Unopened emails increase sales through ‘nudge effect’

Latest research from Alchemy Worx suggests email marketers should not sweat the unopened percentage of their email newsletters too much as the mere arrival of a message in a customer inbox is enough to have  a positive effect on sales.

Alchemy Worx purchase behaviour studies reveal an increase in sales through other channels directly after an email has been sent, indicating there’s a significant subliminal or ‘nudge effect’ effect even if the email remains unopened.

Alchemy Worx recommend making use of the subject line in a branded email to promote other ways of making a purchase, e.g., ”best deals in-store this month” giving the email a triple purpose, delivering brand messages, encouraging click-through and directing responses to other channels.

To test for existence of the nudge effect in your own business, they say analyse  historical data. “Look for data that relates to a spike in natural search results, PPC search increases and affiliate search increases around the time you sent the email. Also check for spikes or rises in sales from other channels in the hours and days after an email is sent to your subscriber base.”

For more general evidence of the power of the subliminal, Alchemy Worx recommends watching this Derren Brown exercise where a creative brief is heavily influenced by a series of ‘nudges’ experienced by the creative team in the lead up to their work.