The Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing

The first marketing email was sent in 1978, resulted in $13 million in sales, and kicked off what has become one of the most highly used marketing channels even to this day. 

Email today is revolutionizing business! 

Gone are the days when it was simply a medium of formal and informal correspondence. With the advancement of technology and opportunities businesses today are also embracing email marketing as  a powerful tool to build an owned audience that gets results.

Must Read: Best Practices and Examples for Call to Action in Cold Emails

Email Marketing Effectiveness

An article published by Hubspot compiles, There are 3.8 billion email users worldwide, so if you’re looking for a way to reach your customers, email is the perfect place to find them. On average, email generates $38 for every dollar spent, which is a 3,800% return on investment.

• Two-thirds of customers have made a purchase as a direct result of an email marketing message.
• When it comes to customer acquisition, email is 40X more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined.

These are a few handpicked statistics out of many to indicate the effectiveness of email marketing and why it should be your best marketing friend. 

If your company or business isn’t employing email marketing, should they? The answer is yes, as email is consistently quoted as one of, if not the marketing medium that supplies the highest ROI.

Those who are unfamiliar with this channel of marketing may not instantly understand why it is so beloved amongst companies in a variety of industries – but here are 10 reasons why email marketing is regarded by countless marketers as the most effective marketing medium.

• It allows you to add a personal touch to your marketing with targeted and personalized content 
• Optimizes your time and budget
• Email is versatile and offers variety
• Builds credibility
• Better brand recognition
• Boosts sales
• Metrics to learn what works
• Strengthens the relationship with your customers
• Increases traffic to your website

Now that you are convinced how emails can work as magic for your business, let’s explore how you can out-do your email marketing goals before hitting send. 

Drafting The Perfect Mail

The dos and don’t of email marketing. 

Do: Create a great subject line

First impressions are everything! The body of your email may be charming, well-written, and highly informative, but it is of no value if people aren’t opening it, to begin with.

Designing a succinct, eye-catching subject line — one that gives users sufficient information to understand why opening the email will be valuable to them — is vital for drawing in readers and site visitors. It’s equally important to keep your copy concise and fascinating. Double-check every element of your email body. 

Don’t: Draft lengthy mails

Emails are not for leisure reading. Be mindful of your users time. A statistics published by Hubspot, states ‘Data suggests the ideal length of an email is between 50 and 125 words. Emails this length had a response rate above 50%. A similar study found emails with approximately 20 lines of text, or about 200 words, had the highest clickthrough rates. When in doubt, keep emails short and under 200 words.”

Do: Grow your email list the apt way

Use a sign-up form that requires subscribers to opt-in to receive your emails. Well, it certainly takes longer but it also warrants you’re creating a high-quality list that’s willing to participate and engage. Quality leads are better than quantity leads! 

Don’t: Buy an email list

Buying an email list may seem like a quick and easy-win but it only hurts your business and reputation in the long run. How? There’s no guarantee the names in your list are actually going to be interested in your product/services. Qualified leads (Sales qualified or marketing qualified) from a purchased list are unlikely to convert into a potential customer considering they have no prior connection to your brand/business and god forbid if they mark your mail as SPAM. No good business relationship has ever begun with “How did you get my information?”

Checkout How to Boost Engagement with Email Personalization in Your ABM Strategy

Do: Keep your business on their mind

Shoot a  welcome email instantly after your user(s) subscribes. Since your latest prospect has just discovered you and revealed their desire to accept your emails, stoke their excitement by sending an appreciative welcome email. They love it, you value them for their decisions!

Don’t: Make new subscribers wait to hear from you

Waiting too long to reach out to your users could result in subscribers forgetting about you. Worst case scenario—they’ll find one of your competitors and sign-up to their list.

Do: Segment your list

Segmenting your list is an excellent way of ensuring that you only send relevant information to each of your subscribers. This way they’ll always look forward to receiving and opening your emails.

Don’t: Send the same email to everyone

Never shoot the same email to all subscribers on your email list. Sending irrelevant information makes you look like you don’t care about your customers’ needs.

Do: Create Targeted and Personalized Content

Research shows that personalization and customization increase your emails’ chances of being opened by 26%. Users now no longer acknowledge emails that don’t deliver content that is personalized for them. Research on your target audience and curate content accordingly. 

Don’t: Send a generic email that doesn’t speak to anyone

Generic emails do nothing but cripple your conversion rates. Your readers don’t want to be treated like just another email address by your business. 

Do: Give your emails the best chance at being opened

When it comes to email marketing, timing is everything. Especially if you have subscribers globally, ensure to send your emails based on your subscribers’ time zones.  

You may think 10 AM is the best time to send an email, but if a good deal of your subscribers live in New York, they would prefer to receive emails at 7 AM. Doing so gives your emails a better chance of being noticed and opened.

Don’t forget to optimize emails across all email platforms (and devices!)

Following the above-mentioned pointers, you can scale up your customer base and profits by an unimaginable margin. 

Need help getting started or on a lookout to boost your existing marketing efforts? Get in touch with us today. 

Abhijit Wadpalliwar

Google Analytics Certified, Having 3 Years of experience in Digital Marketing. Skilled in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing (SMM), with a proficiency in Microsoft Office, WordPress and marketing automation tools.