Email Best Practices from Our Marketing Experts

1. Email messages should be short, brief and to the point. Keeping your email short gives a personal feeling which creates a connection, builds trust, and invites response.

 2. An email should include the following structure:

• Subject line: very brief and personal (include first name)
• Lead paragraph: open with a call to action & and how you can help the prospect.
• Final call to action statement with link to forms, website.
• Your company’s postal address must be included in all email messages. Include it in your signature block to make it simple.
• Be sure to include an opt-out link. When adding your opt-out link do not include words like “click here” or “unsubscribe”. Instead link one or two words for recipients to click in order to discontinue receiving your emails.
• Example: To end future email communication from ABC Co.

3. Do not include a lot of html, images or borders.

4. Avoid using any words or names that closely resemble profanity (Dick = Richard).

5. Keep your email file size small – 40K or under is recommended, but definitely no more than 300K.

6. Avoid spam-trigger words like: free, offer, % off, click, promotion, test and credit. 

7. Limit use of images, which can raise your spam score.

8. Don’t attach large files to your e-mail. This will trigger spam filters and your email will not get through to your recipients. As an alternative, link to a resources page or use LeadLife to host the asset webpage for you.

9.  A few tips about subject lines:

• Don’t use capital letters.
• Refrain from using stopper words like: a, the, an, at.
• Use 3-6 words total.
• Split test subject lines using both Question? Lines and Statement lines.
• Read or write your email before creating the subject line.
• Subject lines work best when attacking customers’ pain points.

10.  Avoid using the color RED in your text. This color can tend to give a negative condemnation to words.  

11.  Provide a Forward-to-a-Friend link. Giving your audience a link to send your emails on to their friends is a proactive stance and can help provide more visibility for your company.

12.  Link to Web Version: Some peoples email clients block images or don’t render HTML messages properly, especially if they read email in a preview pane. This allows readers to view your message in their Web browser instead.

13.  Why are people likely to unsubscribe from your mailings?

1. The emails weren’t relevant to the receiver and;
2. A high volume of emails were received from the sender. These actions added together are a recipe to lose subscribers. 

• TIP: More email and less relevant email cause subscribers to abandon your programs, it can also get you labeled   as a spammer, hurting your email reputation and depressing your overall deliverability statistics. 

 14.  Link text in your email to direct the recipient to your landing page, datasheet, website page, etc. 

• Example: To learn more about our best practices visit us on line.

15.  Although there’s not a single benchmark to breakdown click-through rates, an average percentage of unique click-through rates you should look for on a typical house opt-in list is a range from 3-4%.

16.  If you want to use logos or images in your email messages use .GIF or .JPG files.

17.  Be sure to test your emails or e-newsletters by sending “test emails” to different email clients (ex: Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo). Sometimes your email will render differently based on the email client that you are sending to. It is helpful to know which email client is most popular amongst your recipients so you can decide what type of rendering works and how you want your HTML email to look when it is received.