13 Email Marketing Best Practices You Need to Know

What are the best and most effective ways for your customers to read your emails?

Think about it.

Your customers get dozens of promos, scams and spams to their emails every single day. So how can you stand out?

In this article we’ll tell you the best ways to keep up with email marketing in 2020 to grow your audience, engage with them and increase your sales.

What Has Changed in Email Marketing in 2020?

With over a couple of decades of email marketing, marketers still use it for a simple reason: it still gives them some of the best ROIs of any marketing strategy. Email marketing is so effective because it has the ability to change with time.

Whereas before most people read their emails on their computers, in 2020 we’ll continue seeing an increase of emails being read from mobile devices. 

In this new decade we’ll also see less and less content in emails. People get thousands of emails per year and the best way to get your point across is by making sure your readers understand your message as soon as they open their emails.

Finally, with the advances in artificial intelligence, marketing will get more automated and more efficient. So, how can you make sure you keep up with email marketing this year?

Here are 13 of the best practices to follow in 2020:

1. Write effective follow-up emails

Are you writing back to your clients to follow up on them?

Follow up emails are a great way to gently remind someone that you’re waiting on an answer and to help to convert a sale. However, sending something like “want to check in” sounds generic, common and boring.

What’s more, even the best crafted follow up email will be useless when sent at the wrong time. Too soon will sound pushy; too late and you may not have a sale anymore.

So how and when do you write an effective follow-up email?

When to Send a Follow-up Email

Sending a follow-up email isn’t like dating, when you send a text exactly two days after a date. 

The right time will depend on your niche, the purpose of the email and your own A/B testing. However, a couple of general rules of thumb is to send your emails during the week and to send them around 2pm.

How to write the perfect follow-up email

For your audience to open, read and respond to your email, you need to craft the perfect title, content, structure and call to action. 

To do it, first define your objective. Are you checking up on a client after an issue? Do you want to know if they still want to make a purchase? Do you want to invite them to join you in social media for further communication?

Then, craft an irresistible title. You want your receiver to know why that email is there within a gaze. And when they look at it, you want to engage your audience. A simple way to do it? Write a short question.

Finally, when writing your email, make sure you get to the point. Give them enough context to know what the email is about from the beginning. Then state what you expect from them in very simple and short terms. Finally, end your email with a clear call to action.

(Source: Twilio)

The less time they have to spend to understand what you want from them, the more likely they’ll reply.

2. Build a powerful funnel

Building a powerful funnel doesn’t have to be hard.

Start with defining who your potential customers are and crafting an offer they’ll find attractive. Offer something of real value, like a useful online course, a subscription for a physical magazine or a free trial period.

Next, create your content. For SEO content, make a schedule of the content you’ll be creating and when they should be created. Remember: you’re crafting the foundations, so take your time and do your research. If you’re going to buy ads, make sure you’re getting them in the right platforms and spend time testing them before selecting the right one.

Once you have that done, move to your nurture sequence. Keep in mind who your clients are and what you’re selling to them; not the product, but the feeling. Is it high-end? Is it for their well-being? Are you trying to help them save money? Check case studies for products and services similar to yours and find an email management software that works for you.

Then, all you need to do is close your sale and track your results to make sure you develop a repeatable process.

3. Use the right cold emailing tools

The right cold emailing tools can save you time and money while increasing your revenue. Keep in mind, you’ll always need to do some of the work yourself, like filtering data and adjusting settings, but the right tools will drastically decrease the time you spend sending emails. 

They can also handle more recipients than you can handle in a lifetime! 

Some of our favorites are SalesHandy for simple delivery and tracking of results, Mailshake for cold emails to Gmail addresses and powerful integrations, Right Inbox for sending regular emails and doing emails marketing using a Gmail account and Prospect.io to find prospects online.

4. Develop your user persona

A perfectly crafted user persona will not only help your email marketing, it’ll help your marketing strategy as a whole. And defining it is just a matter of asking the right questions.

(Source: Adobe)

Find as much as you can about your user’s needs and background so you can fulfill them the best way possible.

5. Convert loyal clients into ambassadors

Brand ambassadors are clients that actively promote your business for you based on their own positive experiences. You can convert your clients into ambassadors starting with a great email strategy.

Start with establishing proper communication with them. Make sure they have multiple ways to send you their emails with their issues, questions and feedback. And when they reach you, give them an amazing customer experience by listening, answering and going the extra mile when possible.

Another great way to convert clients into ambassadors is with an attractive rewards program. A rewards program makes clients feel like a part of something bigger and gives them a reason to keep coming back to you. You can craft a whole email marketing campaign solely based on your rewards program!

Finally, make it easy for your clients to promote you by having a strong online presence. Remember, it’s better to be great at a couple of online platforms than to be average at all of them.

6. Optimize your communication strategy

When reaching someone with emails, your communication strategy is everything.

Start with optimizing your first impression. Make sure the first email they’ll get from you reflects your company values while maintaining an open and friendly tone. 

If they send you emails, reply to them as soon as possible. Make sure replying and maintaining a healthy communication with your clients and prospects is a top priority.

Finally, remember the human behind the email. Talk to them online like you would talk to them in person.

Finding ways to communicate better with your customers will make them come back and recommend you to other people.

7. Increase traffic to your website

A great email marketing campaign will increase your revenue and traffic with a very healthy ROI. 

Start unleashing your email marketing potential with a healthy subscriber list. Find ways to organically grow it by offering great value and featuring it prominently.

To keep them engaged, lead your emails to relevant landing pages. They should fit organically with the purpose of your email and deliver on what you promise with your email subject line.

Don’t send the same email to your whole subscriber’s list. Instead, segment your audience to properly cater to their needs and interests.

You can also combine your emails with your social media to keep them working together. If you’re talking about a topic in your email, your social media should feature a post about the same topic.

Finally, keep an eye on your metrics. Check your click-through rates for every email and learn from the ones giving you both great and mediocre results.

A great email marketing campaign can dramatically increase traffic to your website. 

8. Use canned email responses

Canned responses are typically used in chats, but they can also be used very effectively in your email marketing campaign. When used correctly, they can decrease waiting times and increase your team’s efficiency. 

You can use them for:

• Acknowledge that you received their email.
• Updating them about a query.
• Checking their level of satisfaction on a product or solution.
• Acknowledging mistakes.
• Offering alternative solutions to common problems.

You obviously don’t want to overuse canned responses and email templates but, if you keep them simple and customizable, they can definitely improve your communication and decrease the time you spend time writing emails.

9. Use the right marketing automation tools

Automation tools aren’t just for cold emails. They can simplify all your marketing efforts by automating your processes, like the execution of your email marketing efforts.

These are some of the industry’s favorite marketing automation tools:

HubSpot

HubSpot is one of the best marketing software tools. With tools for customer support, CRM and sales software, it’s no wonder why HubSpot is one of the biggest names in business management.

Marketo

Marketo is a great budget option for reliable software tons of automation tools. With spontaneous customer support, automated marketing processes and tons of personalization offerings, Marketo is very popular with small and medium-sized companies.

monday.com

monday.com is an integral task management software that eliminates the needs of switching between apps. You can keep track of your team’s progress, check on tasks and due dates and manage your team, directly on your laptop or phone. You can start using it to keep track of your email campaigns by checking content and due dates across your team to make sure everything is being sent according to plan.

If you’re looking for alternative project management tools, you may also consider exploring the features and benefits of Monday vs ClickUp to find the best fit for your team’s needs.

10. Use email blasts smartly

People sign in to get emails because they’re interested in what you’re selling. They don’t sign up because they want to get bombarded with emails!

But, how much is too much?

There’s no right number. It’ll all depend on you, your audience and your services. However, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s National Client Email report, 35% of marketers send two to three emails a month and 19% send just the one!

If that seems like too little, try to send at most one email per week and tinker with frequency to find your sweet spot.

11. Use confirmed opt-in to build an engaged audience

When it comes to your email list, quality is better than quantity. That’s why you should use confirmed opt-in when signing people up.

A lot of marketers are scared that confirmed opt-in will decrease the number of subscribers they get, but that’s exactly why you should use it.

By adding that extra step, you’ll guarantee that the people who sign in to your list are people that will open your emails in the future. That will not only increase deliverability but will decrease your costs. All with just one little change from your part!

12. Build a genuine community

In this new decade, people will continue to go online to join groups and to socialize more and more. That’s why going the extra mile by building a community with your email marketing campaign pays off.

Don’t just send them emails about your offers for the day. Give a sneak peek into what they can expect. Use candid photos of your office or your pets so people get to know you and your company better.

Now, you don’t want those emails to become your regular emails, but prioritizing quality over quantity and sending those every once in a while will give people the feeling that they’re a part of your community, and not just another email that signed up for updates.

13. Use attractive email templates

For emails to convert you need your audience to be captivated not just by what you’re saying, but by how you’re presenting it. If you have a design team, make sure they dedicate a good part of their time making and updating your email templates for your marketing team.

However, you don’t need to have even one designer to use gorgeous and effective email templates.

With Woorise, you get access to tons of stunning email templates that you can truly make your own. Building and customizing them is easy, even if you don’t know anything about design!

You can use them for anything, from simple newsletters and application forms to responsive surveys, quizzes and online order forms to truly take your email marketing efforts to the next level.

Start using Woorise for free right here.

Conclusion

The internet is definitely not what it used to be. In this new decade we’ll continue to see how marketing evolves around automations, communities and socialization. People want more from you than a simple list of your website’s updates.

During this 2020, plan your email marketing campaigns around these ideas. We’re sure you’ll see it paying off!