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Email Marketing Best Practices

2 | MP-ASP-00148n 07/16 Intro Content

Email Myths Content and

Design Guidelines

Timing and

Frequency Considerations

Table of Contents

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The Value of Email Marketing

GROW YOUR REACH • Email audience will grow from 2.4 billion in 2014 to 2.7 billion by 20171 • 74% of consumers across age groups said they prefer to receive

consumer-based marketing communications via email2

GROW YOUR PRACTICE • 44% of email recipients made at least 1

purchase last year due to a promotional email3 • 7 in 10 people say they made use of a coupon

or discount from a marketing email in the prior week2

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Content and Design Tips Increase your open rates

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Subject Lines

Describe the subject of your email

Use compelling language; subject lines in the form of questions are most engaging

Create a sense of urgency

Use incentives to increase open rates Do not overuse

capitalization

No more than 50 characters

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Content (Body Copy)

MOST MARKETERS BELIEVE • “We messaging” (what a company is, does, or offers) is most

effective at persuading consumers to sign up for emails

CONSUMERS SAY • “You messaging” (what benefits them)

is more effective

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Content (Body Copy)

PROVIDE RELEVANT CONTENT RATHER THAN A SALES PITCH • With limited space, there is no room for filler content • Influence readers with proof—facts and numbers

MAKE IT EASY TO SCAN • Your audience should be able to read the email

without having to read every word – Use bold fonts for key words – Paragraphs should be no more than 2 sentences

each with 1 main idea per paragraph – Use phrases or bullets rather than full

sentences when possible

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Call-To-Action (CTA)

ACTIVATE YOUR AUDIENCE • Clearly tell them what you want them to do • Use words like: call, register, subscribe, etc

BE COMPELLING • Offer incentives like discounts or extra points

CREATE URGENCY • Set a deadline using phrases like:

offer expires March 31 [or] for a short time only

MAKE IT STAND OUT • Use a different color or bold font

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Layout

FONT TYPES • Stick to fewer than 3 typefaces • Ensure legibility on small screens

– Body fonts: 14 pixels – Headline fonts: 22 pixels

KEEP THE SCREEN IN MIND • Keep the main message and CTA above the fold (in first

300 pixels) • Template should be 300 to 500 pixels wide to eliminate

horizontal scrolling • Buttons should be at least 44x44 pixels for easy

thumb-tapping4

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Timing and Frequency

Increase your open rates

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Timing

BEST TIME OF DAY TO HIT SEND • 8-10 AM and 3-4 PM5

BEST TIME OF WEEK TO HIT SEND • Tuesday is most popular and shows highest click-through rates

(CTR) and open rates6

BEST TIME OF YEAR TO HIT SEND • Winter emails achieve the highest click-through rates, possibly due

to the interest in holiday-special offers

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*GetResponse researched almost 21 million emails sent from US accounts in 2012.

Timing

WHEN YOUR AUDIENCE WILL OPEN* • ~ 24% of all emails are opened within an hour after they are sent • An email has almost NO chance of being read

after 24 hours in the inbox5 • Timing is key

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Frequency

YOUR AUDIENCE WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU • Email upon sign-up for your email list

– Welcome emails generate 4x the open rate and 5x the click-through rate compared to other promotions7

BUT NOT TOO MUCH • More than a third of consumers deem frequency as the primary

reason they unsubscribe from email8

BALANCE IS KEY • After the first month, reduce the frequency.

Email at least once per month but no more than once every 2 weeks

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Email Myths

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Myths Exposed

CONSUMERS RECEIVE TOO MANY EMAILS FROM TRUSTED BRANDS THAT THEY CAN’T EVEN KEEP UP • 60% received less than 6 emails a day from trusted brands

CONSUMERS CONSISTENTLY HIT THE SPAM BUTTON • Less than 1 subscriber per every 2,000 will mark an email as spam9

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Myths Exposed

IF BRANDS SEND MORE EMAILS, CONSUMERS SIMPLY IGNORE MORE • Sending 4 emails in a month instead of 1 doubles

the number of consumers opening 1 or more emails

IT IS USELESS TO SEND TO CONSUMERS WHO HAVE BEEN INACTIVE FOR 6 MONTHS • 20% of your annual openers do so after being

inactive for 6 months9

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References

1. Email benchmarks: key metrics and trends for 2013. eMarketer website. https://www.emarketer.com/coverage/email. Accessed July 18, 2016.

2. How to analyze and perfect email marketing metrics: 4 examples of successful campaigns. Marketo website. https://www.marketo.com/articles/how-to-analyze-and-perfect-email-marketing-metrics-4-examples-of-successful-campaigns/. Published 2016. Accessed July 18, 2016.

3. 15 email statistics that are shaping the future. Convince and Convert website. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/convince-convert/15-email-statistics-that-are-shaping-the-future. Accessed July 18, 2016.

4. 2015 Consumer Views of Email Marketing. BlueHornet website. http://www.bluehornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-Consumer-Views-of-Email-Marketing.pdf. Published 2016. Accessed July 18, 2016.

5. Kirkpatrick, D. Email open rates by time of day. MarketingSherpa website. http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/email-marketing/open-rates-by-time/. Accessed July 18, 2016.

6. Best day to send email. Smart Insights website. http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/which-day-of-the-week-is-best-for-sending-email/. Accessed July 18, 2016.

7. The welcome email report: benchmark data and analysis for engaging new subscribers through email marketing. Experian Marketing Services website. https://www.experian.com/assets/cheetahmail/white-papers/welcome-email-report.pdf. Accessed July 18, 2016.

8. Email frequency: how much is too much? Econsultancy website. https://econsultancy.com/blog/64165-email-frequency-how-much-is-too-much/. Accessed July 18, 2016.

9. 7 myths you shouldn’t believe about email marketing. HubSpot website. http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-myths-infographic#sm.0001ecikm8ltwekbq462hiir5azwl. Accessed July 18, 2016.