Email marketing thrives on the foundation of various metrics, of which one of the most important is 'open rate.' 

Open rates in actuality refers to the number of times your email is being opened after it is sent to your receivers. Sounds simple, seems gettable, but we all know about 'Open Rate', don't we?

What remains to be addressed is altogether a different but connected concept. It is known as, 'Unique Open Rate'

So, what is unique open rate? How do you achieve a higher unique open rate?

Unique open rate refers to the total number of definite receivers opening your email. Suppose you send a campaign to a list of ten contacts. Of which four people open your email, now let's say all the four people open the email more than once. 

Person 1 opens the email once

Person 2 opens the email thrice

Person 3 opens the email twice 

Person 4 opens the email once

You can easily calculate your email's unique open rate from the above mentioned scenario. As you can see, the total number of times your email has been opened sums up to seven but how many different recipients have opened your email?

The answer is four.

To make it simpler-

Unique open rates = No. of unique opens / No. delivered

If you think that suddenly the dip in figures is quite unnerving then worry not. And if you are a little careful then you won't stand a chance to lose out on anything. 

• Sender Name - Before sending out an email always remember that a hint of human touch is all that takes to make your email professional yet friendly. Your email's sender name should thus be a subtle balance between the two. Do add your name along with the organisation’s name to be both relevant and frank. 
  

• Pre-header - Your email must have a pre-header that summarises the rest of the content and supports the subject line. Make it precise and clear so that when it appears in the receiver's inbox it is treated with alacrity and not apathy. 
  

• Content - Your content should come across the screen of the receiver only after it is opened. This doesn't change its effectivity and importance with relation to open rate. Your subject line must entice the reader hence try to use powerful and relevant words in this section. Do maintain a jovial tone in your writing.
  

• Format - With the changes around, emails are nearly getting segmented to predominant mobile viewing. You can't control the change but you can be more careful while formatting your emails. A bold font for the subject line will make it easier for the reader to decipher the topic while viewing it in multiple devices.  
  

• Receiver relations - Your recipients are your critics as well as your admirers. For the first timers it is always prescribed to make your recipients take the call about frequency of emails. Providing your recipients with the choice of frequency makes them aware of the email timing. Your emails will thus be relevant to them.