1.What’s the best email marketing service?

I would recommend Mailchimp. It has great functionality, great reporting and it’s cost effective.

Some other good email providers are Pure 360 and dotmailer. There are email services for  niches too (i.e. bands). So it’s worth doing a Google search.

2. What’s the average open rate on an email marketing campaign?

An average open rate is 20% with a CTR (click through rate) of 5%.

Open rates depend on your subject lines and CTR rely on the content within the email.

3.How often should I be emailing my list of contacts?
Some say every month, some say weekly. What matters is content and value.

People don’t mind marketing emails everyday as long they’re relevant/interesting. also you don’t have to send an email every month just because you feel like you have to. Try only sending emails when you have something to say.

Always monitor your unsubscribe rates/CTR and optimise your emails based on what works.

4. When is the best day to send marketing emails?
You’ll need to test to see what works for your list. Here are some rules of thumb.

• Mondays aren’t great. If people work in offices they tend to clear through their emails pretty quickly.

• Friday afternoons tend to be a bit of a lazy time. So work related things tend to be put on the back burner.

• More people are starting to read emails on weekends so it may be worth testing those days. Work related stuff is less effective on weekends.

5. When is the best time to post marketing emails?
Mid morning Tuesday to Thursday.
Early mornings and work rush hour are good options as more people are using mobile devices as they travel to and from work.

6. Should my opt-in box be ticked or un-ticked?

In the spirit of the law it should be opt-in. There’s no point tricking people into signing up.

I’d recommend “double opt-in”. Double opt-in is where an individual clicks, enters their email and then has to go to their email and confirm. This makes it clear that they want contacting.

7. How should I write my subject lines to best effect?

Some think questions, special offers or a general marketing subject headlines are the right way and perhaps this works for them. Mailchimp’s research shows that doing something straightforward actually works best. I’d recommend putting the name of the newsletter and the date in the subject line.

I’ve known people start their subject lines with “RE:” so it looks like a reply. Somewhat sneaky.

8. What is A&B testing?
A&B testing is splitting your email list into two and trying two different approaches. Take 30% of your list and split that into two, 15% called A and 15% called B.

Now compare the open rates (subject lines) and CTR (content) on each.  Then apply the winner to the 70%.

Ideally wait one week (same day and time) to email the 70%.

Have you got any email marketing tips? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

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Joe Murfin

PPC Executive at Latitude

Hi, I’m Joe. PPC executive, interested in behavioral economics, branding and anything creative. I modestly dabble in design. Learning how to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.

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