Top 15 Email Marketing Best Practices That Build the Best Lists
Is your email marketing list shrinking? Are your subscribers complaining about boring emails? Are you just getting started out in email marketing?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re in the right place.
We’re going to discuss email marketing’s best practices for those of you who are new to the email marketing game as well as those of you who need a pick-me-up. Email marketing isn’t easy, especially in a world dominated by social media interaction.
However, email marketing campaigns are extremely profitable and successful for those who know how to do it the right way. If you want to learn about email marketing and what email marketing’s best practices are, keep reading.
1. Streamline Your Content
First, you need to figure out what kind of content you’re going to put out there. What are you looking to share or talk about?
We’re sure that you probably already have a few ideas in mind. Or, if you already have an email list, you’ve probably already established your subject matter.
Whatever stage you’re at, we urge you to skim the possibilities down to one broad subject. This allows you to focus on one thing while still having plenty of room for a lot of content to grow.
2. Double Check Everything
Send all of your emails to yourself before sending them out to your subscribers. This gives you a chance to see exactly what your subscribers are going to see.
You should take this time to read over all of your content, check links, review photos, and make sure everything is exactly the way that you want it.
More often than not, you’ll find something that you want to change. Luckily, you can make these last-minute changes because you haven’t sent the email out yet.
3. Never Spam
Never, ever, ever spam your audience. You will lose people faster than you got them in the first place.
We recommend sending no more than two emails a week. However, one email a week is even better.
We know that condensing your emails like this may be difficult, but we promise that your readers will thank you for it. Spamming annoys them, whereas posting less makes them crave your content more.
4. Make Subscribing Easy
If people have to press five buttons and insert ten pieces of information to subscribe to your email list, you’re doing it wrong. Subscribing should be so easy that an elementary schooler can do it.
Place subscribe links and buttons all over your site and make them obvious.
5. Confirm Subscribers
Subscribing should be easy, but you should also confirm your subscribers. Someone may have given an incorrect email address or given up someone else’s email address.
By confirming subscribers, you’re making sure that they’re going to get your content while simultaneously getting them more excited about your content. Be sure to let them know that they’re confirming their email address so that you can send them exclusive offers, sales, and more.
6. Set a Schedule
If you’re sending emails randomly, it’s likely that you’re confusing your subscribers. You need to have a consistent schedule.
Marking a specific day for emails will help you stay organized while keeping your subscribers excited about the content.
Choose a day that you post new content on your site or a release day for new products. However, we wouldn’t recommend telling your audience about this post day just in case you happen to switch it up every once in a while.
7. Create a Content Calendar
Every business, brand, and organized individual needs a content calendar. With so many free resources out there, there is no excuse for not having a content calendar at this point. If you don’t have one, look into getting one now.
From ClickUp to Mondays, there are several apps to try.
Keeping a calendar of your content will help you plan more effectively and efficiently. Plus, it’ll help you make up more content if you’re having a dry spell of ideas.
8. Write a Captivating Subject Line
Subject lines in emails are like photos on Instagram or thumbnails on YouTube. They are the thing that makes someone click on your content.
Having a captivating subject with action verbs and bold personality is arguably just as important as the actual content in the email. A great subject line increases the engagement rate with your emails.
Brainstorm subject lines and think about what your audience would click on. In fact, you could do some A/B testing if you want to see how your audience reacts to two different kinds of subject lines.
9. Add Alternative Text
You should have alternative text for every photo and video in your email. This serves two purposes:
- Alternative text is helpful for readers who actually need it due to a disability
- Alternative text replaces your photo or video if it didn’t properly send to your subscriber
Having alternative text replaces white boxes where content once lived. If something doesn’t properly send to your subscriber or won’t load on their phone or computer, they’ll have alternative text to let them know what was supposed to be there.
10. Automate Your Email
Don’t make emailing harder than it needs to be. Automate emails whenever you can.
The most popular automation happens at the beginning of a subscription relationship. You can automate the first few emails that you send to your new subscribers.
For example, you may want to offer a discount code or share some things about yourself. You can invite them to read popular posts or peruse your shop.
Whatever you decide, make it easier with automated emails.
11. Encourage Your Audience to Share
By sharing your emails, your blog, your website, or anything else related to your brand, your audience can greatly contribute to the growth of your site and your brand as a whole. That’s why you should remind and encourage your audience to share the news about your email list.
Whether you offer a code or have a new launch coming, you should imbed sharing in your email. From social media sharing to email forwarding, give a variety of options for sharing so that your audience can pick the best for them.
12. Optimize Your Emails
If your emails aren’t optimized for mobile use, you’re behind on an extremely important trend. Most people check their email on their phones these days.
It’s likely that you’re missing out on providing content to a large group of your audience if your emails aren’t completely viewable on mobile devices.
To get on top of the issue, start optimizing as soon as possible. The sooner, the better.
13. Analyze Changes
Once you’ve sent a few emails, you need to look at your analytics. Evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Think about how you could make things better.
We highly suggest taking notes from your most popular email for the month. What do you think made it popular and how can you remake that popularity?
Whether it was the subject line or the content, you should look at how you can use the same strategy in future emails.
While we’re talking about this, we should clarify that you shouldn’t be copying the content over and using the exact same thing. That won’t get you anywhere.
Try to make something new using the same successful strategy from the email that got the most interaction.
14. Reward Subscribers
If you reward your subscribers, they’re more likely to stick around. Who doesn’t love a coupon code or a free gift?
Think about it. If someone you’re subscribed to is giving you free stuff or offering discounts on other stuff, wouldn’t you stick around, too?
Whether you’re offering a free ebook or 10% off of your new collection or a free tote with a $100 purchase, you’re bound to raise engagement. People love free things, and they’re more likely to click on your email, read it, and follow what it says when you’re offering something up.
You could also implement a reader reward program or points for shopping on your site.
15. Stay True to Yourself
Through every single email, you need to stay true to yourself. Don’t try to copy other companies or reiterate other content.
You need to be an individual brand that can stand on its own without taking content or strategies from anyone else.
Personalized emails are more entertaining for today’s audience. Take advantage of this and let your light shine.
Email Marketing: Best Practices and Validation
Now you’re an expert on email marketing’s best practices. By using our fifteen tips, your email list will be more successful than ever.
As you’re bolstering your email list and sending the best content out to your subscribers, you need to maintain your list. You can do this by using an email marketing database.
Keeping up with your email hygiene practices through email validation will help you improve your deliverability. The best part is that it doesn’t take much work on your end.
By taking care of your email list and the subscribers who take the time to read your emails, you’ll find great success through emil marketing.
