Email marketing is a powerful tool for engaging meaningfully with your audience, building relationships, and driving conversions (SALES!). And just like your own health, the health of your email marketing practices matters a whole lot!
When you neglect your email health, you run the risk of low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, and of your emails landing in the dreaded spam folder. In this post, we’ll look at the top 5 ways to keep your email “healthy” and ensure your email marketing efforts remain effective.
5 Healthy Email Marketing Practices
1. Keeping Your List Neat & Tidy
Your email list is pure gold, so keeping it clean and up to date is crucial!
What does it mean to be clean? Removing old or inactive email addresses – these will negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability.
You may also want to consider using a double opt-in process to make sure your subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails, this will make your email upkeep easier.
2. Make Them Personal & Audience Specific
Generic, one-size-fits-all emails do. not. work in 2023.
Personalization, using your subscribers first name, location, etc – and segmentation – sending different emails to different parts of your list depending on certain factors – are the keys to delivering relevant content.
Use data like subscriber preferences, behavior, and demographics to segment your list into smaller, targeted groups. Craft tailored messages and offers that speak directly to each segment, increasing engagement and conversions.
3. Show Up In Their Inbox Consistently
When you are sending emails to your list sporadically and with no rhyme or reason, it can confuse your subscribers and lead to higher unsubscribe rates.
Establish a regular sending frequency that your audience can expect and stick to it.
Whether it’s weekly newsletters, monthly updates, or bi-weekly promotions, consistency helps build trust and keeps your brand top of mind.
4. Email Quality Over Quantity
The content of your emails should offer real value to your subscribers.
Use the 80/20 rule – 80% of your emails are value packed with info, resources and only-you-can-provide entertainment.
The other 20% will be promotion and sales.
In each email, use branded visuals, engaging storytelling, and clear calls-to-action (CTAs) that guide subscribers on what to do next.
High-quality content will keep your audience engaged and your community growing.
5. Make Them Work On Mobile Devices
These days, a significant portion of email opens occur on mobile devices, so make sure your emails are optimized for mobile!
If your subscriber can’t navigate or interact with your email on a mobile device, they are very likely to close the email and be done.
Make sure that your email templates are responsive, meaning they adapt to various screen sizes. Test your emails on different devices to check how they look great and that they function well, regardless of how they’re accessed.
Why Email Marketing “Health” Matters
Now that we know the email health essential, let’s talk about WHY it matters:
- Reputation Management:
Maintaining a clean email list, avoiding spammy practices, and delivering relevant, valuable content all contribute to a positive sender reputation.
A good sender reputation means your emails are more likely to land in subscribers’ inboxes instead of their spam folders.
- Engagement and Conversions:
Personalized, high-quality content will drive your engagement.
And engaged subscribers are more likely to open your emails, click on your CTAs, and convert into customers. Healthy email practices = SALES! - Compliance and Legalities:
There can be very real legal repercussions for not following email marketing best practices.
Making sure you’re compliant with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR will protect your brand and business from legal issues and demonstrates your commitment to ethical marketing. - Cost Efficiency:
If you use a CRM that charges you based on list size, you don’t want to be wasting valuable resources by sending emails to large groups of unengaged or inactive subscribers.
By regularly cleaning your list and segmenting your audience, you save money by sending emails only to those who are most likely to convert.
- Data-Driven Decision Making:
A healthy email list is a super valuable data collection tool!
You can collect data on subscriber behavior and preferences and use that to inform future content and marketing.
This kind of data helps you to make informed decisions, refine your email marketing strategies, and achieve better results over time.
Maintaining the “health” of your email marketing practices is crucial for long-term success.
Regular list maintenance, personalization, consistent sending, quality content, and mobile optimization are all vital components of a thriving email marketing strategy.
By maintaining these practices, you’ll not only see improved deliverability and engagement but also strengthen your brand’s reputation and achieve higher conversion rates.
Email marketing makes you money, but your email has to be healthy first!
And if you’re ready to tackle your email marketing and start growing a community of engaged, converting subscribers, let’s chat! Click here to shoot me a message.
