This blog will discuss email subject lines, their importance, email subject line best practices, and what to avoid while creating one.

But most importantly, we’ll also share 184 email subject line examples you can use to increase open rates.

Plus, we’ll help you understand the psychology behind them so you can replicate their success again and again.

Table of Contents

1. What Is an Email Subject Line?
2. Why Is a Good Email Subject Line Important?
3. 184 Best Email Subject Lines (and Why They Work)!
   1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Email Subject Lines
   2. Curiosity Inducing Email Subject Lines
   3. Funny Email Subject Lines
   4. Vanity Appealing Email Subject Lines
   5. Greedy Email Subject Lines
   6. Catchy Email Subject Lines
   7. Customer Pain Points Email Subject Lines
   8. Retargeting Email Subject Lines
   9. Personalized Email Subject Lines
   10. Straightforward Email Subject Lines
   11. Sales Email Subject Lines
   12. Newsletter Email Subject Lines
4. Email Subject Line Best Practices
5. Common Mistakes To Avoid in Email Subject Lines
6. Top Email Subject Line Keywords
7. 3 Bonus Tips for Crafting Catchy Email Subject Lines

ExclusiveDownload the 184 Best Email Subject Lines Cheatsheet for boosting your email open rates.

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

What Is an Email Subject Line?

An email subject line is a brief preview or a one-line summary of the content of an email that appears in the inbox. The best email subject lines grab readers’ attention, provide value to the recipient, and encourage them to open the email.

Here is an email marketing subject line example.

It is usually the subject line that determines whether a reader would open your email or ignore it.

Why Is a Good Email Subject Line Important?

47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. At the same time, 69% of email recipients report emails as spammy based solely on the subject line.

In other words: your subject lines can make or break your email marketing campaigns.

By using good email subject lines, you can increase open rates, which can help improve click-through rates and conversions.

Email marketing subject lines are important for several other reasons as well, such as:

• Grabbing Attention: Subject lines are the first thing recipients see when they receive an email, and they play a crucial role in grabbing their attention and encouraging them to open the email.
• Setting Expectations: Subject lines also set expectations for the content of the email. A well-crafted subject line should give the recipient an idea of the email and what they can expect to find inside.
• Avoiding Spam Filters: Certain words and phrases can trigger spam filters, causing your email to be marked as spam and potentially end up in the recipient’s spam folder or not being delivered at all. Crafting subject lines that avoid these trigger words and phrases ensures deliverability.
• Higher Open Rates: An engaging subject line can significantly increase the recipient’s likelihood of opening the email. This is especially important in email marketing campaigns, where open rates often measure the campaign’s success.
• Encouraging Engagement: Subject lines can also encourage engagement with the email’s content. A catchy email subject line can entice the recipient to read further, click on links, or take other desired actions.

The subject line is the first impression that the recipient will have of the email. It’s important to make it count.

Let’s see 184+ catchy email subject line examples and the proven principles that make them work.

184 Best Email Subject Lines (and Why They Work)!

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Email Subject Lines

One psychological principle that is practically impossible to resist is FOMO, the fear of missing out. You can use this fear in your subject lines by adding an element of scarcity (limited availability) or urgency (limited time).

Email subject lines that include words that imply time sensitivity, like “urgent”, “breaking”, “important” or “alert” are proven to increase email open rates.

Here are some great sample subject lines for emails that use the fear of missing out:

1. Warby Parker: “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring”
2. JetBlue: “You’re missing out on points.”
3. Digital Marketer: “[URGENT] You’ve got ONE DAY to watch this…”
4. Digital Marketer: “Your 7-figure plan goes bye-bye at midnight…”
5. Digital Marketer: “[WEEKEND ONLY] Get this NOW before it’s gone…”
6. Jersey Mike’s Subs: “Mary, Earn double points today only”
7. Guess: “Tonight only: A denim lover’s dream”

Curiosity Inducing Email Subject Lines

Humans have a natural desire for closure. We don’t like having gaps in our knowledge. You can leverage this desire for closure by leaving your subject line open-ended so subscribers will be curious, like a cliffhanger that can only be satisfied by opening the email.

You can make subscribers curious by asking a question, promising something interesting, or simply saying something that sounds strange or unusual.

Here are some great examples of curiosity-inducing subject lines:

8. Manicube: “*Don’t Open This Email*”
9. GrubHub: “Last Day To See What This Mystery Email Is All About”
10. Refinery29: “10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer”
11. Digital Marketer: “Check out my new “man cave” [PICS]”
12. Digital Marketer: “Is this the hottest career in marketing?”
13. Thrillist: “What They Eat In Prison”
14. Eat This Not That: “9 Disgusting Facts about Thanksgiving”
15. Chubbies: “Hologram Shorts?!”
16. The Hustle: “A faster donkey”
17. Mary Fernandez: “? a surprise gift for you! {unwrap}”

Funny Email Subject Lines

If your subject line makes your subscribers laugh, they must open it. After all, have you ever read a subject line that tickled your funny bone and didn’t read it?

Being humorous and catchy requires more thought and creativity, but it can pay off in terms of your open rates.

Here are some funny email subject lines to make your subscribers laugh:

18. Eater Boston: “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” (Sent at 6:45am on a Wednesday.)
19. OpenTable: “Licking your phone never tasted so good”
20. Groupon: “Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)”
21. The Muse: “We Like Being Used”
22. Warby Parker: “Pairs nicely with spreadsheets”
23. UncommonGoods: “As You Wish” (A reference to the movie The Princess Bride.)
24. Travelocity: “Need a day at the beach? Just scratch n’ sniff your way to paradise…”
25. TicTail: “Boom shakalak! Let’s get started.”
26. Thrillist: “Try To Avoid These 27 People On New Year’s Eve”
27. Baby Bump: “Yes, I’m Pregnant. You Can Stop Staring At My Belly Now.”
28. Gozengo: “NEW! Vacation on Mars”
29. The Hustle: “Look what you did, you little jerk…” (This one’s a reference to the movie Home Alone. We hope.)

Vanity Appealing Email Subject Lines

Everyone has a bit of vanity. People love to be liked, accepted, and even revered by others. It’s just a part of being human.

That’s why some of the most clever subject lines use vanity to get you to open the email. To do this, you can either promise something that makes the subscriber look better to their peers or invoke the fear of being shamed.

Here are some great examples of clever email subject lines that leverage vanity:

30. Guess: “Don’t wear last year’s styles.”
31. Fabletics: “Your Butt Will Look Great in These Workout Pants”
32. Jeremy Gitomer: “How Have You Progressed Since the Third Grade?”
33. Rapha: “Gift inspiration for the discerning cyclist”
34. La Mer: “Age-defying beauty tricks”
35. Pop Physique: “Get Ready. Keep the Pie Off Your Thighs Returns.”
36. Rapha: “As worn in the World Tour”
37. Sephora: “Products the celebs are wearing”

Greedy Email Subject Lines

You may not think of yourself as a “greedy” person, but it can be tough to pass up a great deal, even if you don’t need the item right now. That’s why sales, discounts, and special offers work well in your subject lines.

However, be careful about offering massive discounts; the higher the percentage, the less reliable its effect on your open rates (perhaps because consumers don’t believe large discounts are real).

Regardless, you can usually expect an increase in click-through rates whenever you offer a discount in your subject line. That’s because the people who open these emails are interested in your offer, so they’re naturally inclined to click.

Here are some great email subject line ideas for hitting your subscriber’s “greed” button:

38. Topshop: “Meet your new jeans”
39. Topshop: “Get a head start on summer”
40. HP: “Flash. Sale. Alert.”
41. HP: “New must-haves for your office”
42. Seafolly: “A new product you won’t pass on”
43. Guess: “25% off your favorites”
44. Rip Curl: “Two for two”
45. La Mer: “A little luxury at a great price”
46. Rapha: “Complimentary gift wrap on all purchases”
47. The Black Tux: “Get priority access.”

Catchy Email Subject Lines

Catchy email subject lines create excitement and encourage readers to open the email.

There are many different ways to grab your readers’ attention. For example, you can create an attention-grabbing catchy email subject line by being controversial, confident, or conversational.

You can also give readers an easier way to achieve their goals by offering a shortcut or a helpful resource (e.g., a lead magnet) that saves time and energy.

Here are a few catchy email subject line examples that capture the readers’ attention in one way or another.

48. Syed from OptinMonster: “ 63-Point Checklist for Creating the Ultimate Optin Form”
49. Syed from OptinMonster: “Grow your email list 10X faster with these 30 content upgrade ideas”
50. Ramit Sethi: “How to email a busy person (including a word-for-word script)”
51. Digital Marketer: “Steal these email templates…”
52. Digital Marketer: “A Native Ad in 60 Minutes or Less”
53. Digital Marketer: “212 blog post ideas“

Customer Pain Points Email Subject Lines

If you understand your buyer persona, you should know their biggest pain points. Use those pain points to get subscribers to open your emails by solving that problem.

Here are some examples of email subject lines that bring out the subscriber’s pain points and offer a solution:

54. Pizza Hut: “Feed your guests without breaking the bank”
55. IKEA: “Where do all these toys go?”
56. IKEA: “Get more kitchen space with these easy fixes”
57. HP: “Stop wasting money on ink”
58. Sephora: “Your beauty issues, solved”
59. Uber: “Since we can’t all win the lottery…”
60. Thrillist: “How to Survive Your Next Overnight Flight”
61. Guess: “Wanted: Cute and affordable fashions”
62. Evernote: “Stop wasting time on mindless work”
63. Duolingo: “Learn a language with only 5 minutes per day”

Retargeting Email Subject Lines

Retargeting emails are sent to subscribers when they fail to complete an action or a step in your sales funnel (e.g., when they abandon their cart or fail to purchase after their free trial). These emails serve to bring your subscribers back to your sales process.

You can write effective retargeting subject lines by overcoming objections, offering something to sweeten the deal, or alerting them that something bad will happen if they don’t take action.

Here are some excellent examples of retargeting email subject lines:

64. Nick Stephenson: “How you can afford Your First 10,000 Readers (closing tonight)”
65. Bonobos: “Hey, forget something? Here’s 20% off.”
66. Target: “The price dropped for something in your cart”
67. Syed from Envira: “Mary, your Envira account is on hold!”
68. Syed from Envira: “I’m deleting your Envira account”
69. Ugmonk: “Offering you my personal email”
70. Animoto: “Did you miss out on some of these new features?”
71. Pinterest: “Good News: Your Pin’s price dropped!”
72. Unroll.Me: “ Unroll.Me has stopped working”
73. Vivino: “We are not gonna Give Up on You!”

Personalized Email Subject Lines

Email subject lines that use personalization by including a name boost open rates by 10-14% across industries.

But including your subscriber’s name is only one way to make personalized subject lines. You can also use casual language, share something personal, or use copy that implies familiarity or friendship.

Here are some examples of personal email subject lines that work:

74. Guess: “Mary, check out these hand-picked looks”
75. Rent the Runway: “Happy Birthday Mary – Surprise Inside!”
76. Bonnie Fahy: “Mary, do you remember me?”
77. Kimra Luna: “I didn’t see your name in the comments!?”
78. John Lee Dumas: “Are you coming?”
79. UrbanDaddy: “You’ve Changed”
80. Influitive: “So I’ll pick you up at 7?”
81. James Malinchak: “Crazy Invitation, I am Going to Buy You Lunch…”
82. Brooklinen: “Vanilla or Chocolate?”
83. Sam from The Hustle: “I love you”
84. Ryan Levesque: “Seriously, Who DOES This?”
85. Jon Morrow: “Quick favor?”
86. Mary Fernandez: “you free this Thurs at 12PM PST? [guest blogging class]”
87. Mary Fernandez: “? your detailed results…”
88. Syed from OptinMonster: “300% increase in revenue with a single optin + a neat growth trick from my mastermind!”
89. Revolution Tea: “Thanks for helping us”
90. Harry’s: “Two razors for your friends (on us)”

Straightforward Email Subject Lines

When in doubt, make your subject line simple. Contrary to what you might think, these “boring” subject lines can convert well.

The key to making this work for your list is consistently providing value in your emails. Only send an email if you have something important to say: always make sure your campaigns are packed with value. If you do this, you’ll train your subscribers to open your emails no matter what the subject line says.

For help with writing better emails, check out our post on 19 quick and dirty tricks for writing better emails.

Here are a few examples of email marketing subject lines that get straight to the point:

91. Al Franken: “Yes, this is a fundraising email”
92. AYR: “Best coat ever”
93. Barack Obama: “Hey”

And these “boring” subject lines performed the highest out of 40 million emails, with open rates between 60-87%.

94. “[Company Name] Sales & Marketing Newsletter”
95. “Eye on the [Company Name] Update (Oct 31 – Nov 4)”
96. “[Company Name] Staff Shirts & Photos”
97. “[Company Name] May 2005 News Bulletin!”
98. “[Company Name] Newsletter – February 2006”
99. “[Company Name] and [Company Name] Invites You!”
100. “Happy Holidays from [Company Name]”
101. “Invitation from [Company Name]”

Sales Email Subject Lines

Sales email subject lines are specifically crafted to promote and sell a product or service to potential customers.

These subject lines grab the recipient’s attention and create a sense of urgency or exclusivity. They often use phrases like “limited time,” “exclusive offer,” or “sneak peek” to entice the recipient to open the email and take advantage of the promotion.

They often include a clear call to action, such as “Shop now” or “Learn more,” to encourage the recipient to take action and purchase.

Here are a few examples of effective sales email subject lines that work very well:

102. “Limited time offer: Get 20% off your first purchase!”
103. “Don’t miss out on our biggest sale of the year!”
104. “Sneak peek: Introducing our newest product line”
105. “Upgrade your [product/service] and save 10%”
106. “Exclusive offer: Buy one, get one free!”

Newsletter Email Subject Lines

Newsletter email subject lines are used to promote and share regular updates, news, or information with subscribers.

Newsletters, often sent regularly, such as weekly or monthly, are intended to keep subscribers engaged and informed about the latest developments related to the brand or industry.

Here are a few examples of newsletter email subject lines:

107. “Stay in the know: Our monthly newsletter is here!”
108. “5 must-read articles for this week”
109. “New product announcement: Be the first to know”
110. “Your weekly dose of inspiration and motivation”
111. “Exclusive content: Subscribe to our newsletter for access”

Learn more about newsletters in the following articles:

• How To Create An Email Newsletter in 5 EASY Steps
• 27 Awesome Newsletter Ideas That Will Keep Subscribers Engaged

Follow-up Email Subject Lines

Follow-up email subject lines are used to remind or follow up with a recipient after an initial email has been sent. They are often used for cold emails in sales or networking situations, where a prompt response is needed to close a deal or establish a relationship.

Here are a few examples of follow-up email subject lines that work:

112. “Quick follow-up on our meeting”
113. “Just wanted to touch base on [topic]”
114. “Checking in on your progress”
115. “Friendly reminder: [Action needed]”
116. “Don’t miss out: Last chance to [offer]”

Cold Email Subject Lines

Cold email subject lines are used to outreach prospects or potential customers. They are often used in sales or networking situations where the goal is to generate leads or establish new business relationships.

These types of subject lines are designed to be personalized, brief, and intriguing. They often use phrases like “introducing,” “would you be interested,” or “let’s chat” to communicate the purpose of the email in a friendly and non-invasive manner.

They often include a clear value proposition or a statement of how the sender can help the recipient further establish the potential benefits of engaging with the email.

Here are a few examples of cold email subject lines:

117. “Introducing [Product/Service] – A solution to your [problem]”
118. “Would you be interested in [Value proposition]?”
119. “Can we help you achieve [Goal]?”
120. “Let’s chat about [Topic]”
121. “Reaching out to explore a potential partnership”

Top Email Subject Line Keywords

Many studies have analyzed the effectiveness of using specific email subject line keywords. Use these keywords to boost your open rates even further when crafting your email copy and subject lines.

According to Alchemy Worx, which analyzed 21 billion emails sent by 2,500 brands, the top five most effective subject line keywords were:

122. “upgrade”
123. “just”
124. “content”
125. “go”
126. “wonderful”

In another study from Alchemy Worx, which analyzed 24.6 billion emails, the top subject line keywords for open rates were:

127. “jokes”
128. “promotional”
129. “congratulations”
130. “revision”
131. “forecast”
132. “snapshot”
133. “token”
134. “voluntary”
135. “monthly”
136. “deduction”

Based on Digital Marketer’s analysis of 125 million emails, some top subject line keywords to try are:

137. “free”
138. “ICYMI”
139. “$ today, $$$ tomorrow”
140. numbers (e.g. “7-figure plan”, “212 ideas”, “60 minutes or less”)
141. [brackets] (e.g. “[EMAIL MARKETERS] $95 today, $995 tomorrow,” “[In Case You Missed It] Our best-performing blog post of all time,” “[NAME’s Last Reminder] Up to 90% off our best-selling products gone in 3…2…1…”)

Adestra analyzed over 2.2 billion emails and found the following top subject line keywords:

142. “free delivery”
143. “available”
144. “new”
145. “alert”
146. “news”
147. “update”
148. “summer”
149. “weekend”

In another study from Adestra, which looked at over 125K email campaigns, the top-performing subject line keywords were:

150. “thank you”
151. “*|*|*|*|” (i.e. a subject line that has multiple stories delineated by pipes. For example, “Headline 1 | Headline 2 | Headline 3 | Headline 4”)
152. “monthly”
153. “thanks”
154. “*|*|*|”
155. “bulletin”
156. “golden”
157. “iPhone”
158. “breaking”
159. “order today”

Finally, a report by Smart Insights looked at a random sample of 700 million emails and found that the top-performing subject line keywords were:

160. “introducing”
161. “celebrate”
162. “buy”
163. “continues”
164. “get your”
165. “what…?”
166. “won’t…?”
167. “do…?”
168. “can…?”
169. “may…?”
170. “on orders over”
171. “orders over”
172. “off selected”
173. “your next order”
174. “available”
175. “brand new”
176. “latest”
177. “special”
178. “wonderful”
179. “great deals”
180. “sale starts”
181. “back in stock”
182. “stock”
183. “sale now”
184. “now in”

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Best Practices for Email Subject Lines

Following these email subject line best practices, you can craft subject lines that grab your audience’s attention, increase open rates, and drive engagement.

• Segment Your Audience: Tailor your subject lines to different audience segments based on their interests and behaviors. This can increase open rates and engagement.
• Avoid Spam Trigger Words: Avoid using words that are commonly associated with spam, such as “cash,” “earn money,” “free,” or “act now.” These can trigger spam filters and cause your email to be marked as spam, ultimately affecting your email deliverability. This applies to both the subject line and the body of the email.
• Be Clear and Specific: Your subject line should indicate the content and purpose of the email. Avoid vague or overly general subject lines that don’t give the recipient a good idea of what to expect.
• Use Action-Oriented Language: Use strong verbs and action-oriented language to create a sense of urgency and encourage the recipient to take action. This can include words like “limited time offer,” “urgent,” “today only,” or “ending soon.”
• Use Personalization: Include the recipient’s name or other personalized information to make the email more relevant and personalized.
• Keep A/B Testing: A/B test different subject lines to see what works best for your audience. Try different lengths, formats, and styles to see what resonates with your subscribers.

Common Mistakes To Avoid in Email Subject Lines

When you’re creating that perfect email subject line, try to avoid the following mistakes:

• Using Clickbait or Deceptive Language: Avoid using misleading or exaggerated language to entice the recipient to open the email.
• Using All Caps or Excessive Punctuation: Using all caps or excessive punctuation can make the subject line appear spammy and turn off recipients.
• Making False Promises: Only promise something in the subject line delivered in the email’s body.
• Being Too Vague or Generic: Make sure the subject line is specific and provides value to the recipient.

3 Bonus Tips for Crafting Catchy Email Subject Lines

Before choosing a subject line at random, remember these tips for the highest possible open rates.

1. Most People Open Emails on Mobile

Regardless of which of the above techniques you use, make sure your subject line is optimized for mobile users.

While mobile access to email saw a dip at the end of 2018, it’s still the preferred way people access their email.

You can use free marketing tools like Zurb’s TestSubject to see how your subject line will appear on various popular mobile devices.

2. Originality is Key

Also, remember that being original is the key to sustainable success with your email subject lines.

The truth is subscribers get bored easily. If you want to engage first-time openers and long-term inactive subscribers, you don’t want them to read your subject line and think, “There’s that weekly newsletter again that I always ignore.”

You should keep things fresh and exciting. And writing good subject lines for emails is the best way to do that.

3. Try Out Emojis

According to a report by Experian, using emojis in your subject lines can increase your open rates by 45%.

We’ve also been testing this at OptinMonster, and we can confirm that the email subject lines with emojis beat the plain text ones!

Here are the top 15 emojis by subject line appearance.

These aren’t necessarily the “best” ones but the most popular. You can get creative with emojis and emoji combinations for your email subject lines.

That’s it! We hope you found these 184 best subject lines for emails helpful in creating your next subject line. If you did, consider downloading the cheat sheet, so you can always have this guide handy.

Email subject lines are critical to any email marketing campaign, especially for those in the eCommerce industry. They can make or break the success of an email campaign, especially during peak sales events like Black Friday.

Now it’s your turn. Choose one of the subject line examples above to modify and make your own.

Consider incorporating top subject line keywords to boost your newsletter open rates even more.

Need to send a newsletter? Learn how to create and send your first email newsletter with our guide.

Looking for the best bulk email services to help you reach a wider target audience? Check out the Top 10 Best Bulk Emails Services.

If you enjoyed this article, you should also check out the following blog posts:

• 8 Product Recommendation Email Examples to Drive Sales
• 30 Content Upgrade Ideas to Grow Your Email List
• Email Subject Line Statistics To Help You Maximize Your Open Rates
• 27 Abandoned Cart Email Subject Lines PROVEN to Convert
• 29 Best Email Automation Tools to Transform Your Business

Summary:

Email Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of recipients who clicked on one or more links in your email. It’s calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of delivered emails and multiplying by 100. For example, if you sent 1,000 emails and 50 recipients clicked on a link, your CTR would be 5%.

Here are 13 tips on how to improve email click-through rate:

1. Craft Compelling Subject Lines
2. Personalize Your Emails
3. Optimize Email Design
4. Segment Your Audience
5. Create Clear and Strong CTAs
6. A/B Test Your Emails
7. Use Engaging Visuals
8. Keep Content Relevant and Valuable
9. Send Emails at the Right Time
10. Utilize Interactive Elements
11. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
12. Leverage Social Proof
13. Monitor and Analyze Performance

The click-through rate metric is more than just a number; it’s a powerful indicator of how well your audience engages with your content and a critical factor in driving conversions and boosting your digital marketing ROI.

Naturally, among the many email marketing metrics available to check the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, the one that stands out in particular is email click-through rate.

This article explains email click-through rate and teaches you how to improve it.

So, let’s dive in and unlock the full potential of your email campaigns!

• What Is Email Click-Through Rate
• Why Is Email CTR Important
• Average Email Click-Through Rate
• What Is a Good Click Through Rate for Email
• Why Is My Email Campaign Click Through Rate so Low
• How To Increase Email Click-Through Rate

What Is a Good Click Through Rate for Email

A good click-through rate for email marketing can depend on various factors, such as the industry, the type of email, and the campaign’s specific goals. Here are some general benchmarks:

Industry-Specific CTR Benchmarks

• Technology: 5% to 7%
• Nonprofits: 4% to 6%
• E-commerce/Retail: 2% to 4%
• Healthcare: 3% to 5%
• Media and Publishing: 4% to 6%

Type of Email

• Newsletters: 3% to 5%
• Promotional Emails: 1% to 3%
• Transactional Emails: 5% and higher

Why Is My Email Campaign Click Through Rate so Low

Below are some common causes why your email campaign click through rate could be low:

1. Irrelevant Content:
   • Mismatched audience: Ensure your content aligns with your subscribers’ interests and needs.
   • Weak value proposition: Clearly communicate the benefits of clicking the link.
2. Poor Subject Lines:
   • Lack of clarity: Be specific and intriguing.
   • Misleading promises: Avoid clickbait.
   • Ignoring mobile optimization: Short subject lines are crucial for mobile.
3. Email Design Issues:
   • Poor readability: Use clear fonts, sufficient contrast, and proper spacing.
   • Slow loading times: Optimize images and code.
   • Mobile unfriendliness: Ensure your email looks good on all devices.
4. Timing and Frequency:
   • Wrong send time: Experiment with different times to find optimal engagement.
   • Excessive frequency: Overwhelming subscribers can lead to unsubscribes.
5. Technical Problems:
   • Email deliverability issues: Check for spam filters and sender reputation.
   • Broken links: Ensure all links are functional

How to Improve Your Email CTR: 13 Tips

1. Craft Compelling Subject Lines

The subject line is the first impression recipients get of your email. An enticing and relevant subject line increases the chances of your email being opened and clicked. Use action verbs, create urgency, and be clear about the email’s value. Personalization in the subject line, such as including the recipient’s name, can also boost open rates.

2. Personalize Your Emails

Personalization goes beyond using the recipient’s name. Tailor the email content based on the recipient’s preferences, past behaviors, or demographic information. Use dynamic content to show personalized product recommendations or relevant offers.

3. Optimize Email Design

Your emails should be visually appealing and easy to read. A clean, responsive design that adapts to various devices ensures a better user experience. Use a single-column layout, ample white space, and clear fonts. Ensure that your email is not cluttered and that the most important elements stand out.

4. Segment Your Audience

Segmentation allows you to send more relevant content to different groups within your audience. You can segment based on demographics, purchase history, engagement level, or interests. This targeted approach increases the relevance of your emails, leading to higher engagement and CTR.

5. Create Clear and Strong CTAs

Your call-to-action (CTA) should be prominent, clear, and compelling. Use action-oriented language that tells recipients exactly what you want them to do, such as “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “Get Started.” Make your CTA buttons stand out with contrasting colors and ensure they are easy to click on both desktop and mobile devices.

6. A/B Test Your Emails

A/B testing involves sending two variations of an email to a small segment of your audience to see which performs better. Test different elements such as subject lines, CTAs, images, and email copy. Use the results to optimize your emails for better performance.

7. Use Engaging Visuals

Incorporate high-quality images, videos, or GIFs to make your emails more visually appealing. Visual content can convey your message quickly and effectively, capturing the reader’s attention and encouraging clicks.

8. Keep Content Relevant and Valuable

Ensure that your email content is relevant and valuable to your audience. Avoid generic messages and focus on delivering useful information, such as tips, guides, or exclusive offers. The more value you provide, the more likely recipients are to engage with your emails.

9. Send Emails at the Right Time

The timing of your emails can significantly impact your CTR. Test different days of the week and times of day to determine when your audience is most likely to engage. Consider time zones and the typical daily routines of your recipients.

10. Utilize Interactive Elements

Interactive elements like polls, quizzes, or carousels can increase engagement and encourage clicks. These elements make your emails more dynamic and can capture the reader’s attention more effectively than static content.

11. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness

With many people reading emails on mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure your emails are mobile-friendly. Use a responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes, and make sure your links and buttons are easy to tap on smaller screens.

12. Leverage Social Proof

Including testimonials, reviews, or user-generated content can build trust and encourage clicks. Social proof reassures recipients that others have had positive experiences with your product or service, making them more likely to engage.

13. Monitor and Analyze Performance

Regularly track your email metrics and analyze performance. Look at which emails have higher CTRs and analyze what they have in common. Use these insights to inform future campaigns and continually improve your email strategy. Tools like Google Analytics and email marketing platforms’ built-in analytics can provide valuable data.

Implementing these strategies can help you create more engaging emails that encourage recipients to click through and interact with your content.

A low email click-through rate often indicates irrelevant content, poor subject lines, or suboptimal timing. To improve your CTR, focus on highly targeted audience segmentation, compelling subject lines, and clear, compelling calls to action. Additionally, optimize your email content for mobile devices and test different send times to find what works best for your audience.

More on Email Marketing:

• How to Create a Winning Email Marketing Strategy
• 15 Email Marketing Best Practices to Build a Killer List
• 10 Brilliant Email Marketing Examples and Why We Love Them
• Small Business Email Marketing: 7 (Easy) Tips for Growth
• 6 Free Email Marketing Templates You Need To Try Right Now!
• 29 Best Email Automation Tools to Transform Your Business

Email marketing is sending emails to people who want to hear from you to tell them about your products or services. It can be used to help educate leads who aren’t quite ready to buy, to make specific offers to those who are, and to increase referrals and repeat business from existing customers. Given that 95% of internet users aged between 25 and 44 years in the United States report they use email daily, it’s worth your time to understand how to do email marketing in 2024.

I’m Syed Balkhi, one of the co-founders of OptinMonster. Here at OptinMonster, over 1.2 million small businesses use us to help grow their email marketing lists.

I know a thing or two about how to grow and market a business. I’ve written this guide to email marketing as your step-by-step plan, complete with strategies, tactics, and my insider secrets.

• What is Email Marketing?
• What Are the Advantages of Email Marketing?
• What Are the Disadvantages of Email Marketing?
• How to Do Email Marketing Successfully: A 5 Step Guide
  • Step 1: Define Your Goals
  • Step 2: Choose an Email Service Provider
  • Step 3: Create an Optin Form to Build Your Email List
  • Step 4: Select the Type of Email Marketing Campaign To Send
  • Step 5: Track Email Marketing Metrics
• 6 Biggest Email Marketing Challenges (And How to Solve Them)
  1. How to Build an Email List
  2. How to Ensure Emails Are Delivered
  3. How to Improve Email Open Rates
  4. How to Boost Email Conversion Rates
  5. How to Scale Your Email Marketing Efforts
• Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing (FAQs)
• Email Marketing Case Studies

What Are the Advantages of Email Marketing?

• For eCommerce businesses, email marketing lets you sell products, recover abandoned carts, and increase lifetime value.
• Small business owners can use email marketing to maintain brand awareness and build relationships over time.
• Email marketing is great for SaaS companies to turn subscribers into free trial users, and free trials into paying customers.
• Bloggers and publishers use email marketing to drive traffic to their websites and affiliate links, which means more revenue.
• Enterprise clients can scale their email marketing plan to reach thousands or even millions of customers at once.

There are many benefits of email marketing:

• People check their email a lot, up to 20 times a day.
• You own your email list and can email them whenever you’d like. This is unlike social media where algorithms control your reach and engagement.
• Emails can be personalized at scale.
• Email has an extremely high ROI (return on investment) of around 3600%. Calculate the ROI of email marketing and see for yourself.
• Email is 55 times more effective at customer acquisition than Facebook and Twitter put together.
• Shoppers who receive email marketing convert 3x more than those who don’t.

While the case for email is strong, there are a few downsides. I want to make sure you have a full understanding of email marketing, so I’ll go over these disadvantages next.

What Are the Disadvantages of Email Marketing?

Email marketing, despite its effectiveness, has several disadvantages:

• Spam: Emails marked as spam can lower open rates over time and hurt deliverability. Learn how to prevent emails from going to spam.
• Inbox overwhelm: Marketing emails can get lost in an inbox filled with marketing emails. Segment your list by their engagement, and maintain a consistent by not excessive mailing schedule to combat this.
• Design challenges: Emails that display inconsistently across devices or email clients can hurt the reader’s experience. Using your ESP’s responsive templates will usually prevent these challenges. Services like Litmus Email Tester can show how your emails perform on various devices and clients, too.
• Regulations and compliance: Privacy regulations like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA require ongoing attention to avoid legal conflicts. Double opt-ins, and unsubscribe links in every email will help you comply with these regulations.
• List maintenance: Inactive and unengaged subscribers must be regularly removed from email lists.
• Cost: Email marketing service providers typically charge by subscriber, which means your cost increase as your list grows. Maintaining your list, and engaging with subscribers will help ensure every subscriber is worth your investment.

How to Do Email Marketing Successfully: A 5-Step Guide

There are five things I want you to do when you’re just getting started with email marketing:

1. Define Your Goals
2. Choose an Email Service Provider
3. Create an Optin Form to Build Your Email List
4. Select the Type of Email Marketing Campaign To Send
5. Track Email Marketing Metrics

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Before you spend money on an email marketing tool or type out that first email, you must identify your goals. Ask yourself:

• What do I want these subscribers to ultimately do after joining my list?
• What will convince them to join your list?
• What will you share on a regular basis to keep them interested?
• What will convince them to buy what you’re selling?

To write effective marketing emails, you need to know who you’re talking to. Are you reaching out to loyal customers or trying to win over new prospects? Understanding your audience’s age, location, interests, and buying habits will affect how you approach them in your messages. Once you know your target audience, tailor your message to them.

With these goals in mind, you can choose the tools you’ll use to implement your strategy.

Step 2: Choose an Email Service Provider

The first thing you need is an email service provider (ESP). An ESP will provide the tools you need to create, send, and manage email campaigns to your audience. Choosing the right email marketing software with the features you need can keep costs manageable. I’ll go over some cost-effective options for email marketing software below:

1. Constant Contact

Best for: I think it’s the best email service provider for small businesses.

Constant Contact’s user-friendly and powerful features help small businesses engage their audience with easy to use templates and automations.

Check out our full Constant Contact review or our tutorial for building a Constant Contact email form.

2. Brevo

Best for: I think it’s the best marketing automation creator for small businesses.

Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is a versatile email service provider offers an all-in-one solution for small businesses. With Brevo, you can create beautiful email and SMS campaigns. Not every email platform offers SMS, so if text marketing is something you’re interested exploring, Brevo would be a good option.

Read our Brevo review for more details and learn how to create a Brevo (Sendinblue) popup.

3. Hubspot

Best for: I think it’s the best email service provider for B2B businesses.

Hubspot offers a comprehensive suite of marketing tools to help small businesses grow their audience and drive conversions. Hubspot’s CRM is also integrated with their email marketing service. This makes Hubspot a great choice for B2B and service-based businesses that have a longer sales process.

See the full Hubspot review to decide if Hubspot is right for you. If it is, we have a tutorial for how to add a Hubspot popup and other signup forms.

4. Omnisend

Best for: I think it’s the best multichannel marketing for small businesses.

Omnisend understands the needs of eCommerce businesses uniquely. Omnisend helps you create email campaigns, push notifications, and SMS messages that drive sales.

5. Drip

Best for: I think it’s the best email service provider for eCommerce store owners.

Drip was designed for eCommerce with advanced automation features that allow you to personalize your customer purchase journeys.

Read our full review of Drip and learn how to add an eye-catching Drip popup.

6. ConvertKit

Best for: I think it’s the best email service provider for bloggers and digital content creators.

Built specifically for bloggers and creatives, ConvertKit makes it easy to build and nurture your audience. With its intuitive interface and powerful automation capabilities, ConvertKit helps you deliver the right message to the right people at the right time. You can even use ConvertKit to sell simple digital products straight from the ESP dashboard.

For more details, check out our ConvertKit review and see how easy it is to create a ConvertKit popup form.

7. MailerLite

Best for: I think it’s the best free email service provider for small businesses, bloggers, and startups on a budget.

MailerLite is a user-friendly email service provider helps small businesses start using email marketing fast. They have a generous free plan and their paid upgrades are affordable.

Read more in our MailerLite review and check out how to make a MailerLite popup in minutes.

8. Mailchimp

Best for: It’s the most popular email service provider, best for almost all types of businesses and content creators.

Mailchimp has been a go-to email service provider for small businesses for years. Mailchimp allows you to create email campaigns, automate your marketing efforts, and analyze your results.

Explore our in-depth Mailchimp review or learn how to create a MailChimp popup.

Once you pick an ESP, the next step is to create your first optin form.

Step 3: Create an Optin Form to Build Your Email List

An optin form is the place where visitors can subscribe to your email list. Optin forms are also known as signup forms or lead generation forms.

Every email marketing service offers basic optin forms, usually a popup and an inline form, with limited customization options. You can extend the functionality of those optin forms with OptinMonster. This is especially helpful when you use Lead Magnets like an ebook, discount code, or cheat sheet to encourage your visitors to subscribe to your email list.

Offering lead magnets in exchange for an email is a great way to overcome that “Inbox Overwhelm” I mentioned earlier. That’s because they help you segment your email list by the visitor’s interests. Once your visitor tells you what they’re interested in by subscribing to receive a specific lead magnet, you can send them emails and offers about those interests.

We built OptinMonster for that exact reason! I needed software for WPBeginner.com that would let me treat each of my subscribers as the individual person they are, rather than just one of thousands on an email list, but it didn’t exist at the time.

At OptinMonster, we offer robust email optin forms with 1-click integrations to every major email marketing service on the market.

We offer different styles of forms, including:

• Inline forms embedded within your content
• Popup forms that appear over your main page content
• Widget optin forms in the header, footer, or sidebar of your WordPress site
• Floating bar forms that float over the top or bottom of your site
• Slide-in forms that scroll in from a bottom corner
• Coupon spin wheels and other gamified forms

All this without needing a coder or graphic designer, too.

Not only is it easy to create optin forms, we make sure that your forms show up in front of the right audience at the right time. With OptinMonster you can…

• catch abandoning visitors before they leave
• target users by the page they’re visiting
• generate leads based based on geographic location
• and much more!

We built the tool we needed to grow an email marketing list the right way. Try OptinMonster today see for yourself!

Enough about OptinMonster – let’s move on to what you’ll send after someone subscribes to your email list.

Step 4: Select the Type of Email Marketing Campaign To Send

Every email marketing service provider comes with an email editor you can use to send emails to your subscribers. I’ve outlined seven types of email marketing campaigns you can send below. I use all of these throughout my businesses.

I’ve also included links to more in depth examples of each type of email marketing campaign in case you want to dive deep.

1. Welcome Emails

Send welcome emails to new subscribers or customers as soon as they join your list. Use these emails to introduce your business and thank the reader for engaging with your brand. All this helps begin the relationship with your brand on a positive note.

This is an example of the first few paragraphs of the welcome email we send ourselves here at OptinMonster:

It includes a personal welcome from my co-founder, Thomas Griffin. It also includes links to documentation and directions for how to reach support. Likewise, your Welcome email should include the most important next steps a new subscriber should take after joining your list.

To learn more about how to write the perfect welcome email, check out the video below.

2. Newsletter Emails

Newsletter emails are regular communications sent to subscribers. Newsletter contain news, updates, tips, promotions, or curated information related to your business or industry. The goal of an email newsletter is to keep your audience engaged.

Here are some newsletter ideas you can use for your own list.

3. Lead Nurturing Emails

Lead nurturing emails are sent to potential customers who have shown interest in your offer, but haven’t bought yet. The goal is to build trust, educate, and overcome objections. Ultimately, you want to guide leads towards making a purchase decision.

Learn how to nurture leads with an email marketing funnel.

4. Promotional Emails

Promotional emails highlight new products, sales, or special events from your business. They create a sense of urgency and encourage recipients to take advantage of the promotion. You can send these one campaign at a time or automate a whole series of promotional emails.

Check out these promotional email examples if you need some ideas.

5. Seasonal Marketing Emails

Seasonal marketing emails include special offers, promotions, or content tailored to a holiday or season. The aim is to use the festive spirit to increase urgency and engagement.

Take a look at these seasonal marketing emails for Black Friday, Halloween, or Mother’s Day.

6. Transactional Emails

Specific actions or events trigger transactional emails. Customers might receive transactional emails for account updates, shipping notifications, or password resets. They provide information related to the transaction and ensure a smooth customer experience.

Learn more about how to write transactional emails that can grow your business.

7. Confirmation Emails

Confirmation emails verify or confirm an action taken by the recipient. You can send confirmations for subscribing to a newsletter, registering for an event, or buying a product. Confirmation emails typically contain details of the action. They may also provide other instructions or information.

Read about best practices and examples of outstanding confirmation emails.

No matter what type of email campaign you choose to send, there are a four important elements of an email campaign you should include.

1. Subject Line and Pre-header Text

This subject line appears first in your subscriber’s inbox and should give the reader a reason to open the email.

The pre-header text sometimes appears next to the subject line in the subscriber’s inbox. It is shown even before the reader opens the email, and is another opportunity for you to persuade your reader to open the email.

2. Content

Most email marketing services provide a selection of ready-to-use, easily customizable templates. Or, you can choose a plain-text template if you’d like your email to appear more like it came from a single person, rather than a brand. We often use plain-text emails at OptinMonster to build relationships with our readers.

3. Call to Action (CTA)

Every email should share an action you’d like your reader to take after reading your email, called a “Call To Action” or “CTA.”

Some common CTAs include:

• Make a purchase
• Download a freebie
• Read a blog post
• Follow your brand on social media
• Forward this email to a friend

A good Call To Action can often make or break the success of an individual email. We teach how to create the perfect call to action in OptinMonster University (free with any OptinMonster subscription).

4. Subscription Management

At the bottom of every email, you should have a link to unsubscribe. Email marketing is a consent-based channel. It’s better to let uninterested subscribers leave your list than risk them sending your emails to the spam folder.

One way to reduce unsubscribe rates is to also include a link where people can manage their own subscriptions. Giving them a way to opt out of certain topics or hear from you less often shows that you value their experience.

This brings us to the last step in our guide: monitoring your progress.

5. Track Email Marketing Metrics

After sending your email, track and analyze key email metrics such as:

• Open rate: how many subscribers opened the email
• Click-through rates: how many subscribers clicked links in the email
• Conversion rate: how many subscribers made a purchase, filled out a form, or did some other conversion you want to track
• Unsubscribe rates: how many subscribers unsubscribed from an email
• Deliverability rate: how many subscribers received your email in their main inbox

Use this data to refine your future email campaigns and optimize your strategies.

I also recommend that you regularly clean your email list. Removing invalid or inactive email addresses improves deliverability. Keeping your list clean also ensures that you’re targeting an engaged audience.

Now that you know how to do email marketing, let’s take a look at some common challenges you might face and how to overcome them. I’m sharing these to help you not make the same mistakes I’ve made over the years.

6 Biggest Email Marketing Challenges (And How to Solve Them)

Effective email marketing is relatively simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are a lot of different factors involved and, unfortunately, writing good emails isn’t always enough.

We have a full list of email marketing best practices you can read for more detail, but here are some of the most common challenges you might encounter, along with the solutions I used myself.

1. How to Build an Email List

The first challenge is finding people to whom to send emails. Fortunately, this is perhaps the easiest problem to solve!

Even if you have no subscribers, you can build an email list from scratch with email signup forms on your website.

Solution: To get more signups, make sure that visitors clearly understand the benefits of joining your list.

• Adjust your call to action to focus on the benefits, such as “Get your free guide now!”
• Use social proof by showing off how many people have already signed up for your list.
• Add your optin forms to these high-converting places for email signups for best results.
• Take inspiration from high-performing email signup forms.

For more ideas, check out our top list-building tools and ways to build your email list for free.

2. How to Make Sure Emails are Delivered

If getting people on your list is the FIRST challenge, making sure the emails you’re sending actually land in their inbox is the hardest. Average deliverability rates hover around 81%, which means up to 20% of your emails may never even make it to your subscriber’s email client! This is especially relevant with Gmail’s updated requirements for bulk sending in 2024.

Solution: Follow email deliverability best practices to make sure your emails make it into the right inbox.

• Avoid spammy words that trigger spam filters. These might include words like “click,” “free,” “trial,” “cost,” “cheap,” “prize,” or unusual capitalization and punctuation.
• Clean your email list regularly to remove inactive subscribers.
• Segment your emails so that subscribers get content they actually care about.
• Provide ways for users to manage their own subscriptions instead of unsubscribing or reporting as spam.
• Ensure you’re following Gmail’s advice for bulk sending.

I highly encourage you to review the email deliverability best practices above. It’s a painful feeling to find out your hard-work crafting the perfect email was wasted when your emails didn’t land in the inbox (trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way!)

3. How to Improve Email Open Rates

The average open rate for emails is around 21%. There are plenty of ways that you can improve your email open rates.

Solution: Write and send high-quality emails. Everything from the email subject line to the email template design should be a valuable, pleasant experience for subscribers. If you can convince them to open one email, they’ll be more likely to open future emails.

• Make your subject line exciting and informative enough for people to click on. Remember that the job of the subject line is to get readers interested enough to open the email.
• Keep your subject line length short and easy to understand.
• Use preview text to provide extra insight into what’s in your email content.
• Improve your email copy by thinking back to your goal-setting. What information, skills, or products do your customers need to solve their problems? Deliver content that helps address those issues.
• Optimize your email design, especially for mobile devices. Use visuals wisely and make sure they show up well on different screen sizes. You can also make mobile optins that show up well on smaller device sizes.

4. How to Boost Email Conversion Rates

Let’s say you’re getting a healthy number of signups. Subscribers are receiving and opening your emails. But no one is clicking or buying.

You aren’t alone. The average email conversion rate in a study by Klaviyo ranged from just 0.1% to over 3%.

Solution: Improve your conversion rates by tuning into what your audience needs and wants.

• List segmentation means dividing your list into different groups. You can then send each group more targeted messaging that should improve your conversion rates. Learn about different ways to segment your email list and see what works best for your business.
• Personalized email content goes beyond saying, “Hey, FIRST NAME!” You could send product recommendations based on past purchases. Other personalization techniques include sending location-specific offers or content based on demographics. When subscribers receive personalized emails, customer loyalty is likely to increase.
• A/B testing your email newsletters can help you find the most effective subject lines, content, email templates, and CTAs. Many email service providers have split testing functionality built in.

5. How to Scale Email Marketing

So what if your email marketing strategy is working pretty well, but takes more time than you have?

Creating personalized content for a few segments is one thing. But as you add more subscribers, offers, and promotions, your email marketing will get more complex. Fortunately, we have strategies and resources to help you scale.

Solution: Work smarter, not harder. Build on what already works in your own email marketing or strategies that others have proven.

• Add or expand email automation. For example, you could set up an abandoned cart email series that encourages shoppers to finish their purchases. There are plenty of email marketing automation tools to make this easier. Check out our complete guide to eCommerce email marketing automation for more information.
• Use templates, examples, and best practices. Use these email marketing templates, copywriting templates and formulas, and best sales email subject lines for inspiration.

6. How to Run Email Campaigns in Multiple Languages

We are living in a more globalized world than ever before. This presents many opportunities to tap into foreign markets and expand your business activities. Since we recognize the amazing growth potential that email marketing campaigns present, why not multiply that potential by reaching a global audience in their native languages? 

The “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy – B2C” study, which surveyed over 8,000 consumers in over 29 countries, revealed that 65% of respondents prefer content in their native language. Moreover, 40% of respondents said that they would not purchase a product or service if it was not offered in their language.

So how do you make sure you don’t miss out on such a large percentage of your potential customers?

Solution: Collect and segment your multilingual leads for multilingual campaigns.

• By using OptinMonster with WPML, you can display popups in multiple languages and collect leads with data about their language preferences. 
• Segment your leads based on language and target them in culturally appropriate multilingual campaigns using your preferred email marketing integration. 

As a result, you will expand your campaign reach, enhance customer engagement, improve customer loyalty, and have an advantage over competitors who don’t employ multilingual strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing (FAQs)

When is the best time to send a marketing email?

The best time to send a marketing email is between 9 AM to 12 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, according to a HubSpot study. Test different times to find when your audience is most active and engaged. I’ve found these times to be true for our companies, too.

What is a good open rate for email marketing?

A good open rate is between 15% and 25%, but it varies by industry. Focus on improving engagement and personalization. I like to tell people a good open rate is the one that’s better than the one you’re getting now – there is always room to improve!

How often should I send marketing emails?

Send emails at a consistent frequency without overwhelming subscribers. Start with once a week or bi-weekly and adjust the timing and number of emails based on feedback and engagement metrics.

What email metrics should I track?

Track open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates. You should also track deliverability, spam complaints, and list growth rate.

What is the difference between single opt-in and double opt-in?

Single opt-in immediately adds subscribers to the list. Double opt-in requires confirmation via a verification email. Double opt-in ensures higher quality but may result in fewer subscribers. Consider your business goals, customer preferences, and local regulations such as GDPR.

Email Marketing Case Studies

Now you have all the knowledge you need to use email to grow your business! I’ve gone over:

• basic email marketing vocabulary and definitions
• different email marketing platforms you can use
• a step-by-step guide for how to do email marketing
• pro tips to take your email marketing to the next level

Email marketing isn’t something you set and forget, even with the power of automated workflows. You always want to be testing and refining your strategy. So I recommend bookmarking this page so you can come back later whenever you need to explore the resources I’ve shared.

I want to leave you with some encouraging case studies of companies just like yours who grew their email lists using the principles shared in this Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing. They have been nice enough to share their entire strategy, complete with screenshots of their email optins, and data about how they improved. You’ll learn how you make money from email marketing in every case study.

• How Nick Gray Increased Conversions by up to 1000% With Smart Opt-in Popups
• How PortraitFlip Converts Over 3% of Its Mobile Traffic into Leads
• How Medstar Media Increased Their Clients’ Conversions by 500%

There’s a lot of money to be made with email marketing. Whether you’re a blogger, affiliate marketer, an eCommerce store, or an online business, I and my team here at OptinMonster are here to help you win every step of the way.

Best wishes for your success,

Syed Balkhi

Email marketing is vital to any business’s success. For every $1 that a business spends on its email marketing strategy, it gets an average of $36 in return. That means that your email campaigns have a potential ROI of 3600%!

If you want your small business to reach this level of success, you must learn how to create email campaigns that will move you toward your company’s goals.

In this blog, we’ll cover everything you need to start sending great email marketing campaigns that will skyrocket your conversion rates, drive sales, and increase your ROI.

• What Is an Email Marketing Campaign?
• What Are the Types of Email Campaigns?
• Email Marketing Campaign Examples
• How To Create an Email Campaign

Exclusive BonusLevel up your email marketing! Click here to get the free checklist + BONUS resources and see your results skyrocket.

What Is an Email Marketing Campaign?

An email marketing campaign is a planned series of emails designed to build relationships, promote products or services, and encourage specific actions from a targeted audience. Email campaigns are usually sent to an audience who has subscribed to the company’s email list or has given permission to receive marketing emails.

What Are the Types of Email Campaigns?

There are various types of email marketing campaigns that businesses can use to achieve their goals. Some common types include:

Newsletter Email Campaigns

Email newsletters are a great way to keep subscribers engaged and informed about the latest news, updates, and industry trends related to a brand. Newsletters can include various content types, including articles, blog posts, videos, and images. They can also be customized to target specific subscriber segments based on interests or behaviors.

Learn more: 29 Awesome Newsletter Ideas That Will Keep Subscribers Engaged

Promotional Email Marketing Campaigns

Promotional emails are designed to promote a product, service, or event. They often include information about a sale, discount, or exclusive offer. They also include announcement emails for new product launches. These emails can be highly effective in generating immediate revenue and encouraging customer loyalty. Promotional emails can also be personalized based on subscriber behavior, such as past purchases or website browsing history.

Learn more: Mastering Promotional Emails: Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

Welcome And Onboarding Email Marketing Campaigns

Onboarding emails are sent to new subscribers, welcoming them to the brand and introducing them to its products or services. These emails can set the tone for the subscriber’s relationship with the brand and provide a valuable opportunity to make a positive first impression. Welcome emails can also include incentives, such as pricing discounts or freebies, to encourage subscribers to purchase.

Learn More: How To Write the Perfect Welcome Email Series

Abandoned Cart Email Marketing Campaigns

Abandoned cart emails are sent to people who left items in their online shopping cart without making a purchase. These emails encourage potential customers to complete the transaction by reminding them of the things left in the cart and providing incentives such as discounts or free shipping.

Learn More: 14 Abandoned Cart Email Examples Proven to Boost Revenue

Re-engagement Email Marketing Campaigns

Re-engagement email campaigns encourage inactive subscribers to re-engage with the brand. You can send them to people who haven’t opened your emails in a while. Or, you can send them to people who have canceled a paid subscription with your company. These emails often include incentives, such as discounts or exclusive content, to encourage the subscriber to take action.

Re-engagement emails can also be used to gather feedback from subscribers about why they have been inactive and what the brand can do to improve their experience.

Learn More: 10 Win Back Email Examples (Plus How to Launch Your Own)

Email Marketing Campaign Examples

Here are some examples of successful email marketing campaigns that businesses have used:

Promotional Email From Dropbox

Dropbox’s referral program is a classic example of how email marketing campaigns can be used to grow a business. Dropbox offered its existing users free storage space if they referred their friends to use Dropbox.

The referral program was promoted through email campaigns, and users were encouraged to refer their friends through personalized referral links in their emails. This successful email marketing campaign generated over 4 million new users for Dropbox.

What worked: The referral program was simple and effective, and Dropbox leveraged the power of word-of-mouth marketing through its existing user base. The personalized referral links made it easy for users to refer their friends, and the free storage space incentive was a powerful motivator.

Email Newsletter From TheSkimm

Our next email marketing campaign example is from TheSkimm, a daily newsletter that delivers news and information in a conversational and engaging tone. TheSkimm has over 7 million subscribers, and the newsletter generates revenue through affiliate partnerships and sponsored content. TheSkimm’s email marketing campaigns focus on growing its subscriber base and engaging its audience.

What worked: TheSkimm’s email marketing campaigns are highly personalized and targeted, and the newsletter content is designed to resonate with its audience. With their huge number of subscribers, you knowTheSkimm has tons of data to optimize every part of their email campaigns.

Promotional Email From Charity: Water

The last successful email marketing campaign example is of a nonprofit organization. Charity: Water uses email marketing to promote its campaigns and drive donations. Charity: Water’s email marketing campaigns are focused on storytelling and emotional appeals, and the organization uses personalized emails to connect with its audience and build relationships.

What worked: Charity: Water’s email marketing campaigns are highly emotional and engaging, and the organization uses storytelling to create a personal connection with its audience.  The organization’s focus on transparency and accountability also helps to build trust with its audience and encourage donations.

See More Examples: 10 Brilliant Email Marketing Examples and Why We Love Them

How To Create an Email Campaign (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 1. Build a Targeted Email List

The most successful email marketing campaigns start with an email list full of qualified leads interested in what you offer. The best way to build a targeted email list is to convert your website visitors into subscribers.

You’ll need to create attractive optin forms that get attention and encourage people to sign up. Experiment with different types of email signup forms on different parts of your site, including your home page, blog posts, and checkout pages.

With OptinMonster, you can start growing your email list right away. It only takes a few minutes to add stunning optin forms to your website. And you can target them to the right people at the right time.

Here are just a few of OptinMonster‘s signup form options:

• Welcome gates, which appear when people arrive on your site. You can also use our page slide feature so people can get straight to the content when they’re ready.
• Lightbox popups can appear on any page and temporarily blank out the rest of the content to focus on the optin. These convert very well.
• Exit-intent popups, which appear when people are about to leave the site. That’s a good time to offer your lead magnet.

But did you know that 50% of website visitors leave your website without interacting at all? And that some websites have a bounce rate of over 90%?

We recommend using exit-intent popups to convert those abandoning visitors into subscribers and customers.

Exit-intent popups detect user behavior to prompt them with a targeted campaign when they are about to leave your site forever. This smart technology can skyrocket your conversions.

What can an exit intent popup do for your business? See our case studies for examples:

• How BrianTracy.com Increased Its Email List 150% Using Content Upgrades
• How SnackNation Adds 1200 Segmented Leads Every Week
• How Wild Water Adventures Recovered $61,000 in Sales Using OptinMonster

Click here to get started with OptinMonster today and skyrocket your email list with targeted leads.

Step 2. Know Your Goals

All good marketing starts with setting goals, and email marketing is no different. Consider what you want to achieve to run a successful email marketing campaign.

Typical goals for an email marketing campaign include the following:

• Welcoming new subscribers and telling them about your business and values, so you build a relationship with them.
• Boosting engagement with your content and your business, whether promoting a webinar or trying to make an initial sale.
• Nurturing existing subscribers by providing something they’ll value.
• Re-engaging subscribers who haven’t been particularly active.
• Segmenting your subscribers so you can send more targeted email marketing campaigns.

You can also set email marketing goals according to your conversion goals.

Step 3. Understand If Your Campaign is Promotional, Relational, or Transactional

You should always have strong calls to action (CTAs) in any email campaign. CTAs are buttons or linked text that you want subscribers to click. CTAs are also pivotal to reaching the goal you’ve set for your campaign.

But the type of CTAs all depends on whether your goal is promotional, relational, or transactional:

• Promotional: If your goal is to promote a product or service, your CTA might be a link to a product page or a button that activates a coupon code.
• Relational: If you want your campaign to nurture your relationship with your subscribers. They should engage users and deliver the value you’ve promised. For instance, a blog’s email CTAs might be links to the week’s top posts. Or if you’re onboarding new software customers, your emails might include links to tutorials.
• Transactional: Transactional emails are the backbone of eCommerce customer service, and subscribers expect to receive them. They include order confirmations and email sign-up confirmations. Purchase confirmations should always include a CTA to view their order details. You can also link to shipment tracking, similar products, or content examples.

A compelling, targeted CTA will make your email campaign more successful in achieving your goal. And you’ll be able to measure that success easily by tracking your click-through rates.

Learn more: 130+ Email CTA ExamplesThat Can Boost Your Conversion Rate

Step 4. Know Your Audience

If you’ve been doing email marketing for a while, you’ll likely know who your audience is. If you’re just getting started, you’ll have to do some research so you can target your email content.

But don’t worry! you’ll start collecting subscriber information the minute you send your first campaign, so next time, you’ll have actual data to work with.

In the meantime, gather data from Google Analytics and your social media profiles, like the Facebook Insights data shown below:

Both sources have data on demographics, location, and interests, plus many other metrics, giving you a snapshot of who your customers are and what they’re interested in. That’s a good starting point for crafting successful email marketing campaigns.

Step 5. Use Technology Wisely

The best email service providers have tools to help you create more effective email marketing campaigns. Look for features like:

• Easy drag-and-drop campaign creation.
• Features such as automation, templates, and workflows.
• Integrations with software you already use, like WordPress and OptinMonster.
• Ways to segment your audience.
• In-depth analytics on email campaign performance.

For instance, Constant Contact offers robust and easy-to-use email automation features.

In their example above, Constant Contact shows how you can easily create an automation workflow to send subscribers a special offer for their birthday or anniversary. Constant Contact also lets you create SMS text campaigns, making it a robust marketing platform.

Learn More: What Is Email Automation? A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing Automation

Step 6. Plan Emails and Followups

Once you know your goals, CTAs, and audience, it’s time to plan your email marketing campaign. Since email is vital to your overall digital marketing strategy, you want to approach it in an organized way

Here are a few things to plan for:

• Email frequency, which we’ll look at below
• The types of emails you’ll be sending
• A rough idea of content
• The main action you want subscribers to take (such as signing up for an event, following you on social media, or buying a product)

You want your emails to be timely, relevant, interesting, and valuable.

For example, many companies welcome new subscribers with a short email series to help them get to know their products and services.

Asana sends a series of 4 emails. The email subject lines are:

1. Welcome to Asana
2. What do you need to get done this week?
3. Plan your day with Asana
4. Hit your next deadline

The first is a welcome email with three key tasks you can accomplish in the software. Three days later, another email asks what you need to get done and encourages you to start using the product. Two days later, there’s an email talking about the Asana dashboard. The series ends with an email two days later highlighting the calendar view.

Don’t overwhelm your subscribers by emailing too often. That will send them straight to the spam button. Instead, stick to the schedule you’ve told them about so they know what to expect.

Feel free to ask for subscriber input on email scheduling via a poll or survey. You can also offer an “opt down” option for those who love your emails but don’t want to get them as often.

Once you’ve outlined your email plan, it’s time to start writing.

Step 7. Craft Your Subject Line

A good starting point for any successful email marketing campaign is the subject line, which is crucial in getting people to open and click on your emails. Like the headline on your blog post, an email subject line has to get attention so people want to go further.

You only have a few words to make an impression, so your email subject line length is critical. Campaign Monitor’s data shows that most subject lines range from 41 to 50 characters. Even less of your subject line shows on mobile screens, so putting the most important parts at the start is wise.

Best practices for improving your subject lines include:

• Telling people what they’ll get when they open your emails. No need to be clever or witty unless that’s your brand’s personality.
• Adding personalization, such as including people’s names in the subject line, can keep users more engaged.
• Avoiding spam trigger words, so your emails make it to the inbox.
• Borrowing one of these high-converting email subject lines and adapting it for your own use.

Step 8. Write the Copy

Next, it’s time to write your email marketing copy. You’ll want to create a hook right at the start that will get people to want to read on.

Keep email marketing copy short for best results, and avoid pitching your offer too early. You want people to get comfortable first.

Address subscribers by name, and write in a casual, friendly tone. Write like a person talking to another person.

Other items to consider for your email copy include the following:

• A personal story. Being human never hurts a company and often helps people connect emotionally. Some of the most successful emails we’ve seen use this technique.
• Something of value to your readers. That can be a piece of content, useful information, or the resource you’re promoting. Make it clear how this will help them. The example below from Semrush underlines the potential benefit in the first line of the email.
• A poll, survey, GIF, or video keeps readers more engaged.

Of course, you don’t have to put all of those in every email. Ideally, your emails should be short, with only a couple of main points within each one. If you do decide to go longer, make your email scannable with heading a white space.

The last part of your email marketing copy is the call to action (CTA). Your CTA reflects the one thing you most want people to do when they’ve read your email.

CTAs usually appear multiple times within your email marketing copy. While you don’t want to pitch to readers too soon, there’ll likely be a CTA near the start, middle, and end.

The best calls to action are short and clear. With the right copy, it should be a no-brainer for subscribers to click your link.

Learn More: Email Copywriting That Sells: 17 Simple Ways to Write Better Marketing Emails

Step 9. Focus on Email Marketing Design

Email design matters in any successful email marketing campaign. If your emails look terrible, that reflects poorly on you and can make people stop reading. With more people than ever reading emails on mobile devices, it’s important to use a responsive email template, so your email resizes automatically whether people are reading it on a phone, tablet, or desktop.

It’s also important to make sure your important information is in text, not hidden in images. This is vital for email accessibility. Remember to use alt tags to describe images so people using screen readers will know what your images show.

Step 10. Test and Track

Finally, emailing is just the first step in achieving email marketing success. To nail it, you’ve got to collect data to improve future campaigns.

That means A/B testing everything: design and layout, email marketing copy, subject lines, and calls to action. Consider testing emails with different segments and experimenting with email send times.

You’ll also want to monitor email analytics from your service provider relating to opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and forwards. This will enable you to figure out what’s working and what’s not with your email marketing campaigns.

Another issue to monitor is your sender’s reputation, which affects email deliverability. Use Sender Score to see if any red flags might stop your emails from reaching subscribers’ inboxes.

Exclusive BonusLevel up your email marketing! Click here to get the free checklist + BONUS resources and see your results skyrocket.

Build a Great List For Your Email Campaigns

As you learn how to create the perfect email marketing campaigns for your company, you’ll need to continue growing your email list to expand your success.

It goes without saying that you need to get people on your email list to run a successful campaign, and with OptinMonster’s email optin solutions, you can do that with simplicity and ease.

Check out our guide to optin types to see all the options for creating optins for your email marketing campaign.

For best results, put optins in multiple places and choose how they appear with rules and page-level targeting. That cuts down on the annoyance level while maintaining effectiveness.

Looking for the best bulk email services to reach a wider target audience? Check out the Top 10 Best Bulk Emails Services in 2023.

What can optin popups do for your business? See our case studies for examples:

• How PodBike Gets 18.22% More Email Subscribers with GeoTargeting
• How Human Food Bar Gets 1800+ Signups Per Month With OptinMonster
• How Shotkit Gets 40+ Additional Leads a Day With OptinMonster
• Best Time To Send Email

Click here to get started with OptinMonster today and skyrocket your email list with targeted leads.

The best time to send an email is Tuesday and Thursday, between 9am and 11am. This aligns with the start of the workday for many professionals. However, there can be spikes in engagement during the early afternoon (around 1–2 p.m.) and in the evening (around 5–6 p.m.), especially for B2C audiences. Saturday and Sunday tend to be low-performing days.

For B2B emails, sending during work hours (especially mid-morning) yields better results. In contrast, B2C marketers can experiment with emails during weekends or evening hours because that’s when individual consumers are home and able to check personal emails with more focus.

In the rest of this post, I’ll share the research and data behind the best time to send emails based on the latest email marketing statistics. And, I’ll tell you my tips for how you can achieve the high open rates and click-through rates (CTR) that you’re looking for.

• When Is the Best Time To Send an Email
• Studies on the Best Time To Send Email
• How To Find the Best Time To Send Marketing Emails
• Optimizing Emails To Grow Your Subscriber List Faster

Studies on the Best Time To Send Email

I scoured the web and compiled open rate data from the most authoritative research studies before confirming that Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9am and 11am are the best times to send email. But there is nuance to that answer that could be helpful for your unique business, so I’ve also summarized those studies before so you can make the best decisions for YOUR business.

Here’s what they say:

1. Brevo’s Insights

If you just glance at the chart above, you’d think that you should send all important promotional emails on Wednesdays.

However, Brevo’s full study emphasizes the importance of industry-specific timings.

Different industries vary in terms of the best workdays and times of day, although midweek emails perform best for most industries. Saturdays and Sundays are the worst days among all the industries Brevo included in their study.

Here is an overview of Brevo’s findings:

• Best time to send email by business type:
  • B2B Professional Services: Monday or Tuesday, 8-10 a.m.
  • E-commerce: Tuesday or Thursday at 10 a.m.
  • SaaS (Software as a Service): Tuesday or Thursday, 2-3 p.m.
  • NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations): Tuesday or Thursday, 3-4 p.m.
  • Marketing Services: Wednesday at 4 p.m.
  • Offline Retail or Hospitality: Thursday, 8-10 a.m.
• Recommendation: Understand the nature of your business and the daily routines of your target audience. This will help you optimize the send times for better engagement.

2. GetResponse’s Research

GetResponse’s data suggests that while there are peak times for engagement, it’s essential to consider the nature of the email.

For instance, many people check their email on their phones as soon as they wake up or at their desks when they first get to work.

• Best time to send an email: One email in the early morning (4-6 a.m.) and a second email later in the afternoon (5-7 p.m.).
• Recommendation: Monitor your metrics and adjust your strategies based on results. Testing different days and times can help in optimizing email campaigns.

3. Omnisend’s Study

Omnisend’s research highlights an important point: The best time to send an email varies depending on your primary goal for that campaign.

Omnisend’s data charts are divided based on the goal: open rate, click-through rate (CTR), and sales conversion rate.

For instance, the chart above shows users are most likely to make purchases through your emails on Fridays. The best days for CTR are Friday and Sunday, while open rates are best on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

This study goes beyond comparing different weekdays. They also have data on each day of the month. Open rates and CTR go up and down throughout the month. Sales conversions, however, are definitely highest on the first day of the month

While there are general patterns, Omnisend also points out that individual behaviors can be quite unique. That’s why it’s so important to understand your target audience. The study also emphasizes the significance of combining emails with other channels, like SMS, for better engagement.

• Best time to send email:
  • Highest open rates: Tuesdays
  • Best for conversions: Fridays
  • Day of the month: You may also see better sales through emails sent on the first day of the month.
  • Best time of day: 8 a.m., 2 p.m., or 5 p.m.
• Recommendation: Determine the primary goal of each email campaign, and that will help you decide the best day to send it. Also, while general trends provide a starting point, always be ready to adapt based on your audience’s behavior. Multi-channel strategies can also enhance engagement.

4. HubSpot’s Analysis

HubSpot surveyed over 150 marketers in their email timing study. Their data underscores the importance of understanding the difference between B2B and B2C audiences. 

The bar graph above shows that 31% of the marketers surveyed get the best engagement on marketing emails sent between 9:01 a.m. and 12 p.m. EST. B2B businesses prefer the same time span but at a much higher rate of 47.9%.

So while 9:01 a.m. to 12 p.m. is the best time for both B2C and B2B, B2C marketers have more flexibility. Also, Monday emails are an exception: the best time for those is 6:01 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST.

• Best time to send email: Tuesdays between 9:01 a.m. and 12 p.m. EST. Emails sent after 6 p.m. get by far the lowest engagement, so late evening and night are the worst times.
• Recommendation: Segment your audience, and tailor your send times based on user behavior and demographics. This can lead to better engagement rates.

5. Salesforce’s Research

This Salesforce data from 2021 is a little older than the other studies on our list. However, it still provides insights you can learn from. Specifically, Salesforce emphasizes the dynamic nature of optimal send times.

Their system, built with Spark, scales for customers with varying data volumes and uses an assembly model structure to provide optimal recommendations.

• Best time to send email: 8-10 a.m. in the recipient’s local time zone is the best time to send emails.
• Recommendation: Consider the recipient’s behavior, timezone, and other factors. Personalization is key, and automated systems can help in determining the best send times.

6. Moosend’s Analysis

Moosend emphasizes the importance of metrics like email open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate.

Their study also highlights the significance of refining subject lines and leveraging email marketing automation.

• Best time to send email: Thursdays have the highest open rate, followed by Tuesdays as the second-best day. 8-9 a.m. see higher open rates.
• Recommendation: While timing is crucial, other elements like content quality, email subject lines, and personalization play a significant role in the success of email campaigns.

While each study provides valuable insights, the overarching theme is clear: understanding your audience’s behavior is crucial.

How To Find the Best Time To Send Marketing Emails

The best way to find what works for your business is by:

1. Studying your audience
2. Testing the time you send emails

1. Studying the best time to send emails for YOUR audience

To understand your audience, here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• What do you know about your subscribers and their relationship with you? Do you sell to businesses or consumers? Remember, the best time to send varies for B2B vs. B2C.
• What do they do for a living? A stay at home mom might have time to check their email during late afternoon during nap time. A mid-level manager might check it mid-morning after their first meetings of the day. A CEO might check it after lunch. Optimize your sending times on your ideal customer’s role.
• What is the content of your emails? A B2C email including a sale might be more effective at the start of the month when there is more budget available for purchases. A B2B upgrade offer might be more effective at the end of the quarter as marketing managers realize they need to use their budgets or lose them.
• What times did your existing subscribers sign up? Export your email list and compare the times your existing subscribers registered. That’s probably a good indication of the time frame that’s also most effective for sending emails, too.

The more you get to know your audience, the better you’ll get at choosing times that resonate with them.

2. Testing the best time to send emails

All good email marketing platforms allow scheduling of email marketing campaigns. Some even allow testing one sending time against another. Whether your platform offers split-testing or not, you can still test sending times by scheduling emails to send at different times, then reviewing analytics to see which emails saw the highest open and click rates. Once you’ve discovered what works best for your audience, you can use that data in your email automation strategy. 

Optimizing Email Open Rates and Click Through Rates

As promised, here are even more resources to help you improve your email open rates and click through rates.

• What is a Good Open Rate (and how to measure yours)?
• What is a Good Click Through Rate?
• How to Create an Effective Email Autoresponder Series
• Small Business Email Marketing: 7 (Easy) Tips for Growth
• 13 Benefits of Email Marketing: Why (and How) to Grow Your List

What are the best times to send emails times for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Email A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a powerful strategy that allows you to compare 2 different versions of your emails to see which one performs better.

Here at OptinMonster, our email marketing list includes over 235,000 subscribers. To keep those subscribers engaged, we regularly split test our email campaigns to optimize them for higher open rates, click rates, and conversions.

In this guide, I’ll share everything you need to know to get started with email split testing. I’ll discuss the benefits of A/B testing email campaigns, what elements you should test, and best practices. Plus, I’ll explain the steps for running email A/B tests with 3 different popular email marketing platforms.

• What Is Email Split Testing?
• Why Do You Need to A/B Test Email Campaigns?
• What Email Elements Can You Split Test?
• 8 Best Practices for Email Split Tests
• How to Run an Email Marketing A/B Test (3 Tools)
• Grow Your Email List by Split Testing Your Optin Forms

What Is Email Split Testing?

Before we get into how to split test email campaigns, let’s understand what email split testing is.

Email split testing means testing the original version of your email (the control) against another version (the variation, or variant) where you have changed a single element, like an email subject line, a call to action (CTA) button, or a part of the design.

As we said, split testing means changing just one element. If you want to change more than one element on your email, then that’s multivariate email testing. Multivariate testing lets you compare multiple versions of an email at once, instead of just 2. It’s a much more advanced technique that requires a very large email list and sample size, as well as more technical expertise.

For this article, I’ll focus on A/B split tests, which compare 2 versions of an email with 1 element changed.

Why Do You Need to A/B Test Email Campaigns?

When you split test email campaigns, it can help you:

• Base decisions about your email marketing campaigns on data rather than gut instinct or guesswork.
• Know when email marketing campaigns are working and when they are not, based on customers’ actual responses to actual campaigns.
• Create more effective email marketing campaigns based on the insights you gain, resulting in more engagement, leads, and sales.
• Get more people to open your emails, click your links, and ultimately convert.
• Minimize the risk of making major changes by testing them first.

For all these reasons, email split testing has to be an essential part of your marketing strategy.

What Email Elements Can You Split Test?

You can A/B test practically any element of an email campaign, from subject line to button color to copywriting. However, there are 2 important caveats:

1. You should only test 1 element at a time
2. Different email marketing platforms have different A/B testing functionality. I’ll talk about that more later.

Here are the most common email elements that you should consider for A/B testing.

1. Email Subject Lines

Subject lines are by far the most common email element to split test. Some email marketing platforms, such as Constant Contact, only offer built-in A/B testing for subject lines. Subject line tests focus on improving your email open rates since convincing subscribers to open is the primary goal of your subject lines.

Here are a few tactics you might try out in a subject line split test:

• Subject line length: Compare the performance of a shorter vs. longer subject line.
• Emojis: Test whether to use an emoji or test between 2 different emoji options.
• Personalization: Try adding your subscribers’ names through a personalization tag.
• Humor: See if a funny subject line gets more opens than a serious one.
• Mystery vs. Detail: How much detail should you give in your subject line? For instance, should you say “Biggest Sale of the Year” or “40% Off Everything”?

We regularly A/B test our subject lines here at OptinMonster, where have an email newsletter all about digital marketing. Earlier this year, we sent an email that discussed how to avoid bad-faith SEO tactics:

Before sending the email out to our full subscriber list, we ran a split test with 2 different subject lines:

• Version 1: The Dark Underbelly of SEO
• Version 2: Are you making these SEO mistakes?

Version 1 received a slightly higher open rate in the A/B test. Interestingly, Version 1 also had a significantly higher click-through rate (CTR). In other words, more people clicked the link inside the email and visited our website. In this case, the more mysterious subject line won the test and was sent out to our full list.

These results show the power of split testing your subject lines. When you nail your subject line, you not only get more opens, but you also set the tone for how readers will interact with your message.

2. Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

Every marketing email you send should focus on getting users to take a specific action. That action might be buying a product, reading a piece of content, registering for an event, using a coupon code, or following you on social media.

Your email’s call-to-action (CTA) is the button or linked text that users click to take an action. In the IPSY email below, the CTA is the Shop Now button, which leads to a product page for discounted lip products.

Optimizing your CTAs is vital to the success of your email marketing campaigns. Here are a few ways you can A/B test an email CTA:

• Placement: Where should your primary CTA be placed within your email?
• Size: Pinpoint the perfect button or font size.
• Number: Many emails show the same CTA more than once. You can test whether repeating it helps you get more clicks.
• Wording: Try different copy for your CTA. For instance, you could test “Get Started Today” vs. “Download Now.”
• Color: Discover which button color best draws the reader’s eye.

When running a CTA split test, you’ll monitor which variant gets more clicks, so you can send out a higher-converting campaign.

3. Email Copy

For the body of the email, you can alter the wording of different parts of the content. For instance, you can run email A/B tests on:

• Headings: Test 2 variations of your email’s main heading
• Length of paragraph copy: How much explanation does your audience need to convince them to click your CTA?
• Tone and style: Experiment with tones in your email copy. For instance, you can test funny vs. serious, first-person vs. third-person, or formal vs. casual.

Here at OptinMonster, we’ve discovered that our audience responds best to a casual tone and first-person advice.

Over time, you’ll gain better insights into your audience based on how they respond to different copywriting techniques. For instance, you can try using urgency and the fear of missing out (FOMO) to make subscribers more interested in clicking.

4. Design and Layout

When you split test email campaigns, you can also try out different design and layout elements, such as:

• Templates: When designing an email newsletter, you can run email split tests to determine which template performs the best.
• Image Size & Placement: Determine how prominent your images should be in your emails.
• Color Schemes: Try out different color combinations for your text, background, and more.
• Animation & GIFs: See if adding an animated element increases subscriber engagement.
• Footer Designs: Your email footer contains many important links, such as social buttons. Run regular tests to see which design drives the most clicks on those links.

The look of your email is just as important as the words you write. Your email design sets the tone for your message and influences which elements capture your readers’ attention. Split testing allows you to optimize your design and improve engagement.

5. Sender Name (or From Name)

The subject line isn’t the only factor in your email open rates. In fact, according to one survey by Litmus, 42% of email recipients said they look at the sender name first when deciding whether to open an email.

Consider running email split tests to decide which sender name best catches your subscribers’ attention. The name of your company or brand is an obvious choice, but sometimes the name of a company representative can be more effective.

We’ve had great success using Angie at OptinMonster as our sender name. Angie is our General Manager, and using her name provides a personal touch to our campaigns. We still include “at OptinMonster,” so subscribers will recognize that the emails are part of our digital marketing newsletter.

If your email marketing platform allows you to A/B test your sender name, I encourage you to give it a try. If it doesn’t, you can simply try out different sender names to see which one performs best. This technique won’t be quite as reliable as a true split test, but it can still help you optimize your email strategy.

6. Preview Text (or Preheader Text)

Email preview text is the extra copy that displays in an email inbox underneath the subject line:

Preview text is the perfect place to add a bit more information about the contents of your email and to convince your subscribers to open.

Not all email marketing platforms let you split test the preview text, but if yours offers that functionality, use it! Preview text testing helps you pinpoint which information is most convincing to users.

8 Best Practices for Email Split Testing

Here are some A/B testing best practices to help you split test email campaigns successfully.

1. Set a Specific Goal for Your A/B Test

Before starting any email A/B test, it’s crucial to define clear objectives. Ask yourself what you hope to achieve with your test. Common goals include increasing open rates, improving click-through rates, or boosting revenue. Having a specific goal helps you measure success and stay focused on what matters most.

2. Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is fundamental to successful A/B testing. In fact, it’s necessary for any marketing strategy. You should have a clear idea of your audience’s demographics and what they’re most interested in.

OptinMonster can help you better understand your subscribers from the get-go! When you build your email list with OptinMonster’s onsite campaigns, you can gather important information such as:

• The user’s geographic location
• Which lead magnet the user signed up for
• What content they were browsing
• Any other data you collect in an OptinMonster popup, floating bar, or other campaign

OptinMonster gives you a headstart on building a great email list and understanding what your subscribers are interested in.

3. Form a Hypothesis for Your Email Split Test

An A/B test is a type of experiment. And like all experiments, it must start with a hypothesis. A split testing hypothesis includes:

1. Observing what’s happening currently
2. Guessing about the possible reason
3. Suggesting how you’re going to improve or fix the situation
4. Measuring how you’ll know it has worked

Here’s how this could work:

1. Observation: We noticed that our email click-through rate has declined over the last 6 emails we’ve sent.
2. Possible reason: We believe it’s because we’ve been using the same CTA text in every email, and subscribers don’t notice it anymore.
3. Suggested fix: We’re going to run an A/B split test. The control will have the current CTA text, and the variant will have different CTA text.
4. Measurement: We’ll know our hypothesis is correct if the variant gets a higher open rate than the control.

For best results, create a hypothesis for every A/B test you run, so your testing strategy remains structured and relevant to your goals.

4. Split Test 1 Element at a Time

I’ve mentioned this best practice already, but it’s worth repeating: To determine which change impacts your email performance, test only 1 element at a time.

Here’s an example: You have a control email, and in your variant, you change the subject line, the main image, the headline, and the CTA text and color. You run your A/B test, and the variant performs better. However, you have no way of knowing which of the changes caused the improvement. Yes, you may get better results for that specific campaign, but you won’t learn anything to apply to future emails.

By isolating 1 variable, you can confidently attribute any differences in performance to that specific change.

5. Consider Statistical Significance

Statistical significance is a complicated topic, so I’ll just hit on the basics here. If you use too small of a sample size for your A/B test, your test results could be due to simple chance.

Let’s say you have a small email list of 350 subscribers. You send a subject line split test to 20% of your list, which is 70 addresses. Each version goes to 35 addresses. Version A sees an open rate of 25.7%, while Version B sees a 34.3% open rate.

It seems clear that Version B performed better. However, only 3 more people opened Version B than Version A. The percentage difference only looks significant because the sample size is so small.

If you have a similarly small email list, A/B testing can still help you gradually optimize your email marketing. You just need to understand the context of your testing and recognize that your results don’t provide hard proof of your audiences’ preferences.

6. Choose the Right Test Duration for Your Email A/B Test

Email marketing campaigns are much more time-sensitive than, say, designing a webpage. A/B tests for websites often run for days or weeks, but email split tests are sometimes as short as an hour or 2.

Here are some factors to consider when deciding how long to run the A/B test for an email marketing campaign:

• Email Frequency: How often do you send out email campaigns? If you send out weekly emails, your test could run for a couple of days. If you send out an email every day, then most of your tests will last a few hours.
• Subscriber Behavior: How quickly do your subscribers usually open and engage with your emails? Your split test should give enough time for your subscribers to engage in their usual behavior patterns.
• Focus Metric: If your A/B test focuses on open rates, your test can be shorter than if you’re measuring revenue earned from the email.
• Purpose & Importance of the Campaign: Let’s say you’re sending a particularly important email, like a new product announcement. You should build in more time to A/B test that campaign than you would for your regular email newsletter.

In short, the duration of your email split tests will vary depending on your goals, audience, and purpose.

7. Use Email Segmentation in Your Split Tests

Email segmentation is vital to sending more personalized and relevant messages to your subscribers. With segmentation, you don’t simply send every campaign to your entire list. Instead, you tailor your campaigns based on subscriber data such as purchase history, demographics, interests, and more.

Segmenting your email list before conducting A/B tests can provide more granular, specific insights. For instance, your new subscribers may respond differently than loyal customers who’ve purchased from you multiple times. When you run split tests for each segment, you’ll develop a strategy that works for all phases of your email marketing funnel.

8. Keep A/B Testing Your Email Campaigns

A/B testing is not a one-time activity. Continuously test different elements of your email campaigns to keep improving your results. As your audience’s preferences and behaviors change over time, ongoing testing ensures that your email strategy remains effective and up-to-date.

How to Run an Email Marketing A/B Test (3 Tools)

With a robust email marketing platform, you can set up A/B tests with just a few clicks. The software will handle sending out the test, monitoring the results, and then sending the winning variant to your full email list or segment.

However, each email software has different split testing functionality. I’m going to show you the basics of how A/B testing works on 3 popular email marketing platforms:

1. Constant Contact: Simple Subject Line A/B Tests

Constant Contact is my top recommendation for an email marketing platform for beginners and small businesses. It’s easy to use and has great functionality.

However, you should be aware that Constant Contact only lets you split test the subject lines of your emails. For many small businesses and organizations, that will be enough, and Constant Contact makes subject line testing incredibly easy.

Here’s how you run an A/B test for your email subject line in Constant Contact.

After you’ve designed your email campaign and clicked Continue, you’ll be prompted to choose the email lists or segments you want to send your email to. Below that, you’ll see a Campaign Info section with an A/B Test toggle that you can turn on.

Once you’ve turned on the A/B Test toggle, you’ll see 2 fields to enter 2 versions of your subject line. You can even click Subject line recommendation to get suggestions for possible subject lines to try.

Below the subject line fields, use the slider to adjust the size of your A/B test sample. The number below shows the percentage of recipients that will be left after your A/B test runs.

Finally, use the drop-down menu to select how long you want your test to run.

Once you’ve completed the rest of the information on the page, such as From Name and Preheader text, click Send Now. Constant Contact will now run your test, monitor the results, and send the winning variation.

2. Brevo: A/B Test Your Subject Lines or Email Content

Brevo is a great choice if you want an easy-to-use platform that lets you split test elements of your email content, such as headings, images, and CTAs.

When you start the process of creating a campaign, you’ll select whether you want to run a Regular campaign or an A/B Test:

Once you select the A/B Test tab, you can choose to test your Subject Lines or Email Content.

If you choose Subject Lines, you’ll follow steps very similar to Constant Contact.

If you choose Email Content, Brevo will create Design version A and Design version B.

You’ll click on Design version A to create your control email. When you click Design version B, you can select Select a template > Copy Version > Copy from A to start off with an identical version. Then, you can edit a single element for your A/B test.

Just like Constant Contact, you’ll then select your sample size and time period before starting your test.

3. Klaviyo: Full Email Split Testing Functionality

The final email A/B testing tool I’ll cover is Klaviyo. Klaviyo is a more complex email marketing platform with a steeper learning curve, but it also offers more email split testing options than most other tools.

With Klaviyo, you can A/B test:

• Subject Lines
• Email Content (copy, headings, CTAs, etc.)
• Sender Name
• Preview Text
• Send Time

To run an A/B email test in Klaviyo, start by creating an email campaign. Fill out the Campaign Content with your control email’s information. Note that I’ve filled all these fields out as “Version A,” but you would only change 1 of these for any single test.

Click any of the design options on the right to create the content for your control email. Once you’ve finished, click Exit to return to the Campaign Content page.

When you scroll down, you’ll now see a Create A/B test option that you can click.

Under Campaign A/B test, you’ll see 2 options: Test content and Test send time.

I’m going to focus on testing content, but send-time testing is another powerful email marketing strategy. Learn more about email send-time in my article Decoding the Best Time to Send an Email: Insights From Top Studies.

Click the drop-down arrow beside the B variant to edit the copy of your control email. Edit 1 of the fields to A/B test your subject line, preview text, or sender name. If you want to split test your email content, click Edit email and make your desired change. When you’re done, click Continue to review.

Next, you’ll see the Ready to Send page. Scroll down and click the Edit button beside A/B Testing Settings.

Here, you’ll be able to select the metric you want to measure, your sample test size, and your test duration.

Once you’ve selected your test settings, click Continue to review and then Schedule or Send to start your A/B test.

Grow Your Email List by Split Testing Your Optin Forms

Now that you’ve got a handle on email split testing, there’s one more thing you can do to make your campaigns work even better: improve your email signup forms by using split testing on them, too.

You can accomplish this in just a few clicks with OptinMonster! Our marketing campaign software integrates with the top email marketing services and has built-in split testing to help you create an even more successful email marketing strategy.

You simply create an email signup campaign and then click the Create Split Test icon, which looks like an arrow splitting into 2.

Then, you’ll get a copy of that campaign that you can edit. OptinMonster will show each variant to half of your website visitors, and you’ll get analytics on which version performs the best.

For more details, check out our video guide to split testing an OptinMonster campaign:

There are also written instructions in our documentation. If you want to start split testing your website’s email signup forms, sign up for OptinMonster!

That’s it! Now you know the right way to A/B split test your email campaigns so you can get more opens, clicks, and conversions.

Want to learn even more ways to optimize your email marketing strategy? Check out these resources:

• How to Increase Email Open Rate (With 10 Proven Tips!)
• What Is Email Click-Through Rate (CTR) & How to Improve It
• How to Write the Perfect Welcome Email Series (Nail Your First 5 Emails!)

The first step to successful email marketing is to build an email list full of high-quality, engaged leads. OptinMonster is the best lead-generation software available, helping you convert your website visitors into subscribers and customers.

Buying an email list sounds like a quick way to grow your revenue potential. But it is a huge waste of time and money. In this post, we’ll share 8 reasons why you should never buy an email list (and what to do instead).

What Does It Mean to “Buy Email List”?

Why You Should Never Buy an Email List

Don’t Buy Email List, Build One for Free Instead

What Does It Mean to “Buy Email List”?

An email list includes a list of names, email addresses, and perhaps other demographic data like company name or income level. You can buy these lists from email database providers like ZoomInfo and Apollo.

Smaller marketing agencies that scrap email data from platforms like LinkedIn also sell email marketing lists online.

Since email marketing is the #1 way to sell anything online, many amateur business owners buy a list of emails to run their email marketing campaigns.

If you set to create an organic email list with thousands of customer data on your own, it would take several months. But when you buy an email list online, you get instant access to hundreds or thousands of customer data.

But is buying email lists worth it?

Short answer: no.

Buying an email list is a really bad idea and a huge waste of money. It’s one of those hacks that simply doesn’t work and will likely cause your business far more harm than good.

Why You Should Never Buy Email List

Here are 8 reasons why you should never purchase an email list.

1. You Can’t Trust the Quality of the List
2. You Might Have to Pay Hefty Fines
3. You’ll Come Across as a Spammer
4. Email Marketing Platforms Can Ban You
5. You’ll Risk Your Brand Reputation
6. Other Brands Might Use the Exact Same List
7. Your Response Rate Will Suffer a Lot
8. No Reputable Expert Recommends It

1. You Can’t Trust the Quality of the List

Buying an email list is not like building a quality email list from the ground up. You get a ton of junk leads when you buy a second-hand email list. Purchasing email lists also poses several other problems, such as:

• Missing or incomplete data: There’s a high chance that the email list has wrong names and email addresses.
• Out-of-date information: Depending on how old the email marketing list is, it might include email addresses that no longer exist or are abandoned.
• Illegally sourced email addresses: Many email list sellers scrap social media platforms like LinkedIn to curate the email addresses of people without their consent. Using these email addresses for your marketing campaigns is against the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003).

Businesses that buy contact lists might think getting 5,000–10,000 email addresses overnight is like hitting a jackpot. But an email address list is pretty worthless if it has outdated, incorrect, and unlawful lead data.

2. You Might Have to Pay Hefty Fines

Buying email lists isn’t illegal. But how you use the email data can land you in costly legal battles.

Most countries have stringent laws against sending unsolicited bulk emails, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the USA.

If the email list you buy violates the CAN-SPAM Act, you can pay a fine of up to $50,120 for each separate email you send:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a similar data protection law in the European Union (EU) that has specific clauses against spam. GDPR states that you need people’s consent to contact them through email.

But when you buy an email list from 3rd-party vendors, you don’t have the explicit consent of people included in that list. That’s a violation of GDPR’s data privacy rule. As a result, you might have to pay up to 10 million euros or 2% of your entire global revenue, whichever is higher.

Facebook’s parent company Meta forked up $1.3 billion in early 2023 after it violated the GDPR rule against processing people’s personal data from the EU to the USA.

Canada has Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) that has similar prohibitions to encourage permission-based email marketing.

Different countries have different laws around spam. If the email list you buy includes people from a country that has anti-spam laws, you’ll have to abide by those laws.

3. You’ll Come Across as a Spammer

Your emails might be well-written and valuable. It might have the best subject lines and call-to-action (CTA) buttons optimized for conversions.

But email outreach works best when people receiving your emails can recall your brand. That’s rarely the case with purchased email lists.

For recipients who don’t know your brand, you’re just an unknown company spamming their inbox. Customers either delete or unsubscribe to emails from brands they don’t know. Many will mark unsolicited emails as spam to stop getting those emails in the future (more on this in the next heading).

Research says that marketing messages are the most common type of spam, which makes up 36% of all spam emails. In 2022 alone, we saw over 162 billion spam emails sent daily!

Too many people reporting your marketing emails can hurt your email deliverability and IP reputation. Email verification and spam blocklist databases like Spamhaus and Spamcop can flag your IP address and blacklist your domain.

Pro-tip Do you want to learn how to improve your email’s reach? Follow the email deliverability best practices.

4. Email Marketing Platforms Can Ban You

When people start mass reporting your emails as spam, you get on the wrong side of your email marketing platforms.

These are marketing automation platforms such as AWeber, ConvertKit, or Constant Contact that integrate with your CRM and let you manage your email marketing campaigns.

Most email marketing platforms have strict policies that forbid users from buying business email marketing lists. They can close your account, impose a fine on your brand, or start legal action against you if you violate the rules.

Here’s an example.

Aweber considers buying email lists as spamming, and it is a serious violation of their service agreement. It has explicit warnings against the use of spam on its website.

Email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail and Yahoo! also discourage businesses from sending emails without people’s consent. The ESPs might mark your email messages as spam or suspend your business account without prior notice.

5. You’ll Risk Your Brand Reputation

Besides email marketing platforms banning you, buying an email list is also a serious risk to your brand reputation.

A lot of customers take to social media to rant about brands that send too many spam emails. Even worse, your brand name can become synonymous with spam and can get ranked in the list of companies that send the most spam.

Creating a respectable brand is crucial, and you don’t want to spend huge amounts of money on damage control later.

6. Other Brands Might Use the Exact Same List

To maximize their profits, email list providers sell the same set of email contacts to multiple buyers. It’s one of the reasons why they sell business email lists at a discount.

Using duplicate lists affects your conversion rates and other marketing metrics in the long term. Imagine 5–10 brands bombarding marketing emails to the same set of people. It gets annoying and creates a bad customer experience.

These recipients are unlikely to buy from you or interact with you, no matter how appealing your offer is. Many of them might even put spam filters in place to never see your emails in the future.

7. Your Response Rate Will Suffer a Lot

Let’s say you have an eCommerce store that sells a product for $20 per unit. You buy an email list of 10,000 names. You figure that on a 5% conversion rate, you’ll sell 500 units of your new product, which gets you $10,000.

Not bad, right?

Well, your response rate will likely be far lower than 5%. In reality, most people on purchased lists don’t even open your email, let alone click on the call-to-action buttons in your email.

Purchased email lists have far lower open and click-through rates. Statistically speaking, only 1 out of 12,500,000 emails convert successfully. That’s because 74% of buyers hate receiving irrelevant emails.

Contrast that with the average email open rates of 20–25% for healthy, targeted email lists.

Pro-tip Are you looking for ways to improve your eCommerce conversion rate? Read our guide on the ultimate eCommerce optimization tips.

8. No Reputable Expert Recommends It

On most marketing topics, people have differences of opinion about which strategies work and which don’t. But everyone agrees that buying an email list is not worth it.

Read any major blog on email marketing, and you’ll get the same validation from all of them: Don’t purchase email lists.

Here’s what experts have to say on the topic of purchased email lists:

“Purchased lists are ticking time bombs, waiting to devastate your reputation as a sender. Riddled with dead emails and spam traps, they quickly inform mailbox providers that you break the rules by sending unsolicited emails. If you still buy email lists, STOP NOW.”

– Neil Patel, YouTube Content Creator and Co-Founder of Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics, and Hello Bar

“It’s tempting because you want to do it fast. But you don’t want to be in the business of spamming people. Unsolicited emails are not how you want to get out there. You want to build relationships.”

– Evan Carmichael, Author and YouTube Content Creator

“There is too much to lose when you use this method to obtain leads for your small business. If you want to maintain a relevant customer base, follow the law, and keep your reputation, work on building your own email list from scratch.”

– Syed Balkhi, Founder of WPBeginner, WPForms, and OptinMonster

To summarize, buying emails is a waste of money and marketing efforts that can affect your brand awareness negatively.

Don’t Buy Email List, Build One for Free Instead

The best alternative to buying email lists is building targeted email lists from scratch. Building an audience should be a priority in your digital marketing strategy, and list-building is the best way to achieve it.

Targeted list building helps you create a strong inbound marketing strategy instead of relying too much on outbound channels like cold emails, cold calling, and paid advertising.

In the long run, an inbound marketing strategy like driving website traffic through blogs is more scalable and cost-effective because it’s organic.

But if you’re just starting, you might not be sure where to begin. Here’s an easy step-by-step guide to building your email list organically.

Step 1: Build an Audience With Engaging Content

Every brand has something of value that they can offer to their target market. Use your expertise to trade good content for customers’ contact information, like email addresses and phone numbers.

If you don’t have a website yet, start there. Publish high-quality content like blogs, videos, tutorials, or infographics to drive relevant traffic to your website.

Next, create an optin campaign to let people join your email list.

When you create engaging content that’s relevant to your target audience, they are more than willing to subscribe to your email newsletters or blogs.

This builds trust, and you can easily sell your products or services to your subscribers without much friction.

Step 2: Create a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is an incentive you offer potential subscribers in exchange for their email addresses.

This is slightly different than asking people to join your list. With lead magnets, the trade-off is very straightforward. You can create a landing page, publish valuable content, and let people access it in exchange for their email addresses.

Depending on your niche and what your audience prefers, the lead magnets can be:

• Industry reports
• How-to guides
• Webinar
• Ebooks or whitepapers
• Templates
• Quizzes, surveys, or polls
• Giveaway contests
• Online courses
• Free product trials
• Free consultations
• ROI calculators

Here’s an example of a lead magnet on our blog:

Pro-tip Want to learn how to use lead magnets to boost your lead generation? Here are a ton of examples to help you grow your email list.

Step 3: Work With a Reputable Email Marketing Platform

Don’t try to cut corners by sending out bulk emails through your email client like Outlook or Gmail. Your internet service provider (ISP) will block or penalize you for this, and you’ll miss out on many crucial features that email service providers offer.

Instead, create an account with a reputable email marketing platform. We recommend Constant Contact. But you can pick anyone from this list of the best email service providers.

Step 4: Add Optin Forms to Your Website

Don’t make the mistake of creating just 1 type of optin form and placing it in your website’s sidebar. You have to optimize your website and experiment with a variety of optin campaigns for maximum conversions.

The good news is, creating and embedding optin email forms is dead simple with a tool like OptinMonster. You can choose from over 100 ready-to-use templates to fit your use cases.

OptinMonster’s drag and drop interface allows you to easily create and customize signup forms. With OptinMonster, you can build multiple types of optin forms like:

• Lightbox popups
• Exit-intent popups
• Slide-in scroll boxes
• Floating bars
• Inline forms
• Fullscreen welcome mats
• 2-step optins

We don’t recommend overwhelming your website visitors with too many popups. It creates a bad user experience and increases your website bounce rate.

Instead, have a good mix of 1-2 optin campaigns on a few pages that drive the highest traffic. Run A/B tests to measure which campaigns and variations convert the best.

Once you have data, double down on the campaigns that convert well and pause the ones with poor results.

Err on the Side of Caution: Don’t Purchase Email Lists

Can you buy email addresses? Legally speaking, nothing stops you from scraping email addresses or buying them from others. But is buying email lists worth it? Certainly not.

There are plenty of reasons why you should never purchase an email list, but not even 1 good reason why it’s useful.

Bottom line: Never buy an email list. It’s simply not worth your time and money.

Instead, spend your marketing efforts on building a targeted email list of customers who are eager to buy from you. Here are some more resources to help you get started:

• Email Marketing: How to Build an Email List
• How to Create an Email Campaign
• Email Segmentation Strategies You Need To Know
• Email Signup Forms: 12 Places to Add Them for Higher Conversions

And if you want to grow your email list, get started with OptinMonster. It’s the #1 lead generation software that helps you convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.

PodBike used OptinMonster to build an organic email list and improved its conversion rate by 18.22% with just one campaign!

Email newsletters are a vital part of your business’s growth. They give you direct access to your target audience and allow you to keep in touch with all of your leads.

At OptinMonster, we have poured a lot of hard work into building an email list of over 235,000 people who subscribe to our email newsletter:

Thanks to the newsletter, we have been able to build strong customer relationships, cut down our marketing costs, and drive measurable results.

If you are considering starting an email newsletter, you don’t really have to spend hours every week setting them up. Most email service providers (ESP) allow you to automate these campaigns.

That means you can grow your contact list and send personalized emails that generate more revenue while you’re sleeping.

That’s why, in today’s tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create an email newsletter in just 7 easy steps.

Here’s everything I’ll cover in this blog:

• Why You Need an Email Newsletter
• How to Create an Email Newsletter
  • Step 1: Choose the Right Email Service Provider
  • Step 2: Choose an Email Newsletter Template
  • Step 3: Create an Email List
  • Step 4: Be Aware of the Legal Compliances
  • Step 5: Write Your Email Newsletter Content
  • Step 6: Send Your First Email Newsletter
  • Step 7: Build an Email List

Before we get into the weeds of how to start a newsletter, let’s first discuss why you need one.

Why Do You Need an Email Newsletter?

An email newsletter is a type of email that shares content such as product news, announcements, blog posts, tips, and other resources that are valuable for the subscribers.

The newsletter subscribers are usually existing customers or leads who have opted in for the email. They have expressed interest in receiving marketing communications from a company or individual.

But more than anything else, you need to know why email newsletters are so important for growing your business.

Email newsletters have many advantages. They allow you to:

• Build long-term relationships: Newsletters help you stay connected with your core audience and build stronger relationships. You can share valuable content, industry insights, and exclusive offers to keep your subscribers engaged.
• Run cost-effective campaigns: Compared to other marketing channels like paid ads, email newsletters are extremely cost-effective. For example, you can use the same newsletter template to send thousands of emails.
• Communicate directly with your audience: Newsletters go straight to your subscribers’ inboxes, putting your message right in front of an audience group that is interested in buying from you.
• Sharpen your targeted reach: You can segment your email list and send targeted and personalized content to different groups of subscribers based on their interests or demographics. This increases the relevance of your message and improves engagement.
• Increase brand awareness: Every time a subscriber shares the content of your newsletter in their network, it triggers word-of-mouth marketing for your brand. This helps you boost your brand awareness and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
• Drive website traffic: Newsletters are a great way to drive traffic to your website. You can include links to your latest blog posts, product pages, or landing pages in your newsletter.
• Boost sales: Newsletters can be used to promote your products or services, offer discounts, and drive sales, especially during the holiday sales season such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Drive measurable results: With email marketing tools, you can track the open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics of your newsletter campaigns. This data helps you understand what’s working and what’s not, so you can improve your future newsletters.

At the end of the day, email newsletters will help you get what you’re really after: higher conversions.

Woodside Community, a South Carolina-based private living community, used OptinMonster to grow its newsletter subscription. Within 2 months of starting the campaign, they generated over $294,435 in revenue!

Read more about it in our case study: How Woodside Communities Made $294,435 in 2 months with OptinMonster.

That’s the power of a well-crafted email newsletter strategy. Woodside did it all with this basic popup campaign:

Now that you understand what a newsletter is and why it’s so important, let’s learn how to make an email newsletter.

How to Create an Email Newsletter

In this section, I’ll take you through the step-by-step tutorial on how to create an email newsletter.

You can jump to whichever section interests you most:

• Step 1: Choose the Right Email Service Provider
• Step 2: Choose an Email Newsletter Template
• Step 3: Create an Email List
• Step 4: Be Aware of the Legal Compliances
• Step 5: Write Your Email Newsletter Content
• Step 6: Send Your First Email Newsletter
• Step 7: Build an Email List

We’ll start by selecting the right ESP. That way, you can get started on the right foot and build an automated process that lasts you for years to come.

Step 1: Choose the Right Email Service Provider

The first thing you need to do is determine which ESP you’ll work with.

Look for a tool that allows you to scale so you don’t need to change platforms as your requirements grow.

Here are some must-have features that you should prioritize when you are shortlisting an ESP:

• List Management: Make sure the ESP lets you easily manage your contact list, segment lists, rearrange groups, and send and track customized messages. Good list management is the foundation for successful email automation. It helps you reach the right audience, with the right content, and at the right time.
• Easy-to-Use Editor: Choose an ESP that’s user-friendly and readily integrates with your lead generation tools. You don’t want to spend hours wrestling with complex software that requires you to manually connect with other tools in your tech stack.
• Email Automation: A good ESP will allow you to set up automated email sequences to welcome new subscribers, recover abandoned carts, or other marketing campaigns.
• In-Depth Reporting: Choose a tool that lets you use a data-driven approach to email marketing. Having access to your campaign performance can help you refine your campaign strategy for better impact.
• Compliance: Most commercial email marketing software will already be compliant with email laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR. But it’s best to check the laws specific to your country.

If you already are using an ESP that checks all the boxes, that’s great!

You can click here to skip directly to Step #2.

At OptinMonster, we have used a wide variety of ESPs along different stages of our company’s growth. If you want advice on the best ESPs, here are some of our favorites that you can consider:

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers an easy-to-use, lightweight interface and is great for both big and small businesses. As one of the largest email marketing services in the world, Constant Contact offers great deliverability rates and highly-rated support with every plan.

You can use their drag-and-drop editor and ready-to-use email newsletter templates to create and send professional emails.

These newsletter template emails are designed to work with a wide range of email clients and apps such as Outlook, Gmail, or Apple Mail. You can even send automated emails to new subscribers.

Plus, the emails are responsive, so they look great on mobile devices and desktops.

Constant Contact is one of our favorites because it’s the most beginner-friendly and the easiest to use, but it doesn’t skimp on the features.

With Constant Contact, you get an email marketing platform that’s easy to use and includes powerful marketing tools like a free image library, Facebook ads integration, eCommerce integration for Shopify stores, built-in social media sharing tools, and list segmentation.

Get started with Constant Contact today!

2. HubSpot

HubSpot Email Marketing offers some of the most powerful analytics along with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for non-tech users.

Start by creating beautiful, on-brand emails with the drag-and-drop editor. You can customize your emails by adding call-to-action (CTA) buttons, colors, images, social icons, and text while ensuring they are responsive on all devices.

You can also segment your email lists to target specific viewers, like returning customers or new customers. Or, you can schedule emails to optimize your open and click-through rate.

With OptinMonster, you get access to detailed analytics on how your campaigns perform and the option to carry out A/B testing to optimize your newsletters further.

Get started with HubSpot today!

3. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a powerful email marketing tool with minimal startup costs that gives free users an unlimited number of contacts.

It comes with great features like automation workflows, autoresponder campaigns, segmentation tools, and A/B testing.

Brevo also includes in-depth reporting and real-time stats, so you know how your campaigns are doing.

You can create email newsletters that are stunning and optimized to look great on every device.

Get started with Brevo today!

4. Drip

Drip is another excellent email service provider that you can choose from.

You can keep your contact list stored with Drip and create email campaigns. When new users sign up, you can tag, segment, or add the new user groups to an automated email series.

Over time, you can refine your email marketing strategy and put everything on autopilot. As new leads come in, they’ll get new emails that nurture the relationship until they become customers.

DripGet started with Drip today!

Alternatives: Mailchimp, MailerLite, ConvertKit

Once you have selected your email service provider, you are ready to create your first newsletter. To do that, let’s set up your email list.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using Constant Contact.

Step 2: Choose the Right Email Newsletter Template

All of the ESPs that I have recommended earlier come with plenty of email newsletter templates for you to build your email campaigns. You should choose a template based on your audience’s preferences, your brand style, and your newsletter’s theme.

Consider the following tips when you are choosing an email newsletter template:

Consider Your Audience and Goals

Be clear about what your audience prefers. For instance, a template for a tech company might not resonate with a yoga studio’s audience. No matter which template you choose, tailor its design to align it with your audience’s interests.

Also, think about what you expect out of your audience. What is it that you want them to do? Will you be offering tips to grow your customers’ businesses, sharing industry news, or offering occasional discounts?

The template should guide them toward that action.

Focus on Functionality and Design

Research shows that over 60% of email opens are from mobile devices.

That means your email newsletter templates should be mobile-friendly and compatible with Android, iOS, and other mobile operating systems.

Also, make sure that the template is eye-catching and scannable. Most people skim through emails. Use clear sections, fonts, headings, and bullet points to break up text.

Think About Content and CTAs

Any template you choose should allow you to add or delete text, images, videos, and CTA buttons as per your requirements.

Yes, you should prioritize keeping your newsletter design as simple as possible. But the email newsletter templates you choose should also be flexible to adapt to your changing needs.

Finally, test and iterate. You can send test emails to yourself or your colleagues to see how the template renders on different devices. And then you can make tweaks based on what works best.

Step 3: Create an Email List

In this step, I’ll show you how you can send your first email newsletter using Constant Contact. If you don’t already have an account, you’ll need to sign up.

An email list is just what it sounds like: a directory of all the subscribers who sign up to receive your email newsletter.

When people enter their email addresses into an email subscription form, their names are added to your email list. So let’s make sure those names have somewhere to go!

First, log into Constant Contact.

Click on Contacts in the top menu and make sure you’re on the Lists tab. Click the Create List button on the far right:

Next, enter a name for your list in the popup that appears.

Subscribers won’t see this name, but make sure it’s something you can easily recognize, such as, ‘Holiday Promotions List’ or ‘Lead Magnet Subscribers.’

Click Save once you are done.

You’ll need to add at least one contact to start using this email list. You can add your own email address to test that your newsletters are sending properly.

To add email addresses, click on the Add Contacts button on the top-right of the screen:

Choose how you want to add your contacts. I’ll go with the Create a new contact option:

Enter your email address and click Continue:

On the next screen, add any other contact details you need. I recommend putting at least a first and last name. Make sure to double-check the email list you just created:

And that’s it! You just created your 1st email list in Constant Contact.

Next, let’s go over how to craft the perfect email content to pull your subscribers in and get them to convert.

Step 4: Be Aware of the Legal Compliances

If you breach data privacy laws in regions where your business operates, it might lead to hefty fines, damaged reputation, and even lawsuits.

Eyewear retailer Luxottica owns global brands like Oakley and Sunglass Hut. In April 2024, the company had to pay a $1,512,500 fine for sending more than 200,000 marketing messages in violation of Australian spam laws.

There are a few key legal compliances to consider before hitting send on your email newsletter. These will primarily focus on subscriber consent, transparency, and giving users control over their information.

Here’s a quick breakdown of such compliances:

1. Ask for consent: Make sure you have explicit optin consent from recipients to receive your emails. Avoid pre-checked boxes or bundling signups with other services.
2. Maintain full transparency: Accurately identify your business. This is to ensure that the sender’s information is explicitly clear. Also, clearly label the email newsletter as a marketing communication for full disclosure. Finally, Include your valid physical postal address in the email content to comply with industry rules.
3. Offer easy unsubscribe Options: Make it easy for people to unsubscribe or change their email preferences. Yes, it’s not easy to see your subscribers go. But it’s better to make that process easy than to have annoyed subscribers reporting you for spam.

These are general guidelines, but specific regulations may vary depending on your location. Here are some prominent ones to consider:

• CAN-SPAM (US): The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act sets compliance standards for commercial emails in the United States.
• CASL (Canada): Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation outlines similar rules for email marketing with a focus on transparency and opt-out options.
• GDPR (EU): The General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union sets stricter data protection standards, including obtaining explicit consent for data use.

If you want more information on how to make your newsletter legally compliant, I strongly recommend you consult with a legal professional. They are familiar with email marketing regulations in your region.

Step 5: Write Your Email Newsletter Content

Content is the most important part of an email newsletter. Even if you have a beautiful email newsletter template, your subscribers will unsubscribe if you send them boring, irrelevant, or overly promotional content.

Here are some pointers on how to craft the perfect content for your email newsletter:

• Identify the main purpose of your newsletter as well as your overall email marketing strategy. Are you trying to get new clients? Share affiliate links? Sell new products? What you write will depend on what your purpose is.
• Get to the point clearly and quickly. From the email subject line to the headers in the email content, every sentence should have a purpose. Each of them should deliver value to your audience, tell them what to expect, or call them to take action.
• Help the readers meet their goals. Readers don’t subscribe because they want to help you meet your goals. They want your help meeting their goals. In an ideal world, you can meet your own goals by helping them meet theirs. Create informational content that helps people solve their problems while encouraging them to take the action you want.
• Pick 1 main CTA. What do you want readers to do after they read your newsletter? Maybe you want them to click a link to a sales page or your social media accounts. Or maybe you want them to write a response back to you. Don’t be shy about asking them to take this step!

Here are some of the best email newsletter examples you can look at for inspiration. Once you have your newsletter content written, you can send your newsletter.

Step 6: Send Your First Email Newsletter

To send your newsletter, you’ll once again need to go back to Constant Contact since that’s where you have stored your campaign details and email addresses.

Log into Constant Contact. Then click on the Marketing tab and select Create an email from the dropdown:

With this, you’ll now have the option to choose from several ready-to-use newsletter template emails:

You can search for the right kind of templates and hover over the one you like and click Select:

Once you’re in the email builder, editing your newsletter is simple.

You can change the text directly in the campaign. Or you can add new features to your email using the Block elements on the left-hand side menu:

Then you can simply drag and drop them into place.

The best part? There’s zero coding, zero tech skills, and zero headaches involved.

Once you’re done designing the template to your liking, click on the Continue button on the top-right:

From there, you’ll just need to configure other details about your campaign, such as:

• Subject line
• Audience
• Sender info

Check it over for typos and that your email design looks the way you want it. Now your email newsletter will be ready to send!

If you need help writing more persuasive email copy, don’t worry.

I have got you covered.

Check out our 17 tips on how to write email copy that converts.

Once your newsletter is sent, you can see updated metrics such as open rates, click rates, and unsubscribes. Use this data to improve your newsletter strategy.

Did you get a great conversion rate on a specific piece of content? Send another newsletter next time with a similar topic or format.

You can also experiment with sending email subscribers to different landing pages and see how your conversion rates change as a result.

Finally, let’s go over how you can get more subscribers for your newsletter.

Related Content: 5 Best WordPress Newsletter Plugins for More Engagement

Step 7: Build an Email List Using OptinMonster

Most successful email marketing campaigns start with a list full of qualified leads interested in what you have to offer.

After all, even the best email copy on the planet won’t convert if it doesn’t get seen.

So what you, as an online marketer, are supposed to do exactly to taste success with your email campaigns repeatedly?

That’s where OptinMonster comes into play:

OptinMonster is the world’s #1 lead generation software. That means we’re the best at growing your email list through highly-targeted optin campaigns, like:

• Lightbox Popups
• Floating Bars
• Inline Campaigns
• Fullscreen Welcome Mats

And many more.

These campaigns help you grow your email list fast. Here’s an example of what a simple lightbox popup might look like:

OptinMonster also comes with over 100 pre-made templates that help save you time and energy in the campaign creation process:

You can modify these campaign templates with an easy drag-and-drop visual builder.

This allows you to modify any text in your optin campaign or add new elements, such as:

• Videos
• Images
• Dividers
• Icons
• HTML
• And much more

And, again, everything can be done with just a few clicks:

But creating the campaign is only half the battle.

From there, you’ll need to target your special offers to the right people, in the right places, and at just the right times in their customer journey.

Some of OptinMonster’s most powerful targeting rules include:

• Exit-Intent® Technology: Recover abandoning visitors when they are about to leave your website.
• OnSite Retargeting®: Keep users engaged by displaying fresh campaigns to returning visitors.
• Geolocation Targeting: Personalize UX by targeting visitors by their physical locations.
• MonsterLinks: Boost conversions by turning any link into a clickable email newsletter signup form.

These rules have gotten massive results for our clients. Just look at these case studies from OptinMonster customers:

• Human Food Bar Added 1800+ Leads Each Month
• SnackNation Adds 1200 Segmented Leads Every Week
• Shotkit Gets 40+ NEW Leads Every Single Day

But here’s the best part: OptinMonster seamlessly integrates with any email service provider on the market:

That means you can quickly sync your ESP and have new leads sent directly to the right contact list.

Then you can have your newsletters automatically sent to your new leads to convert them into happy (and paying) customers.

Ready to get started? Click below to sign up for your risk-free OptinMonster account today:

Grow Your Email List Today

BONUS: Done-For-You Campaign Setup ($297 value)Our conversion experts will design 1 free campaign for you to get maximum results – absolutely FREE! Click here to get started →

Ready to Send Your First Newsletter?

An email newsletter is a powerful tool to nurture relationships with your audience. It keeps you on their mind, drives traffic to your website, and can even boost sales. And don’t forget, it’s one of the most cost-effective marketing channels to engage with your customers.

If you found this guide on how to make an email newsletter helpful, you might also like the following posts:

• How to Write Email Copy That Converts
• 13 Simple eCommerce Marketing Tips to Skyrocket Your Sales
• Email Marketing for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide
• 8 Product Recommendation Email Examples to Drive Sales
• Webinars for Lead Generation: Tips and Strategies for Success
• What Is SEO? Find Out How Search Engine Optimization Really Works
• 45 Best Digital Marketing Tools to Boost Your Business

Ready to grow your newsletter subscription?

Get started with OptinMonster today!

In my 15 years of sending promotional emails, I’ve seen just how important it is to clean your list regularly. And here at OptinMonster, email scrubbing is essential to maintaining our list of over 235,000 subscribers.

In this article, I’ll discuss the importance of email list cleaning, also known as email scrubbing. I’ll explain how to clean email lists with a few basic steps and show you how to keep your list clean by verifying new leads.

• What Is Email Scrubbing?
• Importance of Keeping a Clean Email List
• How to Clean Email Lists (6 Steps)
• Alternative: Use an Email List Cleaning Service
• Keep Your List Clean With Verified Email Signups

What Is Email Scrubbing?

Email scrubbing is the process of removing unengaged subscribers and invalid addresses from your email list. With a clean email list, you can optimize your email marketing to be more efficient and more successful.

Here are the types of contacts that you want to target when cleaning an email list:

• Invalid email addresses: These often occur due to typos or because an account or domain has expired.
• Disposable email addresses: Some users will create a temporary email address to register to your site or sign up for a lead magnet.
• Duplicate contacts: This is when there are multiple instances of the same email address on your list.
• Inactive subscribers: You should regularly remove contacts who haven’t opened any of your emails and don’t respond to a re-engagement campaign.

This cleaning/scrubbing process is a vital part of email list hygiene. When you regularly scrub your email list, you eliminate subscribers who will never actually see your emails anyway.

Importance of Keeping a Clean Email List

It may feel like a bummer to delete email subscribers that you worked hard to get. But if those addresses aren’t leading to engagement, then your subscriber number is just a vanity metric. On the other hand, the benefits of email list cleaning are very real, which is why I recommend scrubbing your email list at least twice a year.

Here are some of the top benefits of cleaning your email list:

Better (& More Accurate) Engagement Metrics

As an email marketer, you spend a lot of time and energy measuring the success of your email campaigns. However, if you’ve never cleaned your list, then your metrics won’t be very accurate.

The good news? Your metrics are probably actually higher than you think!

Email open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and other conversion rates are calculated as a percentage of the total number of emails sent.

If invalid and inactive subscribers make up 20% of your list, then these metrics will be artificially low.

Cleaning your email list means you’re sending emails only to those who are interested. And who are real people! This improves your open and CTR percentages.

By cleaning our own email list here at OptinMonster, we’ve achieved phenomenal open rates for our campaigns.

When you remove contacts that never open your emails, you’ll see your metrics improve, too.

Fewer Spam Complaints

Cleaning your email list also reduces your number of spam complaints. Some subscribers mark your emails as spam because they don’t remember signing up, even if they actually did.

Email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Yahoo, and others log spam complaints. If there are too many, they’ll start sending your emails straight to the spam folder, skipping the inbox. And they’ll do that for everyone on your list, not just the people who reported you.

Regular email scrubbing helps you identify those uninterested contacts before they resort to marking your messages as spam.

Decrease in Bounced Emails

Sometimes, emails bounce, which means they never reach the intended recipient. Bounces can be caused by full inboxes, changed email addresses, or a technical error.

There are 2 basic types of email bounces:

• Hard bounces: These are permanent delivery failures, such as an invalid address. These addresses can be immediately scrubbed.
• Soft bounces: These are temporary problems, such as a downed server or a full inbox. These addresses may still be valid.

Too many bounces have a similar effect as spam complaints: they signal to ESPs that you may be a spammer.

If you remove bounced email addresses when you clean your email list, the number and percentage of bounces will go down the next time you send.

Through email scrubbing, we’re able to keep our bounce rate under 1% here at OptinMonster.

Improved Sender Reputation & Email Deliverability

Email list cleaning helps you improve all of the above metrics. The sum result of all that improvement? A better sender reputation and improved email deliverability.

Your sender reputation is how trustworthy email servers think you are. And your email deliverability is the percentage of your emails that make it into recipients’ inboxes. A good sender reputation makes it much more likely that your messages will be accepted by email servers and get through their spam filters.

In other words, when you keep a clean list, more of your subscribers will actually see your emails.

Reduced Cost

Email marketing services often charge according to the number of emails you send, the number of subscribers you have, or both.

That means there’s a real financial incentive to clean up your email list. Every invalid or unengaged subscriber who stays on your list costs you money.

Remove them using email scrubbing, and your email marketing’s return on investment (ROI) will improve.

How to Clean Email Lists (6 Steps)

Next, I’m going to share the most important steps in the email list cleaning process. Most of these steps only take a few minutes to accomplish, with the exception of sending re-engagement emails to inactive contacts.

The exact way to accomplish these steps will vary depending on your email marketing platform. For this tutorial, I’ll show you how to clean a list in Constant Contact. The steps for most software will be similar.

1. Remove Hard Bounces and Invalid Addresses
2. Monitor and Clean Up Soft Bounces
3. Eliminate Duplicate Entries
4. Identify Inactive Subscribers Through Email Segmentation
5. Send a Re-Engagement Campaign (and Remove Those Who Don’t Engage)
6. Set Up a Regular Email Scrubbing Schedule

1. Remove Hard Bounces and Invalid Addresses

First things first: You should delete or correct any email addresses that have hard bounced, as those are permanent failures. In your email marketing platform, you should be able to view the bounced emails for every email campaign you send.

In the Constant Contact dashboard, you first click Reporting:

Scroll down until you see your list of email campaigns. Find the most recent campaign that you sent to the list you want to clean.

Click on the number under the Bounces column. (Note that it’s 0 here because this was a test email I sent. Yours should have a number.)

Click on the All Types dropdown menu. Above the faint gray line, you’ll see the categories of hard bounces. Constant Contact even provides a Recommended for removal type, which contains emails that the platform believe are permanently invalid.

Scan through these hard bounce email addresses to identify any obvious typos. For instance, if an email includes “gnail.com” instead of “gmail.com,” you can correct that typo.

For the rest of the addresses, you can remove them from your email list.

2. Monitor and Clean Up Soft Bounces

Go back to the All Types dropdown menu. The categories below the gray line are soft bounces.

Remember, these soft bounces may only be temporary, so you should not just automatically delete them. However, if these bounces start to build up, you should start monitoring them. If an address consistently soft-bounces for 1-3 months, depending on your email frequency, then you should remove it from your list.

3. Eliminate Duplicate Entries

This step is one that you likely won’t need to take. Most email marketing services, including Constant Contact, prevent duplicate email addresses from being entered. However, if you notice that some duplicates have gotten through, you’ll want to delete those duplicates.

Why? Because they’re adding to your subscriber count, and because you run the risk of annoying subscribers if they receive the same email multiple times.

In Constant Contact, you’ll need to export your email list into a spreadsheet, sort it by email name, and search for duplicates in the spreadsheet. Then, in the Constact Contact dashboard, you can search your contacts for those duplicated emails and delete them.

Since you probably won’t need to complete this step, I won’t go into exact instructions here, but you’ll be able to find instructions in your email software’s documentation. Here’s Constant Contact’s guide for deleting duplicates.

4. Identify Inactive Subscribers Through Email Segmentation

If you’ve gone through the first 3 steps, your list should now only have valid email addresses. But your email scrubbing process isn’t over yet.

Next, you need to clean your email list of subscribers who aren’t opening any of your emails. First, you need identify your inactive subscribers by creating an email segment.

Note: In Constant Contact, you’ll need the Standard or Pro plan in order to complete these steps.

In your Constant Contact dashboard, click Contacts and then Segments.

You’ll notice that Constant Contact has pre-built segments for “Most engaged,” “Somewhat engaged,” and “Least engaged” subscribers. These pre-built segments are extremely handy for precisely targeting your email marketing.

However, for email list cleaning, we’ll want to click Create Segment.

Here, you’ll need to type in a Segment Name. I chose “Inactive Subscribers,” but you should make yours more precise by including the date and the length of inactivity you’re targeting.

Under Add a block, open the Choose a criteria block dropdown and select Contact Activity.

Next, select Did not open in the dropdown menu.

More dropdown menus will appear as you make your selections. Choose any email and in the last. In the last dropdown, you’ll select how long it’s been since the subscriber has opened one of your emails. I suggest choosing either 180 days or 1 year.

Feel free to add any other criteria blocks to your segment. For instance, you could only include members from specific email lists. Constant Contact integrates with Shopify, so you can also add an eCommerce block to only include subscribers who haven’t purchased in the past year.

Once you’ve completed your criteria, Save your segment.

You could go ahead and delete these contacts now. However, I strongly suggest that you try to re-engage them first.

5. Send a Re-Engagement Campaign (and Remove Those Who Don’t Engage)

Before removing inactive subscribers, try to re-engage them with a targeted campaign. Send at least 1 personalized email asking if they still want to receive your content.

Here’s an example of a re-engagement email from Canva.

This message was the final email in a re-engagement series, where contacts were unsubscribed unless they clicked the link in the email.

I suggest sending out 2-4 emails in your re-engagement campaign.

1. First, send an email pointing out that they haven’t opened an email in a while. Take the opportunity to remind them of what you offer. Your subject line can include phrases like “We miss you,” “Let’s reconnect,” or “Are you still interested.” Include a link to manage their email preferences.
2. Send out an incentive like a coupon code or free content.
3. If you’ve offered an incentive, send a “Last Chance” email.
4. If they haven’t opened any of these emails, send a goodbye email letting them know that you won’t be emailing them anymore. Be sure to include a link to resubscribe.

You can use an email automation flow to schedule this email series, or you can manually send each one. I suggest running your segment again each time, so you’re only sending to subscribers who didn’t open your last email.

Of course, if this sounds like more work than you have time for, just send emails #1 and #4. Simply email your inactive subscribers to ask if they still want to hear from you. If they don’t open that email, send the goodbye message with the link to resubscribe.

Then, you can confidently clean those contacts from your list.

6. Set Up a Regular Email Scrubbing Schedule

Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have a clean email list full of engaged, high-quality subscribers. But just like your kitchen, no email list stays clean forever.

I recommend scrubbing your emails every 6 months. Set calendar reminders and keep these steps handy, so you can come back to them twice a year.

Of course, you should also monitor your email engagement metrics year-round. If you have a significant dip in opens and clicks, you might want to schedule another cleaning.

Alternative: Use an Email List Cleaning Service

As you can see, most of the steps to cleaning an email list are pretty simple. However, there are several email list cleaning services that can do a lot of the work for you. These work well for companies with large email lists, who don’t have the time to manually clean their email lists.

Email scrubbing services include features like:

• Email list validation
• Fixing typos in email addresses
• Bulk email list verification
• Checking for emails from disposable email address providers
• Blocking fake email addresses

Note that these services do not clean inactive subscribers, so you’ll still need to use email segments to scrub those contacts. But these email list cleaning tools can still save you a lot of time.

Email Verification Services

Some email scrubbing services to try include:

• BriteVerify
• Data Validation
• ListWise
• MailBox Validator
• Quick Email Verification

Keep Your Email List Clean With Lead Verification

Once you’ve scrubbed your list, what are the best ways to keep your email list clean?

1. Prevent invalid email addresses from getting on your list in the first place by verifying every new email signup.
2. Attract subscribers who are highly interested in your brand.
3. Consider using double opt-ins to confirm all subscribers. And always send a welcome email.

You can do all of this and more with OptinMonster!

OptinMonster is the best lead-generation software available. You can use our lightbox popups, floating bars, inline forms, and other onsite campaigns to get more subscribers on your email list.

Lead Verification with OptinMonster’s TruLead®

Our TruLead® add-on is a lead verification tool that automatically filters out “bad emails” such as spambots, disposable email addresses, and invalid or undeliverable addresses.

Learn how it works in this video:

With TruLead®, you can stop bad emails in their tracks before they’re ever added to your list.

Use Precise Targeting to Capture High-Quality Leads

You want your email list to be full of subscribers who are excited to hear from you. OptinMonster can help you achieve that goal by showing the right offers to the right people at the right time.

Here are a few of the targeting and triggering rules we offer:

• Page-Level Targeting: Show tailored campaigns based on the content or products the visitor is browsing
• Timed Display Controls: Only show your signup form after the visitor has spent a certain amount of time on your page.
• Onsite Retargeting®: Target returning visitors with special deals or messages.
• Exit-Intent® Technology: Show an enticing offer to capture your visitors’ email addresses before they leave your site.

By precisely targeting your campaigns, you’ll get leads who are primed to open your emails and engage with your brand.

Send Double Opt-ins & Welcome Emails Through OptinMonster Integrations

OptinMonster integrates seamlessly with all major email marketing platforms. You can use your email platform’s settings to send one or both of the following to each person who signs up through your OptinMonster campaigns:

1. A confirmation email the subscriber must click before being added to your list. This is known as a double opt-in. Your list might grow more slowly with double opt-ins, but you’ll have a more engaged list. Learn more about the pros and cons of double opt-ins.
2. A welcome email to each new subscriber, thanking them for signing up and letting them know what to expect. Welcome emails help people remember that they did actually subscribe and ensure there are no surprises. Learn more about writing welcome emails.

These strategies both help prevent subscribers from becoming inactive, so you won’t have as many emails to clean.

With OptinMonster, you can easily maintain your list as you go. While you should still scrub your emails a couple times a year, it will be faster and easier because you have a strong list to start with.

A Clean Email List Is a Successful Email List

With these tips and steps at your disposal, you’re ready to set up an email scrubbing schedule that will keep your email marketing going strong.

Want to learn more ways to optimize your email strategy? Check out these resources:

• How to Create a Winning Email Marketing Strategy
• 14 Common Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
• eCommerce Email Marketing: Email Types, Examples, & Tips
• 40+ Email Marketing Statistics You Need to Know

Are you ready to start turning your website visitors into engaged subscribers and customers? Sign up for OptinMonster today, with our 14-day, 100% money-back guarantee!

Newsletters are a specific subset of email marketing. They’re usually sent at regular intervals, and they focus on delivering interesting content, rather than simply promoting products or services.

But how do you start an email newsletter that will help you reach your nonprofit’s goals?

I worked in nonprofit email marketing for over 15 years. During that time, I built nonprofit newsletters from scratch and revamped existing ones. I used these newsletters to promote the organization’s mission, build goodwill, promote events, and solicit memberships and donations.

In this article, I’ll explain why all nonprofits, even small ones, need an email newsletter. I’ll also share some effective nonprofit newsletter examples, steps for starting a newsletter, and a few tips and best practices.

• Why Your Nonprofit Needs an Email Newsletter
• 4 Nonprofit Newsletter Examples
• How to Start a Nonprofit Newsletter (6 Steps)
• Nonprofit Newsletter Tips & Best Practices

Why Your Nonprofit Needs an Email Newsletter

If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of starting a newsletter for your small nonprofit, I get it. Small organizations are cash-strapped, which means they’re also people-strapped and time-strapped. In any given week while I worked for nonprofits, I might update our website, write a grant, plan and run events, manage multiple social media channels, design a brochure, and send out email campaigns.

That constant multitasking is probably why 73% of nonprofits don’t have a defined email marketing strategy, according to a 2022-2023 report from the Tapp Network and TechSoup.

If your nonprofit is small, you may question whether you’ll get enough return on investment (ROI) for the personnel time that email newsletters require.

So, is a nonprofit newsletter worth the time and effort? The answer is a resounding yes.

In fact, smaller organizations can actually see the biggest impact from email. Here are some impressive numbers from Neon One’s 2023 Nonprofit Email Report:

• The average small nonprofit raises $6.15 per email contact, compared to $0.88 for large organizations.
• Small nonprofits have an average email open rate 45.7%, compared to 27.64% for large nonprofits.
• Small nonprofits see a phenomenal click-through rate (CTR) of 10.24%, compared to an average of 2.91% for large nonprofits.

What does this mean for your nonprofit? Not only can an email newsletter directly help you fundraise, but it can also hugely improve awareness of your mission, as your email recipients open your newsletters, click links to your website, and share the information they learn with their friends and family.

Here are just a few of the goals you can accomplish with a nonprofit newsletter:

• Increase Awareness: Keep supporters informed about your mission, programs, and achievements.
• Engage Donors: Build relationships with donors by sharing success stories and showing the impact of their contributions.
• Further Your Mission: Some newsletters directly target the nonprofit’s beneficiaries and provide resources and information about services.
• Strengthen Community: Foster a sense of belonging and community among supporters and stakeholders.
• Promote Fundraising Efforts: Share info about donation drives and events to generate funds.
• Recruit Volunteers: Attract and retain volunteers by highlighting opportunities and sharing volunteer stories.
• Boost Transparency: Show accountability by sharing financial reports, progress updates, and future plans.
• Drive Website Traffic: Encourage readers to visit your website for more information, resources, and involvement opportunities.

With all of these benefits, your nonprofit should definitely start a newsletter or work on optimizing the one you already have.

4 Nonprofit Newsletter Examples

Before I start exploring specific tips and steps, I want to share a few examples of nonprofit newsletters that I find particularly effective. The first 2 examples are from large international organizations, but the last 2 are from smaller local nonprofits. You’ll see that while the emails from smaller organizations are a bit simpler, they are no less effective in achieving their goals.

1. Welcome Email from Heifer International

I recently signed up for the email newsletter from Heifer International (HI), a nonprofit that seeks to end hunger and poverty worldwide. Within minutes, I received this welcome email:

The subject line “Welcome to the Family!” sets the tone for this new relationship by showing that HI sees their subscribers as important parts of their mission. The email then links to a survey where subscribers can choose which HI programs they want to receive emails about.

Key takeaways: You should always send a welcome email to new subscribers. You can use that email to thank them for their interest in your organization and give them an idea of what they can expect.

If your nonprofit newsletter is new or you have a small email list, you may not be ready to offer multiple content options for subscribers, as HI does here. However, a survey can still help you learn what type of content will interest your readers.

2. Personal Impact Story from Women for Women International

Women for Women International regularly sends out “Sister Spotlight” emails that share how the organization has transformed 1 woman’s life. Here’s an example:

As the subscribers scroll, they get to read more about Grace’s story:

The email goes on to include more photos of Grace, more of her story, and a Donate button.

Key takeaways: Whenever possible, make your nonprofit newsletters personal. Share specific stories about the impact your mission has had on real people. Include photos and the words of the person you’ve helped. Over time, these types of emails will drive donors, advocates, and volunteers to action, as your subscribers see real-life examples of your nonprofit’s work.

3. Monthly Events Email from Florence-Lauderdale Public Library

Next, I’ll share a nonprofit newsletter that I created for the public library I used to work for.

In addition to our full email list, I set up email segments for subscribers who wanted updates on specific departments, such as our children’s department. These segmented subscribers received a monthly newsletter to keep them informed of the coming month’s events.

Here’s an example of an October newsletter that I sent to subscribers of our children’s department emails:

The email features bright colors and photos, matching the style and branding we had established for our children’s department. Below this main header, I included an image that linked to a printable PDF of the October event calendar. I also added a text list of the month’s events, categorized by age range.

Key Takeaways: Our children’s events were consistently well-attended, and this regular, monthly email newsletter contributed to that success. Parents knew that at the end of each month, they would get an email with the next month’s programs. If you want to build a following for your nonprofit newsletter or for your nonprofit itself, consistency is key.

4. Weekly Update Newsletter from tnAchieves

This nonprofit newsletter is from tnAchieves, an organization that offers scholarship support and mentorship for high school seniors and college students in Tennessee. Their email list is mostly the students they serve, their parents, and their teachers, so they send out weekly updates about important opportunities and deadlines.

The footer of the email features a reminder section with important upcoming deadlines, all of which include links for more information:

Key Takeaways: Know your nonprofit newsletter’s audience and tailor your messages to their needs. Here, tnAchieves focuses entirely on what students need to know: opportunities for college financial aid and important upcoming deadlines. They also make themselves easily available for questions and assistance. In fact, the email mentions twice that you can simply reply to the email with any questions.

How to Start a Nonprofit Newsletter (6 Steps)

If you already have a nonprofit newsletter and just want to improve it, feel free skip ahead to the tips & best practices section.

Hopefully, the examples above have inspired some great nonprofit newsletter ideas for your own organization. If you’ve never sent out an email newsletter, don’t worry. Below are the 6 basic steps for learning how to start a newsletter for a nonprofit organization:

Step 1. Choose an Email Marketing Service

In order to manage a subscriber list and send out bulk emails, you’ll need to use an email marketing platform. If you want suggestions, check out our article, 7 Best Nonprofit Email Marketing Software (Compared).

The best platforms will include a drag-and-drop email builder, easy-to-use templates, reports on each email’s performance, and more helpful features.

My top recommendation for beginners is Constant Contact. Their plans start at $12 a month for up to 500 contacts. They also offer a 60-day free trial, so you can make sure it’s the right choice for you.

If you need to start with a free plan, then I suggest you go with Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Their free plan allows you to send up to 300 emails per day. When you outgrow that limit, their paid plans start at $9 a month for up to 5,000 emails per month.

Step 2. Collect Email Addresses

Your nonprofit can’t send out a newsletter if you don’t have an email list. Get your list started by asking for emails from your main stakeholders, such as:

• Existing donors
• Volunteers
• Event attendees
• Partnering organizations and businesses
• People you serve
• Social media followers

Make sure you have permission to add these addresses to your newsletter list. Getting explicit permission is always the best practice, and it’s actually the law in many countries.

Your website is another powerful tool for building your email list, especially if you use OptinMonster.

OptinMonster is the best software available for turning your website visitors into email subscribers. You can use our popups, floating bars, inline forms, and more to encourage visitors to subscribe to your nonprofit’s newsletter.

Our nonprofit customers see huge success by using our software. For instance, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) used OptinMonster to display popups like this one for their Bird of the Week newsletter:

With OptinMonster, ABC doubled their email list and increased their onsite lead generation from under 100 emails per month to over 1500.

Step 3. Decide on Your Nonprofit Newsletter’s Content

Next, you need to decide what information and stories your newsletters should include. Your content will depend on your mission, goals, and audience. It’ll also depend on how much time you have to create your content.

Here are a few examples of the types of content you might include in your nonprofit newsletter:

• Impact Stories: Highlight stories of individuals or communities positively affected by your nonprofit’s work.
• Volunteer Spotlights: Feature dedicated volunteers and their contributions.
• Upcoming Events: Announce fundraising events, workshops, and community activities.
• Program Updates: Share progress and updates on ongoing projects or initiatives.
• Donor Recognition: Acknowledge and thank major donors or sponsors.
• Calls to Action: Encourage readers to donate, volunteer, or participate in events.
• Educational Content: Provide articles or tips related to your nonprofit’s mission.
• Behind-the-Scenes Stories: Offer a glimpse into daily operations or introduce staff members.
• Success Metrics: Share statistics and achievements to demonstrate impact.
• Resources and Tools: Provide useful resources or tools for supporters and the people you serve.

You may choose 1 or 2 of these to include in every newsletter, or you could cycle through different types of content. Start with what you’re comfortable with and have time to do well. You can always adjust your approach down the road.

If you’re unsure of what your stakeholders want to hear about, ask them! Surveys and feedback forms are always a great way to better understand your audience.

Step 4: Determine the Schedule for Your Nonprofit Newsletter

Next, you’ll need to decide how often you’ll email your subscribers. If you’re worried about having enough time for email marketing, I recommend starting with a monthly newsletter.

Set a day of the month that your newsletter will always go out. Then, determine how long it will take you to gather the information and create the newsletter. That way, you can mark your calendar for the day you need to start preparing, and you’ll never miss a newsletter deadline.

Step 5. Find or Create a Template

Here’s some good news: You don’t have to design your nonprofit newsletter from scratch each time. In fact, you don’t have to design it from scratch at all.

All major email marketing platforms offer templates you can use as a jumping-off point. Constant Contact, for instance, offers over 200.

You just need to find the newsletter template that most closely matches the content you want to deliver. Then, customize it with your logo and brand colors.

Once you have a template ready, you can just change the images, text, and links each time to write your newsletter.

Step 6. Monitor & Adjust

Once you start sending your nonprofit newsletters, it’s time to track your success. Your email marketing platform will offer reports and analytics for each email. You can use these reports to monitor how many people open your emails, click on your links, and unsubscribe from each email.

By paying attention to these email metrics, you can determine what your audience responds best to and then adjust your newsletter strategy accordingly.

Nonprofit Newsletter Tips & Best Practices

I’ve compiled these tips & best practices from my 15 years of writing, optimizing, and researching nonprofit email newsletters.

Whether you’re starting a brand new newsletter or improving one you already have, you can use these tips to better connect with your subscribers.

1. Write Enticing and Recognizable Subject Lines

Your email subject line is the first thing recipients see, so make it count. Neon One’s report found that nonprofit subject lines perform best when they include positive emotions, such as:

• Relief – Include words like “recovery” or “help”
• Gratitude – Thank subscribers for their support and generosity.
• Pride – Highlight your accomplishments with phrases like “1500 dogs rescued this year.”
• Excitement – Don’t be afraid to use exclamation points. Just don’t use them every time.
• Optimism – Include words like “change,” “hope,” and “future.”

Since you’re sending this newsletter on a regular schedule, you should also consider always starting your subject line the same way. That way, your subscribers can easily recognize it in their inbox.

For instance, I shared an example of a Women for Women International newsletter that shares impact stories. They start each subject line for these impact emails with “Sister Spotlight,” and they include sparkle emojis to highlight the phrase even more.

This designation helps these specific newsletters stand out from any of their other marketing emails.

Similarly, if your newsletter always includes the next month’s events or opportunities, that should be clear in your subject line, so subscribers don’t overlook your latest updates.

Bonus Tip: As you continue to hone your nonprofit newsletter, you can use your email marketing software to A/B test your subject lines. Services like Constant Contact let you A/B test with just a few clicks.

With A/B testing, you create 2 variants of your subject line. Each variant is sent to a small percentage of the email list. Your email platform tracks which subject line performs better and then sends that version to your full list.

By A/B testing your subject lines, you’ll improve the performance of that particular email and gradually learn what your target audience responds best to.

2. Experiment with Your Sender Name

It seems obvious to just use your organization name as your sender name. And in fact, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. However, sometimes it’s good for your messages to come from a specific person.

Here are some types of sender names you can try:

• Use the name of your head honcho: We’re not a nonprofit, but here at OptinMonster, we’ve had great success using “Angie at OptinMonster” as our email sender name. Angie is our general manager, and using her name shows that our company is made of real people who want to help our customers.
• Use the name of someone your subscriber knows: For the library newsletter I shared earlier, I used “Ms. Jessica at FLPL” as the sender name. As our children’s librarian, Jessica was the person kids and parents talked to when they checked out books or attended a storytime. By using her name, the emails felt like direct invitations from a friend.
• Use the name of someone you’ve helped: Are you sharing an individual’s impact story? Consider using their name as your sender name, especially if the email is written in their own words. For instance, the “Sister Spotlight” email I just discussed could have used “Grace for Women for Women International.”

3. Add & Optimize Preview Text

Your email marketing software will let you write your own preview text. That’s the short snippet that appears under the subject line in your email inbox.

Here’s an example of how preview text appears in a mobile inbox:

Your preview text is your chance to explain why subscribers should open your nonprofit newsletter.

Neon One found that the following preview text words had the most positive impact on nonprofit open rates:

• Together
• Hear
• Video
• Deadline

Need one more reason to add preview text? Neon One also discovered that fundraising emails that included preview text raised 53.85% more donations than those that didn’t.

4. Include Evocative Images

Your organization works every day to help people, animals, or an important cause. And your subscribers signed up for your nonprofit newsletter because they believe in the work you do.

You can strengthen that connection even further by featuring photos of your work in action.

Here’s an email from Habitat for Humanity. It includes a large photo of a woman named Xochitl in her Habitat-built home.

Here are some ideas for photos you can include in your nonprofit newsletters:

• People or animals you’ve helped
• Staff and volunteers working in the field
• Featured donors
• People enjoying events you’ve hosted
• Before-and-after images (e.g. community clean-up projects)
• Infographics illustrating your impact

5. Make Your Nonprofit Newsletter Scannable

Like all content on the internet, your email newsletters should be easy to scan quickly. If you’ve chosen a well-designed template, this goal should be easy to accomplish.

If you’re designing an email yourself, or heavily editing your template, these are some guidelines to follow:

• Use headings: Break up your text with headings so readers can easily find the info they’re looking for.
• Keep paragraphs short: No one wants to read a dense wall of text in an email, so keep your paragraphs brief.
• Use white space: Make sure you include some white space between each element of your email.
• Include photos and graphics: Break up your text with visuals that catch the reader’s eye.
• Use bulleted lists: Lists are another way to break up paragraphs and make text more scannable.
• Use bold text for emphasis: Bolding key phrases and sentences can make your paragraphs easier to scan.

6. Include a Clear Call to Action

Every newsletter should include at least one clear call to action (CTA) for your readers. That action can be:

• To donate
• To visit a specific page on your website
• To follow you on social media
• To take a survey

For more on CTAs, see our guide: What Is a Call to Action + 31 CTA Examples.

While every email should include a CTA, my next tip focuses on being cautious with your donation CTAs.

7. Don’t Ask for Donations TOO Often

If your organization depends on funds from donors, you’ll likely include a “Donate” CTA button in every newsletter. In fact, it’s a good idea to always offer an opportunity to give at the bottom of your emails, so potential donors have easy access.

However, don’t ask for donations too prominently or too frequently in every single email.

Your main goal for a nonprofit newsletter is to tell the story of your organization. In other words, your newsletter should show why your subscribers should want to donate to your cause.

After you’ve sent out a few impact-focused newsletters, THEN you can send your “big ask,” the email that focuses specifically on soliciting donations. Often, you’ll send your “big ask” email during a specific fundraising campaign or for a day like Giving Tuesday.

By the time your subscribers get your “big ask” message, they’ll be excited to donate to an organization that does so much good work. And you’ll avoid exhausting your supporters with too many requests for money.

8. Stick to Your Newsletter Schedule (& Inform Subscribers of that Schedule)

Earlier, I pointed out that choosing a newsletter schedule is a key step in developing a nonprofit newsletter. Now, it’s important to stick to that schedule.

Consistency is key to keeping subscribers engaged, and it builds trust with your organization. If you stray too much from your schedule, your nonprofit will appear unorganized.

On the other hand, adhering to your newsletter schedule demonstrates professionalism, dependability, and a strong commitment to your subscribers.

You should also always let your subscribers know how often you’ll email them. You can inform them of your newsletter frequency on your email sigup form or in your welcome email. If you need to change that frequency, simply notify them in one of your emails.

9. Never Neglect Your Email List

Once you’ve built a decent subscriber base, you may be tempted to just coast on that email list. However, you should always look for more ways to:

1. Discover supporters and potential supporters
2. Collect their contact information
3. Add them to your email list so you can maintain and grow their support

What exactly does this effort look like? It’ll vary depending on your type of organization. But anytime you’re engaging with stakeholders, you should offer the chance to sign up for your newsletter. That might mean including a sign-in sheet at events with a checkbox to subscribe. It can also mean sharing your newsletters on social media and including a CTA to sign up.

And if your website receives significant traffic, you should definitely ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter.

People visiting your website have already shown a high level of interest in your organization, and OptinMonster can help you convert them into subscribers and donors.

I wish I had known about OptinMonster when I worked in nonprofit marketing, especially during times when my subscriber number was stagnant. I didn’t have access to an experienced web developer, but I could have created email signup popups in just a few minutes with OptinMonster’s 700+ templates and easy drag-and-drop builder.

Want to give it a try? Sign up for OptinMonster today, with our 14-day, 100% money-back guarantee.

Tell Your Story With Nonprofit Newsletters

With an email newsletter, your nonprofit can engage your stakeholders, share your success stories, and encourage more people to support your organization.

If you want to continue to learn more about email marketing, here are some resources to help. While they’re not specifically geared toward nonprofits, the information will still help you send better emails:

• 17 Genius Tips for Better Email Copywriting
• Best Time to Send Emails: Insights from Top Studies
• What Is Email Segmentation? 50 Proven Ways to Segment Email Lists
• What Is Email Automation? A Beginner’s Guide

And if you’re ready to build an email list full of engaged subscribers, sign up for OptinMonster today!