The stakes in the email marketing game are high. You’re not just sending out digital flyers; you’re curating a narrative, a story that your audience wants to follow. Mess up, and you’re not just losing clicks—you’re losing credibility. That’s where these email marketing best practices come in.
By ticking the boxes on as many of these best practices as possible, you’re giving your email marketing campaigns the highest chance of success, thereby increasing the ROI for your business.
Email Marketing Best Practices
Your audience doesn’t want another generic, run-of-the-mill email. They want something that speaks to them, something that makes them feel seen.
But how do you become the signal in a world full of noise? By not being just another name on their email list. Make it personal, make it resonate, and above all, make it unforgettable. To do this, go back to first principles, and rethink what your emails could look like, and what they could offer, and yes, abide by proven best practices that raise your chances of success.
Personalize Your Email Content
First things first, use your subscriber’s name where possible. It’s the digital handshake, the nod across the bar. But don’t stop at the superficial. Dive deeper. Tailor your content to your subscriber’s interests, their past interactions with your brand. Make them feel like this email was crafted just for them, because it was.
Personalization isn’t just a tactic; it’s almost like a philosophy. It’s about creating a dialogue in a room full of monologues. Use your email marketing software’s myriad features to create the most personalized experience for your readers as possible. This may mean customised offers based on past interactions. Or specific content recommendations based on user preferences. The list goes on.
Craft Engaging Subject Lines
Your subject line is your opening act, the riff that gets the crowd pumped. So make your subject line impossible to ignore, but keep it concise. And please, avoid the all-caps; it’s the email equivalent of shouting into a megaphone. Your subject line should be a teaser. A taste of what’s to come. It’s the amuse-bouche before the main course, designed to whet the appetite and leave them wanting more.
Don’t be afraid to get creative., but always keep a close eye on your stats to see what’s working, and what’s not.
Optimize for Mobile and Desktop Devices
Your email should be a chameleon, adapting to whatever screen it finds itself on. Whether it’s a smartphone or a desktop, make sure your email looks sharp. Keep the width snug between 500 and 650 pixels and, for heaven’s sake, make it responsive (welcome to the 21st Century).
People are reading your emails in line at the grocery store, during tedious meetings, or even in bed. Make it a pleasure to read, regardless of the device.
Segment Your Email List and Send Targeted Content
Segmentation is your Swiss Army knife in the world of email marketing. Slice and dice your email list based on behavior, location, or engagement levels. And a word to the wise—don’t buy email lists with the intention of segmenting them later. It’s like inviting strangers to a private dinner party (and it’s often illegal).
Good subscriber segmentation allows you to create micro-experiences within your broader audience, which keeps those subscribers coming back for more.
Design and Layout Best Practices
Good design isn’t just aesthetic; it’s functional. Stick to a minimalistic approach with no more than three typefaces and keep your call-to-actions (CTAs) visible without making your audience scroll too far for it.
Each element should serve a purpose, and nothing should be out of place. A well-designed email isn’t just a container for your message; it’s part of the message.
Build Trust and Brand Consistency
Trust is the currency of any relationship, and it’s no different in email marketing. So, ditch the impersonal ‘No-Reply’ sender name. Use a real email address and where possible, sign off with your actual name.
Consistency is also key. Your branding should be a steady drumbeat that underscores every interaction. Trust is a fragile thing; it takes time to build but can shatter in an instant. Be consistent, be authentic, recommend only things of quality, and the trust will follow.
Test and Optimize Your Emails
Think of your emails as a dish you’re perfecting. You wouldn’t serve it without tasting it, right? A/B test your subject lines, your send times, your CTAs. A/B test everything. Refinement is the name of the game.
And A/B testing in email marketing isn’t a one-off; it’s a continuous cycle of improvement. It should be an integral, ongoing part of your email marketing system. The more you test, the more you learn, and the closer you get to creating the perfect campaign.
Maintain a Clean Email List
A clean list is a responsive list. Regularly cull the inactive subscribers and keep an eye out for anomalies. You’re aiming for a list that’s not just large (small lists can be very profitable, too), but engaged.
A bloated, unresponsive list is like a blunt knife; it just won’t cut it. Keep your list sharp, keep it focused, and the results will speak for themselves. To help with this, remove inactive subscribers every month or two. Better still, create an automation that does this for you.
Create Drip Campaigns and Welcome Sequences
Automation doesn’t mean impersonal. Set up auto-responders that feel like a personal note, not a canned response. Drip campaigns are your slow burn, your serialized novel. They’re not about immediate gratification but about building a narrative over time. Each email should be a chapter that leaves your reader eager for the next installment.
Granted, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out an angle for your drip campaigns, but we’ve found that with a little creativity and imagination, almost any business can benefit from a well-crafted drip campaign.
Offer One-Click Unsubscribe
Google, Yahoo, and other ESPs are clamping down on bulk senders who make it difficult to unsubscribe from lists. It’s now best bractice to ensure one-click unsubscribe is enabled on your mailing lists.
Google has published more information about the reasons for this, and how to set up one-click unsubscribe. This is sure to become standard practice, so get ahead of the game and set this up now.
Additional Best Practices
Don’t underestimate the power of the details. Optimize your preview text, keep your HTML clean (and below 102kb to avoid clipping in Gmail) , and always offer a ‘View in Browser’ option. These are the finishing touches, the garnish on your dish. They might seem trivial, but they can be the difference between a good campaign and a great one.
Working Through Email Marketing Best Practices
So, that’s the rundown. These aren’t just best practices; they’re your playbook. Implement them, refine them, and there’s a good chance your email marketing campaigns will see a healthy boost in performance.
You’ve got the knowledge, the tools, and the strategies. Now go out there and shake things up!
