Email Marketing Best Practices

Email remains one of the strongest marketing tools at a marketer’s fingertips. Still, with dozens of marketing emails pouring into a customer’s inbox each and every day, it’s not necessarily easy to be seen. The message needs to pierce through the crowd and capture the attention of the consumer.

Creating excellent emails is not only a design problem. it’s an issue of giving value, understanding the audience, and making use of proven techniques of creating engagement. In this blog we will outline some of the email marketing best practices that will allow you to optimize campaigns with higher rates of opens, click-through rates, and conversions.

Key to Effective Email Marketing

There is not a one-size email marketing solution that fits them all. Every brand has a unique set of challenges and opportunities. For an example let’s use a ficticious sample brand, Simple Beauty, and put the best practices into action.

Simple Beauty has natural, high-quality, and cruelty-free skincare products, yet their latest email campaign performed poorly. So, the marketing team decides it may be a good idea to get back to the fundamentals of email marketing. Let’s break down how they would approach it:

1. Composing Effective Subject Lines

The subject line is the recipient's initial glimpse of the message and sometimes it's the sole reason they will either open it or leave it sitting in the inbox. Statistically speaking, 33% of users will open an email based solely on the subject line.

To be higher-open-rated, subject lines must be interesting and create a desire to want to know more, instill a feeling of urgency, offer a clear benefit, and be addressed beyond the recipient’s name. One strategy that is highly recommended is A/B testing different subject lines to reveal what resonates best with your target audience. Testing elements like wording, tone, and length helps refine your approach over time.

2. Writing Engaging Copy

A wall of text can be discouraging and will likely overwhelm the recipient instead of communicating the message quickly and effectively. Research has found that a mixture of images and text within an email will perform 27% better than an email with just text.

Email copying best practices include short paragraphs, the use of bullets to enhance readability, a conversational tone of voice, and making the content relevant to the subject line. A good strategy is crafting your email in a style that only gives enough information that will catch the audience's attention and leave them wanting more. Then add links in the email for further info. This approach will entice readers to follow the link and discover the rest.

3. Balance of text and image

Graphics enhance the look of your email, yet use them sparingly; images may not be displayed at all if the recipient has image blocking activated.

Email image best practices include not having image-only email campaigns and a good balance of images and text. Including alt tags and making images optimize for fast loading times. Research has found that the greatest rates of engagement occur with the use of a maximum of three images and 20 lines of text in an email.

4. Constructing a Strong Call-to-Action

A strategically placed CTA will drive the conversions that you're looking for. Keep the CTA clear and persuasive and visually distinct from the rest of the email.

Optimization Strategies:

• Write with an active tone of voice.
• Utilize contrast with color.
• Do not use generic language such as "Click Here,"
• Personalize the CTA whenever feasible (e.g., “Get Your Offer Today”)..

Your CTA should not only encourage immediate action but also align with your brand’s messaging and tone. Also keep in mind that the CTA should communicate a clear value proposition. What does the reader gain by clicking? Whether its content, a limited discount or something, make it explicit.

5. Optimizing the Footer

The footer is often overlooked, but it plays a crucial role in compliance, credibility, and engagement. A well-designed footer provides information while reinforcing brand trust and encouraging further interaction. 

Key Elements of a Great Footer: 

• Unsubscribe Link: Required by CAN-SPAM and GDPR regulations, an easily accessible opt-out option helps maintain a positive brand image.
• Company Contact Details Links from other reputable websites that signal your credibility.
• Social Media Icons: These can boost click through rates significantly, providing another way for subscribers to engage with your brand .
• Preference Settings: allowing users to adjust their subscription frequency reduces the likelihood of unsubscribes.
• Legal Disclaimers and Copyright Information: Ensures compliance with international email marketing laws. 

6. Finding the Optimum Email Frequency

Over-emailing will overwhelm your target audience and under-emailing will keep them forgetful of you. Research has shown that 69% of the customers will cancel if they get an abundance of emails.

So how can you Identify the Ideal amount and right time to send emails? Check the email metrics of engagement (open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes), experiment with the send times and frequencies differently, and research your subscribers' preferences.

Keep in mind that there is no generic "best" send time. Instead you should test and find out what works with your specific target audience.  Once this is established, send the emails at a regular interval in order to build credibility and set expectations.

Remember that email marketing remains one of the strongest ways of talking with your audience, but it's only efficient and effective when executed correctly. Using great subject lines, interesting copywriting, strategic images, powerful calls-to-action, careful footers, and the correct send schedule are some of the best practices to keep in mind with email marketing.

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