5 Email Marketing Best Practices To Get Emails Opened and Read

Written by Mark Walker-Ford, via Social Media Today

Are you looking for ways to increase the open rate of your marketing emails? Want to learn how to create content your subscribers want to read?

The team from Lessiter Media shares their email marketing tips in this infographic.

They break things down as follows:

• Email frequency

  Make sure your subscribers hear from you on a consistent basis. If you email them on the second Wednesday of every month, maintain that schedule. If you email them outside of that time frame, ensure you are sharing something worthwhile, such as a special offer or breaking news.

• From line (sender name and email address)

  People want to receive emails from sources they know and trust. No-reply email addresses are impersonal and detach you from your subscribers. Use your name in the front line to build a relationship with your audience.

• Subject line

  Is one of the most important elements to getting your emails opened. When people look over their emails, they scan the first four to five words of the subject line before moving on. Additionally, smart phone and tablet users will see a truncated version of your subject line if it goes over 40 characters. This gives you a brief window of opportunity to grab their attention, so create a subject line that demands an open. Put the most important information at the front, and keep it short and sweet.

• Preheader

  once you have grabbed your reader´s attention with the subject line, a meaningful or clever email preheader can help you seal the deal. The preheader text appears next to or below the subject line your reader´s inbox. By default, the preheader is the first 35 to 100 characters in your email. You can also use code in your email to set a hidden preheader. Be sure, to check your preheader when testing your email, as text such as “View in browser“ or “View with images“ can take up this valuable real estate.

• Content

  As Microsoft founder Bill Gates famously said, “content is king“. You have done the legwork, you have successfully bridged the gap: your subscriber has opened your email. Now, make your message worthy of the open. Your subscriber doesn´t expect to read much, and will scan text to focus on images. Make sure your content is relevant, engaging and ends with a solid call to action.