Email Marketing Optimization

Email marketing optimization is a set of measures companies take to increase the conversion rate and build long-lasting relationships with their audience, using email marketing.

How to Optimize Email Marketing

Approaches to email optimization vary depending on the sector of business, its size, the number of subscribers, etc. We’ve collected some actionable tips on how to optimize your email marketing.

Improve email deliverability

This process determines how many of your emails can reach recipients’ inboxes. Here’s what you can do to increase your chances:

• Set up authentication parameters. Activate DKIM and SPF validation systems, so your recipients’ email servers understand that you are a reliable sender.
• Warm-up your IP-address. If you start your email marketing from a clean slate, i.e., a new IP address, remember that it hasn’t earned any reputation score yet. This impacts your email deliverability, so warm up your IP address by gradually increasing the number of emails you send.
• Check your emails for spam. It’s convenient with SendPulse because the service gives actionable recommendations before sending an email campaign. It detects the inappropriate length of the subject line and preheader, spammy words in content, broken links, and more.

More tips may help you improve the deliverability of your messages. We’ve gathered all of them in the email deliverability best practices article.

Monitor email marketing metrics

Metrics like the open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate will show what’s in your strategy needs to be optimized. Let’s get a closer view of the metrics you need to check:

• Open rate. It is the number of opened emails from the total number of delivered. There are three things you need to optimize to improve these metrics: the sender’s name, subject line, and preheader text.
• Click-through rate. This metric identifies the percentage of clicks on the links from the number of delivered emails. Relevant offers and engaging content helps to improve this metric.
• Bounce rate. It identifies the number of emails that weren’t delivered. There are two types of bounce: soft and hard. A soft bounce means that your email wasn’t delivered due to temporary reasons like a full inbox. Such a message may reach the inbox later. In case of hard bounces, like invalid email address, remove inactive subscribers from your mailing list to ensure a better sender reputation.
• Unsubscribe rate. It means how many users unsubscribed from a particular email campaign. Keep these metrics under 0,05%.
• Conversion rate. It is a crucial metric that shows a number of purchases or other actions taken as conversions from the total number of sent emails. The conversion rate helps to measure the revenue earned with email marketing.

You can view all this data in SendPulse statistics, like on the screenshot below.

Produce high-quality content

Relevancy is the key to building long-lasting relationships with your audience. But how can you make your content relevant in email marketing? Follow the tips below.

• Use personalization. Start by using subscribers’ names in the subject lines and content. For this purpose, use variables that are automatically created after users opt-in with a subscription form by SendPulse.
• Segment your audience. Divide subscribers into groups with something in common, like age, gender, or location. With those segments at hand, you can send slightly different emails with dynamic content like changing images, phrases, call-to-actions for various segments of your mailing list. Use behavioral segmentation to take advantage of the common patterns in user behavior.
• Use automation. Create email workflows, greet new subscribers with welcome emails, and send abandoned cart emails. Automation also allows you to upsell and cross-sell more goods to your customers and re-engage inactive subscribers.
• Create intriguing subject lines. Make sure the subject line is eye-catching and reflects the email content. Don’t use spammy words like “buy,” “money,” “best,” etc. The same rules apply to the preheader text, which tends to support the idea of your subject line. Learn more about the best man can get from the subject lines here.
• Offer relevant products. Tailor your promotions to specific subscribers at the right time. Use targeting to communicate with the right audience. Make use of holidays, birthdays, anniversaries to celebrate these days by special offers in emails
• Design emails easy to perceive. Stick to the inverted pyramid email design. Use images that describe your products in the best way. Follow email design best practices to make your emails look more professional.

References

1. The article “Ask the Experts: Email Marketing Optimization” by Econsultancy provides actionable tips on optimizing email strategy.
2. The article “7 Strategies to Optimize Your Email Marketing Campaign” by Clickz defines the term and shows some ways of improving email marketing tactics.

Last Updated: 11.04.2024