---
title: Top 5 Email Marketing Best Practices
description: Top 5 email marketing best practices
---

[Inbound Marketing Blog](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog)

# [Top 5 Email Marketing Best Practices](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog/top-5-email-marketing-best-practices)

 Written by [Vickie McGee](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog/author/vickie-mcgee) | 7/1/15 6:15 PM

# **Is email marketing still effective? **

According to Direct Marketing Association email marketing has an ROI of 4300% and 77% of consumers prefer email for communications. There are more than 3.2 billion email accounts today; 95% of online consumers use email and 91% check email at least once a day. Email definitely has a longer lifespan than social media.

**Here are the top 5 email marketing best practices:**

1. **Identify a specific goal**
2. **Personalize**
3. **Get to the point**
4. **Use your call-to-action (CTA) throughout the email**
5. **Optimize for mobile**

 

Email marketing works for every stage of the [inbound methodology](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/inbound-methodology.html); attracting new visitors, converting visitors into leads, nurturing leads into customers and turning customers into promoters of your brand.

Let’s look at the top 5 best practices for email:

**1. Identify a specific goal**

My favorite question to ask is “What do you want them to do as a result of reading this?” Meaning “What is the call-to-action (CTA)?” For example, if you want them to sign up for a webinar that should be your main message and it should be very clear as to what action you want them to take.

**2. Personalize, Personalize, Personalize!**

Personalized emails see 14% higher click-through rates and 10% more conversions per Alchemy Worx: Aberdeen Group

FROM: The email should come from a person with a real name and email address, not a company. Do not use a do-not-reply email address, as it sends the message that you don’t want to hear from them (one-way communication).

CONTENT: Include their name, their company name any and other relevant information like what they just downloaded.  This includes the subject line.

SIGNATURE: Again, from a real person with direct contact information.

**3. Get to the point**

SUBJECT LINES: Tell them what the email is about in 50 characters or less. Email subject lines will get cut off if they’re too long, particularly on mobile devices.

EMAIL COPY: Address people directly (you, your) with actionable words like get, start, reserve, etc. Focus on benefits; what you’ll learn or how you’ll save time/increase revenue.

**4. Use your main call-to-action (CTA) throughout the email**

Have you ever read a long email and were interested in the content but had to search for the sign-up button/link? You can and should include the CTA in multiple places and in multiple formats. In images like a “Register for Webinar Now” button and within the content of your email text via a hyperlink. Don’t make people search for the next step you want them to take.

**5. Optimize for Mobile**

More than 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices. You need to optimize for mobile or you will miss out on the 69% of mobile users that delete emails that aren't optimized for mobile. Make sure to use a responsive email template that will resize depending on the device.

Email marketing can be used for brand awareness, [lead generation](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog/4-crucial-elements-needed-for-b2b-lead-generation), lead to customer conversion, and customer retention. Segmenting your contacts database increases engagement and deliverability and decreases unsubscribe rates. You can use segmented lists to trigger nurturing sequences to [move leads further down the funnel](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog/what-is-inbound-lead-generation). 

 

[View full post](https://www.transitionalmarketing.com/blog/top-5-email-marketing-best-practices)

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