The Importance of a Sender Name
Sender names contribute greatly to the most influential metric in email marketing – open rates. Aside from the actual delivery of your message, the sender name and subject line have the biggest impact on open rates. And when open rates increase, your conversion rate will likely follow.
Sender names are the first thing a user sees in their inbox. And 68% of Americans base their decision to open an email based on the sender name.
With this in mind, companies should craft email names that encourage users to click. Additionally, the sender name should always align with the brand’s personality and remain consistent throughout campaigns.
To help businesses, we detailed 5 sender name ideas to help companies boost open rates and improve their email remarketing efforts.
5 Sender Name Ideas to Boost Open Rates
1. Personal Email Names
2. Conventional Sender Names
3. Exclusive Email Campaign Names
4. Friendly Corporate Sender Names
5. Individual and Company Names
1. Personal Email Names
Will your recipient instantly recognize the name of an individual at your company? For example, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and so on. If the answer is yes, using an individual’s name in the sender field could increase your email open rates.
If the individual’s name is unrecognizable, personalization might not be your best bet. Therefore, it’s important to know your audience and what will resonate.
Causing confusion among your audience will lessen the chances of the email getting opened. Consequently, your emails likelihood of ending up in the spam folder heightens.
2. Conventional Sender Names
Using the company name as the sender field is the safest option. This option is the industry standard because 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 certainly using your company name as the sender will likely increase open rates. However, if you’re using email to build awareness or consideration, you may want to consider more creative strategies, like the ones listed below.
3. Exclusive Email Campaign Names
In the example above, Sephora includes the standard company name plus a little more. The title “Beauty Insider” signifies this email is only sent to members of their rewards club, eliciting a feeling of exclusivity as a result. Customers feel like they are a part of an exclusive club with access to new trends. Open rates can increase with exclusivity and above all lead to more conversions.
4. Friendly Corporate Sender Names
We know that utilizing personalization increases open rates, but the personalization doesn’t have to stop with customer-specific content. Sender field personalization can “soften the edges of big business,” as a result humanizing a company’s email relationship with their customers.
In the example above, Oilstop did a great job of adding personalization to their sender field. Open on a holiday? Those are my friends at Oilstop.
5. Individual and Company 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.
This is a great alternative if you aren’t Jeff Bezos or Tim Cook.
This email from Sierra Club demonstrates the effectiveness of the individual + company combo. Sierra Club, an environmental organization, presents a unified voice against statewide environmental policy issues. Also, 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
While the sender name is often an afterthought (or completely overlooked), all inbox content should be considered marketing space. Subject line visibility is not a constant across email providers. Conversely, where/who the email is from will always appear in an inbox.
The sender field will always be visible and most recipients scan the sender field first. As a result, they almost immediately decide whether or not to mark the email as spam. With that in mind, the sender field is a great opportunity to increase email open rates.
In short, trust and consistency are vital in an email relationship. Definitely take advantage of the sender field’s inbox real estate, but make sure to maintain brand recognition.
Looking for More Ways to Increase Your Conversions?
Check out UpSellit’s 27 Attributes of an Effective Email. This in-depth guide covers the ins-and-outs of crafting the perfect remarketing email. It’s a great resource and it’s totally free! Download it today and start writing awesome emails that convert.
