Best practice email marketing

Improve open rates and clicks

Subject lines should be under 60 characters (unless absolutely necessary), using simple English, and prepare the reader for what’ll be inside
Ask away. Subject lines with questions or personalised fields tend to work best
Clean data is incredibly important - your deliverability and the effect you can have on new/prospective customers will depend on it
Triggers should be fully tested and QA'd before automations are set live
Clean data (yep, we're saying this one again) in your CRM is key

Tone of voice should remain consistent, friendly and positive
Proof, proof and proof. With Turtl. If a mistake slips through, you can edit a Turtl newsletter live
Be concise. Don't use 50 words when 20 will do
Don't tell all. The role of email is to get recipients through to further information
Hey, John. Don’t use first name personalization too often, it just sounds weird
Focus your content. Relevant, tailored emails work best
What's your goal? Make sure everything sticks to the purpose of the email

Images with text. Limit the use of images with words - it's not best practice for accessibility
Be alternative. All images should have descriptive alt text
CTA placement. The first CTA of an email should be above the 600px fold, or as close to it as possible
Real estate is precious, use it. CTAs in the top right-hand corner of an email, when relevant, will improve conversions and CTRs
Easy on the eye. White/blank space is your friend. It makes things easier to read
Reading psychology. Consider using design principles like the Z-pattern to aid readibility

Useful resourcesCopywriting agency Radix Communications has some great general advice on voice and tone.

If you're looking to align goal-setting to content operations, read our guide to planning your B2B Content marketing strategy.

You'll find advice to feed for email, socials and blog output, with tone and voice, SEO, PR, and goal-setting guidance to scale cohesive content ops.

All emails should have the ability to be viewed online
All emails should include relevant T&Cs, privacy policies and unsubscribe/preference options
A/B testing should be conducted as much as you can, if not always
CTAs don't always need to be physical buttons - using underlined/bold words with arrows work well too

Paul Fellowes,
CRM Manager at Turtl

How many emails are sent a day, globally?