If you send out promotional emails (i.e. you do email marketing), being ignored by your subscribers is the worst thing that can happen to you. Your contacts inboxes are more crowded than ever, so your email’s subject line really has to stand out and be enticing to open.
Making sure your contacts open your emails is only half the battle. You want to inspire action with your emails. You probably want people to click on a link to go to your website, blog article, landing page, sales page, online store or product page. If the click rate of your emails is just as important as the open rate, then that means that your message needs to be delivered in a very effective manner. How do you do this?
Here are 11 email campaign best practices that will help you craft the perfect email, one that can’t be ignored.
#1: The most important stuff first
Put all of the pertinent information at the top (this includes your brand logo, call to action, and any key points that you’d like your audience to take away from your email). Research has shown that people scan emails in an “F” shaped manner. Keep this in mind when creating your templates.
#2: Don’t overwhelm your new audience
If you are sending emails to prospects who are in the early stages of the buying cycle, keep your content light and educational. People are savvy nowadays and can sniff out when they are being cross sold. Use the KISS rule. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.
#3: Keep it short and sweet
Use bullet points to make it easier for your readers to find the pertinent points. Long paragraphs have the tendency to scare readers away before they even get to the real meat of your email message. Keep it short and sweet.
#4: Personalize your email subject lines
According to a 2014 Experian study a personalized subject line delivers 26% higher unique open rates overall. Keep it shorter than 50 characters, make it clear, and the language crisp. Using all CAPS, $pecia! characters and spammy words should be totally avoided while creating a subject line.
#5: Don’t forget the preview line
The preview line appears below your subject line in the inbox- that’s where you find the preview/pre-header text. Try to limit it to a maximum of 75-100 characters. The first 5-8 words play a huge role in holding the reader’s attention and whether it incites them to open up the email. Give it your best effort when you write these first words.
#6: Early calls to action
Make sure your Call to Action is featured at the top of your email. Calls to action need to stand out and should be emphasized by either colour, placement, size, or a border. Most people don’t bother scrolling all the way to the bottom of emails. Any calls to action that you place at the end of your email could end up being overlooked and never seen.
#7: Show off your brand’s personality and its culture through your emails
Your audience wants to read something that looks like it came from a human being, not a textbook or from an underpaid outsource writer. Make your content (copy) crisp and the language clear.
#8: Choose your template with care
Choosing the right template for your email marketing campaign is hands down one of the most important factors to consider when designing your email. According to a 2016 study by email marketing firm Litmus, 56% of all emails are open on mobile devices and it is only going to increase. Therefore, it’s important to choose a mobile responsive email template.
#9: It’s about the width!
Design your emails with a width of 600 pixels. For mobile devices, use a single column layout which will make your email ideal for mobile devices.
#10: Tell your contacts how they can get in touch
Surprisingly, adding a “Contact Us” link and social media account links are quite often neglected. It’s important that your email recipients be able to contact you across other mediums. Neglecting either of these elements can spoil the communication between your client base and your brand. Make it clear for your contacts how they can get in touch with you and your team.
#11: Test your emails!
Lastly, never forget to test your emails thoroughly on all mobile devices and platforms. This is the most important one of all, you don’t want to look like a rookie and testing is the best way to avoid that. If designing email marketing campaigns is leaving you frustrated contact us and let Cyberimpact resolve your email marketing challenges so that you have more time to focus on your profits.
Hopefully, these tips will help craft email marketing campaigns that will get open, read and acted upon! We wish you a lot of success.
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Hello Bertrand,
Email marketing needs serious brainstorming to get the best outcome. A constructive way of email marketing always enhances the relationship status between the sender and subscriber. I personally have subscribed a lot of writer’s emails just to maintain a relationship with them. I believe it really works if you work on it. A properly optimized email ensures at least a feedback from your readers. Welcome notes are always highly demanded. Sometimes I do subscribe emails if I found the welcome note and template both are appealing and relevant to my work.