5 Email Marketing Best Practices in 2024
Sometimes it’s not the marketing strategy itself that has grown old; it’s how it is implemented. If done wrongly, email marketing can be your best shot at wasting resources and time. Emails have become a go-to strategy for brands, but a lot of them end up in spam.
So, to cut through the clutter, you need to ensure you’re sending the right messages to the right people.
Precision is key in 2024, as it may only take the subject line for your email to be opened or not. Since email marketing has evolved beyond sending bulk messages to a mailing list, this article explores some best practices to guide your email marketing efforts.
Getting Started
Before you kickstart your email marketing, there are some basics to set up. There are questions that only when you answer them will you truly have a solid foundation to launch your email marketing campaign:
- What goals do you want to achieve with your email marketing? Do you want to generate more leads, drive traffic to your website, or increase customer loyalty?
- Do you have metrics to track? Setting goals is one thing; setting trackable and measurable goals is another. Do you want to increase email signups by 30% or do you want to boost click-through rates by 25%?
- Who are you targeting? Nothing beats clarity over who you are trying to reach with your message. Understanding their income level, buying habits, interests, and even location goes a long way in helping you create super-personalized emails.
- Have you got a lead magnet? How do you want to get subscribers for your email list? Are you offering free content like ebooks, whitepapers, or templates in exchange for email addresses? Remember, always keep your lead magnets related to your products or services.
- Do you know which email marketing platform to use? Actually, there are tons of them out there, each with its unique features and pricing. Pick the one most suitable for you and understand how it works.
If you have answered these questions correctly, you’re set up for successful email marketing. Now, here are some email marketing best practices in 2024 that can boost your revenue and increase customer loyalty (or any other goal you set out to achieve).
Work on that subject line.
Your subject line can make or break your entire campaign. A compelling subject line can increase the open rate, while a bad one can… (you guessed it), have the opposite effect.
However, it may be difficult to understand which subject line works best. Of course, you can take a guess, but hey, precision is the way to go in 2024 and beyond. So it’s better to figure out which subject line works best using data.
To leverage data analytics in determining high-performing subject lines, consider email marketing platforms that give you the power to split test your subject lines. These platforms and automation tools were created with marketers’ needs in mind and can generate insights for your emails in a matter of seconds. Split testing, also called A/B testing, is important in taking a data-driven approach to understanding your email marketing efforts and general marketing campaigns.
Personalize beyond the first name.
When experts started preaching the gospel of personalization, many marketers started including recipients’ first names in their emails. And they stopped there. The rest of the email sounds like a bulk email and relates to the reader in no way whatsoever. Customers now understand this trick, so it’s becoming an old practice that no longer works.
In 2024, personalization must go beyond addressing recipients by their first name. It must extend to using historical data (or any relevant type of data) to understand their purchase behavior, interests, etc. This insight can empower you with enough information to create emails that truly resonate with recipients.
Bonus tip: Don’t stop at the beginning. Mention recipients’ first names throughout the email to create a deeper emotional connection with them.
Create conversational content.
Content is indeed king. But many brands’ content is king with no power; like a ceremonial head. Do you want your content to harness its royal authority and make your readers take action? Then create conversational content that doesn’t sound like the work of AI. When creating newsletter, educational content, or promotional offers, ensure your email resonates with your audience and represents your brand’s voice.
Optimize the preview text
The aim of the preview text is to entice the recipient to open your email, like a sneak peek. Aim for around 50 characters to ensure your message isn’t cut off on mobile devices, which is the dominant email platform today.
Don’t reveal everything in the subject line. Use the preview text to tease a benefit, ask a question, or create a sense of urgency to entice recipients to open the email. Use emojis strategically.
While not appropriate for every brand, a well-placed emoji can add personality and grab attention in a crowded inbox.
Don’t use a no-reply email address.
While “no-reply” email addresses may seem like a convenient way to automate notifications and confirmations, they can hinder your email marketing efforts. Imagine receiving an email with valuable information but being unable to ask clarifying questions or express appreciation.
No-reply addresses create a one-way street of communication, making recipients feel unheard and unimportant.
Emails from no-reply addresses have a high chance of ending up in the spam folder because spam filters consider them impersonal or potentially spammy. Even automated emails can spark questions or concerns.
By closing off the chance for replies, you miss out on valuable customer feedback that can help improve your products, services, and future communication strategies.
How NIS approaches email marketing
Email marketing may be a common strategy for every brand, but its execution varies depending on the brand’s goals, budget, existing customer data, target audience, and legal and compliance regulations.
Depending on these factors and others, we create data-driven email marketing campaigns using the best tools. At regular intervals, we measure performance and progress and keep you informed of any developments.
Learn more about our Email Marketing services here.
