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Email Marketing Best Practices

The document provides best practices for email marketing. It recommends defining a clear objective for the email, writing attention-grabbing subject lines, including important text and not relying solely on images, focusing the email on a single goal, placing important content higher up, making calls to action obvious and clickable, customizing the email using recipient information, and making the email engaging to motivate opening and action.

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tylerleif
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67 views23 pages

Email Marketing Best Practices

The document provides best practices for email marketing. It recommends defining a clear objective for the email, writing attention-grabbing subject lines, including important text and not relying solely on images, focusing the email on a single goal, placing important content higher up, making calls to action obvious and clickable, customizing the email using recipient information, and making the email engaging to motivate opening and action.

Uploaded by

tylerleif
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EMAIL MARKETING

Best Practices for Making Your Clients Love You Forever

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. Write Better Subject Lines


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 ... Is direct and specific Has an incentive ("Buy 2 Get 1") Has urgency ("Only 4 Days Remaining" / "This Weekend Only") Has minimal words that trigger spam filters ("free", "low rates", "cheap", exclamation points, dollar signs, etc.). Is NOT in ALL CAPS

The Four Us 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.

Lets be honest: Ultra-specific is a cop-out for a U word.

3. Dont Rely on Images


Most of the time, emails have images turned off by default. Keep this in mind. If possible, dont put everything in an image. Make sure that all images have alt tags to clearly explain all images.

Bad Email from Panera


Images turned on Images turned off

Alt Tags to the Rescue!

The Duckhead email uses proper alt tags to make sure that all important messaging is seeneven without images. The body copy is not in an image. (Yea.)

3. Have a single focus.


What single, specific thing are you trying to do? Stick to it. You can either do one thing well or lots of things poorly. 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.

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

5. 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 few people will actually do it.

Do you ever read an article, and at the bottom, it says, Continued on page six? Im 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!

6. 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?


Mikes Hamburgers Is Now Open in Brentwood 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 ofcia 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 ofcia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. CLICK to order a delicious hamburger!

while supplies last

Youre thinking about how much youd like a hamburger right now.

7. 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 Example: Dear [rstname]: Has your family been to the Nashville Zoo lately?

8. DONT BE BORING!
Dont assume that people will open your email. Dont assume that people will read your email. Dont assume that people will take action. Dont 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?}

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