Email Newsletter Tips

I don’t feel the need to go into a long ramble about email marketing as there is a ton to read out there.  I just want to pass on some observations and tips that I’ve acquired doing this.

Observations

• In my last campaign ~46% of emails were opened on an iPhone – Lesson -> Test your email on an iPhone before you send it to your list.
• Gmail users are twice as likely to open an email as well as click then Hotmail users.
• An unopened email isn’t necessarily a fail, the person could still go to your site after seeing an email from you.  I do this often.
• You first link will likely get the most visits and usually twice as many as any other high impact link, even if it’s not the highest impact link.

Tips

• A/B test every time.  Why in the world would you not take the opportunity every time you send out a campaign to learn something?  Change Titles, From:, time of week, which you can do in MailChimp.  Also split your list up and try different formats as an “A/B” test.
• Pay attention to what others do in their emails.  Places like Amazon have this down to a science; everything is tested extensively.
• ALWAYS test your email before it goes out.  I know this seems obvious but don’t make a change and not test it, because you likely could have changed something you didn’t realize.
• ALWAYS have at least one other person proof your email and provide feedback.
• You have a sentence, maybe two, to get someones attention.  Invest a lot of brainpower into those two sentences.
• Don’t send a campaign unless there is something of interest.  People will unsubscribe in droves unless there is they feel they benefit from your email.
• Don’t include advertising without thinking it through.  People hate ads.  Use them carefully.