Discussion

Avoid errors using an email marketing checklist

Lot’s of work goes on behind the scenes to create successful and engaging email campaigns that take into account all of the different email apps and mobile devices people use to read emails.

With so much to consider it can be difficult to ensure you stay on top of everything and we regularly see the impact of avoidable issues through the support we provide to our agencies.

We know it’s time-consuming but testing and proofing content is critical when trying to create successful email marketing campaigns.

It’s nothing new but a simple and effective way to make sure your email template ticks all the boxes for success is by using an email campaign checklist.

A simple checklist will help you to keep track of all the important tasks that need to be completed before pressing send. Checklists are a handy tool to stop the little things from being overlooked and that’s good news because it means they won’t come back to haunt you later when it may be too late!

From basics to those go the extra mile additions, we have created a checklist to help guide you through your email campaign to achieve marketing success. The checklist we have created is a standard template to help guide you towards producing the perfect email campaign checklist for yourself.

What you wish to achieve from the campaign may dictate what you include in your checklist, so feel free to customise and tailor the list to suit your requirements. We hope the checklist we have created may also spark some of your own ideas that you may wish you include. Either way, this checklist will help guide you in the right direction at the beginning of your own journey to email marketing success.

One design fits all

Considering that today around 56% of viewers use mobiles to view their emails, it has never been more important to create a responsive design that looks great on desktop, web and mobile.

Using Litmus, you can generate preview screenshots to instantly see how your content renders across all of the most popular apps that people use to read emails.

Some quick mobile design tips to note are:

  • Increase the font size for easy readability on all smartphones
  • Follow the iOS guideline of button size being at least 44 x 44 pixels
  • Make call to action buttons obvious and easily accessible to the reader.

A killer subject line

With over 205 billion emails sent each and every day, it can be down to your subject line to make sure your email stands out from the crowd. There is no one rule to abide by when it comes to creating a subject line, but with the right approach, you will be able to make sure your subject line suits your email campaign and produces an engaging response.

Try to keep your subject line short and succinct. You want to engage your readers in a list of emails and have them wanting to click. When it comes to creating a subject line, marketers advise you to avoid having a subject line between 60 to 70 characters in length. This has been dubbed the dead zone subject length.

Research has shown that subject line length of 70 characters and over or 49 characters and less is the most beneficial length with a higher click through to content rate than other lengths.

Don’t force it

Make sure you personalise your email to your reader but don’t fake it.

Try to avoid using the recipient’s name unless you have that kind of relationship with them. Using the recipient’s name to personalise your email campaign can have a destructive effect on your email marketing success. Many fishing scams use this design to address their emails and so many viewers automatically avoid other emails using a similar opening.

Faking familiarity with the reader can, in turn, make them wary of your email and unlikely to click through to content. Try using a neutral personalisation which acknowledges the reader’s individuality.

Handling ‘junk’

If you set your sending domain up to receive feedback loop notifications (which you should), it’s likely that you’ve received automated emails when people mark emails as ‘Junk’.

It’s common that people won’t opt-out of email campaigns when they are no longer interested as they sometimes find it easier to mark the email as ‘Junk’.

When emails are marked as ‘Junk’ an automated complaint notification email is generated and sent back to the sending domain, letting you know that a reader is unhappy and no longer wants your emails.

Instiller automatically surpasses that email address from future email campaigns which keeps the user happy and also let’s the ISPs know that you’re listening to feedback and that in turn can help to improve your sender reputation.

Click send at prime time

While we would suggest you work on designing your successful email campaign during the day, a lot of readers open emails between the hours of 8pm and midnight.

A top strategy to include in your successful email campaign is to use email automation to send emails during this time frame for optimum engagement with readers. Studies have suggested that sending emails during this period can increase email open and click through rate by 4.2%.

The optimal mailing time of your readers will, however, depend on your demographic’s behaviours. You should also take into account inbox crowding, as with many other email marketers using this strategy your email can run the risk of going unseen. Readers are also more likely to open an email during the weekend.

If your target audience has a working pattern of 9 to 5 in the week it may be more beneficial to send your email out over the weekend. Make sure you take this step into account and adjust your sending times to suit your readers – testing is key here.

Issues after hitting send

It has happened to all of us and despite countless checks, you only spot the issue after hitting send. Try not to panic, not all is lost.

By using an email marketing solution like Instiller, you will have access to an extensive range of features to help you solve template issues before and after hitting send.

Create your own process

So now it’s time to create your own ultimate checklist for email marketing success and hopefully this post has given you some helpful ideas on what to include.

Here’s a few more links to help you on your way…

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