15 Email Marketing Tips To Follow

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective channels available to businesses of any size, yet most brands still make the same avoidable mistakes. If you want a reliable framework for building and executing campaigns that actually convert, these 15 email marketing tips to follow will walk you through every critical step, from list building to post-send analysis.

Why Email Marketing Still Matters in 2025

Before diving into the tips, it helps to understand what you are working with. According to HubSpot (2024), email generates an average return of $36 for every $1 spent, making it one of the highest-ROI marketing channels available. Statista (2024) projects that the number of global email users will reach 4.7 billion by 2026. Despite the rise of social media, push notifications, and AI-generated content, email remains the most direct line you have to your audience because you own the list.

That said, the inbox is increasingly competitive. Spam filters are smarter, subscribers are more selective, and inbox providers like Gmail constantly update their algorithms. Getting email right requires discipline, testing, and a structured approach.

Tip 1: Start With a Clean, Permission-Based List

Every strong email program begins with a healthy list. Never purchase email lists. Purchased lists contain invalid addresses, spam traps, and unengaged contacts that will destroy your sender reputation before you even get started.

1. Use a double opt-in process so every subscriber confirms their intent.
2. Display a clear value proposition on your signup form: tell people exactly what they will receive and how often.
3. Remove hard bounces immediately after each campaign and suppress them permanently.
4. Run your list through an email validation tool (ZeroBounce, NeverBounce) at least quarterly.

A smaller, engaged list will always outperform a large, disengaged one. Inbox providers track engagement signals like opens and clicks. A high complaint rate or low engagement can push your entire domain into the spam folder.

Tip 2: Segment Your Audience Before You Write a Word

Segmentation is the practice of dividing your list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics. According to Mailchimp (2023), segmented campaigns see 14.31% higher open rates and 100.95% higher click-through rates compared to non-segmented campaigns.

Common segmentation criteria include:

• Demographic data: Age group, job role, industry.
• Behavioral data: Past purchases, pages visited, emails clicked.
• Lifecycle stage: New subscriber, active customer, lapsed customer.
• Engagement level: Highly engaged (opened last 5 campaigns) vs. cold (no opens in 90 days).

If you run an online store, segmentation becomes even more critical. Pairing email segmentation with a strong ecommerce marketing strategy can dramatically improve customer lifetime value and repeat purchase rates.

Tip 3: Write Subject Lines That Earn the Open

Your subject line is the single most important copy in your entire email. It determines whether anyone reads anything else you wrote. Here is a step-by-step approach to writing better subject lines:

1. Keep it under 50 characters so it displays fully on mobile screens.
2. Lead with value or curiosity, not company news. “Your order is waiting” beats “Monthly Newsletter from Us.”
3. Use numbers and specifics: “3 ways to cut your ad spend this week” performs better than vague promises.
4. Avoid spam trigger words like “FREE!!!” or “CLICK NOW” in all caps with excessive punctuation.
5. Test emojis carefully. They work well in some industries and poorly in others. Always A/B test before committing.
6. Personalize when relevant: Including the subscriber’s first name in the subject line can lift open rates, but overuse makes it feel mechanical.

Always write at least two subject line variations and A/B test them. Most major email service providers (ESPs) like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign have built-in A/B testing tools.

Tip 4: Master the Preheader Text

The preheader is the short snippet of text that appears next to or below the subject line in most email clients. Many marketers either ignore it or let it default to “View this email in your browser,” which is a missed opportunity. Treat the preheader as a second subject line: it should complement or expand on the subject line rather than repeat it. Keep it between 85 and 100 characters for best display across clients.

Tip 5: Design for Mobile First

Litmus (2024) reports that more than 46% of all email opens occur on mobile devices. If your email is difficult to read on a smartphone, more than half your audience will delete it within seconds.

• Use a single-column layout for most emails.
• Set font sizes to at least 16px for body text and 22px for headlines.
• Make CTA buttons at least 44px tall so they are easy to tap with a thumb.
• Test your emails in multiple clients using tools like Litmus or Email on Acid before sending.
• Avoid using images that carry critical information: always include descriptive alt text in case images are blocked.

Tip 6: Write Email Copy That Converts

Good email copy is focused, brief, and action-oriented. It is not a place to say everything at once. Each email should have one primary goal and one primary call to action.

1. Open with the most important point. Do not bury the lead.
2. Use short paragraphs and bullet points to make the content scannable.
3. Write in second person (“you” and “your”) to keep the tone conversational and direct.
4. Focus on benefits, not features. “Save 3 hours a week” is more compelling than “Our software has an automation module.”
5. Include one clear CTA with action-oriented copy: “Get your free audit” rather than “Click here.”

Strong email copy is a craft. If you need professional support, consider working with a team that specializes in high-converting content and copywriting to sharpen your messaging across every channel.

Tip 7: Set Up Automated Email Sequences

Automation is where email marketing scales from a time-consuming task into a revenue-generating system. The most important sequences to build first are:

Sequence Type	Trigger	Primary Goal	Recommended Length
Welcome Series	New subscriber joins list	Build trust, set expectations	3 to 5 emails over 7 to 14 days
Onboarding Series	New customer makes first purchase	Reduce churn, drive repeat purchase	4 to 6 emails over 30 days
Abandoned Cart	User adds to cart but does not buy	Recover lost revenue	2 to 3 emails over 48 to 72 hours
Re-engagement	No opens or clicks in 60 to 90 days	Win back or clean list	2 to 4 emails over 2 to 3 weeks
Post-purchase Review Request	7 to 14 days after delivery	Generate reviews and social proof	1 to 2 emails

Automation sequences run 24/7 without manual intervention, making them one of the most efficient investments in your email program.

Tip 8: Personalize Beyond Just the First Name

Personalization has evolved well beyond inserting a subscriber’s first name into the subject line. Experian (2023) found that personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates than non-personalized emails. True personalization includes:

• Product recommendations based on past purchase history.
• Browse abandonment emails showing items the subscriber viewed but did not buy.
• Dynamic content blocks that show different content to different segments within the same email.
• Milestone-based emails celebrating a customer’s anniversary with your brand or a birthday.
• Location-aware content such as event invitations or store-specific offers (only where genuinely relevant).

Tip 9: Optimize Send Time and Frequency

There is no universal “best time to send email” because it depends heavily on your audience and industry. However, you can find your own optimal window by:

1. Reviewing your current open rate data by day and hour in your ESP dashboard.
2. Running send-time optimization tests over four to six weeks, varying by day of week and time of day.
3. Using your ESP’s predictive send-time feature (available in Klaviyo, HubSpot, and ActiveCampaign) to send each subscriber’s email when they are most likely to open it.

On frequency: there is a real trade-off between staying top of mind and causing list fatigue. Sending too infrequently makes subscribers forget who you are. Sending too often burns through engagement and increases unsubscribes. Most B2C brands perform well at one to three emails per week. Most B2B brands do better at one to two per week. Start conservatively and increase only if engagement holds.

Tip 10: Maintain Strong Deliverability

Deliverability is the ability of your emails to land in the inbox rather than the spam folder or promotions tab. It is technical, but it is essential. Steps to protect and improve deliverability include:

• Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
• Warm up new sending domains or IPs gradually over four to eight weeks.
• Keep your complaint rate below 0.1% (Google and Yahoo’s enforcement threshold as of 2024).
• Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score by Validity.
• Sunset inactive subscribers through a re-engagement campaign before permanently removing them.

If you are also working on your broader online visibility, the principles overlap: just as you maintain technical SEO health on your website, you maintain technical health on your email infrastructure. Our guide on local AEO best practices for small businesses shows how a similar structured approach improves discoverability across channels.

Tip 11: Use A/B Testing Systematically

A/B testing (also called split testing) is the process of sending two versions of an email to small portions of your list to determine which performs better, then sending the winner to the remainder. The most common elements to test are:

• Subject lines (the highest-impact test for open rate).
• From name (your name vs. company name vs. “Name at Company”).
• CTA copy and button color.
• Email length (short and scannable vs. long-form storytelling).
• Send time.
• Personalization vs. no personalization.

The key rule: test one variable at a time. If you change the subject line and the CTA simultaneously, you cannot determine which change caused the result. Be patient: run tests long enough to reach statistical significance before drawing conclusions.

Tip 12: Write a Compelling Plain-Text Version

Every HTML email should have a corresponding plain-text version. This is not just a best practice; it is required by CAN-SPAM and GDPR regulations. Beyond compliance, a well-written plain-text version improves deliverability (some spam filters check for its presence) and ensures your message reaches subscribers who prefer plain text. Do not auto-generate the plain text from your HTML. Write it as a standalone, readable version of the email that makes sense without any images or formatting.

Tip 13: Monitor the Right Metrics

Vanity metrics can mislead you. Here are the metrics that actually matter and what they tell you:

• Open rate: Useful for comparing your own campaigns over time, but note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates for Apple users as of 2021.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of recipients who clicked a link. A better indicator of content relevance than open rate.
• Click-to-open rate (CTOR): Clicks divided by opens. Measures how well your email content converts readers who already opened.
• Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who completed the desired action (purchase, signup, download).
• Revenue per email: Total revenue generated divided by the number of emails sent. The clearest measure of campaign value.
• Unsubscribe rate: Ideally below 0.2% per campaign. A spike signals a messaging or frequency problem.
• Spam complaint rate: Must stay below 0.1% to maintain inbox placement with major providers.

For ideas on how analytics-driven thinking applies across your marketing stack, our post on boosting SEO efforts with page content analysis demonstrates the same principle applied to organic search.

Tip 14: Stay Compliant With Email Regulations

Email marketing is governed by laws that carry real penalties for non-compliance. The most important ones to understand are:

• CAN-SPAM Act (USA): Requires a physical mailing address, a clear unsubscribe mechanism, and honest subject lines.
• GDPR (EU): Requires explicit consent before sending marketing emails and gives subscribers the right to access and delete their data.
• CASL (Canada): One of the strictest laws: requires express or implied consent and a clear unsubscribe process.

Always honor unsubscribe requests within 10 business days (CAN-SPAM) or 30 days (GDPR), though best practice is to process them instantly. Include your business name and mailing address in every email footer. Use a reputable ESP that supports compliance workflows.

Tip 15: Integrate Email With Your Broader Marketing Strategy

Email is most powerful when it does not operate in isolation. Connecting it with your other channels creates a more consistent experience and allows you to retarget and re-engage subscribers across multiple touchpoints.

• Sync email lists with paid social ads to create lookalike audiences or suppress existing customers from acquisition campaigns. Our step-by-step guide to advertising on Facebook covers how to connect your CRM data with Facebook Ads Manager effectively.
• Use email to amplify content: When you publish a new blog post or resource, send it to your list to drive initial traffic and engagement signals.
• Coordinate email with SMS: For time-sensitive promotions, a short SMS followed by an email reinforcement can lift conversion rates significantly.
• Feed email insights back into SEO: The topics your subscribers engage with most reveal what your audience cares about, and that data can inform your broader digital marketing strategy and keyword priorities.

You can also cross-reference engagement patterns with social media performance. Our complete guide to top social media sites can help you identify which platforms your email audience is most active on, allowing for better-coordinated campaigns.

Practical Action Plan: Where to Start

Not everything can be done at once. Here is how to prioritize:

• Do This Now: Audit your list for hard bounces and inactive subscribers. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication on your sending domain. Write and activate a welcome sequence if you do not have one. These three actions have the highest impact on deliverability and first impressions.
• Worth Doing: Build two to three audience segments based on engagement or purchase history. Set up an abandoned cart sequence. Create a preference center. Run your first A/B test on subject lines. These add measurable lift to both open rates and revenue.
• Low Priority: Advanced dynamic content personalization, full send-time optimization per subscriber, and multi-channel attribution modeling. These are valuable but require a solid foundation first. Do not invest in them until the higher-priority items are running smoothly.

For ecommerce businesses especially, the combination of email automation and a well-optimized product catalog can be transformative. Reading our breakdown of WooCommerce vs. Shopify can help you choose the platform that best supports email integration and automation workflows.

Additionally, if you use social media advertising alongside email, our guide to Instagram shadowbans highlights how platform restrictions can silently hurt your reach, which is exactly why having a channel you own, like email, is so important as a fallback.

Conclusion

These 15 email marketing tips to follow cover everything from technical deliverability to creative copywriting to strategic integration. The common thread is intentionality: every element of your email program should be deliberate, tested, and connected to a clear business goal. Start with list health and segmentation, build your automation sequences, optimize your copy and design for mobile, and then layer in advanced personalization and testing as your program matures. Email is not a set-it-and-forget-it channel, but when managed well, it remains one of the most reliable revenue drivers in digital marketing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I send marketing emails?

There is no single correct answer, but most B2C brands find one to three emails per week to be sustainable without causing significant list fatigue. B2B brands typically perform better at one to two per week. The best approach is to start conservatively, monitor your unsubscribe rate and engagement metrics, and adjust frequency up or down based on what the data shows. Giving subscribers a preference center to choose their own frequency is one of the most effective ways to reduce churn.

What is a good email open rate?

Industry averages vary significantly. Mailchimp (2023) reports average open rates ranging from around 19% to 40% depending on the industry. E-commerce tends to be on the lower end; nonprofits and government communications tend to be higher. Rather than benchmarking against industry averages, focus on improving your own historical open rates over time. Also note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection has inflated reported open rates since 2021, so use click-through rate and CTOR as more reliable indicators of true engagement.

Is email marketing still effective compared to social media?

Yes, and by a measurable margin for most businesses. HubSpot (2024) reports that email generates $36 for every $1 spent, which outperforms most paid social channels on a cost-per-revenue basis. The key advantage of email is ownership: your list belongs to you, not to a platform algorithm. Social media reach can be throttled or cut by algorithm changes at any time. Email, combined with a strong social strategy, delivers better results than either channel in isolation.

What is the best email marketing platform for beginners?

Mailchimp remains one of the most beginner-friendly options, with a generous free tier and an intuitive interface. Klaviyo is the preferred choice for ecommerce businesses due to its deep integration with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce and its advanced segmentation capabilities. ActiveCampaign is strong for B2B businesses that need CRM functionality combined with email automation. The right choice depends on your business model, list size, and the complexity of automation you need.

How do I reduce my email unsubscribe rate?

The most effective tactics are: sending relevant, segmented content rather than the same email to everyone; maintaining consistent frequency so subscribers know what to expect; giving subscribers a preference center to choose topics and frequency; and ensuring your from name and subject lines accurately reflect the content inside so people feel the email delivered what it promised. A spike in unsubscribes usually signals either a frequency problem, a relevance problem, or a mismatch between what subscribers expected when they signed up and what they are actually receiving.