Email marketing remains a powerful touch point within your audience’s information ecosystem and stands strong in today’s digital world. Social media networks can be momentary, but emails establish a direct and measurable connection with subscribers.
Did you know that 99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day? This demonstrates the incredible opportunity email marketing presents for businesses.
Email Strategies
At any given moment, billions of emails are competing for attention, and among them, your emails can incite curiosity and action, and help build thriving relationships. However, not every email achieves the intended purpose. While numerous emails get no response, some drive clicks and conversions.
In this blog, we’ll show you how to get the results you want with email strategies that work. Let’s explore metrics that need to be captured, how B2B and B2C brands have implemented real-world success stories, and design best practice rules that define high-performing emails. By the end, you’ll learn how to craft strong, stand-out emails, whether it’s your first or hundredth email campaign.
Key Elements of a High-Performing Email
Achieving email engagement requires combining multiple efforts and strategies driven by attention-grabbing subject lines, ATS-friendly email content, strong CTAs, and relevant and personalized content themes. Want better results?
It's all about bringing the right pieces together! By combining these components, you’ll see real results, keep things exciting, and crush those conversion goals.
Before launching campaigns, use email verifier tools to verify recipient lists and ensure maximum delivery success.
Attention-grabbing subject lines
First impressions are everything in emails. Stand out with creative subject lines that grab attention. Here are some tips:
- Make it short (35 to 50 characters): Subject lines are fully displayed on mobile without abbreviations. Make it short, concise, and impactful.
- Create urgency: Offers such as “Last chance to claim your discount” create urgency that drives action.
- Personalize it: Direct lines like “Our new offer awaits you” verify and deliver juicy details.
- Split testing: Measure interest by testing two variations on a smaller group.
Remarkable subject lines capture the listener’s attention while cutting through the noise. According to AMA, personalized subject lines can boost open rates by 26%. This small change can significantly impact your campaign's success!
Clear and compelling messaging
When someone opens your email, it means they’re already curious about your offer or interested in what you have to say. That’s your chance to make it count! Jump on this chance to strengthen your core message and build credibility with clear, benefit-focused copy.
- Make offers appealing: Start with open-ended statements like “imagine…” to help readers picture the value of your offer.
- Lead with benefits: Use headlines that highlight customer benefits before selling anything to gain attention.
- Use bullet points: Break up long text into easily scannable bulleted or numbered points.
- Add social proof: Include testimonials or specific data points like “Over 10,000 customers increased their productivity by 30%.”
- Stay focused: Stick to one main idea per email to avoid overwhelming the reader.
Benefit-oriented copy not only grabs attention but also encourages your audience to keep reading more. Keep the message tight and relevant—always show how your offer directly impacts them.
Strong call-to-action (CTA)
The call-to-action (CTA) is the most crucial part of your email, transforming passive skimmers into active participants. Even the most well-crafted emails can fall flat without a compelling CTA that drives clicks and conversions. Here are some tips:
- Be direct: Use strong action verbs like “Download Your Free Guide” or “Start Your Free Trial” to drive specific action.
- Stand out: Design your CTA button with plenty of padding and high-contrast colors so it stands out.
- Have one main CTA: Once clear call-to-action keeps readers focused.
- Repeat strategically: Place the CTA near the top and at the end for maximum visibility.
- Optimize for mobile: Buttons should be at least 44x44 pixels for easy tapping on small screens.
A focused CTA isn’t just good design—it’s good business. Emails with a single CTA see 371% more clicks and 1, 617% more sales. That’s the power of clarity and intent.
Personalized Content That Resonates
In today’s digital world, creating personalized experiences isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a must. Think of it as the secret sauce to running a modern business. When done right, personalization not only connects you to your audience, but also sets the stage for smarter, more impactful strategies.
It’s time to embrace the power of tailored interactions and make them work for you. Current consumers respond best to content tailored to their preferences, behavior, and interests.
Here’s how to deliver personalization that drives results:
- List segmentation: Group subscribers based on behavioral data, social activity, and purchase history.
- Dynamic content blocks: Show different offers, images, or copy based on segments.
- Behavior-based triggers: Automatically send emails after actions like signups, abandoned carts, or page visits.
- Reference past engagements: Phrases like “Because you participated in our last webinar…” build familiarity and trust.
- Deliver consistent value: Boost open rates with tips, discounts, or industry insights in every email.
Keep your email list clean and up-to-date! A tidy list = better results.
Pro tip: Use an email verifier tool to ensure your data’s accurate and your personalization game is on point.
Customized emails significantly increase reader engagement, delivering 6x higher transaction rates. Yet, 70% of brands aren’t leveraging them. Don’t miss the opportunity and deliver personalized emails for relevant results.
Learn more: How to Build an Email List: Tips & Strategies
Image Source: Canva
Analyzing Successful Email Campaigns
Tried-and-tested email marketing tips bring relevant results. Let’s look at campaign examples—one business-to-business (B2B) and one business-to-consumer (B2C)—to illustrate these principles and see common approaches.
Case Study 1: B2B Email Success
Scenario: A software provider sought to turn free trial users into paying clients by using a strategically tailored drip campaign managed with Snov.io Tools. The campaign consisted of three emails, each more intricate than the other:
- Email 1: Included a white paper with industry best practices from a bestselling guide, positioning the brand as an authority without direct selling.
- Email 2: Included results from another company to enhance trust using real-world data.
- Email 3: Included a personalized demo invite sent to engaged, relevant users to stay focused.
Results:
- Open rate of 42%
- Click-through rate of 12%
- Demo-request conversion of 7%
Why it worked:
- The emails offered value first, before selling the demo.
- Social proof in the second email established credibility, strengthening the brand’s position and authority.
- CTA buttons were tailored specifically to user behavior.
Case Study 2: B2C Email Success
Scenario: An online home decor store aimed to boost first-time purchases with a three-email welcome series for new sign-ups, focusing on building trust and driving conversions.
- Email 1: Style Guide—Provided decorating ideas and style inspiration
- Email 2: Customer Stories—Highlighted transformation, real-life stories, and testimonials from customers
- Email 3: Exclusive Discount—Gave 15% off, with a countdown timer for urgency
Results:
- Purchase rate of 38% within 30 days
- Revenue increased by 22% from the discount email
Why it worked:
- The campaign inspired clients, built trust, and used social proof to appeal to their emotions.
- A compelling offer with a time restriction followed this, creating urgency.
- The brand's look and feel remained consistent throughout, signifying a strong personality and identity.
Common Strategies Across Top Campaigns
Although both B2B and B2C campaigns had different target audiences, they had several common winning strategies:
- Value-first approach: Both campaigns focused on delivering helpful and valuable information before attempting to sell something.
- Segmentation and personalization: Changing content according to the audience’s actions and age made the messages necessary.
- Timely and clear communication: Each email focused on one subject with a clear action at the end, making them easy to navigate. Readers could effortlessly move through the journey.
- Testing and polishing: The two companies focused on key metrics and adjusted their work accordingly, showing a commitment to improvement.
Learn more: Integrating Your Email Marketing and Social Media Strategy
Image Source: Shutterstock
The Role of Design in Email Strategies
Compelling copy is important, but layout is just as crucial. A well-designed email strengthens your brand and boosts reader engagement, improving ROI. With over 60% of emails now opened on mobile devices, responsive design is no longer optional—it’s essential.
Visual Appeal and Layout
Best practices on designing layouts include the following:
- Logical sequence: Use strong headlines and subheads to guide the reader through the content.
- White space balance: Use low-density white space to keep content scannable and reduce visual clutter.
- Fresh visuals: Use product images or infographics sparingly and with purpose.
- Consistent branding: Use your brand’s colors and fonts for a cohesive look.
- Modular sections: Break longer emails into clear, digestible content blocks.
- Inclusive design: Ensure proper color contrast and add descriptive alt text to all images for accessibility.
Mobile-Friendly Design
More than half of emails are now viewed on mobile devices, with 80% of users deleting poorly formatted ones in under three seconds. To avoid the trash folder, make sure your design is optimized for mobile use: clean, responsive, and user-friendly.
- Responsive templates: Use designs that automatically resize to fit any screen size.
- Recommended width: Keep your layout between 600-680 pixels for optimal desktop viewing.
- Readable text: Use a minimum of 14px for body text and larger fonts for headlines.
- Clickable CTA: Buttons should be at least 44×44 pixels or larger to ensure easy tapping.
- Vertical stacking: Arrange content blocks vertically to avoid clutter and improve flow.
- Cross-client testing: Preview email on different devices and clients before sending.
Take it further with progressive enhancement styling to ensure that emails look great and work smoothly on all platforms, while following best practices for conversion and responsiveness.
Measuring Email Success
Effective email marketing goes beyond sending campaigns. Set clear goals and use tools like A/B testing to evaluate how well your strategies align with business outcomes. By consistently monitoring results and identifying what works, you can make informed adjustments to improve engagement, conversions, and ROI over time.
Key Performance Metrics to Track
Tracking particular metrics tells you how effective your email campaigns are while spotting areas for improvement. Focus on the following KPIs that offer the most actionable insights:
- Open rate: Reflects sender reputation and the effectiveness of your subject lines
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Indicates how well your content and calls to action drive engagement
- Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR): Measures how compelling your content is after the email is opened
- Conversion rate: Tracks how many recipients complete actions
- Bounce rate: Helps monitor deliverability issues and problems on your email list
- Unsubscribe rate: Provides insight into content relevance, frequency, and overall subscriber satisfaction
To ground your tracking, use industry benchmarks as a baseline: the average email open rate across industries is 21.5%, while the average click-through rate is 2.3%. Use these figures to set realistic goals for your campaigns.
A/B Testing for Continuous Improvement
A/B testing, also known as split testing, offers a systematic approach to improving your email campaigns over time. Here’s how to effectively integrate it into your email marketing strategy:
- Test one variable at a time: Focus on one variable, like the subject line, CTAs, or send time, to see its impact.
- Random sampling: Split your audience into random test groups for unbiased results.
- Send simultaneously: Send test emails simultaneously to remove timing bias.
- Ensure statistical significance: Don’t pick a winner too soon. Wait until you have a large enough sample size to draw conclusions.
- Apply the winning variant: Once you’ve picked a winner, send that version to the rest of your contacts. Exclude unengaged recipients for better results.
- Maintain a testing log: Record all tests and results to guide future campaigns and avoid repeating failures.
Smarter Emails Start with The Influence Agency
What makes a great email? For starters, creating high-impact email marketing campaigns requires a smart blend of strategy, creativity, and data-driven analysis, exactly what our email marketing experts at The Influence Agency specialize in.
Trusted by brands across North America, we craft tailored campaigns that convert through expert segmentation, stunning design, and proven optimization strategies. We know your audience as well as you, so let us help you create campaigns that deliver results.
Contact us today for a free consultation and see how we can elevate your email marketing strategy!