We manage email campaigns for several clients, and we also send our own. So we’ve seen what works from both sides. Here are the things that actually make a difference — no “hacks” required.
Your subject line is everything
If nobody opens the email, nothing else matters. Keep subject lines short (under 50 characters if possible), specific, and honest. Curiosity works better than clickbait. “Our new process saved a client 40 hours” beats “You WON’T BELIEVE what happened next” every time.
Send less, say more
The fastest way to kill your email list is to email too often with nothing to say. We’ve seen businesses go from 40% open rates to 15% by switching from monthly emails to weekly ones without having four times as much to say. Once or twice a month is plenty for most businesses. If you don’t have something useful to share, wait until you do.
Write like a person
The emails that perform best for our clients don’t read like marketing. They read like a note from someone who knows what they’re talking about. Short paragraphs, conversational tone, no corporate speak. If your email starts with “We are pleased to announce,” delete that sentence and start with the actual news.
One email, one goal
Every email should have one thing you want the reader to do. Read a blog post. Check out a new product. Book a consultation. Reply with feedback. When you try to cram three different CTAs into one email, people do none of them.
Segment your list
Sending the same email to everyone on your list is like running the same ad for every product you sell. Even basic segmentation helps — past customers vs prospects, or people who opened your last email vs people who haven’t engaged in months. Most email platforms make this easy and the performance difference is significant.
Clean your list regularly
A list of 5,000 engaged subscribers is worth more than a list of 20,000 where half the addresses are dead. Inactive subscribers hurt your deliverability, which means your emails are more likely to land in spam for everyone — including the people who actually want to hear from you. Remove bounces, and re-engage or remove people who haven’t opened an email in six months.
Mobile first
Most people read email on their phone. If your email has tiny text, images that don’t resize, or buttons that are impossible to tap on mobile, you’re losing a huge chunk of your audience. Test every email on a phone before you send it. Takes 30 seconds and it’s worth it.
Email isn’t as flashy as social media, but it consistently delivers the best ROI of any marketing channel. The trick is respecting your subscribers’ time and inbox — give them something worth reading, and they’ll keep opening.