How to follow email content best practices

Understanding Your Audience

Before you even begin crafting your email, you need a solid understanding of who you’re talking to. This understanding informs every aspect of your email, from the tone and language you use to the offers and information you include. Ignoring your audience is like shouting into the void – you might be heard, but you’re unlikely to connect.

Consider the following factors:

• Demographics: Age, location, gender, education level, income, and occupation. These data points provide a general overview of your audience and can influence your messaging.
• Psychographics: Values, interests, attitudes, and lifestyle. These factors help you understand what motivates your audience and what they care about.
• Past behavior: How they’ve interacted with your brand previously. Have they made purchases? Have they opened previous emails? Have they visited your website? This data reveals their level of engagement and interests.

Use segmentation to tailor your emails to specific groups within your audience. Instead of sending a generic message to everyone, divide your audience into smaller segments based on the above factors and create targeted content that resonates with each group.

Crafting Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is the gatekeeper of your email. It’s the first (and sometimes only) impression you make on your recipient. A weak subject line means your email will likely end up in the trash, unread and unloved. A compelling one will entice the reader to open the email and discover what’s inside. Therefore, it needs careful consideration.

Key characteristics of effective subject lines:

• Clarity: Be upfront about the email’s purpose. Avoid vague or misleading language.
• Brevity: Keep it short and sweet. Aim for under 50 characters to ensure it displays properly on all devices.
• Relevance: Ensure the subject line accurately reflects the email’s content.
• Urgency: Consider using words that create a sense of urgency, such as “Limited Time Offer” or “Don’t Miss Out.” However, use this sparingly and genuinely. Overusing urgency can desensitize your audience.
• Personalization: Use the recipient’s name or other personalized details to grab their attention.

A/B testing is crucial for optimizing your subject lines. Experiment with different wording, length, and personalization to see what resonates best with your audience. Track your open rates to identify the most effective approaches.

Writing Clear and Concise Body Content

Once you’ve convinced someone to open your email, you need to deliver on your promise with clear, concise, and engaging body content. Remember that people are busy, and they’re bombarded with emails every day. Get to the point quickly and make it easy for them to understand your message.

Here are some best practices for writing effective email body content:

• Use short paragraphs and sentences. Large blocks of text are intimidating and difficult to read.
• Use headings and subheadings to break up the text and make it easier to scan.
• Use bullet points and lists to highlight key information.
• Write in a conversational tone. Avoid jargon and technical terms that your audience may not understand.
• Focus on the benefits to the reader. Explain how your product or service will solve their problems or improve their lives.
• Include a clear call to action (CTA). Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do next.

Proofread your email carefully before sending it. Typos and grammatical errors can damage your credibility and make your email look unprofessional. Use grammar and spelling checkers, and ask a colleague to review your email before you send it.

Designing for Readability and Mobile

Email design is not just about aesthetics; it’s about ensuring your message is easily readable and accessible on all devices. With the majority of emails being opened on mobile devices, a mobile-first design approach is essential.

Consider these design principles:

• Use a responsive design. This ensures your email adapts to the screen size of the device it’s being viewed on.
• Use a clear and simple layout. Avoid cluttered designs that can overwhelm the reader.
• Use a legible font size. Ensure your text is large enough to be easily read on mobile devices. A minimum font size of 14px is generally recommended.
• Use high-quality images. Images can enhance your email, but make sure they are optimized for web use to avoid slow loading times.
• Use alt text for images. This provides a description of the image for users who have images disabled or are using screen readers.
• Ensure buttons and links are easily clickable on touch screens.
• Test your email on different devices and email clients to ensure it renders correctly.

Keep images to a minimum. Large images can slow down loading times, especially for users with slow internet connections. Use compressed images and consider using GIFs or videos sparingly.

Personalization and Segmentation Strategies

Personalization goes beyond just including the recipient’s name in the email. It’s about tailoring the entire email experience to their individual needs and preferences. Segmentation allows you to group your audience based on shared characteristics and send them targeted messages that are more relevant to their interests.

Examples of personalization techniques:

• Use the recipient’s name in the subject line and body of the email.
• Recommend products or services based on their past purchases or browsing history.
• Send birthday or anniversary greetings.
• Offer exclusive discounts or promotions to loyal customers.
• Tailor the content of the email to their specific interests or needs.

Segmentation can be based on:

• Demographic data (age, location, gender).
• Purchase history.
• Website behavior.
• Email engagement (open rates, click-through rates).
• Subscription preferences.

Dynamic content allows you to display different content to different subscribers based on their segmentation. For example, you could show different images or offers to subscribers based on their location or purchase history.

Including a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Every email should have a clear and concise call to action (CTA). What do you want the recipient to do after reading your email? Make it obvious and easy for them to take that action.

Best practices for CTAs:

• Use action-oriented language. Start with a verb, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” “Download Now,” or “Get Started.”
• Make the CTA visually prominent. Use a button or a link with a contrasting color to make it stand out.
• Keep the CTA concise. Aim for just a few words.
• Place the CTA in a prominent location. Ideally, it should be above the fold (visible without scrolling).
• Test different CTAs to see what performs best.

Consider using multiple CTAs if your email has multiple goals, but avoid overwhelming the reader with too many options. Each CTA should be clearly defined and lead to a specific action.

Testing and Optimization

Email marketing is not a set-it-and-forget-it activity. It requires ongoing testing and optimization to ensure you’re getting the best results. A/B testing allows you to compare different versions of your email to see which one performs better.

Elements to test:

• Subject lines
• Body content
• Images
• CTAs
• Layout and design
• Send time

Use email marketing analytics to track key metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and bounce rates. Analyze your data to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to your strategy accordingly.

Continuously monitor your results and adapt your approach based on what you learn. The email marketing landscape is constantly evolving, so staying up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices is crucial for success.