23 Simple Email Marketing Tips to Improve Your Open and Clickthrough Rates [+HubSpot Blog Data]
By lkolowich@hubspot.com (Lindsay Kolowich Cox)
Practicing good inbound marketing means sending emails to people who actually want to hear from you.
But oftentimes, your emails still end up getting lost in your customers’ inbox clutter — or worse, their spam folder. And then, when someone actually opens your email, they don’t actually click through.
You might think to yourself, “Ugh, I just can’t win.”
Don’t worry, I’ve got your back. Here are 23 tips that are perfect for small and growing businesses, but anyone can embrace right now to improve their emails’ open rates, clickthrough rates, and lead generation potential.
Email Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
- Do not buy email addresses.
- Abide by CAN-SPAM rules.
- Ensure your opt-in process complies with GDPR.
- Email new contacts within 24 hours.
- Send your emails from a real person, not your company.
- Pre-set the preview text.
- Write clear and clickable subject lines.
- Keep your emails concise.
- Include one call-to-action button per email.
- Add alt text to your CTA image.
- Hyperlink your emails’ images.
- Include noticeable text links.
- Place at least one clickable item above the fold.
- Add alt text to all of your images.
- Avoid background images.
- Add social sharing buttons.
- Simplify sharing with ready-made tweets.
- Add an email forwarding option.
- Clean up the plain text version of your emails.
- Optimize your emails for mobile users.
- Preview and test your emails before sending them.
- Don’t be afraid to ‘clean up’ your contact list.
- Monitor each email’s performance.
1. Do not buy email addresses.
I know what you’re thinking: In the early stages of an email marketing newsletter, you want to do whatever it takes to kickstart the campaign and get eyeballs on your business. I get it. Whatever options you see online, however, you should resist the urge to purchase an email list.
There are lots of ways to buy an email list, but none of them will actually benefit your campaign. Why? Since the owners of these email addresses didn’t explicitly agree to receive content from you, there’s no telling how interested they are — or if they’re even a fit for what you have to offer. A bought email list is also in violation of GDPR (we’ll talk more about this in just a minute).
Purchasing email lists is always a bad idea. Get more reasons why in this blog post.
2. Abide by CAN-SPAM rules.
CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) is an act that was passed in 2003. Essentially, it’s a law that establishes the rules for commercial email and commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have a business stop emailing them, and outlines the penalties incurred for those who violate the law.
Source:: HubSpot Blog
