The document provides best practices for email marketing. It recommends defining a clear objective for the email, developing a plan to meet that objective, ensuring the message and click destinations are relevant to the content, being intentional about the targeted audience, writing compelling subject lines, not relying solely on images, having a single focus, keeping important content high on the page, making calls to action obvious, customizing the email for the audience, and making the email engaging rather than boring. Following these tips can increase email opens and clicks.

1. EMAIL MARKETING
Best Practices for Making Your Clients Love You Forever
Friday, January 20, 2012

2. This is a bad email.
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3. This is a good email.
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4. #1. Define your objective.
Your client shouldn't send an email to help you meet your sales goal.
Your client should send an email to help them meet their goal.
What is this email supposed to accomplish?
Should it build their database?
Should it increase ticket sales for a new museum exhibit?
Should it increase sales of a particular product or service?
Friday, January 20, 2012

5. 2. Develop a plan
Is an email blast really the best choice to meet your objective?
Who is the best audience for this?
What incentive or message will resonate with your audience?
What specific action do you want people to take?
How can this email get your audience to take that action in the simplest way possible?
What happens after the email is sent?
How do you ensure that this happens?
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6. 3. Make sure your message
meets your destination.
Be purposeful with your click destinations.
Does the destination allow users to take action quickly and easily?
Does the destination speak specifically to the email content?
Examples:
If you want to increase online orders of Product X, link directly a
page on which you can order Product X.
If you want to build their email database, link directly to a page
that allows you to subscribe to their email list—and gives them an
incentive to do so.
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7. 4. Be intentional with
your audience.
What demographics should you focus on when creating your list?
How do all of these things speak specifically to that audience?
Subject line
Product/service
Headline
Creative
Example:
Are you sending to a list of moms in Williamson County? How is
your message specific to their needs and interests?
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8. 5. Write Better Subject Lines
The best way to increase your CTR is to increase your open rate. Do not assume that people
will open your email.
A good subject line ...
Is direct and specific
Has an incentive ("Buy 2 Get 1")
Has urgency ("Only 4 Days Remaining" / "Shop Today & Earn $10")
Has minimal words that trigger spam filters ("free", "low rates", "cheap", exclamation
points, dollar signs, etc.).
Is NOT in ALL CAPS
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9. The Four U’s of Subject Lines
Be USEFUL to the reader.
Provide the reader with a sense of URGENCY.
Convey the idea that the main benefit is UNIQUE.
Do all of the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC way.
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10. Let’s be honest:
“Ultra-specific” is a cop-out for
a “U” word.
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11. 6. Don’t Rely on Images
Most of the time, emails
have images turned off by
default.
Keep this in mind.
If possible, don’t put
everything in an image.
Make sure that all images
have alt tags to clearly
explain all images.
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12. Bad Email from Panera
Images Images
turned turned
on off
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13. Alt Tags to the
Rescue!
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14. The Duck Head
email uses proper alt
tags to make sure
that all important
messaging is seen—
even without images.
The body copy is not
in an image. (Yea.)
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15. 7. Have a single focus.
What single, specific thing are you trying to do? Stick to it.
Focus on a single incentive, product or promotion.
Yes, you can have secondary calls-to-action, but they need to be
treated as secondary. Everything cannot have the same weight.
You can either do one thing well or lots of things poorly.
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16. Which has better focus?
Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this. LOOK
at this.
Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.
Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this.
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17. 8. Keep the important stuff as
high as possible.
The lower something is on the screen, the fewer people will read it.
The more you make people scroll, the fewer people will actually do it.
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18. “Do you ever read an article, and at the
bottom, it says, ‘Continued on page six’?
I’m like, ‘Not for me. I’m done.’”
- Jim Gaffigan
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19. The Hierarchy of Email Content
This is just a guide, but it is not
going to be the same for all emails
and brands. The key is to determine
what is most important to you and
your customers.
Should your headline be higher?
Should your social media buttons
be lower? Be intentional!
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20. 9. Make your calls to action
clear and obvious.
What specifically do you want readers to do? Tell them that.
Whenever possible, use buttons instead of just text.
However, remember that images are turned off by default.
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21. Would you click on this?
Mike’s Hamburgers Is Now Open in Brentwood
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do
eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim
ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut
aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in
reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa
qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Click to learn more.
Friday, January 20, 2012

22. Of course not. How about this?
Buy 2 Tasty Burgers, Get a 3rd Free!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do
eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut
enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris
nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in
reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in
culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
CLICK to order a delicious hamburger!
while supplies last
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23. You’re thinking about how
much you’d like a hamburger
right now.
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24. 10. Customize your email,
[firstname]
Remember your list. Make the email as specific to that list as
possible.
What information does your list include? First names? City?
Use these fields to personalize your email and subject lines
Example:
Dear [firstname]: Has your family been to the Nashville Zoo lately?
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25. 11. DON’T BE BORING!
Don’t assume that people will open your email.
Don’t assume that people will read your email.
Don’t assume that people will take action.
Don’t assume that people will care.
MAKE THEM.
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26. Think like the receiver,
not the sender.
{What gets your attention? What would make you open an email?}
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27. The Results
Opens Clicks Opens Clicks
21,444 (14.8%) 3,025 (2.09%) 31,637 (21.8%) 4,107 (2.84%)
Friday, January 20, 2012