Everybody wants their email newsletters to be opened and read. But while some marketers can boast open rates of 50% or more, many others struggle to get above 25%. The reasons why are many and varied; in fact, there are so many different factors that it would take a whole book to list them all.
But even with the odds stacked against you, it’s possible to optimize your emails for success. Check out these five email marketing habits that will help you place your messages in your subscribers’ inboxes, where they belong.
Above the fold strategy
An individual’s attention span is usually around eight seconds. Is that not brief? Because recipients do not study your campaign word for word, it’s safe to say that they don’t pay close attention to everything they read. They’ll scan through the email searching for something that catches their attention. The fold and everything above it impact the performance of your emails.
Fold refers to the portion of a newspaper cover that was visible after it was folded in half and put out for sale. It usually contained breaking news headlines and material to catch the eye immediately. In contemporary times, ‘above the fold’ refers to the content that’s immediately visible after opening an email marketing campaign. It should include material to attract the recipients’ attention and entice them to read more. It should also include a CTA, particularly in addition to a CTA.
Inverted pyramid model
The theory of news reporting, known as the inverted pyramid model, is valuable in email marketing too. You might have to adapt it a little to suit emails, but the idea is the same. Readers are more likely to read the beginning of your email. So, make the most of that attention span by writing a compelling subject line. Then, once the reader is hooked, you have more space in the email to expand on your initial promise.
In email design, the ‘above the fold’ is approximately 300×600 pixels and it belongs to the grab attention area of the inverted pyramid model.
Images with alt text
Image-heavy emails can be very effective, but if you don’t provide alt text, your images could be blocked by email filters. Without alt text, your subscribers won’t know what they’re looking at, which makes them more likely to mark your emails as spam. You can still use images in your emails, but be sure to include a caption with a short but informative summary of what the image shows. You can write alt text in the image editing tool you use to create images, or you can add it in your email marketing tool.
Responsive and adaptive design
Image-heavy emails can also be a problem if they aren’t responsive or adaptive. If you have a design that doesn’t adapt to different screen sizes, it could break when opened on the smaller screens used by mobile devices. This could mean that your images don’t display and that the layout of your email is broken. Both of these things could lead to subscribers marking your emails as spam. More and more people are reading emails on their phones these days. In fact, 59% of emails are opened on mobile devices, so you need to make sure your emails look good on these devices, too.
Email template, fonts and colors
It’s important to take your subscribers’ preferences into account when creating an email marketing campaign. This includes things like the font you use and the color of the email. Different fonts and colors can increase or decrease your emails’ readability, which in turn could affect your open rates. Always use font types that are easy to read, such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid using fonts that are too decorative, as they could be difficult to read and could affect your open rates as a result. You should also consider the accessibility of your emails. If you use a color combination that is difficult to read for certain groups of people, such as people with color blindness, they could mark your emails as spam.
Subject line and preheader
The subject line is your first chance to hook your subscribers, so make it count. Your subject line should be compelling and relevant, but it should also be as short as possible. Typically, subject lines are 50 to 60 characters long, so you have to be creative. You should also include a preheader in your emails. This is the first thing that appears in the email after your subscriber clicks “view”. It appears in a shaded box at the top of the email, so it’s easily visible. You can use your preheader to offer a bit more information about the content of the email, or you can use it to re-engage with your subscribers.
Email marketing is a fantastic way to stay in touch with your customers, but you can only do it well if you follow these basic best practices. Your open rates will likely improve, and you’ll also be keeping your subscribers safe from spam filters. There are many more ways you can increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, but these five basics are an important starting point. If you ever forget what they are, it’s useful to go back to basics.
