The design and message of your marketing communications should follow best practices. Learn four signs that it may be time to update your email newsletter.
Email is an essential pillar holding up the marketing colosseum, standing strong and never crumbling. That said, the practice of how we send email marketing communications continues to evolve as we learn more about consumers and more regulations are developed. The marketing world may once have been the Wild West in terms of black hat SEO and spam email communications, and we’ve learned that these practices don’t actually benefit consumers.
The question isn’t if we should continue to market, but rather how do we adapt as the online world continues to evolve? The design and messaging of your email should stand out from the crowd while carefully following best practices and compliance measures. So check out the following four signs it may be time to update your current email newsletter.
1. When Getting Clicks Doesn’t Click
A variety of benchmarks support email deliverability and the type of engagement that drives conversions. The most common benchmarks to track include the following:
- Open rate
- Click rate
- Spam complaint rate
Bounce rate- Unsubscribe rate
- Deliverability score
One of the primary items above that speaks to the quality of effective email campaign services is click rate. If you’re getting a strong open rate, even when excluding Apple privacy opens, but a low click rate, it could be the actual content of your email that isn’t resonating with subscribers. To improve a low click rate, consider including both action and inaction on the part of your subscribers.
Too many products: On a surface level, featuring several products in your newsletter makes sense. After all, the more products, the wider the net, right? However, the inverse may actually be true; having too many products in a single email can make the email seem unfocused and overwhelming. Additionally, readers may not be willing to scroll long enough to find a product that stands out to them. Instead of featuring several products, consider displaying category pages instead.
Poor CTAs: An absent or ineffective call to action may diminish the number of people who will ultimately interact with your actual website. If your CTA is buried in the email, or there’s only one, it makes sense that you’ll see a decrease in conversions. Additionally, not everyone knows that most images in marketing emails are linked to a URL. Clear instructions are always essential in driving clicks.
Too much copy: Often, we think the more information given to a reader, the better. While this may sometimes be true, the average consumer isn’t going to sit and read through each marketing email in their inbox. Instead, they’re taking a few seconds per email to evaluate which has the strongest value adds.
2. Your Email Is Clipped
You’ve likely received an email in your own inbox where the full email is unable to be displayed because of its length. Many email providers, most notably Gmail, will clip emails that exceed a specific length. There are a few disadvantages to this, the most obvious being that users are unable to view all the content within the email, meaning that you lose some of your messaging. Additionally, a clipped email interferes with metric tracking, affecting your deliverability.
Before you send your entire audience an email communication, send a preview to yourself, ideally using the most popular inbox providers. Additionally, make sure the most important information is placed at the top of your email, where there will be the most eyes on it.
3. Lack of Focus
We mentioned above that the ideal email newsletter template shouldn’t contain an excessive amount of products or copy. What this ultimately comes down to is ensuring the focus of your email is clear and recognizably branded.
A strong email opens with your logo and top value add(s). Do you offer free shipping? Different payment options? Are your products ethically sourced? Consider a ribbon banner that calls out these value adds that are in addition to your primary campaign focus.
When creating the editorial calendar for your content, make sure each topic has a clear goal in mind. Below are the typical categories you may see for email newsletters:
- Alerting subscribers to a new product or service
- Announcing a sale or promotion
- Providing education on a specific product or topic
- Promoting blog or social media posts
- Acknowledging a specific holiday or movement
Consider the primary focus of each email and keep it clean and concise. Additionally, make sure there is cohesion across all your campaigns so you aren’t giving subscribers whiplash by switching up the “look” of each email. Instead, work off of a few templates you’ve been able to AB test and optimize.
Pro tip: When creating your email templates, keep it fun! Additionally, keep up with current trends. Many email templates have become dated and dull in comparison to the brands that keep it fresh and exciting. Following are some elements to consider implementing in campaigns:
- GIFs
- Live countdown timers
- Dynamic user-generated content
- Optimized mobile view
- Interactive quizzes
4. It Doesn’t Meet Compliance Regulations
As with any industry, there are compliance regulations and best practices surrounding email communications. If you aren’t following these regulations, you risk triggering not only the spam filter, but being outright blocked from sending emails.
DMARC policies: As of 2024, big email providers such as Gmail have implemented strict DMARC policies. Although this isn’t part of your email’s actual design, you’ll need to navigate these sending requirements in order to bulk-send emails. You should set up a DMARC policy and dedicated sending domain to protect your domain.
Business address in email footer: Businesses are required to include a valid physical business address in the footer of their emails. In addition to this, they must include clear opt-out language.
Alt text: All images in your email should include alt text. Alt text supports accessibility for users who use screen readers, a requirement put forth by the ADA. If the image includes a form of text within the design, the alt text should mirror that text. If there is no text, the alt text should contain a brief description of the image.
Good News for Your Newsletter
The online world continues to change and evolve. What makes a great email newsletter today may be ineffective a year from now. As such, it’s important to work with professionals who have a finger on the pulse of best practices. At Logical Position, our dedicated team of strategists and creatives is prepared to evolve your email marketing efforts.
