Optimize Your Emails From Top to Bottom With These 27 Tips
Thereâs a lot to consider before you hit send on your latest campaign or send a new template into the world. With so many variables, opportunities to optimize your emails can hide in plain sight.Â
Itâs a bit like starting a home project and promising to come back to it later. The busy-ness of life sends the details to the background, and you get used to how the half-finished room looks.Â
When you create emails day in and day out, itâs tempting to look at bigger and more exciting ideas. Sometimes, it pays to go back to basics.
Here are some tips and best practices that I keep in mind as Litmusâ email developer, across six essential parts of an email.Â
Carve out some time for an email check-inâand see where you may have opportunities to optimize.
6 email sections to optimizeÂ
Donât know how to optimize your emails? Start at the top. Review your current email templates one section at a time to ensure you donât accidentally skip something.
1. Envelope
An email is just a virtual letter, so it makes sense that thereâs an envelope. The email envelope contains your subject line, preview text, and sender name. The job of these elements is to encourage someone to open the email; the pieces need to work together. For example, Paulaâs Choice sent an email about their vitamin C serum with the subject line â3 Things to Know About Vitamin C đ§Ąâ and â#3 is v. importantâ in the preview text.
Tips for optimizing your email envelope:
- Make your sender name welcomingâdonât use a âno-replyâ address
- Use a sender name thatâs obviously from your brand
- Donât stress about words that trigger spam filters (they donât really impact your email deliverability)
- Coordinate your subject line and preview text, like the preview text answering a question in the subject line or both setting up a topic that the email continues
- If a message is âfromâ someone on your team, make sure the email actually looks like itâs from a person
- Donât use âRe:â or âFWD:â in your subject line. Your emails should build trust, not deteriorate it.
Read more: The Preview Text Hack You May Want to Use in Every Email
2. Header
When a subscriber opens your email, theyâll first see your header underneath the envelope information. You have a few options for how to set up your header, but most headers should at least include your logo. You can also make your header dynamic, for example, our newsletters have a dynamic link in the header. If the subscriber is a Litmus customer, thereâs a login button. Non-customers will see a âView onlineâ link.
Other things you could include in your header section include social icons or menus. Iâm not a fan of including social media icons unless theyâre directly related to a call to action. And menus are only good if they fit the message of your email. But if theyâre necessary for your brand, the header is an OK place to include them.
Tips for optimizing your email header:
- Hiding your preview text wonât trigger spam filters, so leave it out of the header.
- If you want to use navigation in your email header, restrict it to desktop opens. Real estate on mobile is much smaller, itâs better to put your message at the top and move the menu to the footer.
- Make sure the font, size, and color of your header contents are accessible.
Read more: Modular Starter Template: Header with centered logo
3. Hero
Your email hero is a visual elementâtypically an image, animation, or text header that sets the tone for the email. Because of its size and location, subscribers might look to the hero first and foremost, so it should explain the message. Schoolhouse used a header, text, and CTA button with a background image to create a cozy mood in their email.
Tips for optimizing your email hero:
- Always use retina images for photos and set width and height attributes. Outlook doesnât render CSS styles, so without attributes in place, your images will be blown out.
- Use an inverted pyramid design for text-based headers with a header, subheader, text.
- Make your headline and/or hero image clickable if your header doesnât feature a CTA
Read more: The 102 of Email Code: Working with images
4. Body copy
If your website is like a digital shop, your email is the display window that attracts people.You donât need to explain everything in your email, just enough to drive a single action. Drizly kept their copy short and sweet while still giving necessary dates and details.
Tips for optimizing your email copy:
- Use live text in a web safe font. You can add web fonts where supported, but itâs better to create an accessible email than one with subtle font changes that most people wonât notice.Â
- Keep your copy concise and left align your text if it’s more than three lines long
- Use the ârule of threeâ to create engaging and scannable ordered lists
- Take advantage of white space
- Use semantic code to denote headers and paragraphs
- Break up more text-heavy emails like newsletters with images or offset quotes
Read more: How to Use Dynamic Email Content to Increase Engagement
5. Calls-to-action (CTAs)
Hickâs Law states that the more options you give someone, the longer they take to decide. So, wield your CTAs thoughtfully and use bulletproof buttons to ensure everyone sees them. For example, ILIA used a little bit of copy and a clear CTA to direct subscribers to their website.
Tips for optimizing your email CTAs:
- Use Litmus Personalize to dynamically update which content and CTAs a subscriber sees based on their past actions
- Make sure thereâs visual interest pulling subscribers to the bottom of the email if thatâs where your CTA is
- Linking the same page in multiple spots gives you a fallback in case one link doesnât work. Make sure to change up the copy on the CTAs though to avoid being repetitive. (Donât forget, you can use Litmus to automatically check links before you send, just sayinâ.)
Read more: Guide to Calls-To-Action (CTAs) in Email Marketing
6. Footer
Your email footer wraps up your message and holds important bits like unsubscribe links and legalese, but it can be fun, too! Litmus Weekly emails always include âMade with â¤ď¸ using Litmusâ but you can even switch up the message each week.
Tips for optimizing your email footer:
- Make your unsubscribe link visible
- Put your address in the footer
- If you donât want people to reply to the email, tell them how they can contact you
- If your âview in browserâ link isnât in the header, put it in the footer
- Keep your footer organized and readable
- Donât be afraid to have a little fun and show personality in the footer
Read more: 12 Email Footer Design Best Practices
Above all⌠test!
Everyone should test every email. Testing is the best way to ensure that all your hard work shows up exactly as you intended in the inbox. Litmus Previews and QA let you preview how your email will appear across email clients and devices, check links, ensure accessibility, measure load speed, and check for potential spam issues.