Read This Before Sending Your Next Email Marketing Campaign

Email is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. This is no secret.

That’s why it’s more important than ever not to get lost in the noise. You can do this by making sure your emails have a high deliverability rate and are optimized for best results.

Make Sure Your Email is Verified

Did you know that 30% of people change their email address annually and many have multiple personal and business email addresses? It’s true. This is why even the freshest list needs to be verified on a regular basis. We recommend verifying your lists every quarter at the very least.

Don’t Paralyze Your Ability to Reach Your Audience

Every email you send your audience is an important email, right? But some are critical for meeting your organization’s goals. The last thing you want to do is find out your email marketing account has been suspended by your platform provider. Accounts can get suspended when people flag your email as spam or when a campaign results in high bounce rates because of undeliverable mail. Email verification can reduce this risk immensely.

Make it Easy for People to Unsubscribe

This may sound counterintuitive as no one likes the feeling of rejection that comes when someone doesn’t want you to communicate with them anymore. However, the larger the list, the more likely this is going to happen. Your list won’t get penalized for unsubscribes. But your list will get penalized if people mark you as spam through their email service provider. And people are far more likely to mark an email as spam if they don’t have the option to unsubscribe in the first place.

Respect the List

If someone unsubscribes put proper measures in place to ensure you do not email them again. If you do, you run the risk of getting marked as spam because their unsubscribe request was not honored. The only reason why they should be re-added is if they explicitly opt-in again. Your email marketing platform probably does this automatically, however, if you use a CRM you’ll want to make sure you’re syncing that up as well, if you’re not already.

Make it Mobile

Mobile email clicks make up 40% of total email clicks, yet only 11% of emails are optimized for mobile. Chances are, you’re part of the 89% who are not sending mobile-friendly emails and you could be losing valuable engagement and return on investment when it comes to your email marketing strategy. Most email marketing platforms provide options for improving on this, take advantage of it.

Subject Lines Matter

With people receiving hundreds of emails, you want to make sure you’re capturing a share of their attention. This is why it is crucial to be thoughtful about your email subject lines. If your email marketing platform provides A/B testing, you can test length (industry standards say the shorter, the better) and language. You only have to Google to see advice on subject lines but just like your organization is unique, so is your audience, which is why testing is key. Ultimately though, you want to think of the subject line as a promise you’re making and when that email is opened, you’re delivering on that promise.

Consider Timing

The timing of your emails is something else you’ll want to test. There is no shortage of advice when it comes to when you should send emails. However, every audience is different. When you’re sending emails, factors you’ll want to consider are time zones of your audience, their lifestyle and the call to action you’re making in the email. You can use A/B testing for this, too. Speaking of timing, we sure you have a lot to say but make sure you time your emails thoughtfully as no one wants to feel overwhelmed with an avalanche of emails from the same source.

Use Images

In most cases, you’ll see more click-throughs and conversions if you include images in your emails. Choose images that visually support your messages and make an emotional connection. Also, use buttons that match your organization’s branding for calls to action. Need inspiration? Subscribe to a few email lists for others who share your same industry and/or audience.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

You’ve heard this advice before and the same holds true with email marketing. Your email marketing platform likely provides a dashboard that provides analytics for your campaigns. Use it. As you send more campaigns, you’ll be able to see which emails perform the best with regard to click-throughs, opens and email forwarding. Analyze those high performing campaigns paying attention to what time you sent the email, the subject lines, calls to action and if there are any audience trends regarding the wealth, demographics and geographic location. You can use these insights to further segment your list.

Sharing is Caring

Once you’ve taken all the necessary steps to ensure that the emails you’re sending are verified, optimized and compelling don’t forget to make your emails easy to share. Sure, it’s easy for people to simply forward an email and this is a very impactful channel. However, most people are active on at least one, if not more, social media channel. However, they’re less likely to share if you don’t make it ridiculously easy to do so. Most email marketing platforms give you the ability to add sharing buttons and links within your email campaigns. Don’t underestimate the power of doing this. Not only will this help spread your message but it will also help you grow your list.

Now What?

Learn more about how you can use Artificial Intelligence to test and refine your email marketing strategy.

Download our best practices guide now–>