If you have just finished with your email newsletter, you must know that clicking on that send button can be nerve-wracking. As challenging as it to write a compelling newsletter, it is equally hard to tell if our newsletter is mistake-free. Numerous questions must be flooding your thoughts.
Is the content appropriate and engaging? Will people open it? Is the email error-free? Did I spell everything right? To say the least, these things can happen to anyone.
But, worry not! We have got you covered. Here are a few pointers you must know to test your newsletter before sending your campaign.
Personalize your Newsletter
Personalization, when used right, can be the most powerful tool for marketers. It has a significant impact on your site’s engagement and revenue. Having sent a personalized email can automatically increase your open rate by 29 percent.
Shocking, right? So, the first thing you should check before sending out an email is whether it is personalized or not. For this, you need to target the specific audience effectively. Create content that users can relate to. Ask the right questions.
Along with the receiver’s name, you can also use their location and time. Besides, you can personalize your business as well. It means instead of sending out emails on behalf of your company, send out a more personal email. For instance, ask someone from your marketing team to reach out to your customers.
Further, you can integrate dynamic fields into your message to add more personalization effects.
Best Practices for Text-Image in Email
The fact is not oblivious that mobile phones are the primary device to check emails for many subscribers. It is critically important to use responsive design and striking the right balance between text-image ratios; otherwise, users will be less inclined to engage themselves in reading.
- Strive For Balance: Reading big textual pieces is so inconvenient and weary, especially on the phone’s tiny screen. A 3000-word paragraph will not be informative at all because it slews away readers’ attention.
So, aim for shorter and crisp sentences and preferably break content in paragraphs that run 3-5 sentences. Position and align the message using bullets, numbered lists, sub-headings, and highlight words of utmost priority.
- The 60/40 Principle: Ideally, the rule of using nearly 60% text and 40% image generally keeps away any deliverability issues. An all-text or all-image email will land in the spam folder in the offing. Although there are several new rules for the same, like the 80-20 principle that says 20% image coverage is yet a safe bet. Therefore, there is no one answer that works for everyone. Just be cautious about the targeted audience and always pre-test your mail.
Double Check All the Links
Obviously, your emails should link to the offers or content of your website. Including links make your newsletter look more interactive.
But, overwhelming your newsletter with links is not the answer. Neither is to have dead links in it. Both of these things have a bad impact on your site’s reputation. On top of that, these dead links will only make your email land into the spam folder.
To avoid these things, make sure to check your links. Do a Spam Test before sending. For this, you can use spam tester, which can help you detect and avoid any broken links in the emails. Also, this tool can help you prevent spam words and get a spam score as well.
Avoid Spam Trigger Words
You might have thought that email marketing is dead, but to your surprise, it is still alive and more effective than it was ever before. Nevertheless, it is crucial to pull it off well, though it is not easy. The hard part is to pass the spam filters that perform regular checks on email messages to identify any spammer.
Sadly, spam filters have become more sophisticated and catch suspicious words and phrases associated with- Scams, Gimmicks, or any spam triggering word for that matter.
Spam triggering and dubious words or phrases regarded as red flags for email providers can cause your email to skip recipients’ inboxes but land in the spam box instead. So, one of the easiest ways to dodge these filters is to be careful while writing the email’s subject lines and avoid using “spammy” words, which are problematic and increase the chances of falling in a spam trap.
Now, rather than stressing about writing the subject lines of emails and wonder if it is too engaging/ boring or too long/short, you can consider us as your email wingman. We provide you an escape route so that your emails will not be flagged as spam. Just go through this exhaustive list of forbidden words that get your messages beyond the spam filters. You might need to bookmark this list!
Too Heavy Messages Can Be “Spammy”
It is always advisable to keep the email under 100kb, to avoid it from being marked as spam. This is because it passes out clean through most spam filters by staying light and prevents Gmail from “clipping” your message that gets displayed at the bottom if you exceed 102kb mark. Even more interestingly, Gmail mobile version in the newer and advanced devices like iPad, the newsletter does not appear anyway.
Now, are you wondering how to keep your email within limits? Try the following:
- Avoid using redundant styles
- Move content of the message to a landing page or redirecting page
- Omit using any unnecessary character from the code
- Opt for responsive orientation
- Precise content, shun beating about the bush
- Promote what you need to
- Insert links from your website that will give further details
So make it a rule to preview your mails, check if the file size is less than 100kb, and keep it as small as promising because of the couple good reasons mentioned above. A heavy file is always a WARNING!
Parting Thoughts
Since email marketing is growing and thriving, marketers must make this a priority. Undeniably, creating and testing email newsletters is a daunting task, considering marketers already have a lot on their plate. To streamline these operations and to make your email campaigns run smoothly, you can seek help from any email marketing software available online.
One such software is Mailpro. It is a reliable email marketing software that can help you in building a compelling newsletter. With its easy to use and accessible features, you can take your business to new heights. Be it contact management, email automation, campaign statistics, and reporting or advanced personalization features, you can confide in this tool for the best and result-driven campaigns.