Signed, sealed, delivered…
So, you’re putting in the time to craft and send emails to your segmented lists, but the response is less than enthusiastic? There, there, you’ve come to the right blog. Take a moment away from crying at your bounce rate percentages to dive into some email marketing best practices that just ‘click.’ That was an email joke. Alright, let’s get started.
Building a creditable email list
We have some good news and some bad news. Your emails may not be the problem. (That was the good news.) The bad news is that email marketing lists are often plagued with inactive, counterfeit, or disinterested email addresses. If you’re working with an email list that you feel needs a refresh, cleaning out that list is the first step.
If you’re starting your list from scratch or want to increase the volume of your subscribers, these email marketing best practices will help you build a list that isn’t ah…sketchy.
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a quality email list won’t be either. Here are a few great ways to capture engaged subscribers.
- Email sign-up forms
- Landing pages
- Social media
- Website pop-ups
- Giveaways and promotions
Don’t open the can of email spam
Unfortunately, email spam traps can wreak havoc on your email deliverability, campaign revenue, or worse, get you blocklisted. (And there are A LOT of different spam traps out there.) So, what is a spam email trap exactly? A spam trap may seem like a valid email address, but really it does not belong to anyone. It could be that this once valid email is now inactive, or you’ve received a fake address after buying shady contact lists, or there’s a typo in the address, making it unusable. These concealed menaces can be challenging to spot and undermine, making things even more complicated.
Regularly keep up with your subscriber acquisition and list management as an email marketing best practice to avoid spam traps. If you’re encountering unexplained negative email delivery results, your list may need to be gutted to identify hidden threats.
Email marketing best practice for content
Speaking of spam, one of the most common reasons marketers lose subscribers is over-sending emails to their inboxes. We’ve all been on the other side when companies send you multiple messages in a week or even in one day. Having a creative, straightforward, and purposeful messaging strategy needs to be mapped out before you start rapid-firing emails.
Here’s the scary thing. *screams* You could do all that and still not get a good response from your email list. Another element that needs to be present for a successful campaign is knowing your audience. Your content should reflect the interests, pain points, and solutions your demographic cares about. If you don’t feel that you have a good grasp of that, it’s time to A/B test content everywhere, create surveys, interview customers, ask for feedback on social media, and study online reviews to gain some insight.
