Email marketing is an organic content marketing strategy that provides a unique opportunity to connect with your audience. You can use emails to build brand awareness, increase engagement, and promote and sell your products and services. Although it might not be as “trendy” as Instagram or TikTok, email marketing for businesses generates a significant return on investment. On average, companies see a 4,200% ROI–or $42 for every $1 spent. That is when you implement best practices in email marketing for businesses!
IN THIS ARTICLE
List Building Best Practices in Email Marketing
Subject Line Best Practices in Email Marketing
Copywriting Best Practices in Email Marketing
Design Best Practices in Email Marketing
Best Practices in Email Marketing for Businesses & Top Tips
Not every email gets opened, and not every opened email generates results. So, what’s the difference between the ones that do and those that don’t? These best practices in email marketing for businesses.
List Building Best Practices in Email Marketing
Having an email list is the foundation of a successful email marketing strategy. After all, there’s no point in writing, designing, and sending emails if there’s nobody on the other side to read them. Whether you’re starting from scratch or already have a couple hundred subscribers, keep these list-building marketing email best practices in mind.
1. Know your target audience.
This will help you determine where to focus your list-building efforts. If you don’t have many website visitors, a webpage pop-up isn’t going to generate an email list quickly. Instead, you can create a lead capture form and promote it to your audience where they are online. You can link it on your Instagram Story or make a post on LinkedIn to engage your professional network.
2. Design an easy-to-complete lead capture form.
It should be super easy for someone to sign up for your email list. While you may want to know their birthdate or hometown for analysis, your lead capture form is not the place to ask for it. The more information people have to input, the less likely they are to complete the form. Keep it simple by asking for their first name and email address.
Flodesk is an excellent email marketing tool for list building because you can embed a lead capture form on your website and share it via a custom URL. (Use my code “EARNEXPLORE” at checkout for 50% off your Flodesk subscription.)
3. Offer something of value in exchange for an email address.
You need to give your audience a reason to sign up for your email list. People get bombarded with emails every day–it’s estimated that 333.2 billion emails will be sent and received daily in 2022. People won’t sign up to receive your emails unless you make it worth their while. Some excellent incentives to generate engagement with your email list include:
- A free e-book on a relevant topic
- A free checklist or downloadable PDF
- A discount on your products
- A free shipping code
- An awesome giveaway
- A free coaching/strategy call with you
The list goes on, but you get the point. Offer something of value for free and more people will give up their precious email addresses. Whatever approach you take, make sure you’re focused on quality over quantity. It’s better to have a small list of engaged subscribers than a large list of people who never open your emails.
Quick Tips on Email Marketing List Building
- Design a lead capture form using an email tool like Flodesk
- Choose something free to give away in exchange for email addresses
- Promote your email list on socials and wherever your audience is online
Subject Line Best Practices in Email Marketing
Your subject line is arguably the most important part of your email marketing campaign. It determines whether someone opens your email or sends it straight to their trash bin without a second thought. Fortunately, you have two small but effective areas to generate interest in someone’s email inbox: the subject line and the preheader text.
1. Write short, clear, concise, engaging subject lines.
Less is more when it comes to subject lines. Don’t exceed 60 characters and/or nine words. For your subject lines to really pack a punch, always aim for shorter subjects. Just make sure you get your message across and engage the reader. For example, “Does a 9am meeting work for you?” meets the requirements, but “Meeting at 9am?” does too.
2. Always customize preheader text in subject lines.
Your preheader is the part of the subject that shows up after the subject line. If you don’t customize it, it’s typically the first few words of your email copy. However, customizing it gives you another opportunity to capture your reader’s attention. Using the previous example, it could read something like this: (Subject) “Meeting at 9am?” (Preheader) “You don’t want to miss this opportunity!”
3. Avoid sales-y and spammy words–opt for personalization instead.
For two reasons: first, your email might get tagged as spam and not end up in your recipient’s primary inbox; second, people prefer personalized emails, not mass sales content. You’re bound to see 50% higher open rates when you personalize an email subject line and make it relevant to the recipient. The easiest way to do this is to add the recipient’s first name, which most email marketing platforms can do automatically.
These subject-line marketing email best practices will increase the likelihood of your emails getting opened. To further your email open success rate, you can test subject lines against one another to see what your audience responds to best.
Quick Tips on Email Marketing Subject Lines
- Keep your subject lines short, sweet, and to the point
- Personalize your subject lines with the recipient’s first name
- Utilize your preheader to give a sneak peek of what’s inside
- A/B test your subject lines
Copywriting Best Practices in Email Marketing
Once you get people to receive and open your emails, the next step is to convey your message to generate interest and engagement. You’re likely not sending an email just for the sake of sending it. You have a goal–or a few–in mind. You have an action you want your readers to take: read a blog post, purchase a product, sign up for an event, etc. These copywriting marketing email best practices will help you inspire action in your emails.
1. Know your message and communicate it quickly and clearly.
People are generally busy, so they don’t have time to read lengthy emails. Get to the point quickly and be concise in your writing. Keep in mind that most people scan content, looking for anything that interests them rather than reading something word-for-word. So, format your email copy with headers, sections, bold text, etc., to make the most important parts stand out.
2. Use persuasive language and include a call to action.
Your goal is to get people to take action, so use language that encourages them to do so. Be direct and specify what you want the reader to do, but don’t sound too sales-y. Position your message to benefit the reader. Appeal to their pain points, and tell them how your offer will improve their situation. Don’t forget to include direct calls to action (CTA) via links and buttons to make it easy for readers to purchase, sign up, read, etc.
3. Proofread and test your email before sending it.
You have a limited time to capture your audience’s attention and inspire action. It’s essential that all your links and attachments work correctly and that there aren’t any grammatical errors or typos. Always proofread your email and send yourself multiple test versions before sending it to your audience.
Quick Tips on Email Marketing Copywriting
- Keep your message clear and concise
- Format your email for scannability
- Offer multiple opportunities for engagement via links and buttons
- Read your email copy out loud to proofread it
- Test your email before sending it
Design Best Practices in Email Marketing
Looks matter when it comes to email marketing for businesses. You can have excellent copy, but it won’t matter if your template isn’t designed to convert.
1. Keep your email layout clean and simple.
Don’t overwhelm your readers with a busy design that makes it difficult to scan your email. Keep your email layout simple and easy to read with large, legible fonts and versatile formatting (headers, bold text, italicized text, etc.). Include plenty of whitespace to break up your copy and make it easier on the eyes. You can design stunning emails with pre-built, drag-and-drop templates from Flodesk. (Use my code “EARNEXPLORE” at checkout for 50% off your Flodesk subscription.)
2. Use strong visuals to grab attention and convey your message.
Use high-quality images, infographics, and videos to attract and encourage clicks. Text-only emails should be used sparingly. You’ll most likely see more engagement when you use visual elements within your design.
3. Test your email design across multiple platforms.
Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. So, it is essential to test your email design on desktop and mobile to ensure it looks great in both places. You can send yourself a test email and open it on your computer and phone or use the built-in preview tool on your email marketing platform.
Quick Tips on Email Marketing Design
- Choose a clean, visually appealing design
- Add graphic elements and photos throughout your email
- Know when to opt for a plain-text email
- Include CTA buttons throughout your email
- Test your email on desktop and mobile before sending
Campaign Best Practices in Email Marketing
Now that you know the best practices in email marketing for list building, subject lines, copywriting, and design, it’s time to develop and send email campaigns to your audience.
1. Create multiple campaigns and automate them.
You need to dedicate lots of time and effort to email marketing to generate engagement and sales for your business. However, most of that time can be upfront work when you create and automate email campaigns. The first essential email campaign you need is a welcome campaign. This is a 3-6 email sequence that automatically sends over the course of a few months to new email subscribers. With the right email marketing tool, you can automatically segment your audience and tag new subscribers to receive your welcome campaign.
2. Find a frequency that works for you and your audience.
You’ll also want to send monthly emails to your subscribers. These might be sales emails, newsletters, or stewardship emails. It’s essential to find a balance when it comes to how often you send emails. Too often, and you’ll annoy your subscribers, resulting in people unsubscribing. Too sparse, and you’ll miss the opportunity to build a relationship with your subscribers. A good starting point is between one and four monthly emails, depending on your bandwidth and content.
3. Send your emails at optimal times.
Morning time is generally the best time to send emails that get opened. Sending your email between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM is a pretty safe bet. However, your subscribers might prefer something different, so don’t be afraid to test email send times to find what generates the most engagement for you.
Quick Tips on Email Marketing Campaigns
- Create a welcome drip campaign for new subscribers
- Keep email campaigns 3-6 emails long
- Send 1-4 emails monthly to start
- Send your emails in the AM for the highest engagement
The Best Platform for Email Marketing for Businesses
To implement all these best practices and quick tips on email marketing, you need an email marketing platform. Flodesk is my top recommendation. You can read more about the platform and features in this post. Or, if you’re ready to give it a try, use my Flodesk discount code “EARNEXPLORE” and get 50% off Flodesk at checkout after your free 30-day trial.
