At Emailcenter we have helped our clients run a number of tests on ‘From’ names recently to see if using a real persons name has an impact.

Here are some of the results:

> Campaign 1 – Event promotion company

Email 1 – Company name used in ‘From’ field – 31.45% open rate
Email 2 – Personal name used = 39.97% open rate

> Campaign 2 – Travel newsletter

Using a real name increased the open rate of the segment of those that have not open the newsletter in the past from 0% to 7.2%

> Campaign 3 – Online Portal

A fake person was generated and their name and address used in the email instead of using the name of the portal. This increased the open rate by 5 points. In this instance a unisex name was chosen as the theory is people will respond better to emails from the opposite sex.

In the age where open rates are falling due to inbox clutter and image blocking technology it would be worth all marketers exploring this technique as the potential benefits are massive.