Email Marketing Best Practices: Part 1

Did you know 55% of customers say email is their preferred communications channel for staying up-to-date on the businesses they support?  And according to a Litmus study, the average email marketing ROI is $36 for every $1 spent. This demonstrates that email marketing is just as relevant today as it was two decades ago.

Whether using a traditional outbound email campaign methodology or a lead generating inbound email campaign, marketers should follow these email marketing best practices in developing both verbal and visual content.

Verbal Content

Captivating Subject Line

• Subject line should be clear first, and catchy second to captivate the recipient.
• Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices first and the average mobile screen only shows 4–7 words maximum; hence, subject lines should be 7 words or less.
• 61.8% increase in open rates when using the word “alert” in subject line
• Using the words “Sales,” “New,” or “Video” in the subject line boosts open rates
• Use numbers in subject line (e.g. 5 Ways to Save, 40% Less Calls)
• Use actionable language to clarify what the recipient can do with the information
• Emails with “Free” in the subject line are opened 10% more than those without
• Changing the subject line is one of the best variables for A/B testing

Copy

• Use second person (you, your, yours) and focus on your customer rather than your brand (But remember emails with “You” in the subject line are opened 5% less than those without. Personalized subject lines are more effective.)
• Talk about the benefits of your product or service, not about the features
• Be brief and offer means to click through
• Make sure you let your brand personality shine
• Customize as much as possible with personalization tokens for the contact’s name, the company name and more.

Signature

• An email sent by a person instead of from a generic email address is more likely to be clicked. Consider adding a Google+ profile photo and your personal phone number.
• Include a “Follow Me” section with buttons or links for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media
• Allow recipients to share the email—especially if it contains a free offer—with their network through social sharing buttons so your offer can go viral

Visual Content

• Optimize for mobile as 60% of email is now opened on a mobile device
• Place you brand/logo in the upper left—viewers instinctively look there first
• Email width should be under 600 pixels to avoid horizontal scrolling
• Design with tables so the email design renders correctly across multiple email clients
• Don’t use fonts smaller than 14 pt
• Avoid background images—Outlook does not recognize them. Instead use color and images in other ways.
• Use absolute paths to your server for images and file attachments
• Optimize image size to be as small as possible without losing resolution
• Set image width and height so the email maintains structure when image preferences are turned off
• Use descriptive alt-text under images in case images do not display
• Avoid using .png image—Lotus Notes does not support them
• Avoid using image maps—Hotmail does not recognize them
• Balance text and imagery—white space makes viewing more pleasant
• The Call-to-Action button should be at least 44 pixels square, the size of an average thumbprint
• A/B test with different images to measure engagement