Email marketing is big business these days, but if you’re just starting an email campaign, things can seem a little intimidating. With all the time you are committing to gaining email addresses, designing your emails, then sending and tracking them, it’s important to make sure that your emails are designed for optimal deliverability, readability, and convertibility. Here’s how to make sure you’re doing the right things…
1. Build a strong mailing list – There are lots of ways to gain email addresses, like offering promotions for members of your website or by requiring an email to view certain content, but make sure you always receive permission before emailing anyone. Unexpected marketing emails almost always end up in the trash, or worse, the spam folder. Take a look at our email list management best practices articles elsewhere on this site for more details.
2. Keep your emails simple – HTML is fine, but large images, flash, video, Javascript, and CSS are all spam filter risks. The simpler the email, the more likely it is to end up in an inbox.
3. Always allow users to unsubscribe – Make the “unsubscribe” option prominent at the top of your bulk emails. I’d always prefer an uninterested user opt out of my emails rather than label them as spam.
4. Track everything – Your emails campaigns will never live up to their full potential unless you make an effort to track, test, and improve each email campaign. Invest in good tracking software, then get some email tracking tips on our website for good ideas of how to test your emails. Generally, breaking your large mailing list into smaller groups and sending targeted emails to each is a good way to find out what works and what doesn’t. Making adjustments for later emails then becomes easier and helps your bottom line.