14 Email Tactics to Try in

2014

Presented by Iterable

Dynamic content is personalized content delivered based on an individual’s

data criteria. Examples include sending a coupon to inactive users or an email

with the latest women’s clothing arrivals to female subscribers. If you’re trying

to create a more relevant experience (and increase open rates), dynamic

content is the way to go.

1. Add dynamic content

All subscribers are not created equal, so it’s time to stop sending the same email

blast to your whole subscriber list. Consider creating segmented lists based on

consumer behavior (VIP’s vs. one time shoppers), life stage (single vs. parent) or

interests (indie rock vs. hip hop). There are unlimited ways to slice and dice your

subscribers so you can start creating more targeted email campaigns.

2. Segment your lists

image via AlleyWatch

A friendly sender name can boost your open rates. Try experimenting with a

couple options such as “Company Name”, “Hello from Company Name”, or

“Person from Company Name”. An Iterable client experimented with a couple

sender name variations and the winning name actually earned over 70%

increase in email open rates over the control.

3. Switch up the sender name

Is your audience more likely to check email in the morning when they go to work or

at night in bed before going to sleep? Try switching up your send times to see which

time gives you best open and click rates.

4. Vary your send times

image via Inthralid.com

The preheader is the text that appears after the email subject in the inbox,

and it’s shocking how many times it gets ignored. Think of it as 80-120 more

characters you can use to convince people to open your email. Use it as a

preview or summary for the body of the email.

5. Pay attention to the preheader

Effective subject lines are straightforward, concise and pique the reader’s

interest to open the email. Avoid using spammy words such as “Free”, “All

Natural”, “Act now”, and refrain from adding too many exclamation points!!!

If you plan on A/B testing your email campaigns, the subject line is another

great place to start.

6. Try different subject lines

DKIM, SPF and DMARC are email authentication techniques that can improve

your sender reputation and the deliverability of emails sent from your domain.

They can be activated by adjusting your DNS records.

7. Implement DKIM, SPF & DMARC

image via Neon-Das.com

Email may not be everyone’s preferred method of communicating with your

brand. Add social icons to your emails to allow your customers to engage with

you through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and other social channels.

You’ll also enjoy increased fans, followers, +1’s, etc.

8. Add social networks to your emails

image via WhoWhatWear

You’ve A/B tested the best color, font size and copy for call to action buttons

on your website, but when’s the last time you tested those variations for

email? Experimenting with different elements of your email templates may

help you uncover the option that maximizes conversions.

9. Experiment with call to action buttons

image via Marriott

Almost 50% of emails are opened on a mobile device. Therefore it’s

imperative to make sure your email looks just as good on a phone or tablet, as

it does on desktop. If you’re using a 3rd party ESP, make sure it has the ability

to preview emails by device.

10. Optimize for mobile

Allowing people to choose how often they hear from you can lower your

unsubscribe rates or save your emails from being marked as spam.

11. Let people choose how often they receive emails

image via LinkedIn

Triggered email campaigns send emails to users after a certain user action or event.

Some examples could be birthday promotion emails, Amazon’s “products you may

also like” emails or registration confirmation emails. If you are currently only

sending uniform blast emails, adding some triggered campaigns could encourage

audience interaction with your brand.

12. Create triggered email campaigns

image via Amazon

The internet is gif-obsessed, proven by the popularity of Vine, Tumblr and

Buzzfeed. Incorporating these moving images in your email can help you

showcase multiple products, highlight a product in motion, or just get your

audience to take a second look at your email.

13. Incorporate gifs into your emails

gif via American Apparel

There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not it is wise to add video to

emails, considering it is only supported by 62% of email clients. However, if

you just spent a lot of resources creating a dazzling new video, adding it to

email can help increase its reach. Just be sure to add a fallback image, so

users using non-video supported email clients can click the hyperlinked image

to view the video in a browser.

14. Use video

video via Lyft