Email Marketing Best Practices

EMAIL MARKETING Best Practices for Making Your Clients Love You Forever

Friday, January 20, 2012

This is a bad email.


This is a good email.


#1. Define your objective.

Your client shouldn't send an email to help you meet your sales goal.

Your client should send an email to help them meet their goal.

What is this email supposed to accomplish?

Should it build their database?

Should it increase ticket sales for a new museum exhibit?

Should it increase sales of a particular product or service?


2. Develop a plan

Is an email blast really the best choice to meet your objective?

Who is the best audience for this?

What incentive or message will resonate with your audience?

What specific action do you want people to take?

How can this email get your audience to take that action in the simplest way possible?

What happens after the email is sent?

How do you ensure that this happens?


3. Make sure your message meets your destination.

Be purposeful with your click destinations.

Does the destination allow users to take action quickly and easily?

Does the destination speak specifically to the email content?

Examples:If you want to increase online orders of Product X, link directly a

page on which you can order Product X.

If you want to build their email database, link directly to a page that allows you to subscribe to their email list—and gives them an

incentive to do so.


4. Be intentional with your audience.

What demographics should you focus on when creating your list?

How do all of these things speak specifically to that audience?

Subject line

Product/service

Headline

Creative

Example:Are you sending to a list of moms in Williamson County? How is

your message specific to their needs and interests?


5. Write Better Subject Lines

Is direct and specific

Has an incentive ("Buy 2 Get 1")

Has urgency ("Only 4 Days Remaining" / "Shop Today & Earn $10")

Has minimal words that trigger spam filters ("free", "low rates", "cheap", exclamation points, dollar signs, etc.).

Is NOT in ALL CAPS

The best way to increase your CTR is to increase your open rate. Do not assume that people will open your email.

A good subject line ...


The Four U’s of Subject Lines

Be USEFUL to the reader.

Provide the reader with a sense of URGENCY.

Convey the idea that the main benefit is UNIQUE.

Do all of the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC way.


Let’s be honest:

“Ultra-specific” is a cop-out for a “U” word.


6. Don’t Rely on ImagesMost of the time, emails have images turned off by default.

Keep this in mind.

If possible, don’t put everything in an image.

Make sure that all images have alt tags to clearly explain all images.


Bad Email from Panera

Imagesturned

on

Imagesturned

off


Alt Tags to the Rescue!


The Duck Head email uses proper alt

tags to make sure that all important

messaging is seen—even without images.

The body copy is not in an image. (Yea.)


7. Have a single focus.

What single, specific thing are you trying to do? Stick to it.

Focus on a single incentive, product or promotion.

Yes, you can have secondary calls-to-action, but they need to be treated as secondary. Everything cannot have the same weight.

You can either do one thing well or lots of things poorly.


Which has better focus?

Look at this. Look at this.Look at this.Look at this.Look at this.Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.

Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.

Look at this.Look at this.



LOOK at this.

Look at this. Look at this.Look at this.

Look at this. Look at this.

Look at this.Look at this.

Look at this. Look at this.Look at this.


8. Keep the important stuff as high as possible.

The lower something is on the screen, the fewer people will read it.

The more you make people scroll, the fewer people will actually do it.


“Do you ever read an article, and at the bottom, it says, ‘Continued on page six’? I’m like, ‘Not for me. I’m done.’”- Jim Gaffigan


The Hierarchy of Email Content

This is just a guide, but it is not going to be the same for all emails

and brands. The key is to determine what is most important to you and

your customers.

Should your headline be higher? Should your social media buttons

be lower? Be intentional!


9. Make your calls to action clear and obvious.

What specifically do you want readers to do? Tell them that.

Whenever possible, use buttons instead of just text.

However, remember that images are turned off by default.


Would you click on this?

Mike’s Hamburgers Is Now Open in BrentwoodLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Click to learn more.


Of course not. How about this?

Buy 2 Tasty Burgers, Get a 3rd Free!Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

CLICK to order a delicious hamburger!

while supplies last


You’re thinking about how much you’d like a hamburger

right now.


10. Customize your email, [firstname]

Remember your list. Make the email as specific to that list as possible.

What information does your list include? First names? City?

Use these fields to personalize your email and subject lines

Dear [firstname]: Has your family been to the Nashville Zoo lately?Example:


11. DON’T BE BORING!

Don’t assume that people will open your email.

Don’t assume that people will read your email.

Don’t assume that people will take action.

Don’t assume that people will care.

MAKE THEM.


Think like the receiver,not the sender.

{What gets your attention? What would make you open an email?}


The Results

Opens21,444 (14.8%)

Opens31,637 (21.8%)

Clicks4,107 (2.84%)

Clicks3,025 (2.09%)


Business

Email Marketing Best Practices