5 Email Best Practices

Among Marketing professionals, there is agreement: email marketing ins incredibly effective. Why? Here are a few reasons from Inc.:

- Email reaches people on-the-go. Whether it’s your smartphone, laptop, or tablet, people are looking at their phones while on the move.
- Email is inexpensive. In fact, email marketing apps are less than $100 per month on average. SwiftAgent is even less expensive.
- Email is frequently incorporated into other marketing activities, integrating easily. Let’s take two examples: real estate and college consultants. if you’re a relator and have an open house, not only are you using flyers and your sandwich board, you’re sending emails to clients and potential clients. If you’re a college consultant, you’re not just holding classes on financial aid, you’re sending emails about it. Maybe you’re even promoting your FAFSA class using email.
- Email goes to a lot of people quickly. Want to reach 3,000 with the bat of an eye? Email! Although it may take a little time to perfect your email, sending it is fast and convenient.

Because email is so effective and so widely used, there are best practices on how to get the most bang for your buck.

1. Use a catchy subject line

There’s a lot of wisdom about what to do in a subject line. First and foremost, make it catchy. Use compelling words that beg people to open that email. Puns, surprising words, emoticons, words not used often, names, action verbs, and more can all help your open rate (or the rate at which people open your email).

Here are a few catchy emails we’ve received that we like:

Eddie Bauer: Fa-la-la-la flannel under $25

Starbucks: ‘Tis the time to try something new

ThinkGeek: MARVEL at this sale

Canva: Meet the life-changing Canva button

All these subject lines are intended to grab your attention. Getting someone’s attention and convincing them to open the email is important.

2. Use a descriptive call-to-action

After open rate, the most important metric for your email is click-through rate. It’s when people click on something in your email — a link, a button, a logo, etc.

The most important item your potential clients or customers can click is your main button — your call to action.

Good calls to action start with an action verb (for example Get, Start, View, etc.). They also should tell people what they’re about to do — being descriptive without being too wordy. They should also be clever — just as clever as your subject line. The punchier and more interesting, the better!

A few we like include:

Hanna Andersson: Shop the Collection

Coastal: Shop Clearance

Alamo car rentals: Book Now

Whether you capitalize every word or not is up to you.

3. Segment your list

The more targeted you can be, the better. For example, if you’re a financial advisor as well as a college consultant, know who needs college ideas and who needs financial advising. (They may overlap, but not completely.) The same is true even in real estate. You may have families who need a 3 bedroom as well as retirees who want to downsize to a downtown studio.

When building lists in SwiftAgent or some other marketing tool, ensure you can target the smallest group possible.

4. Send the right amount of email – about one a week

When it comes to sending emails, think Goldilocks! Too many emails can ensure you get more unsubscribes. Not sending enough emails may make it harder to know what you’re up to!

So, what’s the right amount? Entrepreneur indicates that the Direct Marketing Association’s National Client Email report about 35 percent of marketing professionals send two to three emails a month. Think about one per week!

5. Send it at the right time and day

The best time and day to send emails? Well, the best time to send emails is in the morning. If you work on multiple coasts, in varying time zones, send emails earlier. People typically engage with an email within the first hour or so of them arriving at work.

What’s the best day? Tuesday has a slight advantage — it’s the day after everyone gets caught up on weekend email and tends to capture people’s attention. Although, any morning — other than Monday and Friday — will get more attention.

Sending emails can be easy, with just a little advanced planning. Using these best practices, and the right email marketing tool that can drag-and-drop content, makes sending emails easier.