how to create great emails that get opened and clicked

How to Create Great Emails that Get Opened and Clicked January 16th 2014

Who Am I?

Justine Jordan Marketing Director, Litmus

@meladorri @litmusapp #KISSwebinar

Twi!er

1 Making a good first impression

We’ll cover…

2 Creating an excellent subscriber experience

3 A/B test ideas + examples

#KISSwebinar

4 Lots of best practices along the way

1 Effective

Why Email?

2 Inexpensive

3 Immediate

4 Measurable

5 (Relatively) easy

#KISSwebinar

Banner Ads

$2for every $1 spent

Source: MediaPost.com

$17Keyword Ads

for every $1 spent

Source: MediaPost.com

$40Email Marketing

for every $1 spent

Source: MediaPost.com

Email gets more clicks . . .

#KISSwebinar

. . . and conversions

#KISSwebinar

You get the point.

Email Works. Duh!

Email is: A unique medium with unique considerations

Email is not: A JPG A print ad A banner ad A one-page web site

Emails are not weapons of mass destruction

Every email should have a purpose.

➡ What do you want the subscriber to do?

➡ How are you going to measure success?

➡ What are the business goals behind this communication?

➡ Is email the best way to communicate your message?

➡ Who should should receive the message?

➡ Is the message relevant to your subscribers?

Every email should have a purpose.

Why are you sending this email?

✓ Lead generation

✓ Brand awareness

✓ Is it relevant?

Who are you sending to, and what do you know about them?

✓ Internal vs. external

✓ B2B vs. B2C

✓ Demographics

Every email should have a purpose.

What do you want subscribers to do once they receive your email?

✓ Register for a webinar

✓ Read an article

How are you going to measure success?

✓ Open/click data

✓ Leads generated

✓ Conversions

What do you want the subscriber to do?

✓ Is email the best way to communicate your message?

The email experience

???

From Name

Subject Line

Preheader

Preview/Open

Tap/Click

Page/Site

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

First impressions ma!er

From Name

What is recognizable, trustworthy and relevant?

Does the subscriber have a relationship with a person or the brand?

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

no-reply is a no-go

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Be on-brand and relevant

From Name

Symbols in subject lines

Can increase open rates. Use carefully to support your message rather than detract from value.

No such thing as a perfect subject line

1 Free is OK

2 Shorter=be!er?

3 Relevance!

4 Useful + specific

5 Test, test, test

h!ps://litmus.com/blog/how-to-write-the-perfect-subject-line-infographic

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject LineFrom Name

Preheader = tertiary inbox content

Preheader Best Practices

1

2

3

4

Support your subject line with a creative, useful or helpful preheader.

Call to action

Reminder

Special message / value prop

Clickable/measurable

These are bad preheader examples

Repetitive content, unhelpful, potentially negative brand impact

These are good preheader examples

Helpful, smart, funny, engaging

Optimizing the “Envelope Fields”

From Name~25 characters

Subject Line ~35 characters

Preheader~85 characters

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Don’t count on images showing up

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Convey your message without images

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Be aware, not afraid, of the fold

From Name

Content and visual hierarchy

➡ Prioritize important information

➡ Prune extraneous & irrelevant content

➡ Use color, weight, size & placement for emphasis

➡ Bullets are your friends

➡ Use a mix of rational & emotional appeals

➡ Utilize background colors, lists & borders

➡ Use strong & clear calls-to-action

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Create click opportunities

From Name

➡ Linked imagery

➡ Video

➡ Bu!ons

➡ Charts

➡ Colored backgrounds

➡ Preheader text

➡ Forward & share

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Tell the subscriber what to do!

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

What is the message?

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

What should I do?

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

What should I do?

From Name

Call to action best practices

1 Bu!ons!

2 Context

3 Active language

4 Size

5 Placement

h!ps://litmus.com/blog/designing-the-perfect-call-to-action

Bulletproof bu!ons are visible when images aren’t

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Don’t forget the landing page

From Name

???Page/SiteTap/ClickPreview/OpenPreheaderSubject Line

Is this a positive experience?

From Name

Where’s the download?

… add to cart?

Don’t forget the text version

1 Create hierarchy with symbols

2 Avoid hard breaks

3 Put links on a new line

4 Tabs, spacing and CAPS to organize content

5 Convey imagery with text

Don’t forget the text version

Designing for purpose

Email is the ideal environment for fast, easy and cheap testing BUT what works for one person (or one email) won’t necessarily work for another

Testing ideas

Time of day Day of week Subject Lines Creative look and feel Imagery Call to action

Pre-Header Navigation Content Layout Length of content Personalization Segmentation

Be sure your test is repeatable. You need a hypothesis.

Some tests we’ve run…

Subject lines • Specific vs. vague • Buzzy vs. straightforward !Bu!on language / call-to-action • Product vs. content • Additional bu!ons (more click

opportunities) !Video thumbnail imagery • Person vs. product !Content • Headline vs. no headline !Bu!on colors • Green vs. blue

Some tests we’ve run…

Version A: Green bu!on Version B: Blue bu!on

Some tests we’ve run…

Version A: Green bu!on Version B: Blue bu!on

no change

Some tests we’ve run…

Version A: Start testing Version B: Read our overview

Some tests we’ve run…

Version A: Start testing Version B: Read our overview

2x clicks

Some tests we’ve run…

Subject line A: Don’t forward this… !

Subject line B: The best way to share emails

Some tests we’ve run…

Subject line A: Don’t forward this… !

Subject line B: The best way to share emails

54% more clicks

Testing can be simple . . . or complex.

Which test won?

Design A Design B Design C

Which test won?

Design C

➡ Outperformed Control CTR by 26%

➡ Outperformed Projected revenue of 2nd place by 4%

Which test won?

Design A Design B Design C

Which test won?

Design B➡ Outperformed 2nd place by < 2%

➡ Outperformed control CTR by 26%

➡ Outperformed unsubscribe rate by 15.9%

The uniqueness of email goes beyond design . . .

HTML coding / rendering

➡ HTML for email is not HTML for the web

➡ Code like it’s 1999!

➡ Use HTML tables for layout

• Specify widths for table elements

• Images should be in their own table cell

➡ Avoid CSS for positioning or layout

➡ Proper syntax is key

➡ Use ALT text

HTML coding / rendering

➡ No JavaScript

➡ No Flash

➡ Limited support for HTML5 or CSS3

➡ Use inline CSS instead of embedded

• (Gmail doesn’t support embedded CSS)

➡ HTML forms (not supported everywhere)

➡ Background images (not supported in Outlook 2007+)

➡ Web-based email clients behave differently based on the browser (IE vs Firefox)

Rendering

➡ TEST TEST TEST

➡ Only comprehensive testing will ensure

that your email appears the way you

want it to in your subscriber’s inbox

➡ Subscribers view emails in many

different environments: desktop email

clients, web-based email clients and

mobile clients.

Avoid this

1 Design for your subscribers

2 For every email, ask: What am I trying to say?

How will subscribers take action?

Where are they going next?

3 Institute a culture of testing

-TAKEAWAYS -

Thanks!

Thanks! justine@litmus.com / @meladorri