Email marketing has a lot of intricacies, between working out the kinks in HTML for various email clients, creating responsive emails that are opened on tablets, smartphones, and varying-sized computer screens.
While you surf the internet, you may come across nuggets of gold, that is, nuggets of truth that inform your email marketing strategy and tactics. They are often few and far between, though, sprinkled across several corners of the internet. We’ve collected 11 of our favorite nuggets of email marketing wisdom of Twitter.
Bad Code Kills You
Emails that aren't structured properly with bad code, etc, look like #spam & will be treated as such by ISPs. Be sure your email format isn't the culprit of your #deliverability woes. #emailgeeks cc @RelevancyGroup
— SparkPost (@SparkPost) June 6, 2018
This email touches on a vital subject. There are so many elements you can add to your emails, but if you add them using bad, messy, or excessive code, you risk triggering spam filters. I just read a great example of this on the Litmus blog.
They had created a shiny new email marketing campaign for their yearly event, Litmus Live. It featured a video background. The code worked fine; all was well. Except for this one line in the code.
YES. HTML5 VIDEO BACKGROUND.
IN AN EMAIL. BELIEVE IT.
BRINGING SEXY BACK TO EMAIL LIKE TIMBERLAKE DID TO POP.
The team had embedded this little message into their code, for those that peek at it, something they know their target audience does often. But this Easter egg caused more problems than it was worth. All because of the word “sexy,” which set off spam filters.
Litmus lives and breathes email marketing, and even they got hit when their code looked spammy. Keep your code nice and clean by doing the following:
- Don’t use spammy words – these are words like “sexy” but also words like “download” or “free.” View a complete list of spammy words here.
- Don’t use all CAPS anywhere in your emails, including your subject lines.
- Exclamation points are also off limits.
- Avoid video and other script-based apps (they won’t run on most clients anyway).
- Use spell check. Please.
- Use images, but not too many. Also, ensure your images aren’t incredibly large.
Clean code is good code. Pass it on.
Data-Based Design Works Best
Educate, educate, educate when it comes to email design. Show the business reasons behind design decisions. Don’t get into a war of options. Let the data and renderings do the talking. #EiQgathering
— Tod Meisner (@todmeisner) April 19, 2018
The lesson here? Test everything.
Never take a single element of an email’s design for granted. A/B testing (and making decisions from the results) is the only way you can refine your emails to ensure they are well-received by your audience. Some factors worth testing are:
- The color of elements. That means background, texts, and CTAs.
- The fonts and text size of alt text.
- The use of images (locations of them, size of them, etc.).
These are just a handful of the elements you could test. Be sure to only test one element at a time. You won’t know what change caused your outcomes if you alter more than one element at a time.
Create Less, Promote More
We actually want to create the minimum amount of content with the maximum amount of results (not just more content) #socialpowwow
— Joe Pulizzi I joepulizzi.eth (@JoePulizzi) December 14, 2017
The adage, “less is more,” is true here in the content marketing world. We spend so much time making content, but some research suggests that smaller brands should spend less of their time making content and more time promoting it.
That’s the point of Mr. Pulizzi’s tweet. Spend less time making content and more time making that very same content go further.
We did that at HIPB2B. We used to share each of our new blog posts three times on Twitter the day we published. That’s repetitive, especially if you land on our profile page and see these lumps of duplicate content every Tuesday and Thursday. So, instead, we started sending out content in a rolling schedule, once the first day, then again a week later, two weeks later, and a month later. This makes our content go a little further, instead of just getting seen on one day then disappearing forever.
Think about ways to make your content go further. Do this with more sharing, staggered emails, and thinking about other innovative ways to share and spread your content. Make all that effort go further.
Define Your Goals
The Content Marketing Matrix https://t.co/eKgE97BLjA pic.twitter.com/1GNVHsTVaP
— Dr Dave Chaffey (@DaveChaffey) June 4, 2018
This graphic is just too cool. The takeaway? You need to choose goals for your email marketing efforts. What are you trying to accomplish by sending your audience marketing messages? This 4-part continuum is great for figuring out why you send out emails and what sorts of content will aid you in achieving those ends.
Use this graphic to hone in on your goals and give your email marketing strategy direction.
Email Marketing is Part of a Balanced Strategy
"The formula for digital marketing success"#EmailMarketing #SEO #SMM #webdesign #website #ecommerce #Marketing #SocialMedia #OnlineMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Business #InboundMarketing #Internet #InternetMarketing #SEO #SMM #SEOtips #GrowthHacking pic.twitter.com/ESj28wlke5
— Affiliate Marketing Leaders (@affleaders) June 4, 2018
This attractive graphic shows how important it is for marketers to have a balanced blend of social media, SEO, email marketing and more.
No single channel will fill the end of your pipeline. The secret sauce of digital marketing is finding the pockets where your customers are and engaging them in those spaces.
Let Them Go
https://twitter.com/Holobachgirl/status/1004433832819544065
If they want to unsubscribe, make it easy. Don’t make them fight their way off your list. Let them go. Don’t make them jump through several hoops.
All that does is cause friction which is adding insult to injury when someone decides that they dislike getting your emails enough to unsubscribe. If you’re looking for more tips on creating a nice UX for unsubscribes, check out this article.
Popularity Doesn’t Solve Problems
What problems do your consumers have and how can you help to solve those problems? https://t.co/iaSUEtaKsS #email #emailmarketing #emails #dreams #entrepreneur #entrepreneurial #entrepreneurlife #entrepreneurlifestyle #entrepreneurmind #quote #digitalmarketingagency pic.twitter.com/g1BI9iblI5
— Dragonfire Marketing (@dragonfireuk) June 6, 2018
This little bit of advice is very important. Remember that, especially as a B2B company, your customers are primarily looking to solve their problems. They are at work, so they are focused on making their jobs easier and run smoother.
Your emails should help identify and solve those problems. Keep that top of mind and a critical part of your strategy, and you’ll find that people respond well to your emails and might even sign up for them in greater numbers.
What’s Behind That Fancy Rich Media?
Dear #EmailGeeks,
Countdown timers in email are really cool.However please, Please PLEASE think about alt text.
I've seen quite a few come up recently and not a single one had appropriate alt text.
Something like alt="Show starts at 19.30 on Friday 26th January"
</rant>
— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) January 25, 2018
You can have all the flashy features in the world, but it doesn’t matter if they never show up. Back in 2014, Litmus estimated that 43% of people opened emails with their images off. That means that they never see the coolest new feature you put in your email, only whatever alt text is behind it.
That means, your alt text is important. You need to ensure that not only it makes sense, but also that you style it, so those who can see stylized alt text still get a nice experience.
Alt Text Should Be Clear and Coherent
here's my statement on why text images are bad pic.twitter.com/viR2DRqwo6
— skye 🌿 he/him (@stimmyskye) May 7, 2018
This email reminds us that, for the visually impaired, emails are only as good as the text that is in them. Don’t make your emails completely out of images, especially if you want your audience to read a fair amount.
As mentioned above, many people do not have images on when they open an email, and those that are visually impaired won’t be able to see what your email has to offer if you rely on text-based images.
Images should be the garnish for your emails, not the meat of them. Make sure your message comes through in plain text so everyone can see it. Additionally, spam filters look for emails that are just image-based. Include a blend of both.
Check Before You Send
No subject line.
No preheader.Always check before you send.@Fly_Norwegian #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/QdO6B0w0GW
— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) April 21, 2018
This one is pretty simple.
Check your emails before you hit “send.” Check them for spelling, errors, and the subject line and preheader. Otherwise, your mobile users will see this. This is not flattering for your brand.
Above the Fold? Arbitrary But Important
No subject line.
No preheader.Always check before you send.@Fly_Norwegian #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/QdO6B0w0GW
— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) April 21, 2018
This is a tweet about web pages, but it applies for emails too. While, “above the fold” is not an exact science (since every email and web page look different on each browser, client, or device), it is an important consideration when creating emails.
As this tweet reveals, your audience does not scroll. Make sure you make the tops of your emails as compelling as possible, to help lure people to convert (act) before they lose interest in your brand and leave.
These 11 tweets cover all sorts of email marketing concepts that are critical to creating and maintaining a solid email marketing strategy. Try taking just one of these concepts and applying it to your email marketing strategy. You’ll be amazed at the results.
Let us know what you think:
- What is your favorite tweet in this list?
- Have you seen any tweets that belong on this list?
- Let us know in the comments section.
