The tools may be different and more productive, and the quality of technologies and capabilities keep growing, but email marketing is still the head of ROI in the marketing kingdom. Email marketing importance can be observed across a number of companies and sectors. After all, ninety-two percent of online adults use email, with sixty-one percent using it on an average day.
But how can we get it right? What is the prerequisite to get more reliable results? In this blog post, we will list the fifty top tips to email marketing best practices.
Email marketing is still to be the best way to produce leads and convert prospects because it enables a personal, direct channel of communication between the company and its leads. So concentrate on making the most of it and ensure the success of your email marketing strategy.
50 Best Practices for Email Marketers
So let us cut to the chase:
1) Segment Your Audience
Each marketing professional who works with email marketing must know that segmentation is the first rule when it comes to email marketing practices. Try grouping your contacts based on their demographics, interests, etc. Your contacts may also be in various stages of the buying journey. This means that you must give them different types of information of each of them, based on the stage they are currently in. Segmentation proves to improve customer retention, open rates results, and click-through rates.
Thirty-nine percent of email marketers recognize better open rates through segmentation (eMarketer)
2) Build a Calendar
To be certain that your email marketing will really work, you need to have a planning calendar. Set the dates correctly when you are going to send the emails, mark significant dates, define your priorities and, and schedule everything so you can track the entire process.
3) Personalize
There are many numbers of data that prove that personalized emails have high open rates. So go beyond personalizing your salutation and subject line: think of studying the best time to send your emails when it is more suitable for your customer actually to open it. Build segmented lists based on different interests, invest in defining your personas to be certain what kind of content your contacts love the most. Personalizing can be considered as the top ten email marketing best practices.
4) Think of Your Subject Line
It may seem pretty simple, but your subject line does have a huge impact on the open rate of your emails. The first rule is to keep it brief. It may be tough at first, but remember that your subject line should be no more than fifty characters long. Be personal and add your recipient’s name. Try to think of something that calls for urgency like “Last minute offer” or “Only today,” to inspire your customer to open the email. Use beautiful lines to catch your customer’s attention. The subject line should be vague and intriguing at the same time. Think of how your customers can benefit from your email.
5) Design Counts
Carefully choose your layout, fonts, and template. Be certain not to use fonts that are too small or difficult to read. Try to avoid overly bright colors, but do not forget contrast. Contrasting colors will make your layout stand out and grab your reader’s attention.
6) Use the Preheader
Preheaders or preview texts do improve your open rates because your customers already know what to anticipate when they open the email. Notice as a short summary of the message. The preheader is especially seen on mobile devices, so make the most of it. Once again, keep it brief and catchy. No more than fifty characters.
7) Try to Avoid Unfamiliar Senders
Emails that are sent with personalized sender email addresses are considered more trustworthy. Your customer does not want to hear from a robot but from a real person. Try to avoid generic email senders such as sales@, marketing@ contact@, etc. so you do not get mistaken as spam.
8) Do not Forget Your Logo
It may sound obvious, but your logo has significant importance in your email design. The logo will emphasize your customer of the brand behind the email and may restrict your newsletter from being deleted right away. Keep in mind to keep it on the upper left-hand side of the email, as the latest eye-tracking studies have found that people naturally look for logos there.
9) Keep Your Text Brief
View yourself as your own customer. You are apparently busy and with your inbox full of email messages, so keep in mind that your email should be brief and short. Long emails are also more prone to fall on the spam folder, so try to keep your message as simple and brief as you can.
10) Use Power Words
There are few words that are proven to work great on email marketing. Analyze your audience and find out which ones are more appealing to your public. In the meantime, these words can be somehow helpful: immediate, love, free, results, new, save, offer, etc.
11) Add Links to Your Text
External links can improve the opportunity of engagement. Add a few links to different pages of your website in your text and make it sound interesting. But do not overdo it as Internet Service Providers may see you as spam.
12) Bring Some Humor to Your Emails
Humor produces an instant personal connection with the reader. Try adding some entertaining elements to your campaigns: it is not only entertaining, but it might improve your share rates.
13) Add Images
Images can bring life to your emails. Avoid too big or too small images and remember to use images that reinforce your company’s concepts and values. Figure out the correct amount of images, too many or too little can also impact on your overall deliverability result.
14) Add Links to Your Images
Your email must be interactive, and to make that happen is to add links to your images. Be sure to tell your customer that the images are clickable and show them where it leads to. By doing that, you can also improve your click-through rate.
15) Include alt-text to Your Images
Nowadays, too many email software and clients block images from emails, so it is necessary always to add alt text to your images unless it is just an unexplained blank button your email.
16) Include a Call to Action
The CTA grasps your customer’s attention and asks them to do some action. The CTA is compulsory when working with email marketing. Use power, simple words, work with contrasting colors, and be certain to leave sufficient space around the button, so your layout stays clean.
17) Add alt-txt to Call to Action
The same rule that was implemented to images has to be used on CTAs. When people block images, this may include CTA buttons, and son does not forget to add the alt-txt on them with the wanted action that you want your customers to do.
18) Add Social Buttons
Your customer might not know your social pages yet. Remember to inform them how to find you on the main social networks; by this, they can easily find out more about your brand, stay updated with current news, and become one of your fans.
19) Add Social Sharing Buttons
Improve your engagement and your brand awareness by attaching social buttons to your emails. This is particularly interesting if you are proposing some sort of benefit to your customers, such as discounts, contests, etc. So, they can pass on the offer to their friends.
20) Use social Media to Promote Opt-In URLs
We already told you how to integrate email marketing and social media. So keep in mind to take advantage of that and expand your email marketing on your social media pages and get more subscribers. Post your newsletter content on Twitter or Facebook, for instance, and ask your fans if they already receive it your emails. If not, ask them to sign up.
21) Send Emails on Weekends
Although it is not a very popular strategy, sending emails on weekends can help your chances of being seen. The difference in open rates between weekdays and weekends is not substantial, but each little thing counts. On weekends, the volume of emails is not so big, and people have more time to read it, so concentrate on that when sending targeted campaigns.
22) Send an Email to the new Subscribers within 24/7 Hours
Take the benefit of new subscribers and email them within twenty-four hours. Your brand’s name may be on your customer’s mind, so grab this opportunity to make a good impression.
23) Think Mobile
It is no secret that forty-five percent of emails are read on mobile devices, so build responsive layouts to assure that your email is being read everywhere. When thinking of design, select fonts that are big and easy to read on any screen. Select those images that look good on every device and keep calls-to-action in the suitable size and easy to be clicked on.
24) Combine with Mobile Strategies
You can use mobile strategies to increase your email marketing strategy, and integrating your email marketing with SMS is a great tactic. You can grow your chances of being seen by your audience by sending texts to inform about different types of emails like contests, events, sales, promotions, etc.
25) Try to Make Your Emails Sharable
Consider including a “share to your networks” CTA and expand the content of your emails. Link the call-to-action to a pre-made email fully with the subject and body. This could be exciting if you have an amazing discount, offer or is promoting some sort of contest, for example. This can also be used if the content is user-generated so your customers can share the content with their friends and families.
26) Study Your Competitors Completely
Sign up or register for your competitor’s newsletters and find out what they are up to. Examine their weaknesses, strategy, and strengths to find your own competitive advantages. Check their mobile optimization, frequency, content, mobile, and other information to make sure your work is as great as it can be.
27) Ask Questions
Asking the different types of questions in your email marketing campaign can be a great asset to your plan. It will assist you to engage with your audience on a more profound level. Focus on open-ended questions (how, would, should) and forget about the yes or no questions.
28) Test Your Emails Before Sending Them
After your email is ready, keep in mind to test them before actually sending them out to your contact list. Sadly, your email might not be displayed the same way for all your customers, and your well-done email might look like a drag in someone’s inbox. To confirm that everything is running quite smoothly by testing your emails first.
You can either test it manually, creating different accounts to test, and sending emails to different providers, and opening it in different types of devices, or you can use a testing service to help you with the task. Most of the email marketing services give the possibility of testing your email before sending it. This is essential as email marketing best practices.
29) Tie Your Email to Landing Pages
This is very valuable advice that is not usually followed. Create landing pages for specific email marketing campaigns. The landing page will continue to do your conversion process. The email and the landing page must have the same language; they should create a powerful experience for your customer.
30) Make Easy to Unsubscribe
As simple as it might sound, sometimes, the unsubscribe link is not very accessible on some emails. Make it easy to find and click. The more helpful way to display it is on top of the email. By doing that, you earn your customer’s trust and avoid a bad reputation.
31) Use A/B Testing
If the conversion rates are not as high as you anticipated, why not test some different types of formats for your email campaign? That is what A/B tests are for.
Experiment on different CTAs, images, subject lines, layouts, etc. Send the test to your list and thoroughly examine the results: conversion rates, the open rates, and click-through rates. Running tests is an excellent way to know your audience’s likes, dislikes, and preferences.
If it is worth marketing, it is worth testing (Kath Pay)
32) Give Something Away
People like to get free stuff. And we know that giveaways are an excellent strategy to improve your contact’s list, but try making it as appealing as possible. Create competitions to bring user-generated content to your social media or website and give prizes to encourage your customers’ participation. You can also provide simpler things such as free downloads of whitepapers, ebooks, and checklists in exchange for your customer’s actions. Be positive to place strong CTAs and magnets to get your required response.
33) Do not Spam
To be certain that your email is not going to end up on the spam folder, you must know the rules of spamming from the country you are working with, and avoid basics actions like not using more than three links on the body text, not using spammy words (like free installation, no investment, cash bonus, free leads, etc.), not overusing icons or all caps, not overusing images, etc.
34) Do not Use Attachments
If you are sending any type of content like pdfs or ebooks, for example, do not attach them to your emails, as this will reduce your deliverability, and it is not trackable. Preferably, send your file on a link that you host in your own domain, so you can check who is seeing and then examine the success of your email.
35) Contact the Inactive Subscribers
Why not sending targeted messages to the subscribers that have not used your service recently? Instead of sending them promotional content, you can offer suitable content to re-engage them, such as “latest news” or “look what you have been missing,” include CTAs, and try the giveaway strategy to try to bring them back.
36) Add an Opt-in Option
An opt-in is an excellent way to get your customer’s trust and respect. If you are still wondering which opt-in to chose for your emails, our recommendation goes for the double one. This way, you are certain that your customer wants to be part of your mailing list, and you saf your list and your customer from undesired situations.
37) Videos and Gifs
Videos are now a trend, so try adding them to your emails, for example, you can add them on your landing page. Videos and Gifs can add some joy to your email, attract your customer’s attention, and engage them. As stated by the Emarketer, emails with videos report a fifty percent increase in click-through rates. Gifs can also bring more good results. If you are still not sure of how to correctly use videos of if you feel anxious about your customer’s email provider supporting videos, use gifs. Videos and gifs are not used very frequently. Give it a try, as can turn out to be a great email marketing best practice. Powerful animations allow marketers to create eye-catching and engaging campaigns(Justin Khoo)
38) Audio Rocks
Just like gifs and videos, audio should be used in a very smart way. Be creative; keep it brief, entertain, and your customers. Audio clips are a fabulous way to encourage people to forward the message. If you think that your customer may not hear the audio because his email provider doesn’t support it, consider sending the link to a different landing page and inviting them to go there so that they can listen to it.
39) Html and Plain Text Should Match
Do not forget to set up a plain text version of your HTML. Some email services already do that, but others do not. Keep in mind that without the plain text, your prospects to get into the spam folder are very higher.
40) Use Numbers Statistics
Numbers are not only catchy, but it gives your audience slow down and think. You can also use numbers on headers and seize your reader’s attention from the beginning. Look for compelling data that is suitable for your audience and take advantage of that.
41) Use Auto Responders
Autoresponders are a set of emails send in pre-determined time and sequence. It is usually focused on a single topic. The autoresponders can assist you in building trust with your customers, and the frequency will create a feeling of expectation as your customers will already be expecting your email on their inboxes. Try to think of a smart plan for your autoresponders, concentrate on giving relevant information, and transferring know-how.
42) Frequency
The frequency of your email campaigns is very important for your success. Examine your open rates and find the best timing. Discover what works best for your audience. Is it an email per week? Two?Three? Be sure to not stay too long without sending emails as your customer may forget about you. Emails send too often. Still, it can be irritating. Find the ideal balance and make the most of your strategy.
44) Resend Unopened Emails
It may be a great idea to resend unopened emails. Your customer might have been too busy to open it for the first time, so you can give it another try. Firstly change your subject line. You could add words like “last chance” or “reminder” to make it more appealing, for example. You can also amend the timing: check what time you have first sent the email and make changes; for example, if you sent the email in the morning and was not open it the first time, try sending at mid-night. Another great strategy is to give the content a refresh, making it more attractive. Update some data and be assured that you only resend the email to people that did not open it for the first time.
45) User-Generated Content
User-generated content can increase your email strategy. Encourage your audience to create compelling content and include it in your email marketing campaigns. There are many ways of doing that: video or text testimonials, create contests, ask them for a photo using the product, etc. You can create particular emails to showcase the content, integrate it with your social accounts, and get more subscriptions.
46) Storytelling
Storytelling is not only a trend but an excellent way to communicate efficiently with your customers. People like listening to stories. Storytelling can improve your customer’s wishes to purchase your product or service. When creating stories, try to keep your focus on the problems that your product or service will solve for your customers.
47) Update and Clean Your Email List
Keeping your mailing list updated and clean will enhance your results. Try to get rid of bad email addresses, so your bounce rate does not affect your reputation, remove inactive subscribers on a daily basis, and reduce the chances of being blocked by Internet Service Providers.
48) Track and Analyze Your Results
Are your customers opening and reading them? What are your conversion rates going? Are you keeping track of your results? If you are not following up on your results, you will never learn what are you doing right, how you can improve your email marketing strategy, or how to convert more leads.
49) Keep an Eye on Industry Trends
Always be updated. Check for new and latest trends and see where the industry is heading. A new trend may be the answer to an old problem, and you can continuously learn from new strategies.
50) Use an Email Marketing Service
There is a great number of benefits of using an email marketing service to send your email marketing campaigns. You can always keep track of your results, segment your lists, send autoresponders, personalize your emails, and much more. Select the best platform precisely to fulfill your needs and make the most of your email marketing strategy.
Most of them these tips are quite simple and easy to be implemented. With a little bit of effort and a lot of creativity, you can build great email marketing campaigns and boost your open, click-through, and conversion rates. Do not be afraid of trying new things and always keep track of your experiments and results.