipient's inbox with respect. If you’re selling, make it optional.

In B2B, your email will most likely be read by someone who doesn't have the buying power. They’ll pass it on to the one who can — but only if it makes them look smart or helpful.

Give them something valuable enough to share, not something that feels like a sales ambush.

3/  Make a Clear Promise — and Keep It

The fastest way to die in their inbox is to Break your promise. 

Once your audience opens your email, it's essential to live up to the expectations you've set in the subject line.

Stay clear of making bold claims that you can't deliver on.  

If your subject line says “We’re simplifying your reporting time from 45 minutes to 15.”” but your email turns into a 1,000-word story about the CEO's weekend hike — you’ve just lost trust and they've found the unsubscribe button.

Your subject line is a micro-contract: “I’ll give you this value if you give me your attention.”

Keep that promise. Deliver it cleanly. No bait, no switch.

For example: “The simple tweak that got our demo requests up 32%.” and your email then actually shows that tweak, your readers won't only open it, they'll share it.

The brain remembers broken promises.

Make one promise per message — something clear, credible, and valuable.

Then keep it.

4/ Use Curiosity to Create Momentum

Curiosity is a bridge — it carries your email from one person’s inbox into another’s.

Ask questions that open mental loops that make people think, reflect, or even debate:

• “What’s one bottleneck you wish we fixed first?”

• “How would you redesign our onboarding experience?”

These aren’t gimmicks — they’re cognitive triggers.

They nudge the brain to seek closure, to keep reading.

And when you ask the right question, your message gets discussed in the places you can’t see — team chats, side conversations, and offsite lunches.

Just make sure your question hits the right audience.

“Will AI change your B2B tech stack?” only works if your reader actually lives in that world.

5. Write Content That Travels

An open rate doesn’t mean you’ve won.

It means you’ve been invited into the room.

To survive beyond that — your content has to travel. It has to be something a mid-level manager feels confident forwarding with:

“Hey, this might be useful for our next strategy discussion.”

That’s how decisions are made — not by clicks, but by conversations.

So write content that earns the share:

• Tell stories that make your reader look insightful when they forward them.

• Offer frameworks that can be debated in meetings.

• Make your take clear, bold, and useful enough to quote.

Don’t ask “Would I read this?”Ask “Would someone risk their reputation forwarding this to their boss?”

Bonus: How to avoid the spam folder

Spam filters have gotten more sophisticated. To reach as many of your subscribers you’ll want to do everything possible to avoid being flagged as spam.

• Make sure your recipients have opted in to your emails.

• Ask subscribers to add you to their address book in your welcome email.

• Don’t “bait-and-switch” by using deceptive subject lines. Doing so can cause subscribers to mark your messages as spam.

• Include an easy way for subscribers to opt out of your emails.

• Don't use spam trigger words (see below)

Choose your words wisely

Spam filters hate:

• “Act now,” “Buy direct,” “Instant access.”

  
  

Humans Filters hate:

• “Revolutionary,” “Best in class,” “Game-changing.”

• 
  

Both signal the same thing: This might waste my time.

Here's a list of common words and phrases to avoid.

1. Words that create unnecessary pressure: ‘do it today’, ‘limited time’, ‘apply now’,

2. Keywords associated with overselling and exaggeration: ‘risk-free’, ‘instant access’, ‘1000x better than’

3. Financial keywords that get flagged: 'cheap' ‘bargain’, ‘money back’, ‘save up to’ ‘earn extra cash’, make $’, ‘double your’

A Final Reminder to Write Good Content Every Time

When subscribers are happy with the content inside your emails, they are more likely to open your future emails.

If your subscribers are dissatisfied with what they get, they probably aren’t going to open your next email.

The goal is to make them eagerly anticipate your emails.

Don't ask, "Would I read this?" - ask, "Why should my audience read this?"

Need help getting your messaging to survive your audience's attention?

🎯 Hi, I'm Vivien, I unpack the messy reality of B2B communication —  why messages get lost between people, departments, and decisions — and how to make them stick, travel, and land.

🗝 As a Messaging & Communication Strategist, I help B2B comms teams write human-designed messages  that survive your multi-audience barriers, avoid content purgatory, and get faster approval.

✉️ Subscribe to my semi-weekly Newsletter  I write about B2B challenges, the 10-mind Problem, and Third Space Communication.