How to craft your best emails

If you're a business owner then you probably already know the importance of having a healthy email list and consistently growing it. So, now that you have the tools to create a great email contact list—what’s next? It’s time to focus your efforts on the email content! You want tomake sure people are opening your emails and are glad that they subscribed.

Follow these best practices to craft your best emails:

Write attention grabbing subject lines (but don’t trick readers!)

According to Litmus, you only have 3-4 seconds to grab your readers’ attention to entice them to open your email. Not only do you have to be catchy, but succinct as well! Subject lines fewer than 10 characters long had an open rate of 58% (Adestra July 2012 Report). But that’s pretty limited, so don’t feel too trapped to stay within that range. However, be aware that 64% of decision makers are reading their emails on a mobile device (EmailExpert) and the iPhone mail app only shows you the first 35 characters. I generally just try to stay under the 40-50 character range. If someone knows you and your business they will want to open your email! Takeaway? Short is sweet but don’t stress.You want your subject lines to interest people so much they have no choice but to open your emails. But, and this is a big but (hehe), do not pull a bait and switch! If your subject is “cute kitten video” you better have a fuzzy little kitten rolling around with a ball of yarn or trying to escape a sweater. You want to build good rapport with your subscribers so they’re more likely to buy from you!

Personalize your emails

Use your recipient’s name and target your mails to individual segments and needs as much as you can with the information that you have. Experian says that personalized emails have 29% higher unique open rates and 41% higher unique click rates than non-personalized mailings.

Triple-check that your email looks great on a mobile device

As mentioned, the majority of decision makers are checking email on mobile devices. So you must, and I repeat, must, be sure that your emails are mobile responsive. Your email should display just as beautifully on your cell phone as it does on your computer. If an email does not display correctly, 71.2% of people say they will delete it immediately (BlueHornet).

Figure out your best day to send

While best practices determine Monday emails to provide the highest revenue per email, that doesn’t always mean your email list will have the same results. Play around with the days of the week and the time of day—see what converts best for your audience. Once you do a little testing and find your sweet spot, stick with it!

Bonus! Social sharing buttons

While not something that will directly contribute to open and conversion rates, adding social sharing links is not something to be overlooked. Emails with social sharing buttons increase click through rates by 158%. (Nonprofit Hub) Including social buttons will help boost engagement, continuing to foster an interactive relationship, and grow your social media communities.

What email marketing tips, tactics, and tricks have you found helpful?