By nature, email marketing is fluid, and it isn’t easy to nail down a finite set of best practices for your newsletter. Your subscribers are unique, so your content should vary. Sometimes, this means changing best practices to send the best content for your subscribers.
What are the current email newsletter best practices?
These best practices can help you create campaigns that get opened and read.
Design responsive emails.
Over half of all emails are opened on mobile devices. If an email doesn’t look right, over 70% of people will delete that email in less than three seconds, so designing responsive emails is crucial for getting your emails read.
Write short and intriguing subject lines.
As you optimize your emails for mobile, pay special attention to your subject lines. Most email apps like Gmail will cut your subject line off after just 40 characters. You need to make good use of that space. Test out different subject line formulas to see which type performs well with your particular audience.
Send your emails at the right time.
Get in the mind of your subscriber. Learn their schedule and activities so you can send relevant content at the right time. This might seem over the top, but consider the following.
Would you be more likely to make a major purchase on payday or at the end of the week when you’re a little strapped? Would you remember an email about happy hour specials at 5 p.m. if it was sent in the morning before you got up? The time at which your emails are sent must be appropriate to be effective.
Use actionable and conversational language in your copy.
Email is an intimate method of communicating with people. People across all industries can benefit from writing conversational copy. Pretend you’re having a one-on-one conversation with a subscriber. Write for one person, not 100.
Segment your audience and create personalized content.
56% of people unsubscribe from email lists because the content isn’t relevant. By segmenting your audience into different groups, you can create highly personalized email campaigns that are 760% more likely to convert.
56% of people unsubscribe from email lists because the content isn’t relevant.
How to measure the results from your email newsletter
Once you put these email newsletter best practices into action, you’ll want to track your results to make sure everything is working. Log into your email service provider dashboard to check metrics like the following:
- Delivery
- Open rates
- Click rates
- Open-to-click rates
- Unsubscribes
- Transactions
You can also monitor other activity, such as website traffic, social media follows, and messages. These are useful to watch if you want to improve brand recognition.
Does it really matter?
In this case, email newsletter best practices do matter. You want your emails to get opened, and you want to create content that your subscribers will love. Following the best practices above can make that happen.
In many other cases, however, best practices aren’t set in stone. It’s important to account for human nature and unique personalities. You can’t create truly personalized campaigns if you stick to best practices without question.
What now?
Now that you understand the importance of email newsletter best practices, you can focus on putting them into action. First, focus on quality. By doing this, you present yourself as a leader in your industry. Next, optimize your subject lines so that your emails get opened. Finally, put your effort towards actionable copy that inspires your readers.
Do you need some help writing hard-hitting copy that inspires your readers to take action? Check out these 8 email copywriting tips to write engaging content.