When you need some quick inbox wins, test out a few of these 23 email marketing tips and tricks below.
Email marketing can seem complex… and some parts are!
But if you focus on what you can control, the meat and potatoes, you can fix many issues before they become debacles.
Let’s start with 3 fast tactics.
Easy-to-Implement Email Marketing Tips and Tricks
#1 Send more emails. But not to all your subscribers. Send more to only those who are clicking on most of your messages. Or replying to your emails.
#2 Ensure readers know who the sender is (check your ‘from name’)
#3 Clean up your email list. Why marketers don’t use this email marketing tip and trick, I’ve no clue. Dirty lists wreck email efforts!
If you only use those three tricks, you’ll improve your sender reputation quickly. The simplest way to look at email marketing is this→ send emails to people who like your emails. This gives positive signals to internet service providers.
Those signals keep you out of spam boxes.
Don’t worry, I’ve got those tips for not looking like a spammer coming up in a bit.
Email Marketing Tips and Tricks (2-way street)
#4 Don’t forget to include your readers in a conversation. Invite them to reply to your emails. Engage them. In an authentic way. Many brands get engagement by asking readers about topics unrelated to the business, like a friend would do in an email.
#5 Feedback forms and surveys. Don’t you want to know what subscribers think of your emails? Give a link to a feedback survey in every newsletter you send. Don’t be afraid of the results… use them to improve campaigns.
#6 Many emailers miss the chance to grow their list by partnering with other organizations. You don’t know which brands are up for cross-promotions unless you ask.
Email Marketing Tips and Tricks to Avoid Looking Like a Spammer
- Make it easy for readers to unsubscribe so they’re never tempted to mark your email as spam.
- Spelling matters, especially in the subject line. And for the love of deliverability, never use all CAPS or 29 exclamation marks!
- Ensure your subject line relates to the email copy or else readers feel tricked and may hit the spam complaint button.
Email Marketing Tips and Tricks (Subject Lines, Lists, Forms)
#7 Emojis are no joke and have been proven to increase open rates (2023) using them in subject lines. Yep, even in B2B emails.
#8 On the note above, B2B mailers are being encouraged to lean into B2C email marketing tips and tricks. Why? Because B2C has done a better job of nurturing their customers (customers of all types are demanding more from brands).
#9 A common email tip is to use a double opt-in system for email sign-ups. Agreed. Just know that some mailers choose single opt-ins intentionally… because they will collect more email addresses. The addresses will be lower quality so that’s the trade-off.
Next tip, I heard through the grapevine.
Sender > Subject
#10 A great tip I heard on Sender Score’s podcast? The sender (you) is more important than a great subject line. In other words, email consistently great content and that will get more opens than clever subject lines because you build up goodwill with readers.
Proof from my inbox habits— I almost always open The Hustle and Chartr newsletters. I don’t even look at the subject line. I assume the content is unique and fresh, so I click consistently.
Now we should talk phones and emailing.
Mobile Email Marketing Tips and Tricks
#11 Most people check email on their phones now (many recheck on a computer later). Be sure your emails are set up to look correct on mobile and easy to read.
#12 SMS marketing is a natural fit for email marketing and should at least be used for urgent campaigns.
#13 Are your emails ready for dark mode? Dark mode is more popular than ever and often used on smartphones to save battery life.
Let’s get into subscriber segmentation now.
Segmentation Email Marketing Tips and Tricks
#14 If you use no form of segmentation, you’re definitely missing out on better engagement. Basic segmentation can be as easy as age groups or men/women.
#15 Segmentation based on reader behavior is a must. You can automate much of this with tags in your ESP. Example: readers who have opened one of your emails in the past 14 days (or clicked a link).
#16 If I could choose only one segmentation group? VIPs. That way you could at least boost your deliverability by using tip number one above and getting easy opens from highly engaged subscribers.
Those segmentation tactics will help with the next group of email tips and tricks.
Giving Readers What They Want
#17 Some segments will want different types of content links. Gen Z, for example, is into user-generated content and short-form videos. This post highlights using video in email campaigns.
#18 Test super-short emails versus longer copy. Don’t assume everyone wants brevity. It depends on their age, if they read on mobile, if they work full-time, have young kids, etc.
#19 Investigate what your audience is talking about. If you can’t get much feedback from surveys, there’s always Reddit. Go mill around the online water cooler of your niche.
#20 Facts are fun and insightful. Don’t forget to weave them into a story though. Your readers will remember the facts better this way.
Lastly, let’s talk list growth.
Email Marketing Tips and Tricks (growing your list)
#21 Ensure sign-up forms are basic with only a couple of fields. Just an email address field is all you need at first!
#22 People have been shown to sign up for emails when forms begin by asking them a related question. Then the form auto-expands with fields for their name and email. Example: “What’s your biggest marketing struggle?” (Stacked Marketer study)
#23 Get easy sign-ups by adding a sign-up link at the bottom of all your outgoing emails and replies (signature email marketing).
Time to wrap up.
Summary
The best email marketing tip and trick on the list? Probably one of the tips to avoid being seen as a spammer.
But outside of that, it’s tough to choose only one.
- Clean lists are vital
- Great email content too
- And growing your list constantly (to replace natural list decay— roughly 23% each year)
Now, if your list is dead and large segments of subscribers are not opening or clicking, you need inside help.
Inbox Mailers uses inbox listening to trigger your emails to arrive when readers are reading other emails. Schedule a free demo to see how other email marketers are re-engaging up to 30% of inactive subscribers. The demo is free so take advantage and see how this new technology can revive your dead email list.
