15 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool, and it can be a game changer for your organization when executed strategically and intentionally. To help your organization win with email, we've created a comprehensive email marketing guide.

Below, we're sharing a list of things to check and double check before pressing send on that email. 

Note: If “no” is the answer to any of the following questions, please do not press send or schedule your email! Doing so will likely hurt your marketing efforts, not help them. 

Does the audience of this email expect to hear from you?

If not, do not send them an email. Without an established relationship with your audience, you probably will not accomplish your goals. You'll likely only annoy people and hurt your overall brand reputation. 

Is the email coming from a person, and is the sending email account being monitored?

Emails from a "nameless" organization is less likely to be opened. Plus, if the account you're sending from isn't being monitored, you risk missing out on key information like an updated email address, a prospective customer who has questions, or someone who no longer wants to receive your emails.  

Is the subject line clear and concise?

This is your opportunity to quickly catch your audience's attention and use curiosity (not click bait) to draw them in. 

Is the subject line under 50 characters?

Subject lines with more than 50 characters will be cut off and the sentence will not make... (See what we did there?)

Is the preview text concise, clear, and personalized?

A well-written preview text will draw a contact into opening your email and a personalized preview text will drastically increase your open rates. 

Is the email greeting personalized?

The more your email is accurately personalized the better it will perform. The more your email is inaccurately personalized (Dear #Name), the more likely you are to lose that contact forever. Do do yourself a favor and test the personalized tokens before pressing send. 

Is the primary CTA clear and above the fold?

The call to action (CTA) needs to be clear and one of the first things your contact sees when opening your email without having to scroll the content. For your email to be effective, you need to have a clear goal and next step for the reader to take. Otherwise, what are you trying to achieve?  

Does this email add value to the recipient?

If all you're trying to do is sell something, email marketing might not be the right tactic for success. A well-thought email marketing strategy starts with building trust and adding value to your contacts. Without this, you'll just have a high unsubscribe rate and hurt your overall brand reputation.

Has this email been proofread and is free from spelling and grammatical errors?

These are easy mistake to catch. Have someone with fresh eyes read you're email before sending to insure you don't come across as ignorant or unprepared. (Yes, two grammatical errors were intentional in this paragraph. Did you catch them?!)

Is it clear what brand this email is coming from?

Some organizations are a branded house while others are a house of brands. Make sure it's evident to your recipient that the email is coming from a person (see the tip above) within the brand they expect to hear from. Brand clarity is essential to building a relationship and achieving results with email marketing. 

Is the branding and layout consistent?

If you're changing the look of every email you send, you're not providing a smooth experience for your email recipient. To ensure consistency, check that your email has...

1. • The correct logo?
   • The correct colors?
   • Consistent margins?
   • Consistent font size and headings?

If there is imagery, does it have alt text?

Think of alternative text as the backup text that provides some context about what your image is. Some recipients may have images blocked or turned off by default, or the graphics may not load properly. Some recipients may have vision impairments and use software that reads their emails to them. Make sure every image has alt text so your recipients don't miss out on your content. 

Does the CTA have alt text?

If your call to action is an image or button, your best bet is to provide text that describes what will happen when the image is clicked. Information for an upcoming webinar could be: "XYZ Webinar is Thursday at 2 p.m. ET. Click this image to access the registration page for XYZ Webinar." 

Did you preview and test the email on a desktop and a phone?

Sometimes your email looks amazing on a computer and terrible on a phone or tablet. Check both before sending, and make adjustments that provide a better experience for the recipient. 

Does your email have a measurable goal?

Don't send an email just for the sake of sending an email. Have a strategy and a purpose for your communications. If you have a measurable goal in mind like a 25% open rate or 10% click-through rate, you can craft your messaging to help you reach that goal.

Email Marketing is an art and a science but to do it well requires an always- learning posture and a curious mind. If this is an area your organization would like assistance with, our team would love to help build your strategy or write your email campaigns. Click here to connect with our team! Together, we'll take your email marketing to the next level!

P.S. What is another helpful tip to win with email marketing? Comment below!