Email marketing remains one of the most effective tools for businesses to engage customers, build relationships, and drive sales. It offers high ROI, direct communication, and the ability to personalise content for specific audiences. Learning the “dos” and “don’ts” is crucial to crafting successful email campaigns helping businesses avoid mistakes like poor design, irrelevant content, and low engagement.
This guide aims to provide beginners with actionable tips on building impactful email marketing strategies, avoiding common pitfalls, and maximising their campaigns’ success through practical, easy-to-follow best practices.
Key Takeaways
Understanding the dos and don’ts of email marketing is crucial for successfully navigating it. By following best practices and avoiding common pitfalls, businesses can improve engagement, conversion rates, and overall campaign effectiveness.
- Build a Quality Email List: Always focus on permission-based strategies like opt-in forms and lead magnets to ensure a high-quality, engaged email list.
- Personalise and Segment Emails: Tailor content to your audience using segmentation and personalisation to enhance relevance and engagement.
- Avoid Over-Selling: Balance promotional content with valuable, informative emails to prevent alienating your subscribers.
- Test and Optimize Regularly: Use A/B testing to fine-tune subject lines, CTAs, and designs, ensuring continuous improvement in your email marketing campaigns.
The Importance of Email Marketing for Beginners
Email marketing remains an essential tool for businesses due to its unparalleled ability to reach customers directly and effectively. Despite the rise of social media and other marketing channels, email offers one of the highest return on investments (ROI) of any marketing strategy.
According to a report from Litmus, for every $1 spent on email marketing, businesses can expect an average return of $42, highlighting its cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, recent studies show that email engagement rates are higher than social media platforms, making it an indispensable tool for maintaining customer relationships and driving conversions.
The key benefits of email marketing include:
- Cost-effectiveness: Email campaigns are inexpensive compared to traditional advertising methods like print or TV.
- Direct communication: Email provides a direct line to recipients, enabling businesses to send tailored messages to specific customer segments.
- Personalisation: Personalizing emails increases engagement and customer loyalty by offering targeted content, recommendations, and offers.
However, beginners often face several challenges when starting email marketing. Common issues include low open rates, poor segmentation, and ineffective content. By understanding the basics, beginners can avoid these pitfalls:
- Low open rates: Often caused by unengaging subject lines or irrelevant content
- Poor segmentation: Sending generic emails to a broad audience, leading to a lack of personalisation.
- Ineffective content: Emails that are either too promotional or fail to provide value, resulting in unsubscribes.
By mastering the fundamentals, beginners can create targeted, engaging email campaigns that resonate with subscribers and drive higher engagement and conversions.
Top 10 Email Marketing Dos
Do Build a Quality Email List
Image source: Jotform
A high-quality email list is the foundation of a successful email marketing campaign. Obtaining consent through permission-based marketing is essential to ensure that your emails reach people genuinely interested in receiving them. This effort not only enhances engagement but also protects your sender’s reputation.
To grow your email list, use strategies like offering opt-in forms on your website, creating lead magnets such as downloadable eBooks or exclusive content, and offering incentives like discounts or free trials. Organically building a list will lead to more engaged subscribers and fewer unsubscribes.
Do Personalize Your Emails
Image source: Campaign Monitor
Personalisation is key to improving engagement and increasing open rates. Campaign Monitor reported, “74% of marketers say targeted personalisation increases customer engagement, and they see an average increase of 20% in sales when using personalised experiences.”
Simple tactics like addressing recipients by name in the subject line or body of the email make the message feel more relevant and engaging. Beyond that, use segmentation to tailor your emails to different customer groups based on demographics, purchase history, or browsing behaviour.
By delivering targeted content that matches subscribers’ interests, you increase the likelihood of conversions and build stronger relationships with your audience.
Do Optimize for Mobile Devices
Mobile email opens accounts for more than half of all email opens worldwide, making it crucial to optimise your emails for mobile viewing. Ensure your emails have a responsive design, automatically adjusting to fit any device’s screen size. Keep content concise and use large, easy-to-click buttons for CTAs.
Mobile-friendly emails improve the user experience and boost click-through rates and conversions. Remember, if your emails look bad on mobile, your recipients may not read them.
Do A/B Test Your Emails Regularly
Regular A/B testing helps optimise the performance of your email campaigns. Test elements like subject lines, email content, CTAs, and design layouts determine what resonates most with your audience. For example, a subject line with a sense of urgency may outperform a more neutral one.
Use A/B testing platforms like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or Optimizely to split your email list and compare results. The insights gained from A/B testing allow you to refine your strategy and continually improve email engagement.
Do Craft Compelling Subject Lines
Image source: Gmass
According to Gmass, the average working person receives 121 emails per day. That is a lot of noise and a challenging environment to stand out. Therefore, first impressions are crucial. Your subject line is the first thing a subscriber sees, and it can make or break your open rates.
Craft subject lines that grab attention by creating curiosity, offering value, or implying urgency. For example, a subject line like “Hurry, 24-Hour Sale Ends Tonight!” or “Get Your Free Guide Now” sparks immediate interest. Keep subject lines concise (around 6-10 words), and avoid spammy phrases like “free” or “limited offer,” which could trigger spam filters. A compelling subject line increases the open rate of your email.
Do Provide Value with Every Email
The best email marketing campaigns consistently offer value to subscribers. Whether providing educational content, entertainment, or solving a problem, always ensure your emails are relevant and valuable to your audience.
Content that educates or entertains fosters trust and strengthens relationships with subscribers. If your emails appear valuable, your audience will look forward to receiving them. Focusing on providing value rather than constantly selling encourages long-term loyalty and higher engagement rates.
Do Use Clear and Actionable CTAs
Image source: Human Nature Newsletter
A strong, clear call-to-action (CTA) encourages subscribers to take the desired action, whether purchasing, downloading a resource, or signing up for a webinar. Make your CTA prominent, ideally using a button, and ensure the text is concise and action-oriented, like “Shop Now” or “Download Your Free Guide.”
Avoid overwhelming your subscribers with multiple CTAs. Instead, focus on one explicit, compelling action that leads to your ultimate goal: a conversion or nurturing engagement.
Do Monitor Your Metrics and Improve
Image source: Econsultancy
Tracking key email marketing metrics is crucial to refining your strategy. Metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions provide insights into your emails’ performance. You should improve your subject lines or timing if your open rates are low. If your click-through rates are lagging, test different CTAs or content formats.
Use analytics tools provided by email platforms like Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Google Analytics to track and interpret your data. Regular monitoring allows you to improve your email marketing efforts continuously.
Do Maintain Consistent Sending Frequency
Finding the right email-sending frequency is crucial to building a relationship without overwhelming your subscribers. Sending emails too frequently can lead to fatigue and unsubscribes while sending too infrequently can cause your audience to forget about you.
Test different sending frequencies—weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly—and monitor engagement to determine the ideal cadence for your audience. Consistency helps build anticipation, ensuring subscribers know when to expect your emails and increasing the likelihood of engagement.
Do Ensure Your Emails Are Legally Compliant
Complying with email marketing regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the CAN-SPAM Act is essential to avoid legal consequences and protect your brand reputation. Ensure that every email contains an easy-to-find unsubscribe link, and always obtain explicit consent before sending marketing emails.
Additionally, respect your subscribers’ privacy by clearly outlining how their data will be used and stored in your privacy policy. Being transparent and compliant builds trust and fosters positive relationships with your audience.
Top 10 Email Marketing Don’ts
Don’t Purchase Email Lists
Buying email lists may seem quick to grow your subscriber base, but it’s dangerous. Purchased lists often contain outdated or irrelevant contacts who have not opted to receive your emails, leading to low engagement rates. Worse, these emails are more likely to be marked as spam, damaging your sender’s reputation and potentially leading to blacklisting by email service providers.
Instead of purchasing lists, focus on ethical list-building strategies such as using opt-in forms, lead magnets, and incentives to attract subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content.
Don’t Use Overly Promotional Content
Constantly sending sales-driven or promotional content can quickly alienate your subscribers. If your emails are always about discounts, sales, or new products, your audience may begin to ignore or unsubscribe from your emails. Balancing promotional content with informative, valuable, or entertaining material to maintain engagement.
Providing helpful tips, educational resources, or behind-the-scenes insights will foster stronger relationships and ensure your emails don’t appear pushy or overly sales-focused.
Don’t Neglect Email Design and Formatting
Dark Mode Done Wrong. Image source: Mailtrap
Poor email design can significantly impact readability and user experience. If your emails are difficult to read or visually cluttered, subscribers are less likely to engage with them. Essential elements include using legible fonts, ensuring images are appropriately sized, and maintaining plenty of white space to avoid a cluttered look.
A clean, organised layout ensures that your message is clear and easy to follow and encourages readers to take action.
Don’t Ignore Unsubscribes and Bounce Rates
Image source: Zoho
High unsubscribe and bounce rates signal that something is wrong with your email marketing strategy. Continuously ignoring these metrics can damage your sender’s reputation and lead to more spam emails. Regularly clean your email list by removing invalid or inactive email addresses to manage these issues.
Additionally, ask for feedback from unsubscribed users to understand why they chose to opt out, helping you refine your approach for better results.
Don’t Send Irrelevant Emails
Sending irrelevant content is one of the quickest ways to lose subscribers. Your emails may be generic without segmentation, failing to resonate with different audience groups. Segment your list based on customer behaviour, demographics, or interests to ensure the content is tailored and relevant to each subscriber.
By sending highly targeted, personalised emails, you’ll maintain engagement, build stronger relationships, and increase the likelihood of conversions.
Don’t Use Misleading Subject Lines
Misleading or clickbait subject lines may generate short openings, but they can lead to frustration and mistrust from your subscribers. When subscribers feel deceived, they are more likely to unsubscribe, mark their emails as spam, or ignore future emails. Always ensure that your subject lines accurately reflect the content of your emails. Be honest, transparent, and direct about what your email offers, increasing the likelihood of sustained engagement and a positive relationship with your audience.
Don’t Overwhelm Subscribers with Long Emails
In today’s fast-paced world, attention spans are short. Long, wordy emails are often ignored, especially on mobile devices where reading lengthy content can be inconvenient. Keep your emails concise, to the point, and scannable. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to break up content and make it more digestible.
If you need to convey much information, consider linking to a blog post or resource rather than including everything in the email.
Don’t Forget to Test Before Sending
Sending an email without thoroughly testing it is a surefire way to introduce errors into your campaigns. Broken links, spelling mistakes, or design flaws can undermine the professionalism of your emails and frustrate subscribers. Always preview your emails on different devices and test links to ensure everything functions properly.
Tools like Mailchimp and Litmus allow you to test and preview your emails across various email clients and devices, ensuring your message looks great and works as intended before hitting send.
Don’t Use Too Many CTAs
Including multiple calls-to-action (CTAs) in a single email can confuse or overwhelm recipients, leading to lower engagement. Instead, focus on one specific action you want your subscribers to take. Whether purchasing, downloading a resource, or signing up for an event, make sure your CTA is easy to find and stands out.
Focusing on a single goal makes it easier for your audience to know what to do next, increasing the chances of conversion.
Don’t Ignore the Unsubscribe Button
While it may seem counterintuitive, ignoring unsubscribe requests can harm your email marketing efforts. If subscribers feel trapped or unable to opt out quickly, they may mark your emails as spam, leading to deliverability issues and a damaged reputation. Always include a clear and easy-to-find unsubscribe link in your emails.
Respecting your audience’s desire to opt-out ensures compliance with regulations like CAN-SPAM and helps maintain a positive relationship with those on your list.
How to Implement Email Marketing Best Practices for Success
Following the dos and don’ts is essential to ensuring your email marketing efforts are practical. Crafting successful campaigns involves planning, strategy, and the right tools. Below is a guide for beginners on implementing email marketing best practices and setting up an email marketing strategy that maximises success.
Practical Tips for Putting Dos and Don’ts Into Action
- Build a Quality Email List
- Ensure you obtain consent from every subscriber through opt-in forms, lead magnets, and exclusive offers.
- Use double opt-in methods for a more engaged and interested list.
- Personalise Your Emails
- Use subscriber names in the subject line or email body to create a personal connection.
- Segment your email list based on interests, behaviours, and demographics to tailor your messaging.
- Optimise for Mobile Devices
- Design responsive emails that automatically adjust to mobile screens.
- Keep content concise and clear, ensuring easy navigation with buttons or clickable links.
- Test, Test, Test
- Regularly run A/B tests to test subject lines, content, CTAs, and designs.
- Use email marketing tools with built-in A/B testing features to monitor results and refine your strategy.
- Track and Analyze Metrics
- Track open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and bounce rates to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns.
- Use the insights from these metrics to adjust the content, subject lines, or CTAs.
How to Set Up an Email Marketing Strategy (Step-by-Step Approach for Beginners)
- Define Your Goals and Objectives
- What do you want to achieve with your email marketing campaigns? Goals could range from increasing sales, promoting content, growing your list, or driving traffic.
- Example: “Increase email-driven sales by 20% in the next quarter.”
- Segment Your Audience
- Group your subscribers based on shared traits like interests, behaviours, or geographic location.
- Use segmentation to send more targeted and relevant content, which leads to higher engagement.
- Choose the Right Email Platform
- Select an email marketing tool that meets your needs (e.g., MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, or ConvertKit).
- Ensure the platform offers segmentation, A/B testing, analytics, and automation features.
- Create an Email Calendar
- Plan and schedule email campaigns in advance to ensure consistency.
- Align your emails with important events, promotions, or content releases for timely relevance.
- Craft Engaging Content
- Provide value with every email. Share valuable insights, tips, or special offers.
- Focus on a single call to action (CTA) to communicate the action you want your recipients to take.
- Optimise for Deliverability
- Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid contacts.
- Ensure compliance with laws such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM by including clear unsubscribe options and privacy notices.
Tools and Platforms for Executing Email Campaigns Effectively
Mailchimp: Great for beginners, with user-friendly templates, segmentation, and analytics.
ActiveCampaign: Known for advanced automation and segmentation features, ideal for growing businesses
ConvertKit or Kit: Best for creators and bloggers, offering simple automation and list-building tools.
HubSpot: An all-in-one platform with robust email marketing, CRM, and analytics tools.
By following these practical steps and using the right tools, you can implement email marketing best practices and build a successful campaign. Monitoring your campaigns, learning from metrics, and refining your approach will help drive better results over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I build a high-quality email list?
Focus on opt-in forms, lead magnets (like free resources or discounts), and incentives to encourage subscribers. Avoid purchasing email lists to ensure better engagement and avoid spam risks.
What is the best email marketing tool for beginners?
Popular tools for beginners include Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and MailerLite. These user-friendly platforms offer essential features like templates, automation, and segmentation.
How often should I send marketing emails?
Aim for consistency without overwhelming your subscribers. Depending on your audience, sending weekly or bi-weekly emails is a good starting point. Test your frequency to find what works best for your audience.
What are A/B tests, and why should I use them?
A/B testing involves sending two variations of an email to a small segment of your list to see which performs better. Use A/B tests for subject lines, CTAs, or designs to optimise email performance.
How can I improve my email open rates?
Craft compelling subject lines that create curiosity, value, or urgency. Also, personalise emails, test different sending times, and ensure your emails are mobile-friendly to improve open rates.
