successful email marketing 101

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Email Marketing 101 A beginner’s guide to improving your nonprofit organization’s marketing efforts using email.

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Post on 22-Jan-2015

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Learn the basics of successful email marketing with our presentation. We get you started with best practices and basic techniques.

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Page 1: Successful Email Marketing 101

Email Marketing 101A beginner’s guide to improving your nonprofit organization’s marketing efforts using email.

Page 2: Successful Email Marketing 101

Benefits of Email Marketing• Relatively low cost and easy to measure• Fast response and real time• Can segment your list and target customers

with the information you want them to see• Helps you learn about what your customers

want (what are people opening and what are they clicking on?)

• Helps your organization stay top of mind• Can help build loyalty• Opt in and Un-subscribe options

Page 3: Successful Email Marketing 101

Pre-header

Header

Body

Footer

Page 4: Successful Email Marketing 101

Optimizing Your Brand• Include your brand name in the “From

Name”• Use an identifiable “From Address”• Subject line best practices:

– Informative, short and recognizable– Aim for 35 characters or less– Don’t use ALL CAPS or “spammy” words– Create a sense of urgency

• There’s Still Time, Don’t Miss, Last Chance, Sign-Up By…

Page 5: Successful Email Marketing 101

Pre-header/Header Best Practices

• Include View Online, Unsubscribe and Share links

• Use the pre-header or first 100 characters of text to help engagement in the inbox

• Try to keep the header to less than 150 pixel high to avoid pushing your main message and call to action too far down

• Provide the from email address so the recipient can add the address to their contacts

Page 6: Successful Email Marketing 101

Pre-header/Header Best Practices

Page 7: Successful Email Marketing 101

Layout and Visual Best Practices

• Ideal width is about 500 to 600 pixels, 650 px max.

• Vertical layouts are typically better than horizontal.

• The eye tends to follow an ‘F’ patter so it’s good to keep the most important information in that area

• Calls-to-action:– Tell the audience exactly what they’ll be doing when they click

the button: Subscribe, Download, Register, etc.– Keep language short and clear

Page 8: Successful Email Marketing 101

Layout and Visual Best Practices• Always test your emails with images shut off in the

browser – the majority of people have images turned off by default

• Always put a color behind the images and/or use alt-text for when images aren’t showing up

• Make images clickable• Text should never be a part of the image, especially if

it is a call-to-action such as on a button or navigation• Images can help with engagement when used

properly but they shouldn’t take away from the main calls-to-action in the content

Page 9: Successful Email Marketing 101

Keurig Email with Images Turned Off

Page 10: Successful Email Marketing 101

Famous Footwear Email with Images Turned Off

Page 11: Successful Email Marketing 101

Cleveland Marathon Email with Images Turned Off

Page 12: Successful Email Marketing 101

Copy and Content Best Practices

• If you use an non-web-safe font, be sure to code a back-up font as well.

• Good font sizes are 14px for body copy and 22px or larger for titles. This allows for decent readability on mobile phones.

• Buttons should be at least 45 to 50px high to make it easier for smart phone users to click.

Page 13: Successful Email Marketing 101

Copy and Content Best Practices

• Use bullet points to highlight main points and breakup paragraphs that would otherwise be overwhelming to the audience.

• Include links to main sections of your website if possible and depending on the purpose of your message. You don’t want to distract from the overall purpose of the email, if you are trying to get the person to take a specific action.

Page 14: Successful Email Marketing 101

Footer Best Practices• Include the organization’s complete contact details• Don’t hide the unsubscribe button – Unsubscribe

vs. Reporting as Spam• Include links to main sections of your website if

possible and depending on the purpose of your message. Good place for social media if not already in header

• If it make sense in the copy, tell your reader why they are receiving the email– They signed up for something, a friend referred them, etc.– This can help decrease spam complaints

Page 15: Successful Email Marketing 101

Sending Best Practices• The best day of the week and time of day to

send can vary by audience• Generally, people are most engaged in the

morning and at the beginning of the week • Mix up your email topics and content• Reminder emails, follow up emails, thank

you for attending/registering, etc.

Page 16: Successful Email Marketing 101

Miscellaneous Best Practices• Videos are not compatible with all email browsers -

Check with your email platform to see if code is provided that works best with your platform

• One solution is to link a video page to a still image• Provide a plain text version that is easy to read,

some email platforms will create this automatically or you can create something simple with notepad.

• Always test in multiple browsers and browser versions: IE, Firefox, Chrome on PC and Mac

Page 17: Successful Email Marketing 101

Email Marketing 101

QUESTIONS?