Emails are crowding inboxes more than ever. For anyone to notice, your email has to stand out above the rest. Emails can have great content and support a cool product or idea, but the headline might be terrible. Or, the subject line is captivating, but the message inside is generic and boring.

Fortunately, there are tips to elevate the odds of your audience viewing and engaging with your emails. More views and more leads can equal more revenue and what business doesn’t love hearing that?

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Subject Line

A crucial part of the email and the first thing your recipient sees. The goal here is to… you guessed it - open the email!

How do I know if there are too many words in the subject line? According to Invesp, subject lines that had 6-10 words, performed the best with a 21% open rate. For mobile use, keep in mind that 33-43 characters of the subject line are visible on email apps.

How do I get people to open my email? There may not be a definite answer to that, but there are ways to increase your odds. Let’s take a look:

• Create curiosity - don’t give away everything in your subject line, provide a little tease for your readers. Creating curiosity will keep your recipients guessing and can provoke them to engage with your brand.
• Personalization - being personal with your audience makes them feel like the email was created with them in mind. It can build trust and assist in a long-term relationship. According to Campaign Monitor, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.

• News - people love news, especially breaking news. Depending on the industry, breaking news can be a company event, new product, personnel change, company announcement, or a new statistic found. Whatever it is, be creative.
• Emojis - when they are used in email subject lines, emojis help separate you from the rest. In a study conducted by Experian, 56% of brands that use emojis in email subject lines experienced a higher open rate compared to text-only.

Quick tip: before you send emails, ask yourself if you would open it.

Images and Headlines

This is the handshake to your email. Make sure to choose an image that is visually appealing to your audience. The headlines inside your email should immediately tell the reader what the offer is and why they should care.

The Copy

The heart of the message. Always remember to be clear and concise. More importantly, have a value proposition.

The two types of emails that are surging in the business world today are promotional emails and newsletters. According to Clickback, B2B newsletters are regarded as the most critical to content marketing success by 40% of marketers.

So, how do I know the ideal length of an email? Consider your audience.

Your target audience can play a major role in the length of your email. For sales, data suggests the optimal length of an email between 50 and 125 words had the best response rate at just above 50%, according to Hubspot.

For newsletters it’s a bit tricky. According to Campaign Monitor, research suggests the right length of a newsletter email is 20 lines or 200 words maximum. But overall, it depends on the audience.

Remember that you’re allowed to segment so everyone doesn’t have to receive the same email format.

Keep in mind that your message, value proposition, and how you say it is more important than the length. If the email requires it to be lengthy, don’t stress. Keep it conversational and create it in a way where it’s easy to understand.

Sender Name

Your display name, also known as the sender name, tells your recipients who is sending them the email. This can be a determining factor whether your email gets ignored or opened. In B2B marketing, using the name of a real person instead of just the name of the company works well. To make it even more clear who it is coming from, you can use a name and include the company they work for. Here’s an example:

Source: 9Clouds

If you are sending the email from marketing in general, maybe test out sending all of these from someone in marketing, like your CMO. The send name should embody your brand and differentiate you from others.

From Address

This helps identify you to your recipients. Make sure this address is a real inbox and matches your sender name to avoid hitting spam traps.

Reply To

This is the email address that any responses from the recipient gets sent to. Be sure to have a process in place to receive and reply to emails in a timely and professional manner.

This can be automated by using tools that will actually sift through the responses and take action on the record based on the response. For example with Drift Email, you can set up rules that anytime you get an auto-response from a person no longer with the company, you can mark a field in your CRM that they are no longer there. You can also route valid responses to sales people automatically.

Design

A common question is “Should I use plain-text or HTML?” Let’s take a look:

HTML is usually good for marketing emails. When it comes to tracking and analytics, the HTML format is the preferred route. If you are going to use this style, consider a clean template that emphasizes the message rather than one with extra fluff. (Campaign Monitor)

Plain-text is strong in personal contact. And when it comes to accessibility, meaning various abilities people have in technology, plain-text is superior. (Stripo)

To break the tie, user engagement goes in favor of HTML. Embedded photos and videos, noticeable call-to-action buttons, and interactive elements are allowed by HTML formats.

No matter the choice, give people the option to choose. If the emails are strictly HTML, offer plain-text for accessibility purposes.

For mobile use, have a responsive design.

Call To Action

This is the action you want the reader to take when they finish reading your email. A call to action can be anywhere from a button, a link text, or an image. Make sure it’s consistent with other elements in the email. Having it bold makes it obvious for the reader to know what to do.

You can always test and edit to make sure you got it right.

Unsubscribe

Although you want to avoid this from happening, every email needs an unsubscribe link to remain “CAN- SPAM” compliant. The only exception for unsubscribes is if it’s a receipt or a confirmation email.

Make sure it’s clearly labeled so readers can update their email preferences.

Email is widely considered one of the top forms of communication in the world. With that being said, it’s the perfect opportunity to connect with your target audience.

Email marketing is not dead. Avoid the flatline by following best practices, knowing the trends, and providing value.

Great emails keep your audience happy!