best email marketing for successful campaigns

If you’re searching for the best email marketing strategy to generate more revenue for your outdoor brand or non-profit, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve jam-packed this blog with easy, actionable steps to help you be more strategic and improve your email marketing.

Did you know that whether you sell bicycles or board shorts, email marketing converts better than social media?? It’s also the best way to remind potential customers about a product they might be interested in, to make a donation, or if they’ve left an item in their cart!

Therefore, this email marketing blog will focus on how to design your email, the types of automated emails you should set up, when to send your emails and at what time. We’ve also included a whole section on brand partnership emails and brand collab emails as we get this question a lot from our clients about how best to handle. But first, got a question that can’t wait?? Drop us a line!

email marketing fun facts

Now then, here are a few quick facts about the best email marketing campaigns:

More than 60% of emails are opened from a mobile device
The average open rate for marketing emails is 20-25%, however since the Apple iOS 15 update, we’ve seen rates as high as 45% on average!
Tuesday is the best day to send!

LEARN ABOUT OUR EMAIL MARKETING SERVICES

Did you know that more people are opening emails from their mobile phones than from their desktop computers?

best email marketing: 10 tips to sending better emails

We are big fans of DIY tips! And the best email marketing is often done in-house. Therefore, here are steps you can implement today to improve your emails!

1. SET UP YOUR EMAIL AUTOMATIONS

All of the best email marketing platforms will allow you to set up automated emails. Whether you use SalesForce Marketing Cloud, Shopify, Klaviyo, Mailchimp or others, you will have automations available. Keep in mind, they may be called email automations, but can also be referred to as customer journeys, drip campaigns, push notifications, etc.

Here are just a few examples of email automations you can create:

Welcome email
Abandoned cart email
Reengagement email
Repeat customer email
Email nurture series

While email automations are labor-intensive it is worth your time to set these up! Think about how you receive that reminder email from a brand you like, “Looks like you’ve forgot something…don’t worry, we saved it for you.” It may seem cheesy but it is effective!

2. BEST LENGTH FOR EMAILS: Keep ‘EM short

Your readers will spend an average of 2-10 seconds reading your email. So, keep ’em short and to the point! If your subscribers see long paragraphs of text, will they keep reading or unsubscribe? Will they save your email for later, but then never read it?

Therefore, here are a few tips to tighten up your email copy:

Use no more than 3 main sections per email.
Keep each section to 2-3 sentences max.
Create calls to action and linked text.
Direct traffic to your website to read a full blog or view product specs!
Make it easily skimmable!

finding it hard to trim that email campaign Copy?

If you do have a lot to say, then revisit your email goals and your email frequency. Perhaps you need to send a weekly email instead of 2x per month?

As an example of a short and sweet email we love, see AFAR Magazine‘s Daily Wander email below. We receive 1-2 a week (you can receive them daily if you’d like), and we open them 99% of the time to read about new destinations, travel tips, and get inspired!

Other things we love about AFAR Magazine’s emails:

There’s big, beautiful imagery
A small amount of text
Links to read more if you’re interested
2-3 main sections
Even a weekly trivia question!

Here’s another example of a section in AFAR Magazine’s recent email that caught our attention:

As we’re in Europe at least once a year, you bet we’re clicking to Read More…especially because we want to be at Tour de France this summer!!

3. use visuals throughout your email campaign

Even the best email marketing campaign you roll out may not be as exciting and eye-catching as a travel piece. Therefore, use visuals throughout your email. These can be graphics, embedded videos, lifestyle images, ambassador spotlights, and product shots.

In addition, unique, branded graphics at the top of each section can give your readers an easy way to identify the topics covered in your email. Remember, your emails must be easily skimmable! Not good with graphic design? Or not familiar with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop? Try Canva!

Remember to use alt tags and link each image in your email back to your website so your readers can learn more about that image quickly!

In addition, visuals could also mean a colorful section divider and calls-to-action (CTA) buttons. More on these in a bit! However, keep your paragraph text to black or grey to make it easy to read. Lastly, leave white space to give your readers’ eyes a chance to rest!

4. segment your email list

Segmenting your email list can help you to customize your message, target specific audiences, and improve your conversion rates! Here are a few ideas for list segmentation for your email campaigns:

Location segmentation: send different emails based on the location of your readers!
Send a more personalized message, or a promotional offer from your Founder to your most active subscribers.
Resend to non-openers: resend your monthly email (a few days later) to anyone that has not opened it. Remember to change both the Subject Line and preview text.

Source Endurance cycling coach training plan graphic design

Here’s an example of a graphic we created for our clients at Source Endurance, a coaching company that offers training plans, camps, and one-on-one coaching.

5. include calls to action in your emails

A call to action or CTA in your email campaigns helps your reader learn more, buy your product, or make a donation. Don’t assume they will click on your website link, and search for the items mentioned in your email. Or make their way to your donate page, and make a gift.

Instead, give your reader highlighted (or underlined) links to click on, and CTA buttons in each section. Include these throughout the email.

Another reason we strongly recommend adding CTA’s? The new email privacy protections in place for Apple iPad or iPhone users!

6. Up Your Font Game

Although Arial and Times New Roman are the most common fonts, today there are thousands of options to choose from! Use an easy-to read font for the email paragraph text. A sans-serif is best here, one without those little ‘feet’ hanging off the letters.

A serif font, the ones with the ‘feet’ or cursive in nature, can be used for titles or headings. But, ensure it’s legible on both a desktop and mobile phone. All email platforms will let you preview your email before you send it!

Another tip is to play around with font size. A 10 or 12-point font might be great for your internal text only emails. However, for your email marketing campaigns, we suggest bumping up the font size to 14-point or 16-point at a minimum! This is because so many readers will check their email from a mobile phone.

Also keep in mind, if your audience skews a bit older (50+) they might find a small or cursive font very hard to read!

A sans-serif font and a larger font size makes Recreation.gov’s email easy to read. In addition, the CTAs give you even more incentive to engage!

7. create short, intriguing subject lines

Here’s where you can really make an impact in your email campaign open rates. Take some time to word-smith that Subject Line! And, use no more than 6-9 words.

In addition, you can use CAPITALS to help your email stand out in someone’s inbox. Words like SALE, SAVE 50%, COMING SOON, and SAVE THE DATE all work very well. Use emojis sparingly, 1 is often enough.

Lastly, make sure to include some preview text to let your reader know what else you’ve included in your email that might make them open it.

8. best days to send marketing emails

Are you also wondering what the best days are to send a marketing email? Well, we see the highest open rates on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

However, if we are launching a weekly sale or a holiday campaign, we may drop emails on other days as well.

Here’s a quick example of why the subject line and an emoji or two can help. Which email in my inbox above stands out to you the most? Yes, I remembered to get a Valentine’s Day gift!

9. best times to send marketing emails

What time should you send your email? We typically send marketing emails between 7-10am. However, consider what time zone you are sending your email to. If most of your opens come from the east coast or Europe, set your email campaign to drop during their early morning hours.

If you use Mailchimp, tools like Time Warp or Time Optimization are amazing! Mailchimp not only helps you determine the best time to send your email based on previous email results, but they can also drop your email at the same time in each time zone. Therefore, everyone on your list will get your email campaign at say 8am their time.

10. create ways for people to sign up for your email list

Now that you’ve got lots of DIY tips to send the best email marketing campaigns, how do you plan to grow your list?? It’s okay if you haven’t thought of this yet!

After you’ve set up a list or created a new audience in your email marketing platform, you need to establish methods to add new people to the list in the future. Here’s a few ways we add new people to email lists for our clients:

Social media posts that send readers to a newsletter sign-up landing page (and yes you should sign up for our newsletter if you’re not already on the list!!)
Point of purchase option for email list sign-up (in store or online)
iPad stations at events and conferences
Newsletter sign-up box in your website footer (a must!!)
Website pop-up

Whatever you decide, make it easy for potential customers to opt-in, as well as opt-out should they decide your emails are no longer relevant.

11. EMAIL MARKETING x BRAND PARTNERSHIPS

Okay, I know we said Top 10, but this goes to eleven because it’s that important. People know a brand partnership email when they see it in their inbox. They can smell it a mile away. ‘Yeti + Red Bull’, ‘Burton and Big Agnes’, ‘Surfline x Solento Tequila Collab’, ‘Tour de France and STRAVA Sweepstakes’.

While brand partnerships can help boost your brand, and expose you to hundreds or thousands of potential new customers, tread carefully when it comes to sending a brand collab to your loyal email subscribers!

Branded Email Partnerships

Let’s use the brand Outside as an example of how the brand partnership could look in someone’s inbox, as this is currently happening with my inbox:

I am a long-time athlete. I already have subscriptions and get newsletters from several trusted brands. I have discounts of 40-60% with nutrition companies, gear/equipment companies, and with kit suppliers like Castelli, Eliel, Pearl Izumi, etc. I already get a monthly email from Outside with training tips, articles to read, podcasts to listen to, etc.

However, now I am getting these new weekly emails from Outside offering me great new benefits with one of their umbrella partner brands. ‘APPLY TODAY AND GET THESE PERKS’ type of email. If I do not see this brand partnership as a huge benefit for me (ex: FREE kit, FREE trip to Hawaii..you get the idea) I’m going to not only delete the email, but eventually, I may unsubscribe from all Outside emails.

I will no longer be a loyal reader, because I do not feel like Outside has my best interest in mind. I’d feel like they are using me as a bargaining chip. They are ‘trading’ my information with another company. Although it does not violate spam laws to ask me to sign up, (it would if they just gave away my information to their partner brand), it does leave the brand in a negative light.

Again, tread very, very carefully here and make sure a brand partnership and a branded email is really providing value to your readers.

need help with your email MARKETING?

Need help getting started, or want us to create and manage your email marketing campaigns? Let’s chat! Also, check out other posts we’ve written about email marketing:

To learn more about what we do on the regular, follow Top Rope Media’s adventures on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Until next time, happy emailing!

– Meredith McConvill, Top Rope Media

Best Email Marketing: How to Improve Open Rates and Clicks