Best Practice

Email Playbook

digital growth partners

Purpose of Keeping a pulse on the most recent email marketing
best practices will help you to:
this document
Research shows that a third 1 Understand where you get
the highest returns on your
2 Continually optimise your
email efforts and associated
of customers have visited a email investments marketing program
website or purchased a
product or service, simply
from viewing an email in
their inbox. Email marketing
If your emails are no longer having the effect you need them to – whether it’s downloading
is about giving your contacts
content, registering for an event, getting in touch with a sales agent, or even just browsing the
valuable experiences that website – it might be time to re-evaluate email best practices to make sure you’re making the
will keep them engaged with most of your email communications.

the your brand, and the

While many organisations already have a suite of templates that are more than likely aligned
products and services you
with best practice email standards, many organisations do not. Your email template library
offer. should be designed in a way that;

Ensures brand consistency

Considers a multitude of screen sizes and device types
Ensures email messages are reaching your customers when and how you intend them to.

If you’re looking at refurbishing your template library or rebuilding a new one entirely
- we encourage you to be creative, and push the boundaries with the themes and assets
you have available to you. This eBook includes all the things you need to consider when
building your email campaigns to give yourself and your team the best chance at
making an impact with your emails. P2
Contents 2 Purpose of this document 16 Frequency

4 Email strategy 17 Avoiding SPAM filters

6 Language & Copywriting 18 Measuring Success

Bounce Rate
7 Subject Line Open Rate
Personalisation in Subject Click through rate
Lines Conversion Rate
Device Type
8 Preview Text
Unsubscribe rate
9 Content List growth rate

10 CTAs 20 Timing
By audience
11 Email size By device

12 Layout 21 Wrap up
The Inverted Pyramid

13 Images
Using GIFs in email
Using Video in email
Using alt text on images

P3
Email strategy You might need to consider creating a number of different
templates for various emails types, including;

Before kicking off the process of Nurture Pre-Sales Welcome Notice

developing your email campaign,
Event In-Market Update Operational
make sure you have a strategy. What
are you trying to achieve in sending
Many marketers benefit from using a campaign calendar that shows;
your email? Is the email part of a
wider campaign, and how does it fit When emails are being sent? weekly, monthly, quarterly
with the rest of your campaign Email type: sales, marketing, event, newsletter, operational
activity?
Email Purpose: branding, announcement, registrational, awareness (your CTA)

Is your email a marketing, sales or Follow up activity: will you be communicating again when the desired action is

operational email? Consider the not taken?

templates you have to choose from, Core message: The 1 single point you’re trying to get across

and plan your content based on your Audience: name of the list/database you are communicating with.

ultimate goal. It’s helpful to set some

KPIs around what you’re trying to
achieve so you can measure the
success of the email against them, Use the chart on the next page to help
and optimise next time based on visualise what messaging you are pushing to
previous results. the market and when and will make sure
you aren’t over-utilising particular lists.

P4
Download Chart

P5
Language & Copywriting
Consider the audience for your email.

Before starting to construct the content for you email, consider both the audience and
purpose for the communication. Language and tone of your email should be representative
of the audience you are talking to. Consider the demographic of your audience, and in what
tone they would best receive information.

These tips might help you get in the Ensure the above considerations are
right frame of mind to write: balanced with the purpose of your email
– whether it is a sales, marketing,
Determine Brand Voice
operational or notice email type.
Write a conversation, not a sales brochure

Break it up to form purpose-driven sections

Be consistent in your language, tone and voice

Test & edit – does the messaging fit the purpose

Measure success – set your KPIs

P6
Subject Line Personalisation in Subject Lines

Using personalisation in subject lines can increase open rates by 50%

Subject lines are the first thing your recipient and higher click-to-open rates, too. BUT, make sure your data is clean
before using personalisation tags – you don’t want to be referring to
reads when receiving an email from you. Email
someone by their last name, if their contact record is incorrect with
subject lines are like news article headings,
their first and surname fields mixed up.
they need to convey the main point of your
The best way to know the success of your email subject lines is to test
message and encourage the reader towards
them using A/B testing, and continually optimise. Here are some tips
your ultimate goal, which should be your CTA. for and best practices when writing catchy subject lines;

Why? Because whether or not your email gets opened, Keep it simple – don’t use too many action words
your recipient will see your subject line. So, a subject
Personalise where you can by using personalisation tokens
line helps build your brand in your customer’s inbox
even if it’s not actually opened. It creates a Use urgency or timely action-oriented subjects
psychological association between your subject line
Surprise recipient with a fact or statement
and your brand and over time, it creates a cognitive
association between the language you use, and the Pose a question

perception your customers have about you. Segment your list and target recipients

Be as specific as possible. One-word subjects such as Put action verbs at the forefront
“Hi,” “Question,” or “FYI” are not informative and don’t Give people a reason to feel special
give the reader an idea of how important your
message is. If your message is time sensitive, you might
want to include a date in your subject line, like “Your
settlement is coming up next week”, or “Registration
closes tomorrow.” Need help crafting your subject lines?
You can try using a platform like Phrasee
to do it for you!
P7
Preview Text
Outlook Apple Mail
The preview text, which is sometimes referred to as
preheader text, is the copy that sits below the
subject line when the email appears in your inbox.
This text is the second most important thing to
utilise when trying to grab your recipient’s attention
after the subject line.

The preview text should combine a sense of urgency,

together with an expectation of what your reader is going to
see in your email.

Keep the content concise and use plain language Gmail

Include the main points of your email, address your CTA

(if you haven’t in the Subject line) or reiterate it here

A/B test your preview text across campaigns and see

which works best for open rates

Make sure you’re getting your message across in 40-50 AOL

characters to ensure your full message is displaying both
on desktop and on mobile

Don’t repeat your subject line – people don’t need to

read the same thing twice

Test the email subject link and preview text to see

how it reads together
P8
Content Here’s how you can write compelling content:

Keep it simple and strong: Keep messaging concise and to the point
While your recipient might be
Make the email scannable: Add line breaks every 60 characters in your plain text
drawn to open your email through
emails to increase legibility, try using bullets to make your content more visible
the from address, subject line and and separate copy with headings
compelling preview text, the
Align copy to subject line and preheaders, but don’t be repetitive by using the
content in your email is the thing exact same copy
that drives business from the
Know and write for your audience, always keep them front-of-mind
campaign itself. The content is the
thing that will drive the conversion – Concentrate on a singular goal: don’t clutter your email with so many actions that
readers don’t know what to do first (or at all)
which is what you ultimately want.
Body copy font size should be 14 pixels

Heading copy font size should be 22 pixels

Try bolding parts of your body copy to capture attention. Pick only 1-2 words to
bold and avoid overusing this feature.

P9
CTAs For promotional emails, the CTA should be persuasive and compel your
recipients to perform your chosen conversion, this might include:

A call-to-action describes the part/s Make an appointment Register your interest

of the email that asks readers to take
Get in touch Click through to an associated landing page
an action that fulfils the goal of your
email, where there is one. Marketing Visit Us Register for an event

or Sales emails will typically have a

more urgent CTA, while operational Marketers often clutter emails with so many calls to action that none
emails might simply have a link to succeed. Keep an email simple, make it clear what you want the
further information. recipients to do, and give them a compelling reason to do so.

Use a strong command verb to start each CTA

(E.g. Visit, Register, Download, Start, Compare, View)

Give recipients a reason to click – what’s in it for them?

A sense of urgency always helps – add an incentive where it works

(E.g. “Limited space available” followed by “Register Your Interest”)

Use contrasting colours so the CTA stands out

Make sure they are leading to the appropriate campaign landing page
or website page.

P10
Email size
Some email platforms (such as The email message itself is the underlying code that makes up the entirety of your email
– text, images, URLs HTML, and any tracking code that might exist in the email. Each
Gmail) will clip the email after a
character of the code is approximately 1-2 bytes, and the total value of every character
certain size, which is usually
makes up the size of your email.
determined by the number of KB.

Specifically, Gmail will clip emails Use the below tips to help decrease the size of your email and
that have message size larger than give it the best chance of being delivered, and read:
102KB, which will hide all content
Focus on a few key points or a specific call-to-action rather than multiple.
after that point and show the Shorter emails not only avoid clipping, but also improve open rates
[Message clipped] view entire
Use "Read More" links to point to a website where your reader can get
message link.
in-depth information – don’t overload your emails with information where
it’s not necessary

Remove unnecessary spaces or line breaks.

P11
Layout The Inverted Pyramid

Marketers should always work very hard This model for email layout works particularly well for a campaign with a simple
message and a single CTA, though if you can’t avoid a long email, you can repeat
to develop email templates with layouts
this process down the length of your email (just make sure it’s not TOO long!)
that aim to convert readers.
Start with a succinct headline that highlights the key messages, or the value
Layout includes how it should look, its
proposition of the email
length, fonts, colours, image use, and
Follow up with supporting information and imagery to convince readers of
CTA placement
the benefits of clicking through and converting

Limit yourself to four or five modules (excluding Present your CTA to make it clear how you want them to act next.
footer/disclaimer and mandatory ‘view online’
sections) for better visual emphasis

Don’t use too many CTAs

Grab Attention
(See section on CTAs for tips)

Where your copy is running long, consider limiting

characters and hyperlinking ‘…Read More’ copy that Build
will lead to a relevant landing page Anticipation

Consider the hierarchy of information that you want

to pay importance to. Ultimate CTA goes first!

Use the right template for the purpose of your email. Call to
Action

P12
Images
Research shows that the human brain
processes visuals 60,000 times faster
than text, making images a very Using GIFs in email Using Video in email
powerful tool to use in your email.
Research has shown that the use of GIFs in Because video can’t be played in email,
Strong and beautiful imagery will emails can help increase the conversion many organisations will use image
helps encourage email readers or site rate by 103 percent, while also positively components with a play button overlayed
affecting open and click-through rates. on the image. Videos should be
visitors to engage with your content.
Consider using GIFs to display projects or embedded onto a landing page using the
lifestyle images rather than using the YouTube or Vimeo embed link, and the
video component for something different. email should link through to the landing
page, not link directly to the company
Where GIFs aren’t supported, recipients
YouTube channel.
will just see a static image so make sure
that the leading image is appropriate for We should always be driving traffic to the
the email. website where we can, rather than
external platforms.
Remember to check your stats from
previous sends to make sure you’re
sending the right email elements to the
right audience; GIFs are not compatible
with Outlook and Lotus, where only the
first frame will be shown – so make sure
you’re picking the right elements for the
most popular email client used by your
recipient list.

P13
 Images downloaded in Apple Mail Images not downloaded

Using alt text on images

To help with image load times and to

help protect from viruses, many email
platforms will not automatically
download images. Today, recipients also
often have the option to turn off image
loading – especially on mobile.

To help encourage recipients to take the

extra step and download images, to get
the full visual experience of your email,
always include alt text for images (except
items like divider lines). If you leave out
alt text, your readers see a blank box.

Make your alt text compelling and descriptive of the image itself to
entice the recipient to want to see the image and go out of their way
to download it (and the rest in your email).

P14
To the right outlines what
recipients will see when alt text is When images are
being used versus not, as well as downloaded:
how you can use the text itself to
be descriptive.

How images
might appear
with no alt text:

How images
appear with Right click to download Right click to download Right click to download

generic text:

How images appear

when using specific Call SalesManager Explore Properties Download Brochure

language to
describe the image:

P15
Frequency Some effects of over-mailing your subscribers can include:

Increased unsubscribes or opt-outs

How many emails is too many?
Decreased engagement leading to lower conversion rates
There is no hard and fast answer
Flagging emails as SPAM, risking an IP ban by the internet service provider
to what the perfect cadence for
email sends is, so it’s best to look
The best way to know how many emails you should be sending your list is by looking
at your data. at your data. If by sending four emails per month you’re losing subscribers, try
sending only two per month and measure their success.

Once you have found a cadence that suits the audience you’re sending to, focus on
optimising your emails themselves through compelling and lead generating content.

P16
Avoiding Some SPAM trigger words include:

SPAM filters % off Fast cash Lifetime Promise

$$$ Free Limited time offer Refinance

SPAM filters can be triggered for a number
of reasons. Here are the main ones: 100% free Free gift Lose Reminder

100% satisfied Free info Maintained Remove

The subject line contains a SPAM
trigger word – see examples on the Acceptance Free installation Make $ Reverses
right Accordingly Free investment Medium Sample

Your email contains all capitals Act now Free leads Miracle Satisfaction

Affordable Free membership Never Satisfaction guaranteed

Your email has a lot of exclamation
points Apply now Free offer No gimmicks Save $

You’re using attachments Avoid Free preview No hidden coasts Search engine listings

Billion Free trial No investment Serious cash

Image to text ratio is high – don’t use
too many images Cash bonus Get started now Now only Solution

Chance Great offer Obligation Special promotion

Emails less than 500 characters
should contain a supporting image Cheap Guarantee One hundred Stop
percent
Emails over 500 characters are not Click here Help Success
significantly impacted by One time
Compare rates Hidden Test
image/text ratio restrictions Opportunity
Credit Hidden assets Thousands
Too many different fonts and/or styles Order now
Double your income Increase sales Urgent
Order today
Low historical open rates Earn $ Increase traffic Visit our website
Please read
Email is unsolicited – recipient may Earn extra cash Increase your sales Web traffic
mark as SPAM Prices
Extra income Incredible deal
Problem
Free Info you requested P17
Measuring Bounce Rate
Success
How to calculate: Returned emails ÷ Sent emails × 100
As a marketer, regularly reviewing
The bounce rate is the percentage of email addresses that returned an error after being
your email success should be part of sent. Errors can be either hard or soft bounces. Hard bounces include non-existent or
your routine. invalid email addresses, so emails will never be delivered to that email address. Soft
bounces may include a delivery address with a full inbox, or where there are server
Taking the time to review the email issues. If the issue is resolved, the email will be delivered.
marketing metrics chosen to measure
Monitoring bounce rates is important for ensuring that your messages are reaching the
the success of your campaigns before people you want them to, as well as providing a good indicator of the cleanliness of your
sending your next campaign will data. Where your hard bounce rate is high, you might want to look at those invalid
emails and clean up your database.
ensure that your message has the
best chance at resonating with your Similarly, high bounce rates may be related to a specific email client. Hard bounce rates
audience. It’s important to remember are also one of the key elements used by internet service providers (ISPs) to determine
sender reputation: this is why you should always clean up your lists in a timely manner
that success can be measured
when such issues arise.
incrementally, so tracking your email
marketing metrics on an ongoing
Open Rate
basis is important

We advise that you measure the How to calculate: Emails opened ÷ Emails delivered × 100

following metrics each time an Open rate is the number of emails opened compared to the total amount delivered.
email campaign is sent. Open rates are affected most by the subject and preheader: carry out tests frequently
and pay extreme attention when drafting interesting copy that arouses curiosity and
urges recipients to open the message

P18
 Click through rate Conversion Rate List growth rate

How to calculate: How to calculate: How to calculate:

Emails opened ÷ Emails delivered × 100 Number of users who have completed your (Number of new subscribers) - (Number of
goal ÷ Emails delivered × 100 unsubscribes + email/spam complaints) ÷ (Total
This is the number of clicks on the links
number of email addresses on your list) × 100
contained in an email message, divided by the Open rate is the number of emails opened
number of emails delivered. The click-through compared to the total amount delivered. This is the rate at which your email list is growing.
rate is determined by the email’s content – Open rates are affected most by the subject Marketers should always be keeping tabs on your
images, copy and especially calls-to-action. and preheader: carry out tests frequently and list growth and loss. You should be aiming to
pay extreme attention when drafting grow your list in order to extend your reach,
interesting copy that arouses curiosity and expand your audience, and position the brand in
urges recipients to open the message the way you want across your different audiences.

Be aware that there is a natural decay of your

email marketing list by about 22.5% every year on
average. This means is important to pay attention
Device Type Unsubscribe rate
to the ways in which you’re generating more
subscribers and growing your list to ensure it
Marketers should always be looking at the How to calculate: stays at a healthy size.
common devices or email clients used to Unsubscribed users ÷ Emails sent) × 100
open emails, in order to properly optimise the
This is the number of clicks on the links
email for those common platforms. This will
contained in an email message, divided by the
also inform when the best time to send your
number of emails delivered. The click-through
email is, based on whether your audience is
rate is determined by the email’s content –
sitting at a desktop (usually during work
images, copy and especially calls-to-action.
hours), or on their mobile (typically used at
home on the commute).

P19
Timing
A number of different email providers suggest that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are favourite days to
send email campaigns, with MailChimp confirming that Tuesday and Thursday are the two most popular days
to send email communications.

Research has shown: By audience

6am – 10am:
Popular for promotional emails for events, It’s important to remember first your email’s audience before deciding what
restaurants, and consumer goods might be the best time to send your email. When you know your audience, you
can consider what their day might look like. Are they commuting to and from
10am – 3pm:
work and have the ability to check emails? If they’re likely to have typical
Most people are busy working and email open
9:00am-5:00pm work hours, sending before or after work could lead to higher
rates are down
open rates, with more time to browse through landing pages during commute.
3pm – 5pm: If you’re targeting downsizers, the 10:00am – noon timeslot might be better.
Recipients open emails connected to property and
financial services more than any other email type

5pm – 10pm: By device

Promotional or sales emails have more opens

While the above can serve as a general rule, Consider using your device type metric when deciding a time to send your emails.
understanding your demographics is arguably the If your list typically open on a mobile device, you could assume they’re opening
most important thing when deciding when to their emails before work, during lunch or after work rather than while they’re at
send your emails. their computer during work hours.

P20
Wrap up
We hope this eBook as been helpful for you to ensure you’re
thinking about all your email best practices when building
and executing on your email program.

If you’re looking at refurbishing your template library or

rebuilding a new one entirely, Triggerfish can help you be
creative and push the boundaries – while making sure you’re
making incremental progress each and every time you send
an email.

Do you need help with

your email marketing?
Contact us

digital growth partners