March 13, 2017

Despite suggestions to the contrary – email marketing is not dead. Not even in 2017! While many industry leaders have been predicting the demise of email marketing since way back in 2012, stats show that three-quarters of companies agree that email offers “excellent” to “good” ROI. (Econsultancy, 2016)

It’s not surprising to hear some people take the angle that email marketing is dead when you take into account people aged 13-24 are far more likely to use a messaging app than email to communicate. This trend may seem concerning however there are several other statistics that state email usage is actually on the rise.

As a digital marketer who has managed several successful email marketing campaigns over the past 18 months, I can tell you with absolute certainty that email marketing is not dead – some people just aren’t doing it right. An email campaign takes time, thought, strategy and the right list to be successful. Here are some email marketing do’s and don’ts for your campaigns in 2017.

Email Marketing Do’s

• If you’re in Canada, only send to subscribers who have given you permission to send them emails. See this information on Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation.
• Use an email marketing software like MailChimp (it’s free!) to send your emails. They provide statistics on email open rate, click-through and unsubscribed which allow you to tweak your messaging as needed.
• Add a newsletter/email signup to your website. This can be something as simple as what I have on my homepage or the top right side of the page you’re reading right now.
• Make sure your email is responsive on mobile devices. A good percentage of your subscribers will be reading email on their mobile devices so you have to make sure it formats properly on smartphones and tablets.
• Include an unsubscribe link within your email. If a user doesn’t want to be included in your mailings anymore, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to unsubscribe.
• Include hyperlinks within your email to your website, social media, products or services.

Email Marketing Don’ts

• Purchase email lists from companies like this or this. Often times these lists are generated without the users permission and rarely lead to any new business.
• Use your Microsoft Outlook or GMail account to send bulk emails. Not only could this lead to your emails being marked as SPAM in your subscribers inbox but Microsoft and Google may mark your email as SPAM to all users.
• Send too many emails to your lists. 78% of consumers have unsubscribed from emails because a brand was sending too many. (HubSpot, 2016)
• Send emails without testing on multiple email clients first. Most email marketing software allows you to send test emails to as many accounts as you want (Hotmail, Outlook etc.). Preview your email in those accounts prior to sending to ensure everything looks good and functions properly.
• Write boring subject lines! This is a key aspect to email marketing. Make your subject lines interesting and related to the content within. Research shows that 63% of retailer subject lines are generic and they’re losing sales as a result. (Econsultancy, 2016)