- Think “above the scroll”…Once a person opens your email, you must grab their attention with what they see before they scroll down. People first decide what to delete or open based on the sender and the subject line, followed by this top portion of the email.
- Personalize, personalize, personalize. If you expect any response at all, you must use mail merge to include things such as their first names, their group name, etc., as well as your personal name, and if possible, your personal contact information. This is true for all groups, including GC’s, FamilyLife volunteers, and even other FamilyLife staff.
- Provide your personal contact info
- Follow up QUICKLY when people respond. Within 2 hours is BEST, same day is good, anything past 24 hours says you really don’t care.
- Make your emails sound natural, as if you were writing to a friend.
- Give a clear call to action right away. (e.g. “Reply with the word ‘RENEW’ today to keep your Group Name active”).
- Use the power of the p.s. Remind people of a deadline, or repeat the clear call to action from the beginning of your message.
- Test first!! by sending to multiple servers + open on your phone and tablet
- Use a number. Because digits — like 4 or 37 — stop wandering eyes
- Keep it short. Edit your emails with rigor. Long and unwieldy emails slaughter your readers’ interest. Challenge yourself to cut your text by half next time you edit. Especially in a mobile format, too much text can make your email campaign seem like it goes on forever–and that means decreased subscriber interest. Try to be as succinct as possible, and link out for long-form reads when possible.
- ALWAYS include an “unsubscribe” option. The CAN-SPAM law requires that emails must contain an opt-out mechanism for subscribers, so make sure you keep this link within your emails. While it seems counterintuitive for someone growing their list, it will help you maintain a more engaged list by letting those who are uninterested self-select out. And all ESPs require you to have an unsubscribe link in your emails to be CAN-SPAM compliant.
- Create your draft directly in Gmail to help avoid SPAM filters. Do not write it in another program such as MS Word, and then copy and paste it. This can generate HTML code that is picked up by SPAM filters.
- Use short subject lines. In a mobile format, you’re working with smaller real estate, and many subject lines will only display 30 characters max. Read more about how to find the right email subject line length.
- Write compelling preheader text. A preheader (also known as a ‘Johnson Box’) is the short summary text that follows the subject line when an email is viewed in the inbox. Many mobile, desktop and web email clients provide them to tip you off to what the email contains before you open it. Preheader text helps the subscriber decide whether or not they want to open your email by adding a bit more context–so make it count.
- Remove all automatic formatting (automatic line spacing, tabs, bullet points, tables, etc), so if the receiver’s system converts your message to plain text they will still get your message. It is okay to manually change font size, color, italics, bold, and underline, just keep in mind that these may be lost by some recipients.
- Do NOT include pictures, logos (including the FamilyLife logo), or graphics, which may get your email sent straight to spam.
- Customize your ‘From’ name. 68% of Americans base their decision to open and email on the from name, so make sure this name it recognizable and makes sense to the recipient and fits within the display characters.
- Think mobile-first when writing
- Use 11 or 12 pt font. Larger feels like you’re yelling.
- Include numerous obvious links to helpful details or information.
- DON’T USE ALL CAPS anywhere in your email or its subject line. Don’t yell at people. It’s not nice. Using all caps in your subject line might get the recipient’s attention, but probably not in a good way. Using all caps can really rub people the wrong way. It’s annoying and can seem spammy. In fact, according to a study by the Radicati Group, more than 85% of respondents prefer an all-lowercase subject line to one in all caps.
- Don’t use exclamation points!!!!! Exclamation points — especially a whole bunch of them in a row. And when 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line, you’ll want to stay away from triggers like this as much as you can. Also, overuse of exclamation marks actually has the opposite effect and dilutes your message.
- Keep file size under 100kb to avoid spam filters. Larger than this and you run into trouble.
- Avoid words in subject lines that can trigger spam filters or reduce open rates. Here are some helpful tips:
- In general, avoid “free”, “act now”, and exclamation marks!!!
- Use the right superlatives:
- YES: “Brand New,” “Latest,” “Exciting,” “Special,” “Buy One Get One Free”
- NO: “Good,” “Perfect Gift”
- Reference to sales in the subject line can increase Click-Through Rates (C.T.R.)
- “Prices” = +246% CTR
- “Worth” = +134%
- “Deal” = +91%
- Questions in a subject line can be good or bad. Starter word impact:
- YES: “Can’t…?,” “Won’t…?”
- NO: “Will…?”, “Who…?”
- The highest open rates for emails are midweek: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, all 3 of which are around 15% – 16%.
- Weekends have slightly higher click-through rates, but much lower open rates (around 11% – 12%).
- The best time of day to send emails is late morning, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. The second best time to send emails is later in the evening, 8 p.m. – midnight.
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