We’ve seen time and again that email marketing is a highly successful marketing strategy. In fact, email can be a great addition to your business The Ultimate Guide to Email Sending Best Practices. when considering ROI and engagement, especially when you use email sending best practices effectively:
- Email has 50 to 100 times higher click-through rates than Facebook and Twitter.
- For every $1 marketers spend on email marketing , they receive $42 in return
That’s why businesses that begin using email marketing effectively will continue to use it as a key strategy in their toolkit and look for ways to amplify their efforts through automation .
If you’re just starting out or are responsible for managing an email marketing program, you may be starting to feel stressed. There are so many elements to track and measure to get your campaigns just right. Never fear! By making the most of these email sending best practices, you’ll feel like a pro and see results in no time.
14 Email Best Practices
1. Start with a basic strategy
We know it’s exciting to get your first send started, but take a couple steps back before you get started. Have a plan of attack for the types of emails you’ll be sending, how often you’ll be sending them, and what to include in them so you can start sending on a regular cadence. This will stop you from falling into the trap of sending sporadically, or whenever something comes up, which can be detrimental to your list health .
If you’re not sure where to start, or you have enough content to send out as often as you want, now is the perfect time to plan. Create a realistic timeline and set goals now to establish frequency. Rather than over-promise and under-deliver, start small.
2. Build your mailing list
This always seems like the hardest part, but it’s actually one of the easiest parts once you’ve got it set up. If you currently have opt-in forms on your site and you’re not seeing a ton of signups (and your site traffic is good), then it’s time to review and optimize to create a signup form that converts .
Make your opt-in forms work for you! They should be inevitable, and no, we don’t mean frustratingly close popups, but if the only way to sign up for your list is through a popup, then that’s not enough. Make sure that if a user lands on the site and moves around on it, they can still easily see that super awesome mailing list signup.
Most ESPs, including SharpSpring , will not indonesia telegram data allow you to upload purchased lists. Especially with the increasing number of privacy policies and data management rules, uploading a list of contacts without your explicit consent can result in hefty fines. The best practice is to always build your list organically.
Reminder: Your website needs to receive consistent traffic to also see consistent signups. If your website traffic isn’t very high, you won’t be smartrmail alternatives: 8 user-friendly email marketing platforms able to add to the list quickly. Consider using other marketing channels like social media to help promote the list.
3. Say hello to new subscribers
Every email strategy should include a campaign to welcome new subscribers. How many email lists have you subscribed to only to forget about c phone number it because you didn’t receive an email until 3 weeks later? Your customers shouldn’t have the same experience.
Email is not a billboard or advertising marketing. Email seeks to create a 1:1 relationship between a brand and a customer. These prospects trust you enough to hand over the keys to their inbox. Greeting them with a welcome email builds familiarity and trust.
This can range from a single email saying simply hello to a series of emails that help introduce your brand, your products, and perhaps even offer a discount. A welcome series can be as simple or complex as what fits the needs of your brand. Use a Revenue Growth Platform to open the door to new opportunities to connect with your customers through welcome series that target their interests and more. Sign up for a SharpSpring demo today to learn how you can elevate your customer experience from the first interaction.
4. Segment your list
78 percent of marketers say list segmentation is the marketing automation feature they can’t live without, and we totally understand why.
There are multiple ways to create segments for targeted marketing based on the data you collect. What did they buy recently? Where do they live? What pages on your website have they visited recently? All of these touchpoints are opportunities to fine-tune the customer journey and start giving them what they’re looking for.
Of course, the limits of segmentation depend on the data points you collect. Using an integrated marketing tool will allow for tracking more touchpoints and creating more automated campaigns around them. That’s why many marketers are turning to all-in-one marketing automation tools to grow their email marketing.
5. Know the law
Email isn’t the Wild West, even though it may feel that way sometimes! There are policies regarding the collection and storage of people’s personal information. You may have heard of GDPR or CAN-SPAM, but with Apple Mail’s privacy updates and California’s CCPA, ignoring these rules could end up being costly.
Before you start collecting email addresses, it’s important to understand how to comply with the requirements. Unless you know they are a reputable sender, looking at other businesses may not be the best option. Since email, unlike social media channels, is primarily managed by the individuals on the site, it’s not uncommon to see examples of brands not following the rules.
It’s also important to stay up to date on any changes to these policies. Typically, your ESP will notify their users of any changes. However, to stay compliant, you’ll still need to implement these changes in your signup forms and emails.
6. Testing and Experimentation
A/B testing has long been a standard practice for optimizing emails once you have a list of a few thousand subscribers or more. Testing is how email marketers know if one subject line is better than another, or which day of the week gets the best engagement.
There are many ways to start testing beyond subject lines. Experienced email marketers know that testing content and engagement can be a game changer. Marketers can test which button colors have the highest click-through rates, whether customers prefer reading a certain subject line or clicking to watch an explainer video, or even if they respond better to images or text.
7. Identify key metrics in advance
Set reporting goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) ahead of time. Not only will this make reporting a breeze after the campaign, but it will also help marketers find ways to optimize along the way.
Identifying KPIs ahead of time gives marketing teams a concrete goal to work towards and ultimately drives them to create better emails. If marketers understand the goal of their marketing campaigns, whether it’s driving product awareness, clicks to a landing page, or form fills, they can use their strategy and creativity to guide people to take the desired action.
Take the time to set up your marketing dashboard with these metrics ahead of time so they are ready to apply as soon as the data populates.
8. Don’t take unsubscribes personally, but don’t ignore them either
High unsubscribe rates don’t necessarily mean customers hate your business, but they can indicate other issues that should be addressed. Rising or above-average unsubscribe rates can indicate that customers are receiving too many emails or emails they feel are irrelevant to them.
Test your adjusted content strategy and watch if your rates improve. Also, don’t be afraid to ask! Survey your readers to find out what their ideal frequency is to gain some real insights.
9. Develop holiday/event strategies
We all know Q4 is coming fast and the holiday season is crazy for all types of industries. If you’re just starting to integrate email into your marketing, make sure you account for any additional emails or special marketing campaigns that need to be created for national, local, and business holidays and events.
Using automation here can be the key to getting huge sales throughout the season. From abandoned cart emails to post-new product launch nurturing campaigns, get in touch with us to learn how automation has been a powerhouse for businesses.
10. Quality over quantity
Email fatigue is real, and it’s one of the main factors that affect sender status. If subscribers receive too many emails, they may unsubscribe or worse, ignore you until you start hitting the spam folder.
Start slow and test your audience’s reactions by watching engagement rates and unsubscribes. Don’t forget to account for any automated campaigns you’re running. If someone is running a drip campaign that sends daily updates for 7 days, it’s best to remove them from the mailing list before they finish to avoid over-mailing.
11. Reward your most active contacts
Create segments for your VIP contacts. These could be the contacts that interact with your emails most often, attend the most webinars, or purchase the most. Special campaigns can be sent to these lists to nurture relationships. These rewards don’t have to be discounts, but they can be. Rewards could be seeing new releases first, asking for their opinion on new products or internal content.
Bonus points if your email software offers lead scoring . These scores are an easy way to segment your most stubborn customers.
12. Use data to personalize the customer journey
Gone are the days of “Hey [FNAME]!” as an effective way to get opens and clicks. Personalized data fields are still a tactic that smart marketers keep in their toolkit, but personalization has evolved.
In addition to name and birthday, marketing teams use location, behavior, demographics to personalize the customer journey. Retail sites thrive on this type of marketing. As consumers, we are all familiar with the experience of viewing something at our favorite retailer, only to receive an email in our inbox a day later featuring that item and others like it.
This new world of personalization is leveraging data to show customers the information they are looking for. By combining data with automation , marketers are providing customers with a more streamlined journey, and a frictionless journey means more sales. That’s why data and automation are changing the way we approach email.
13. Coordinate cross-channel activities
Often, marketing channels are seen as disconnected tools when they are all designed to work together to build a business. Use email as another tool to leverage promotions at social media events or live events. Social media and other channels can also be used to grow your email list. Your social media followers are not necessarily your email subscribers. Catch them in both places so they are less likely to miss a message.
14. Use email to send lists
If you’ve ever sent an “Oops, sorry, our last email…” subject line, then you know the pain of missing something before you hit send. The best way to eliminate send button anxiety is to prepare an email pre-send checklist before you hit “send” every time.
Start your email marketing
Email can be trickier than it seems, but with the right tools and support, having a strong email marketing strategy doesn’t have to be! Try these tips to see how well-executed email marketing can help your company move in the right direction toward achieving your revenue goals.
