Email marketing is a great way to connect with your customers and promote your business. But with so many different ways to do it, how do you know which method is best for you?
Let’s say you want to send a newsletter to your customers. How often should you send it? What sort of content should you include?
Or
You might want to send an email prompting your customers to buy a product. But what’s the best way to do that?
There are a lot of different opinions on email best practices. But there are some essential tips that just work when planning an email marketing strategy, no matter what your business or goals are.
Read on to find out the 29 essential email marketing best practices that will help you get the most out of your email marketing campaigns!
Why Email Marketing Works for any Business
Email marketing is a great way to connect with your customers and promote your business.
And if you think that emails aren’t worth investing in, here are some latest key stats:
- Email is still the most popular form of communication, with the expected number of users to increase to 4.6 billion by 2025.
- 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. (Campaign Monitor, 2021)
- 37% of brands are increasing their email budget, and just 1.3% are making cuts. (Litmus, 2021)
- 59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions. (Salecycle, 2022)
So, there’s a good chance that your customers are using email and that email marketing can influence their purchase decisions.
Now that we know why email marketing is essential, let’s look at some of the best practices you should follow when planning your strategy.
Email Marketing Best Practices
What’s in an email marketing best practice?
An email marketing best practice is a guideline that you should follow to get the most out of your email campaign.
There are a lot of different opinions on what makes email marketing best practice.
But there are some essential tips that just work when planning an email marketing strategy, no matter what your business or goals are.
Here are the 29 essential email marketing best practices that will help you get the most out of your campaigns!
1. The Importance of Sending a Welcome email
Sending a welcome email is one of the most important things you can do when starting an email marketing campaign.
These emails are your opportunity to make a good first impression and set the tone for your future interactions. They’re also a chance to build trust and show your potential customers that you’re a reliable source of information.
Welcome emails have an average open rate of 82%, so they’re a great way to start off your email marketing strategy on the right foot. (Gigacom, 2020)
Best Practices for Creating a Welcome Email
There are a few key things you should include in your welcome email to make sure it’s successful.
- Make sure you personalize the email with the recipient’s name. This will make them feel like you’re speaking directly to them and not just sending out a generic message.
- Remember to refrain from using too much text in your welcome email. Keep it short and to the point so that your customers can easily digest the information.
- Give them a reason to stay subscribed. What value can they expect to receive from your emails? For instance, will you be sending exclusive discounts, helpful tips, or interesting information?
- Include a call-to-action (CTA) that tells them what you want them to do next. It could be something as simple as visiting your website or following you on social media.
2. Picking the Right Email Frequency
One of the most common questions when it comes to email marketing is, “How often should I send emails?”
The answer to this question depends on a lot of different factors, such as your business goals, your relationship with the recipient, and the type of content you’re sending.
That being said, there are a few general guidelines you can follow to determine the best email frequency for your business.
If you’re just starting out with email marketing, it’s best to err on the side of caution and send emails less often. This will give you time to build a relationship with your email subscribers and ensure that they’re interested in the content you’re sending.
Once you’ve established a rapport with your subscribers, you can start to increase the frequency of your emails. But be careful not to send too many emails or you run the risk of annoying your subscribers and causing them to unsubscribe.
A good rule of thumb is to send one email per week for every 1,000 subscribers you have. So, if you have 2,000 subscribers, you should send two emails per week.
3. Knowing How to Time Your Email Campaigns
Another important factor to consider when planning your email marketing strategy is timing.
Timing is everything when it comes to email marketing. You want to make sure you’re sending your emails at a time when they’re most likely to be opened and read.
The best time to send an email varies depending on your audience, but there are a few general tips you can follow.
If you’re sending emails to consumers, the best time to send them is on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings. This is when people are typically checking their email before starting their workday.
When it comes to the time, research from HubSpot found that between 9 AM to 12 PM and 12 PM to 3 PM are the best hours to send an email. However, if you’re sending emails to businesses, the best time is between 10 AM and 4 PM on weekdays.
If you’re sending emails to businesses, the best time to send them is during normal business hours.
4. Using a Memorable Send Name
The sender name is the name that appears in the “from” field of your email.
This might not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually one of the most important elements of your email strategy.
Your send name is what tells recipients who the email is from and whether or not they should open it.
That’s why it’s important to use a sender name that is memorable and recognizable. Ideally, you want to use the name of your business or brand.
If you’re sending emails on behalf of someone else, you can use their name as the sender’s name.
For instance, if you’re sending an email from the president of your company, you would use their name as the sender’s name.
5. Testing Your Email Subject Lines
Your email subject line is one of the most important elements of your email strategy.
After all, it’s the first thing recipients see when they receive your email, so it needs to be attention-grabbing and relevant.
Unfortunately, crafting the perfect subject line is easier said than done. It can be difficult to strike the right balance between being too long, too short, too sales-y, or too boring.
One way to overcome this challenge is to test different subject lines and see which ones have the highest open rate.
You can do this by sending two different emails with different subject lines to a small segment of your list. Then, track the open rate for each email and see which subject line performed better.
Once you’ve found a winning subject line, you can start using it for your future email campaigns.
6. Following a Pre-send Checklist
Before you hit the “send” button, it’s important to run through a checklist of items to make sure your email is ready to go.
This will help you catch any mistakes and ensure that your email looks professional and polished.
Some of the things you should include on your pre-send checklist are:
- Checking the grammar and spelling: This is important for making sure your email looks professional. Use a grammar checker like Grammarly to catch any mistakes.
- Making sure the email format is correct: This includes things like ensuring the email is the right size, has the correct font and color scheme, and is properly aligned.
- Testing the links to ensure they work: Make sure all the links in your email are working properly. You can do this by clicking on each link and testing it in a browser.
- Ensuring the email looks good on mobile devices: More and more people are reading emails on their smartphones, so it’s important to make sure your email looks good on mobile devices. Test it out by sending a test email to yourself and opening it on your phone.
- Check the “from” field to make sure it’s accurate: The “from” field should include your name or your business’s name.
- Checking the subject line to make sure it’s attention-grabbing and relevant: As we mentioned before, your subject line is one of the most important elements of your email, so it’s important to make sure it’s effective.
- Previewing the email in different browsers: This will help you catch any formatting issues.
- Sending a test email to yourself: This is the best way to see how your email will look when it arrives in someone’s inbox.
- Adding a CTA (call to action): Your email should have a clear call to action (CTA) that tells recipients what you want them to do.
- Adding an unsubscribe link: This is a legal requirement in many countries.
7. Using Lead Magnets
A lead magnet is a freebie that you offer to people in exchange for their email addresses.
It can be anything from an e-book or white paper to a discount code or free trial.
The goal of a lead magnet is to get people to sign up for your email list so you can start building a relationship with them.
Lead magnets are an effective way to grow your email list because they give people a reason to sign up.
For example, if you’re a web designer, you could offer a free e-book on “10 Web Design Tips for businesses.”
This would be an effective lead magnet because it’s relevant to your target audience and it’s something they would be interested in.
If you’re not sure what kind of lead magnet would work best for your business, take a look at your competitors and see what they’re offering.
You can also use Google AdWords to find out what people are searching for in your industry. This will give you some ideas for lead magnets that would be relevant to your target audience.
If you’re not using lead magnets, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to grow your list!
8. Picking Engaging Content Topics
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is picking content topics that will engage your audience.
Your goal should be to create content that is interesting, informative, and relevant to your readers.
To come up with ideas for content topics, start by thinking about the problems your target audience faces.
- What are they struggling with?
- What questions do they have?
You can also look at your Google Analytics data to see what topics people are searching for on your website. This will give you some ideas for content that is relevant to your audience.
Once you have a list of potential content topics, it’s time to start creating!
Creating Content
When it comes to email marketing, content is king.
Your goal should be to create content that is interesting, informative, and relevant to your audience.
There are a few different types of content you can include in your emails:
Blog posts: You can link to your latest blog post in your email and give readers a brief summary of what it’s about.
E-books and white papers: These are long-form pieces of content that are usually more in-depth than a blog post. They’re a great way to showcase your expertise and build trust with your audience.
Discount codes and free trials: These are great incentives for people to sign up for your email list. Make sure you include a CTA (call to action) so people know what to do with the discount code or free trial.
Product reviews: If you sell products, you can include product reviews in your emails. This is a great way to show off your products and give people an idea of what they’re like.
9. Designing for Mobile
It’s important to design your emails with mobiles in mind because more and more people are reading their emails on their phones.
Here are a few tips for designing mobile-friendly emails:
- Use a simple layout: Keep your layout simple and easy to read on a small screen. No need for fancy graphics or complicated designs.
- Use large fonts: Make sure your font is large enough to be easily readable on a small screen.
- Use short paragraphs: Keep your paragraphs short and to the point. No one wants to read a novel on their phone.
- Avoid using too many images: Images can be hard to see on a small screen, so avoid using too many of them.
- Include a Clear CTA: Your CTA should be easy to see and click on a mobile device.
- Test your emails: Always test your emails on a mobile device before you send them out to make sure they look good.
Following these tips will help ensure that your emails are mobile-friendly and easy to read on a small screen.
10. Focusing on the Right Metrics
There are a lot of different metrics you can track, but not all of them are equally important. Some of the most important metrics to focus on include:
Open rate: This is the number of people who open your email. A high open rate means that people are interested in your content and want to read it.
Click-through rate: This is the number of people who click on the links in your email. A high click-through rate means that people are engaged with your content and want to learn more.
Unsubscribe rate: This is the number of people who unsubscribe from your email list. A high unsubscribe rate could be a sign that your content is not relevant to your audience or that they’re not interested in it.
Bounce rate: This is the number of people who don’t receive your email because it’s bounced back to you. A high bounce rate could be a sign that your email list is outdated or that there are problems with your email delivery.
There are a lot of other metrics you can track, but these are some of the most important ones to focus on.
By tracking these metrics, you’ll be able to see how well your email marketing campaigns are performing and make necessary changes to improve them.
11. Personalizing Emails
Personalizing your emails is a great way to make them more relevant and engaging for your audience.
There are a few different ways you can personalize your emails:
Use the recipient’s name: Add the recipient’s name to the subject line or body of the email so they feel like it’s addressed to them specifically.
Use the recipient’s location: If you know where the recipient is located, you can mention it in the email. This makes the email feel more personal and relevant.
Use the recipient’s interests: If you know what the recipient is interested in, you can mention it in the email. This helps make the email more relevant and engaging.
By personalizing your emails, you’ll be able to make them more relevant and engaging for your audience. This will help improve your open and click-through rates.
12. Inspiring Action
Your CTA is one of the most important elements of your email. It’s what tells people what you want them to do next.
Here are a few tips for writing an effective CTA:
- Make it clear: The CTA should be clear and easy to understand. There should be no confusion about what you want people to do.
For example, don’t ask them to subscribe and check out your article at the same time. Just pick one thing.
- Make it specific: The CTA should be specific and tell people exactly what you want them to do.
For example, don’t just say “click here.” Say “click here to read the article.”
- Make it actionable: The CTA should be actionable and use active language.
For example, don’t say “read my article.” Say “read my article now.”
By following these tips, you’ll be able to write an effective CTA that inspires action.
13. Using a Professional Email Marketing tool
There are a lot of different email marketing tools out there, but not all of them are created equal.
The best email marketing tools will have a few key features:
They’ll be easy to use: The tool should be easy to use and have a user-friendly interface.
They’ll have powerful features: The tool should have all the features you need to create successful email marketing campaigns.
They’ll be affordable: The tool should be affordable and offer a good value for the price.
By finding an email marketing tool with these features, you’ll be able to create successful email marketing campaigns that get results.
14. Creating a Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel is a process that takes people from awareness to purchase. It’s a way of thinking about the journey that people take from hearing about your product or service to actually buying it.
The marketing funnel has four stages:
Awareness: This is when people first hear about your product or service. You have to get their attention and make them aware that it exists.
In this stage, you’ll use marketing strategies like SEO, content marketing, and social media to reach people.
Interest: This is when people are interested in your product or service and want to learn more about it.
Desire: This is when people want your product or service and are considering buying it.
Action: This is when people actually take the action of
15. Segmenting Your Audience
Using an email marketing tool, you’ll be able to segment your audience so that you can send them more targeted and relevant emails. This will help improve your open and click-through rates.
There are a few different ways you can segment your audience:
By location: You can segment your audience by location so that you can send themes the recipient’s name: You can add the recipient’s name to the subject line or body of the email so they feel like it’s addressed to them specifically.
Use the recipient’s location: If you know where the recipient is located, you can mention it in the email. This makes the email feel more personal and relevant.
Use the recipient’s interests: If you know what the recipient is interested in, you can mention it in the email. This helps make the email more relevant and engaging.
By personalizing your emails, you’ll be able to make them more relevant and engaging for your audience. This will help improve your open and click-through rates.
The best way to segment your audience is to use a tool like MailChimp or Constant Contact. These tools will allow you to segment your audience based on different criteria.
16. Using Targeted Pop-ups
The targeted pop-up is a form of marketing that allows you to collect information from people who visit your website.
You can use targeted pop-ups to segment your audience so that you can send them more targeted and relevant emails. This will help improve your open and click-through rates.
Utilize A/B testing to test two different versions of something to see which one performs better.
You can use A/B testing to test different versions of your email subject line, call to action, or email content. This will help you find the version that performs the best.
Beware of overusing targeted pop-ups!
Overusing pop-ups can be intrusive and annoying for website visitors. It’s important to use them sparingly so that they’re effective.
For instance, if you want to advertise a new product from your line or a new feature on your website, a pop-up is a great way to do it.
17. Attracting People with Clickable Headers
Pique people’s curiosity with clickable headers that hint at what’s to come without giving too much away.
Make sure your email content is relevant and interesting so that people will want to click through to read more.
Don’t forget to test different headlines to see which ones perform the best.
18. Planning Your Emails During the Holidays
Ramp up your email marketing during the holidays to take advantage of the increased shopping and spending.
Planning your email marketing around the holidays will help you take advantage of the increased shopping and spending.
Some ideas for holiday-themed emails include:
A sale or promotion: Offer a discount or promotion on your products or services.
Thinking about the best/worst gifts: Give your readers a list of the best and worst gifts to give this holiday season.
What not to buy your loved ones: This can be a light-hearted email that pokes fun at some of the more ridiculous gifts out there.
The ultimate holiday gift guide: This guide can include different gift ideas that can drive people from mere readers to actual consumers. You can include links to your product pages but be sure not to spam your page with links.
19. Rewarding Your Loyal Customers
Your loyal customers are the ones who keep coming back, so it’s important to reward them for their loyalty.
There are a few different ways you can reward your loyal customers:
Discounts or coupons: Offer a discount or coupon code that they can use on their next purchase.
Product samples or swag: Send them a sample of your latest product or some branded swag.
Exclusive content or access: Give them exclusive access to content or product information before anyone else.
By rewarding your loyal customers, you’ll be able to keep them coming back for more. This will help improve your customer retention rate and increase your sales.
20. Reviewing Your Landing Pages
Maintain a high conversion rate by regularly reviewing and improving your landing pages.
Your landing page is the first thing people see when they visit your website, so it’s important to make sure it’s effective.
There are a few things you can do to improve your landing page:
Make sure the design is clean and concise: You want people to be able to understand your offer quickly and easily.
Include a strong call to action: Your call to action should be clear and concise so that people know what they need to do.
Use persuasive language: Use language that will persuade people to take action.
Include social proof: Use testimonials, customer reviews, or social media buttons to show people that others have used and liked your product.
By regularly reviewing and improving your landing page, you’ll be able to maintain a high conversion rate. This will help improve your overall sales and marketing channels’ efforts.
21. Make Unsubscribe link Easy to Find
A lot of people don’t realize that they can unsubscribe from email lists. So, make sure your unsubscribe link is easy to find.
The unsubscribe link should be prominently displayed in the header or footer of your email.
An important thing to keep in mind is that your number of unsubscribes doesn’t reflect poorly on you. In fact, it’s actually a good thing because it means people are no longer interested in your content. That means you need to revamp your email list and make it more targeted.
While it’s important to make your unsubscribe link easy to find, you also don’t want to make it too easy.
For example, don’t put the unsubscribe link right next to the subscribe button. This will only encourage people to unsubscribe as soon as they subscribe.
22. Asking Why Users Unsubscribed
Asking your subscribers why they unsubscribed is a great way to improve your email marketing. It will help you understand what people don’t like about your emails and how you can improve them.
To get the most accurate information, you should send an email to people who have recently canceled their subscriptions and then ask them to fill out a short survey about why they unsubscribed.
You can also include a question in your email unsubscribe form. This will help you understand why people are leaving your list and how you can improve your emails.
People unsubscribe for a variety of reasons. Some common reasons include:
They’re no longer interested in the content: This is the most common reason people unsubscribe from email lists. Over time, people’s interests change and they become less interested in the content you’re sending.
They’re getting too many emails: If people are getting too many emails from you, they’re likely to unsubscribe. Make sure you’re not sending too many emails and that people have the option to choose how often they want to hear from you.
They’re not finding the content valuable: If people aren’t finding your content valuable, they’re likely to unsubscribe. Make sure you’re providing valuable content that people will want to read.
The emails are poorly written: If your emails are full of typos or grammatical errors, people are likely to unsubscribe. Make sure you proofread your emails before you send them.
So it’s best to evaluate possible reasons why your users unsubscribe from your emails and take those reasons into consideration to improve the quality of your email list.
23. Cleaning Your Email List Regularly
It’s important to clean your email list on a regular basis. This means removing people who have unsubscribed, bounced, or marked your emails as spam.
Cleaning your list will help improve your deliverability and ensure that people who are interested in your content are the ones receiving it.
There are a few ways you can clean your list:
Remove people who have unsubscribed: If someone has unsubscribed from your email list, you should remove them from your list. This will ensure that they’re not receiving any more emails from you.
Remove people who have bounced: If someone’s email address has bounced, it means their email address is no longer valid. You should remove them from your list so you’re not sending emails to an invalid address.
Remove people who have marked your emails as spam: If someone has marked your email as spam, it’s likely that they’ll never see your emails again. So it’s best to remove them from your list.
You can use email marketing platforms and services like MailChimp or AWeber to clean your list for you. Or you can do it manually. To clean your list manually, you can use an email verification service like ZeroBounce or Email Verifier.
Email verification services will check your list of email addresses and remove any that are invalid.
24. Keeping Your Email Design Consistent
Paying attention to the design of your email is important. But it’s also important to keep your design consistent. This means using the same colors, fonts, and branding in all of your emails.
It might seem like a small thing, but keeping your design consistent will help people recognize your emails and make them more likely to open them.
25. Paying Attention to the Tone of Your Emails
The tone of your emails is important. Your emails should sound like they’re coming from a friend. They should be friendly and helpful, not pushy or sales-y.
Paying attention to the tone of your emails will help you build relationships with your subscribers and keep them engaged with your content.
For example, if your audience is a serious group of .business executives, you’ll want to use a tone that’s more formal than if your audience is a group of college students.
26. Using Adequate Links in Your Emails
I’m sure you’re familiar with the term “link bait.”
Link bait is when someone includes a link in their content that’s not relevant to the rest of the content. The goal is to get people to click on the link, even if they’re not interested in the content.
This is a bad idea for a few reasons: it’s intrusive and disrupts the flow of the content. And people are likely to unsubscribe if they feel like they’re being tricked into clicking on links.
So it’s important to make sure that the links you include in your emails are relevant to the rest of the content.
27. Incorporating Multimedia in Your Emails
A picture is worth a thousand words.
And incorporating images, videos, and other forms of multimedia in your emails can be a great way to engage your subscribers and get your message across.
For example, if you’re promoting a new product, you could include a video demonstration in your email. Or, if you’re a restaurant owner, you could include a picture of your latest dish.
Including multimedia in your email will make it more likely to stand out in someone’s inbox and get noticed. So if you’re not already using multimedia in your emails, now is a great time to start.
28.Amplifying Your Customers’ Voices
Having fans are some of your best marketing assets.
Including testimonials and reviews from happy customers in your emails is a great way to build trust and credibility with your subscribers.
It’s also a great way to show off your product or service in a real-world setting.
For example, if you’re a B2B software company, you could include a case study in your email showing how one of your customers uses your product.
29. Removing the No-Reply from Names
Ending an email from a no-reply address is a missed opportunity.
When you send an email from a no-reply address, you’re telling your subscribers that you don’t care about their replies.
This is a bad idea because it’s important to build relationships with your subscribers.
So, instead of using a no-reply address, use an address that you actually check. This will show your subscribers that you care about their replies and that you’re interested in hearing from them.
Start Crafting Professional and Lead-Generating Emails
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach and engage your audience. But it’s not enough to just send out emails.
Your emails need to be well-crafted, relevant, and engaging if you want to get the most out of them.
In this guide, we’ve covered some of the key things you need to do to create professional and lead-generating emails.
So put these tips into practice and start crafting emails that will help you achieve your marketing goals.
