I had to write some recommendations for creating effective email campaign for one of our clients. So here it is:
- Subject line should be attractive and persuasive to catch reader’s attention.
- Email content should not include some commonly known spam keywords (sex, free, $$$, save, discount …) which are very heavy spam trigger keywords.
- Formatting of email should be simple and professional, excessive use of different colors, fonts, sizes, images and so forth will result in a higher spam filtering rate. We recommend using a maximum of 2 or 3 different font types and sizes.
- Overly large sized fonts will surely add to an email being flagged as spam, as will too many images (or not enough text).
- Email needs to reflect corporate design of advertiser.
- There should be not too much content as readers do not like reading too much text. The message should be short with link to advertisers page to read more if reader gets interested.
- The most important content should be placed at the very top if readers decide not to scroll, they still walk away with email marketing campaign’s key message.
- For better click trough rates there should be an offer that subscriber would get something free – a free report, free trial of a product, free training module …
- For maximum click through rates when creating HTML emails is recommended that links are blue, underlined and optionally bold.
- There should be always some interesting content at the top of your email, as this is the part that will show in the preview window of subscriber’s email program, such as MS Outlook.
- Correct timing of sending is very important, most effective days are Tuesday, Wednesday after lunch.
- At the top of email there should be link to email campaign online in case users email client does not show email correctly.
- Using personalization in your emails (such as ‘Hi Simon’ instead of ‘Hi there’) will increase your open rate.
- For best results when sending recurring email campaigns, always send it on the same day at the same time. For example, every 2nd Tuesday at 2pm.
- Always use a signature at the bottom of email with disclaimer and unsubscribe link.
- Keep the theme of your email campaigns consistent. Create a text or HTML template and use that template whenever you create a new email.
- Testing, testing, testing … Subject lines, email design and content. Change them and see if makes any difference to open rate and click through rate.
- Use triggered emails. Link triggered emails are an automatic response to a user clicking on a certain link within your email campaign. Once they have clicked on the link, they receive an additional email that can follow up from the link they have clicked.
Tags: advertising, click through rate, email, email campaign, Email marketing, font, keyword, open rate, personalization, spam, subject line, subscriber