Email Marketing BEST PRACTICES REPORT

 

Introduction

Email Marketing is a form of digital marketing that allows businesses to directly communicate with their customer base. The first marketing email was sent in 1978 and has been one of the most highly used marketing channels ever since that time (Brafton Brand, 2023). It has evolved rapidly over the decades and in today's overwhelming tech age it’s important to understand the best practices of email marketing to achieve positive outcomes and results. 

Best Practices of Email Marketing

In spite of increased competition from other digital marketing channels, email marketing revenue is estimated to reach almost 11 billion by the end of 2023 (Statista, 2021).

So it’s important that as Marketers our methods continue to be innovative to achieve customer cut through. 

As with everything - planning lays the basis for us to assess and evaluate our achievements effectively. So taking the time to put together an email marketing strategy will provide an effective path of success. In the plan, define your audience, establish your goals, build your email list, create a schedule and measure your results. 

One of the most obvious methods of success is writing an effective subject line. This is the first thing that a person will see and will decide whether the email gets a quick delete or an open and read. 64% of email users make a decision to open emails based on subject lines (Hubspot, 2022).

So it’s best to keep it short, punchy, interesting and under 40 characters (6 - 10 words max). Using personalisation can also have a 26% more likely chance of being opened and using emojis (no more than 1) can increase effectiveness by 70%.  

Timing and events also impact email marketing. According to Hubspot, the highest click-to-open rates occur through the working week between 9am - 3pm. However, it’s best to consider your target audience and when they would be most likely to read emails, as well as completing A/B testing to determine what performs better for your individual business. 

Triggered emails (or automated emails) have a 70.5% open rate so sending emails on birthdays or abandoned carts is an important factor to remember.  Welcome emails have a whopping 91% open rate upon subscribing - making it the most impactful email that you can send to a customer. So remember to include that one!

Another important item is segmentation. By segmenting (separating) your database into targeted groups based on certain traits, factors that your customers share, their life cycle stage or demographics like gender, income or profession, the higher the response rate will be. 

Personalisation is also an important factor when doing an email campaign. A 2022 McKinsey report says that 71% of consumers expect companies to offer personalised communication. 76% get frustrated when it doesn’t happen (Hubspot, August 2022). No one feels special with <To NAME> or <Hey indigo143@gmail.com> either, so double check you have the settings correct. Lastly, checking your previews and mobile view, sending a test email to yourself or a work colleague to proof read the content is correct and that the links all work is all good practice of email marketing.

Mistakes to avoid

As important as good practices are when it comes to Email Marketing, there are also some things to avoid. One of them is failing to use clear and concise content and good graphics. 

Keep in mind that people only spend 9 seconds on average looking at an email (MarketProfs 2022) so anything long winded with pixelated images is not going to get much of a read. Keep the content relevant, engaging and impactful. Think about click throughs and lead nurturing - include hyperlinks within the content that lead to dedicated landing pages. 

In line with good design is also ensuring that your email is optimised across all devices. Utilise tools like Mailchimps ‘Inbox preview’ to find out exactly what your email will look like on a desktop, tablet and mobile and then make changes accordingly. 

Remember with any email creation - we don’t want to come across like a robot. If you’re using AI content tools such as ChatGP, ensure you always check and change the content to be more human. On that human note, ensure you're not sending from a ”noreply” email address. Not only is it cold and impersonal, but it's also likely to decrease deliverability since no reply addressed can be seen as spam (Zapier, July 2023).

As you can see, email marketing has lots of different moving parts that need to be considered when creating a successful and engaging campaign that achieves optimal engagement and results.

A final note - when doing email marketing, it’s important to understand and abide by the Australian Spam Act. Do not purchase email lists and ensure that you’re following the regulations around consent, identity and unsubscribe options.