When you are sending a marketing email, there are many little details to keep in mind — and those details can make or break the success of your email marketing campaign.
Unfortunately, mistakes in emails are difficult to correct. And while there is not a big deal if you forgot to attach a file, it can be costly if you misspelled the recipient’s name or sent a completely ‘broken’ email to a thousand subscribers list.
That is why we have made a checklist that contains the essential elements you need to double-check before you send an email.
Always Check Your Emails Before Sending
Just remember this rule. Even if your designer already tested this same template. Even if you already sent this same message to someone else, always make sure your email is good to go before you click “Send.”
Make Emails Mobile-Friendly
These days, we all use phones to check emails. So do most of your readers. That is why you need to make sure your email campaigns are optimized for mobile, and the recipients can read and act on them from their phones and tablets.
To make your email design mobile-friendly, you need to:
• Keep your email to a single-column format, between 320px and 550px wide.
• Make it short and concise.
• Ensure that the pictures are properly sized and rendering accurately.
• Check if all links (and particularly a call to action) are big enough so that recipients can tap them easily.
• Use the font larger than 12 points (14 points would be perfect).
Fortunately, there are great tools (such as Litmus, SendGrid, etc.) that can help you see how your emails will display depending on your recipient’s browser, email service provider, device, and more.
Review Email Elements
Now, let’s move on to the essential elements to check.
● Email Signature
You are already using a professional email signature to support your email marketing campaigns, aren’t you? Well, the end of your email is a perfect place to add information about who you are and where you work. Lots of business people prefer free email signatures for this purpose. This makes their emails look more professional and pleasing to the eye. You can go even further and include your photo, company logo, website, blog, portfolio, social media icons, awards, and even call to action buttons.
Before you send your email, make sure your email signature contains only relevant information and is up to date.
Have no email signature yet? Don’t underestimate its power and create one with this email signature generator for free.
● Subject Line
Remember that you have one chance to convince your recipient to keep reading your email. And it’s your subject line. The subject line is just like the headline in a magazine — you see it, and you know immediately if you’re going to read the article.
An ideal subject line should:
• Contain no more than 40 characters or fewer so that your recipient can read the full subject line in their email client.
• Provide benefits.
• Create a sense of urgency, if appropriate. Why should the recipient open your email now?
• Never deceive or mislead, unless you want to annoy the reader and increase the unsubscribe rate.
• Have no typos.
● The Text Copy
Make sure your email isn’t too long, and everything is clear to the recipient (try to avoid abbreviations, complicated terms, and inappropriate humor). Also, check if the personalization is correct. This includes the recipient’s name, position, their company name, and other important details. Proofread the entire email carefully to catch every tiny mistake. Everything should be perfect if you want to be perceived as a true professional.
● Calls To Action
After reading your email, people should know what steps they should take next. That means that you need to add a clear call to action (CTA) in every email you send (if appropriate).
Whether you want your recipient to book a demo with your team, click on a link to read your recent blog post, or download an eBook, you need to communicate that next step in a way that’s impossible to miss.
It is always best to use a button instead of a plain-text link to make it easier for those who read emails from mobile devices. Keep the buttons at least 44 by 44 pixels. Also, make sure the CTA button is linked to the right landing page.
● Email Design And Images
Make your email visually appealing and easily scannable by using email-friendly fonts (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Georgia, Tahoma), subtitles, short paragraphs, bullet points, and enough white space.
If you have any graphics in your email campaign, make sure each image is relevant and sized properly. Your graphics should complement the content and not distract from it.
● Sender And Recipients
Always check if you have the correct names in your “From” and “To” email address fields. Use “CC” (Carbon Copy) and “BCC” (Blind Carbon Copy) fields properly.
It is recommended to fill out these fields when you are done with everything else in your email.
● Unsubscribe Link
Don’t forget to add the unsubscribe link to avoid user complaints related to potential or accidental spam emailing.
● Sending Time
Send your email campaigns at the right times. Based on tests, we found out that mornings work best for our recipients (around 10 a.m.) And the best days to send the emails are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Wednesdays.
Remember Your Email Marketing Essentials
Email mistakes happen to everyone because we are humans. And when they do, we often get frustrated and feel frightened about the possible consequences. No matter if the personalization was wrong, the information was incorrect, or none of the links worked, it is not easy to correct those mistakes, especially if the email was sent to thousands of people.
To avoid this scenario, it is better to always check your emails before you send them. Use our checklist to achieve an error-free, mobile-friendly, and professional email format. Good luck on your email marketing campaigns!
