The Ultimate Email Marketing Checklist for Beginners — Plan your Next Email Campaign Effectively

4 July 2017 Cem Hurturk

Who says Email Marketing is dead?

It still remains the most effective way to nurture leads and convert them into customers. Without a doubt, it is an ideal way to keep connected with your customers if done right. It is so popular and widely used because it is a permission-based marketing. Still have doubts about its effectiveness?

Have a look at these statistics!

Radicati group shows that there are 2.58 billion email users worldwide including both business users and consumers.
According to a Forrester Research, one in five, i.e. 19% of customers said that they opened and read every newsletter they received just to see if there is something on offer.
MarketingSherpa 2015 report shows: 72% of consumers say that email is their favored mode of communication with companies they do business with, 61% say they like to receive weekly promotional emails and 28% want to receive them even more frequently.

Convinced how important it is to create an effective email campaign?

So, before you jump into creating the next campaign for your business, we have a comprehensive checklist for you to follow!

1. Build an Organic Email List

First and foremost, you need to possess a healthy email list. With the rise in inbox clutter and customers becoming more and more sensitive to unwanted and irrelevant information, marketers need to build lists with utmost care and relevance.

To build your email lists the right way,

Leverage sign-up sheets in ads or on your website to encourage people to fill in their details.
Engage people through social media.
Use opt-ins to optimize your website.
Offer freebies and ask them to fill your opt-in form in order to download.
Create subscription levels and offer them subscription options.
Ask your existing customers to refer friends and give them discounts.

Focus on the right target audience and plan your move strategically to get maximum ROI from your campaign.

2. Segmenting your Email List is the Key

Segmenting your email list lets you provide your subscribers with more relevant information. It lets you send customized emails to your recipients. Segmentation can be done based on the following factors:

Geography
Age
Persona
Gender
Industry
Organization Type
Education Level
Job Type
Personal Interests
Purchase Interests
Purchase History
Purchase Cycle
Buying Frequency
Interest Level
Email Activity

Segmenting your list increases your email open rates, boosts conversions and reduces unsubscribe rates. Once you have figured out your targeted audience, you can go ahead with creating the personalized content.

3. Focus on Content and Design

Creating relevant, to-the-point yet informative content is a must. Keep in mind the segmentation criteria and create content that reflects the core of your company and the campaign. Keep a friendly tone and add humor to your content to endear your business to the customers.

Catchy Subject Lines:

Catchy subject lines prompt your subscribers to open your emails. Research shows that 35% users open emails based on the subject line alone. Use a familiar sender name and keep it short and sweet. Create a sense of urgency and also intimidate them of what is in the email.

Personalized Content:
Personalized and dynamic content can lead to big wins in email marketing. Personalize the greeting and keep the content concise so that it is easy to read and grasp. Focus on creating an appropriate personalization strategy by using the data you have collected to boost conversions.
Design and Layout:
You must have a strong design for your email. Choosing the right color palette, typography, and layout is very important to make sure your emails look attractive. Choose a simple yet attractive layout and make sure the colors you choose go well with your brand without overpowering your message. Do not use too many typefaces in one email, as it makes the email illegible.
Optimize for Mobile:
Email design must be mobile-friendly, as mobile users are a major chunk of your audience. Ensure that the content and design of your emails are easy to interact with and render well across in mobile devices, tablets, and desktop environments. Keep the copy short, concise and easy for your readers to understand the action they are expected to.

4. Do the Branding Well

It is extremely important to create an image to make your customers recall and trust your brand. Your template, logo, and the layout you choose all represent your company in the subscribers’ inbox.

Consistent Template:
Stick to your brand standards while crafting your email template. Define specific color palette, typefaces, buttons, and design so that it is easy for your subscribers to recognize your brand.
Company Logo:
Company logo is a critical aspect of your email. Make sure you place your company logo right at the top of your email so that it is the first thing that the viewers notice when they click to open.
Social Sharing Buttons:
Your emails must have social buttons that would allow the subscribers to engage with you on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. On the other hand, live feeds for Twitter and Facebook along with Instagram integration can help in boosting user engagement.
Unsubscribe Link:
With the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, it is mandatory to have an Unsubscribe link in your email. Include the link at the end of the email (or at the top) and keep a track on the number of subscribes and unsubscribes.
Contact Us:
Include your company’s contact details in the footer of your email. This helps the users to get in touch with you if required.

5. Test the Emails before Sending

Following the best practices and tips to craft an email is just not enough. What works for one set of audience may not work for the other. To make sure your emails work effectively for your target audience, test your emails. The key elements that need to be considered while testing the emails are as follows:

Subject Line
Time of the day
From Name
Copy length
Personalization
Placement of CTA
Font styles and colors
Placement of Unsubscribe link
Social sharing icons
Text-to-image ratio

Based on the results of testing, make necessary decisions and modifications to your campaign before sending the actual email.

6. Track the Results

Once you send an email, measure its performance and success by tracking the following metrics:

Deliverability
Open Rate
Click-through Rate
Conversion Rate
Bounce Rate
Unsubscribe Rate
Leads generated
Overall ROI

Wrapping Up

In a nutshell, for an effective email campaign, you need to meticulously adhere to certain things, which have been mentioned above. This will help you plan and execute your email campaign in the most appropriate manner.

Author Bio:

Kevin, the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks — one of the fastest growing Email design and coding companies, specializes in crafting beautiful email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and much more. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and breathes ‘email marketing’. He is a brand magician who loves to engage, share insights with fellow marketers. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter.

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