Email Marketing Best Practices

Email marketing keeps your audience immersed in your brand and converts new customers.

THE BASICS

KEEP IT SHORT

Your subject line should be between 30 and 50 characters including spaces as most email accounts and mobile devices cut off subject lines that go beyond this point.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Personalizing the email greeting grabs the attention of the reader and increases the likelihood that they’ll open your email. Including the reader’s first name in the greeting is the most common customization, however if you have more advanced metrics you can target your copy content towards details like the last product they purchased, their location, birthday or interests.

UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Get to know your readers and what drives them. Understanding their motivators will help you craft a message in a tone that resonates.

CREATE COMPELLING CONTENT

Use storytelling to guide the conversation, establish an emotional connection with readers and increase engagement. Avoid content that comes across as spam. Using too many links, cluttered images and words such as ‘free’, ‘congratulations’, and ‘click here’ may land you in their spam folder.

OPTIMIZING

A/B TEST SUBJECT LINES AND CALLS TO ACTION

Want to know what type of content resonates with your readers? Use A/B testing to better understand their drivers, and use this insight to improve how your campaigns land. Use two different versions of the subject line to optimize your open rate, or try out varying calls-to-action. Once you’ve A/B tested a small segment of your reader population and have the data to understand which resonates, send the winning version out to the remaining subscribers.

TIMING MATTERS

Open rates can vary widely depending on the day of the week and time of day you’re sending out campaigns. Test various days and times to see when your audience is most active.

USE ANALYTICS

Campaign decisions should be guided by your audiences’ analytics. Don’t just assume what works and what doesn’t. Track your readers’ behavior to optimize future content and craft campaigns that resonate.