10 Best Practices for Your Next Email Drip Campaign

To help you craft an effective email drip campaign, we’ve gathered insights from top professionals in marketing and sales. From providing small, actionable information to using tracking URLs for targeted content, here are the top 10 best practices shared by our experts. Dive in to learn more about these strategies and how they can enhance your email marketing efforts.

• Offer Option to Opt Out
• Provide Small, Actionable Information
• Guide Customers with the Right Content
• Segment Your Audience for Increased Engagement
• Use Clear, Concise Messaging
• Provide Consistent, High-Quality Material
• Engage Leads with Storytelling
• Prioritize Personalization and Consistency
• Optimize Emails for Mobile Devices
• Use Tracking URLs for Targeted Content

Offer Option to Opt Out

There’s no denying that your main goal with a drip campaign is to get the readers to take action. You’re either selling a product, a service, or even just an idea.

Building your email list should be a top priority, and the more engaged your audience is, the better your campaigns tend to do.

However, not everyone wants to be bombarded with newsletters about how your cart is about to close and they need to act quickly. Even though they want to remain loyal, this might not be the time for them to spend their money. With that in mind, a really good practice is to give everyone a chance to opt out of those emails.

In other words, give everyone an out. It’s much better to lose a few bucks on this campaign than to lose a potential client forever.

Robert Burns
Marketing Director, Oxygen Plus

Provide Small, Actionable Information

One of the best practices that has worked for us is providing small, actionable information in each email. This proves highly beneficial for both prospects and businesses.

This approach not only helps to build trust over time but also establishes a perception of authority. By consistently delivering valuable content, prospects are more likely to open promotional emails, leading to increased engagement and conversions.

Avinash Kumar
Team Lead – Digital Marketing, RepuGen

Guide Customers with the Right Content

The key to a successful drip campaign is guiding customers toward conversion. But figuring out what content to send them can be tough. My favorite technique for this is to start by looking at your existing clients who have already taken the desired action.

Think about what information, resources, or assurances they needed at each stage to feel confident in taking that action. Use that insight to plan your drip campaign and send the right content at the right time.

Oksana Sydorchuk
Marketing Manager, Right People Group

Segment Your Audience for Increased Engagement

This means dividing your audience into various segments based on their preferences, behavior, or demographics. Not everyone on your mailing list has the same needs or interests.

By personalizing your emails to cater to each segment’s unique needs, you increase the chances of engagement. It not only displays empathy but also ensures that your content resonates with your audience, making your campaign more successful. Remember, relevance is key in email marketing, and segmentation is a powerful tool to achieve it.

Ray Schultz
VP Marketing, Liquid Rubber

Use Clear, Concise Messaging

One of the best practices in email drip campaigns is directing your readers through clear, concise messaging.

It starts with an identified goal for the campaign and predetermined objectives for each email. There are also various levels of consideration when executing, such as getting them hooked through the power of creativity, creating an impactful copy as you introduce your campaign, and stirring a connection with your audience by thoroughly presenting how your offering is relevant and how it can be beneficial to them. And in this entire process, remember that time and timing are key, too.

But the top consideration remains to be capturing them with clear, concise messaging that is apparent as early as in your email subject and immediately sustained in your headline.

Tristan Harris
Demand Generation Senior Marketing Manager, Thrive Digital Marketing Agency

Provide Consistent, High-Quality Material

Providing value and staying relevant throughout the series of emails is a good strategy for developing an effective email drip campaign. Focus on solving problems or exploring topics that are of interest to your intended readers.

Start slow, but gain traction by sending out increasingly valuable emails. In addition, you should monitor the time and frequency of your emails to find the optimal balance between being remembered and annoying your readers. Providing consistent, high-quality material has been shown to strengthen connections, earn people’s trust, and encourage them to take the desired behaviors more often.

Mike Lees
Chief Marketing Officer, LeaseAccelerator

Engage Leads with Storytelling

Storytelling is an excellent approach to interacting with and establishing relationships with leads via email drip campaigns. Humans enjoy tales, and one study found that when we read or listen to one, our brains transform into email copywriters. This active area of our brain allows us to feel and experience what the characters are going through.

Incorporating anecdotes into email copywriting allows subscribers to see themselves in the circumstance being described. Because email copywriting appeals to their emotions, it can help persuade them to take the desired action after reading the email.

Adam Crossling
Head of Marketing, Zenzero

Prioritize Personalization and Consistency

Personalization is key in an email drip campaign. It helps your audience understand that these consistent efforts from your brand are only for them. This makes them more receptive to the content you share and increases the likelihood of engagement.

So, practice consistency with whatever personalization techniques and elements you put to use. Remember, if even one of your emails fails at this stage, your potential customer will lose focus and appreciation and probably disengage from the entire effort. At this point, you’ll have to start from square one all over again.

Ariav Cohen
VP of Marketing and Sales, Proprep

Optimize Emails for Mobile Devices

The #1 tip that I have for effective email drip campaigns is to always optimize for mobile devices. More often than not, our email campaigns are created on anything but a mobile device, so it can be easy to overlook that the majority of people check and read their emails on their phones nowadays.

Any goals that you have of driving sales, nurturing leads, or increasing engagement can quickly become deflated if a large portion of your audience can’t view and understand your campaign with ease. Use responsive design, concise text, and clear call-to-action buttons to improve the user experience on mobile devices.

In most cases, a mobile-friendly design layout offers more effective ways to communicate the focus of your campaign, and with more creative potential than traditional emails.

Sean Coffey
Marketing Manager, Regency Fire

Use Tracking URLs for Targeted Content

A tracking URL allows you to see who clicks on your CTA among your subscribers. More significantly, it provides you with information on the various sites and actions that your subscribers do on your website after clicking on your CTA.

The data gathered by your tracking URL enables you and your marketing team to provide more targeted content to these subscribers. This allows you to move them down your marketing funnel and convert them into customers.

Kim Leary
Creative Director, squibble

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12 Ways You Can Use AI in Email Marketing

Discover how AI can revolutionize your email marketing strategy with insights from 12 industry experts, including CEOs, Vice Presidents, and Marketing Managers. From streamlining copywriting to maximizing efficiency with email tools, these professionals share their tried-and-true methods for enhancing email campaigns with artificial intelligence.

• Streamline Copywriting
• Boost Engagement With AI-Based Videos
• Brainstorm Content With Assistance
• Gain Powerful Product Recommendations
• Amplify Relevance via Combined Tactics
• Improve Retargeting 
• Optimize A/B Testing 
• Discover In-Depth Email Analytics
• Automate Behavior-Triggered Campaigns
• Boost Open Rates with Improved Subject Lines
• Enhance Engagement with Personalization
• Maximize Efficiency with Email Tools

Streamline Copywriting 

While I’ve found so many ways in which AI can be used in email marketing, there’s one that I completely love and have incorporated in my email marketing campaigns: copywriting.

I love the idea of just entering a bunch of keywords into ChatGPT or Jasper, for instance, and having my email copy ready to be sent. What makes it even more fun is that you can try different input ideas to make the output better. Like you can let the tool know who you’re writing it for, what’s the purpose of the mail, what’s supposed to be the tone of the mail, and so on and so forth.

It’s a genuine recommendation from me to use these tools; leverage the power of AI into your email marketing campaigns because if you’re not doing so, you’re falling behind. We all know it’s very important to stay ahead when you’re in marketing. Plus, it makes your work so much simpler and gets it done so much quicker.

Aquibur Rahman, CEO, Mailmodo

Boost Engagement With AI-Based Videos

Not every email you send out can be action- or product-based — some are purely informative. For emails that fit the latter description, and despite evolving debate, I believe that including videos makes them more engaging. AI-based videos have been a pleasant surprise and add to the experience of opening emails.

As the cost of AI-based video production is lower, creating them is more profitable compared to hiring a professional video team. And your emails’ open rates will show a positive impact.

Matthew Ramirez, CEO, Paraphrasing Tool

Brainstorm Content With Assistance

As an email marketer, coming up with creative content consistently can get tedious. I’ve used AI to assist me with brainstorming ideas for content or copy. 

For example, I’ve asked AI to come up with detailed descriptions for particular customer segmentations in order to know how to talk to or market to a specific group of customers. After I get the description back from AI, I’m able to see how I can modify my marketing language to appeal to each customer segment. 

Whenever I use AI for email marketing, I’ve never used what AI puts out verbatim; I always tweak it to align with the brand voice or expound. Using AI to trigger various brainstorming processes has helped me tremendously by saving time for me and my clients.

Amanda Luke, Owner, Email and Mobile Marketing Freelancer and Consultant, ACL Digital Marketing

Gain Powerful Product Recommendations

I have incorporated AI into my email marketing by using product recommendations powered by machine learning. This allows me to provide recipients with tailored product offers based on their previous purchases or preferences. 

I recommend that other email marketers try this as it can increase relevance and engagement, leading to higher click-through rates and conversions. The AI-powered algorithm can quickly and accurately identify the products that are most likely to interest each individual recipient, so it can save a lot of time compared to manually curating product recommendations for every email.

Ryan Hetrick, CEO, Epiphany Wellness

Amplify Relevance via Combined Tactics

We use AI in our email marketing with AI-powered tools to help us create more personalized and relevant emails. I recommend that all email marketers try to incorporate AI into their email marketing campaigns, to create more personalized and relevant emails, which can lead to improved results.

Here are some specific examples of how AI can be used in email marketing:

• Segment your email list based on user behavior, interests, and demographics. 
• Personalize email subject lines, content, and calls to action. 
• Determine the best time to send emails. 
• Retarget people who have already visited your website or opened your emails.

Brenton Thomas, CEO, Twibi

Improve Retargeting 

One innovative method we’ve employed in our email marketing strategy is AI-based email retargeting. If a potential customer opens an email but doesn’t take the desired action, our AI system cues us in. We then send a carefully personalized follow-up email, to re-engage their interest. 

For instance, we once had a client who showed interest in our premium packages but didn’t complete the purchase. Our AI system flagged this, allowing us to send a targeted email, offering a limited-time discount. This method ultimately converted the lead. 

So, for my fellow email marketers, I highly recommend incorporating AI into your strategies. It can significantly improve engagement and conversion rates, making your campaigns more effective and profitable.

Alexandru Contes, Co-founder, ReviewGrower

Optimize A/B Testing

If you’re into email marketing, you’ve probably heard of A/B testing. I believe AI can improve this process by automating and improving the testing and optimization workflow, which is a widespread practice. 

Subject lines, images, CTA buttons, and email layouts are just some aspects that may be examined by AI algorithms to identify which works best in an email marketing campaign. Artificial intelligence systems can rapidly determine the optimal permutations of these aspects that yield the highest engagement and conversion rates by automatically producing and testing numerous variants of each. 

By automating A/B testing, email marketers can save time and effort while continuously improving the effectiveness of their efforts. Marketers may learn about client preferences and adjust email campaigns accordingly with the help of AI algorithms that reveal why certain variants performed better than others.

Timothy Allen, Sr. Corporate Investigator, Corporate Investigation Consulting

Discover In-Depth Email Analytics

I can say from personal experience that using AI-driven email performance analytics provides marketers with a wealth of data to examine the success of their email campaigns. While measures like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates are helpful, the patterns and levels of interaction with a brand’s content that can be gleaned through AI algorithms are much more so. 

Email data such as time spent reading, scroll depth, email forwarding, and social media sharing can be analyzed by AI systems. Having access to these supplementary analytics allows for a deeper dive into consumer interaction and the identification of weak spots in email layout, content placement, and overall campaign strategy. 

Email marketers can improve campaign performance, boost engagement, and get more results by evaluating detailed email data and acting on the insights they reveal.

Tiffany Hafler, Marketing Manager, FORTIS Medical Billing 

Automate Behavior-Triggered Campaigns 

In my opinion, the development of behavior-triggered email campaigns is made possible by AI-driven predictive email segmentation. AI systems can discover specific triggers, such as abandoned carts, website surfing patterns, or email interactions, by studying client behaviors in real-time. 

Email marketers can automate the sending of tailored emails to the appropriate customer subset based on the occurrence of certain triggers. When a customer abandons their cart, for instance, an email system driven by AI can immediately send a reminder of the items and an incentive to complete the purchase. 

Predictive segmentation-based behavior trigger emails have been shown to increase consumer engagement and purchases. They take advantage of AI algorithms’ capacity to spot opportune moments for communication, which boosts open, click-through, and conversion rates.

Cindi Keller, Communications Coordinator, The Criminal Defense Firm

Boost Open Rates with Improved Subject Lines

We’ve leveraged AI to enhance our email marketing strategy, particularly by creating more compelling subject lines. Recently, we were struggling to craft a catchy subject line for a promotional email. We fed the AI some basic information about our offer. It spit out a subject line that was intriguing yet informative. 

To our surprise, that email had the highest open rate we’d ever achieved. The reason why I recommend this to other email marketers is that AI can help you come up with fresh, unique subject lines that hook your audience. It’s like having a creative powerhouse at your fingertips, saving you time while optimizing your results.

Thomas Giarraputo, Vice President, Executive Cleaning Services

Enhance Engagement with Personalization

I’ve incorporated AI into my email marketing by leveraging personalized subject lines and content. By using AI to personalize emails, we can improve open rates significantly. Additionally, personalization enables us to tailor the experience for each subscriber based on their preferences and interests, which increases engagement and conversions.

I recommend other email marketers try this because personalization can help them create a unique experience for their subscribers, build stronger relationships, and increase conversions. Additionally, it allows email marketers to quickly collect data and insights which can be used to optimize future campaigns.

Darryl Stevens, CEO, Digitech Web Design

Maximize Efficiency with Email Tools

Incorporating AI into email marketing has been a game-changer for maximizing efficiency and personalization. I have adopted AI-powered algorithms to analyze user behavior and preferences, allowing for dynamic content customization.

I recommend other email marketers implement automated email segmentation and personalization based on user interactions, interests, and demographics.

By utilizing AI-driven tools, marketers can automate creating targeted email campaigns, improving open, click-through, and conversion rates. AI can analyze vast data and generate actionable insights to optimize email content, subject lines, and send times for different audience segments.

This level of personalization enhances the user experience and increases the likelihood of driving meaningful engagement and conversions.

AI-powered email marketing tools can also provide real-time analytics and performance metrics, enabling marketers to make data-driven decisions and optimize their email campaigns.

Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media

When outsourcing email marketing efforts, it’s crucial to get certain aspects right to ensure success. We’ve gathered insights from 13 marketing professionals, including CEOs, founders, and marketing managers, on the most important factors to consider. From providing guidance on structure and tone to creating a detailed brief, these experts share their top tips for a successful outsourcing experience.

• Provide Guidance on Structure and Tone
• Define Roles and Communicate Clearly
• Set Clear Expectations Upfront
• Maintain Brand Consistency
• Understand Brand Voice and KPIs
• Define Success and Track Metrics
• Prioritize Industry Experience
• Ensure Legal Compliance
• Establish Clear Communication With Check-ins and Feedback
• Verify Agency’s Experience and Expertise
• Consider Budget for Outsourcing
• Ensure a Correct Opt-Out Process
• Create a Detailed Brief

Provide Guidance on Structure and Tone

When outsourcing email marketing, you must be clear about your preferred structure and tone. For example, provide previous email examples you created in-house or newsletters from other brands you particularly enjoy. The more inspiration you provide to the freelancer or agency, the greater the likelihood of them capturing the essence of what you’re looking for.

Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing, Optimeal

Define Roles and Communicate Clearly

When outsourcing email marketing efforts, it’s essential to define roles and responsibilities clearly. I’ve learned this through personal experience, where a lack of clarity in this area can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and ultimately, poor results. By defining who handles what, you can ensure that everyone knows what’s expected of them, and everyone can work efficiently towards the same goal. 

It’s also essential to establish an obvious line of communication and set up regular check-ins to ensure that everyone is on the same page. By doing so, you can help ensure that the outsourcing process runs smoothly and that you achieve the desired results.

Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing and Outreach Manager, ePassportPhoto

Set Clear Expectations Upfront

Setting clear expectations upfront is crucial for the effective outsourcing of email marketing operations to a third-party company or independent contractor. In order to guarantee that everyone is on the same page, this entails identifying deliverables, techniques, a timetable, and prices. 

It’s also essential to treat the outsourcing partner like a team member and make sure they have the knowledge and experience required. To guarantee responsibility and prevent grouping activities together, it is also crucial to set up regular check-ins and milestones. In order to ensure that everyone involved knows where they are going and how to get there, we should develop clear and quantifiable goals.

Michael Lees, Chief Marketing Officer, EZLease

Maintain Brand Consistency

When outsourcing email marketing efforts to an external agency or freelancer, one critical factor to consider is ensuring consistency in brand messaging. 

According to HubSpot, personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%. This highlights the importance of ensuring that the outsourced email marketing partner understands the brand’s voice, messaging, and target audience to create personalized and relevant emails.

One example of a company that excels at outsourcing email marketing is Airbnb. The company outsources its email marketing to an external agency, but they have maintained the brand’s unique voice and personality by providing detailed brand guidelines and frequent communication. This has resulted in a consistent and engaging email marketing campaign that has contributed to the company’s success.

Himanshu Sharma, CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing

Understand Brand Voice and KPIs

When outsourcing email marketing efforts, it’s crucial to ensure that the external agency or freelancer understands your brand voice and messaging. 

This requires a clear and concise communication strategy, which should include your target audience, brand values, and goals. Providing the agency or freelancer with a detailed brief that outlines your expectations and guidelines is also important. 

It’s essential to maintain regular communication throughout the process and to review and approve all email copy and designs before they are sent out. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the email campaign. KPIs such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates will provide insight into the effectiveness of the campaign and allow for adjustments to be made if necessary.

Luciano Colos, Founder and CEO, PitchGrade

Define Success and Track Metrics

Without a clear understanding of what you want to achieve through your email marketing campaign, how will you know if it’s successful or not? 

Start by defining what success means for your business. Is it more sales, higher website traffic, increased brand awareness, or something else entirely? Once you’ve identified your goals, you need to establish specific and measurable metrics to track progress. 

For example, if your goal is to increase sales through email marketing, track open rates, click-throughs, conversion rates, and revenue generated from email campaigns can help you determine whether you’re on the right track. By outlining these metrics upfront, you can communicate this effectively with any external agency or freelancer you work with.

Effie Asafu-Adjaye, Founder, Beautiful Sparks

Prioritize Industry Experience

We’ve worked with a few different freelancers, and those with industry experience (for us at Helm, that’s the accounting and finance industry) have been markedly better to work with and have produced the best results. 

For those without industry experience, we’ve found that they have to spend more time developing copy, and it resonates less with our target audience. Those with experience have had an easier time jumping in, and typically already have a strong grasp of our audience, or at least a level of familiarity that helps them write more engaging copy. 

Another benefit of working with those with industry experience is that they sometimes know things or have insights on things that even we didn’t, potentially helping us in other aspects of our business.

Kelvin Gieck, Co-founder, Helm Cash Flow

Ensure Legal Compliance

When outsourcing email marketing, I suggest making sure your partner is aware of and complies with relevant legislation such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL. I believe this will assist you in avoiding legal complications and protecting the reputation of your brand.

Adam Crossling, Head of Marketing, Zenzero

Establish Clear Communication With Check-ins and Feedback

One thing to get right when outsourcing email marketing efforts to an external agency or freelancer is to ensure clear communication and expectations. This means establishing a clear scope of work, outlining goals and objectives, and setting timelines and deadlines.

It’s also important to communicate your brand voice, target audience, and any specific requirements or preferences you may have, such as language, design style, or tone. Setting up regular check-ins and progress reports can help ensure that the work is meeting your expectations and that any issues or concerns are addressed promptly. 

Finally, it’s essential to establish a good working relationship with the agency or freelancer, which means being open to feedback and willing to collaborate to achieve the best results.

Brenton Thomas, CEO, Twibi

Verify Agency’s Experience and Expertise

Agencies certainly have experienced teams that deliver winning email marketing solutions to their clients. But does the agency you’ve hired have the necessary experience and expertise to cater to your brand and niche? 

The rules of email marketing vary in every industry, and there’s quite a lot of fine-tuning that comes into play when serving different brands too. So ensuring that your agency can indeed deliver efficient solutions is among the first things to consider. 

Review their existing client list, ask them how they intend to improve on your current strategy, and even plan a few test runs to see how the entire plan works. Sign up for their services only when you’re convinced.

Ariav Cohen, VP of Marketing and Sales, Proprep

Consider Budget for Outsourcing

We can do marketing entirely in-house, completely outsourced, or a combination of the two. After all, compared to internal teams, marketing firms typically offer a wider range of services, have a team with more varied specialties, and can work more quickly. 

Setting your budget might make it clearer whether your business should hire a freelancer or a marketing outsourcing agency. Consider factors such as how much it costs you in terms of time and money to keep things in-house. A rough estimate of the resources you’ll (theoretically) be freeing up can be obtained by starting with the salaries of your workers and figuring out how much time they spend on the tasks you’ll be outsourcing. 

How long do you intend to work with the agency or freelancer? Do you plan to outsource a single campaign that will last a month? Any possible savings from equipment, contractors, or other services that you won’t require after starting to work with the independent contractor/agency.

Joe Li, Managing Director, CheckYa

Ensure a Correct Opt-Out Process

You must ensure that they get the opt-out process correct. People need to clearly see how to opt-out, and the request must be honored immediately. Not everyone remembers signing up for your list, and some people just want to clear their inboxes. Regardless, failure to get it right can cause damage to your brand with negative reviews.

Mike Wood, Digital Marketer, Legalmorning

Create a Detailed Brief

When creating a brief, know that there’s no such thing as “too specific.” If you feel like the agency or freelancer needs to know about it, then write it down. The more you can reduce back-and-forth in the beginning, the more the external partner can get into the ‘flow’ of your requirements.

Gary Warner, Marketing Manager, Joloda Hydaroll

From before lunch to around 9am – 11am, here are 8 answers to the question, “What’s the best time to send an email on Friday?”

• It Depends on Your Audience
• Send Your Email Before Lunch 
• 8 pm Guarantees More People Can Access Your Message
• After Lunch is Ideal for Non-urgent Communications
• Send Your Emails at Midday On Friday
• Late in the Day to Avoid Getting Forgotten 
• Friday Afternoon is Ideal, but Don’t Delay Past 5 pm
• The Best Time is Around 9 am to 11 am On Fridays

It Depends on YOUR Audience

There is no send time that works the same for every business. You have to test what works best for YOUR particular Audience. The subscribers of a coffee shop are going to be different than that of a law firm. Utilize A/B testing to test different Friday send times to see what gets the highest open rate. After 2-3 months of testing different times, you should be able to find a time that works best for your subscribers. 

Emily Ryan, Email Strategist & Co-founder, Westfield Creative

Send Your Email Before Lunch 

Due to the fact that Friday is the end of the week, the best time to send an email is in the morning before lunch. Fridays are a day on which many people leave work early or don’t check emails after lunch. Therefore, you probably stand a better chance of your email getting opened if it is sent in the morning. Additionally, if you’re going to send emails on Friday, it is a great idea to have a very catchy and compelling subject line to ensure it gets viewed.

Lori Manns, President, Quality Media Consultant Group LLC

8 pm Guarantees More People Can Access Your Message

8 p.m. on a Friday night may seem like an unorthodox time to send an email; however, it can be a great choice for many reasons. 8 p.m. on a Friday night is when most people are completing their work tasks for the week and preparing for relaxation.

When an email lands in their inbox at 8 p.m., it gives them the weekend to read and digest the content rather than having to deal with the message immediately after arrival. 8 p.m. also provides plenty of time for potential clients and colleagues who are in different parts of the world to check and respond to emails before Monday morning.

Sending an email at 8 p.m. on a Friday guarantees that more people have access to your message but still allows you time away from work to relax over the weekend.

Jim Campbell, Owner, Camp Media

After Lunch is Ideal for Non-urgent Communications

After lunch, people have more time to read and respond to emails that aren’t time-sensitive, so I recommend sending them then (1 p.m. – 2 p.m.). It is a perfect time to send out communications like newsletters, updates, and other forms of messages that do not require immediate action from the recipient.

Kyle Basett, Chief Operating Officer, Altitude Control

Send Your Emails at Midday On Friday

The optimal time to send emails on Friday at noon is when the recipients are most likely to be in a productive frame of mind and not yet thinking about the weekend. The likelihood that your email will be read and answered promptly is higher at this time of the week because people are typically wrapping up their workweek and still preoccupied with work-related responsibilities.

Natalia Grajcar, Co-founder, Natu.Care

Late in the Day to Avoid Getting Forgotten 

The best time to send an email on Friday is usually late in the day. This ensures that your message is fresh in the recipient’s mind and they will be more likely to read it. Additionally, late in the day gives people time to respond before the weekend. If you send it too early on Friday, your message may get buried in other emails or forgotten about altogether until Monday. 

Furthermore, sending an email late on Friday ensures that if there is a reply needed before the weekend, the recipient will have time to respond. It’s important to note that different industries and individuals may prefer different times for an email on Friday. It’s a good idea to test out different times of day and track which emails get the most responses in order to determine what works best for your particular audience.

Martin Seeley, CEO, Mattress Next Day

Friday Afternoon is Ideal, but Don’t Delay Past 5pm

It is generally best to send an email on a Friday before 5 p.m. This gives the recipient time to read the email, think about it, and reply without feeling rushed or overwhelmed with work on Monday morning. Sending emails early in the day may mean that other tasks are prioritized first and your message gets overlooked among other important emails. Emails sent later in the afternoon may get tucked away for review over the weekend when people don’t have as much free time to dedicate to their inboxes.

By sending an email earlier in the day, you can ensure that your message at least has a chance of being seen right away so that it can be addressed sooner rather than later. Additionally, sending emails closer to the end of business hours shows that you respect other people’s time and don’t expect them to go above and beyond after hours.

Jose Gomez, CTO and Founder, Evinex

The Best Time is Around 9 am to 11 am On Fridays

At our business, we do a ton of cold email outreach, and the data shows that the best time to send emails on a Friday is between 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. While it’s hard to determine the reason for this, I personally think that it’s because most people start off their Friday with simple tasks (reviewing their emails), before diving into deep work and finally wrapping up their week.

Nick Zviadadze, Founder, MintSEO

From using data to personalize subject lines to writing helpful and value-rich content, here are the 11 answers to the question, “What is your average open rate for email marketing, and what led to your open rate being so high, or low?”

• 18% – Personalize Your Emails
• 28% – Segment Your Users by Buyer Stage
• 40% – Understand the Where and the Why
• 50% – Use Consistent Storytelling With Relevant Information
• 30% – Write Content That Resonates
• 40% – Focus on an Engaged Audience
• 23% – Find the Right Tools
• 40% – Test With A/B Campaigns
• 22% – Regularly Purge Your Lists
• 21% – Send Emails at Optimal Times
• 48% – Craft Helpful and Value-Rich Content 

18% – Personalize Your Emails

We have a high open rate, at 18%, because of the subject line. It is short, clear, and concise, with a limited-time offer included. 

Our emails are also very personalized, as we use customer data to further specify the content. For example, if a customer has purchased an item before and returned it, we will acknowledge that in the email. This makes customers feel acknowledged and valued, which in turn increases the likelihood that they will open the email.

We also send emails based on the customer’s activity. By sending emails at the right time and with the right information, we have increased our open rate from 11% to 18%.

Matthew Ramirez, CEO, Rephrasely

28% –  Segment Your Users by Buyer Stage

Our email open rate over the last year is just over 28 percent. Compared to the industry average for marketing and advertising agencies, which is 22 percent, that is a high open rate. 

The reason we’ve seen these results is because of several factors. We A/B test all email sends with different subject lines, then choose the most effective options. We also updated our automated marketing emails so they are segmented by buyer interest and stage in the buyer journey. And, we use personalization to make emails more targeted as well. We avoid sending emails to disengaged contacts. 

As a business with a large audience, we send tens of thousands of emails every year, so it’s vital that everyone gets what they expect and are interested in seeing. These tactics ensure we don’t come across as spammy, as well as boosting our open rates.

Matthew Stibbe, CEO, Articulate Marketing

40% –  Understand the Where and the Why

I’ve seen less than a 15% open rate for small lists, and over 40% for very large lists with hundreds of thousands of contacts from all possible sources. 

The secret sauce is understanding the “where” (where did the leads come from?) and the “why” (why did they sign up?) of these contacts, segmenting them based on initial data and subsequent behaviors, and then going through the process of sparking desire and harvesting that desire with resonant story-telling.

Lots to unpack here:

1. Segment. Pop-up contacts will show lower CTR as compared to existing customers. Not knowing the baseline for metrics may lead you to deem campaigns successful or unsuccessful based on misleading averages.
2. Make sure you aren’t held back by Gmail. Send emails from your own domain, as opposed to the “shared reputation” of your ESP.
3. Understand & respect VoC data. Use it to create compelling offers supported by narratives your database recognizes as its own.

Trina Moitra, Head of Marketing, Convert.com

50% – Use Consistent Storytelling With Relevant Information

My average open rate for email marketing is between 45-50%. I consistently email my list each week with stories and relevant information designed to help them navigate their mid-career journey. 

My emails highlight their pain points, questions, and solutions that they are thinking about and talking with other colleagues, family, and friends. I’ve had my email list for over five years, and I consistently email them each week at the same time on a specific day. 

Being consistent has allowed me to earn my email community’s trust by having permission to be in their inbox each week.

John Neral, Owner, John Neral Coaching, LLC

30% – Write Content That Resonates

My average open rate for email marketing is 30%. These numbers have been achieved through personalized subject lines and content that resonates with the target audience. I also keep the emails concise, to the point, and relevant to ensure it captures attention quickly. In addition, we have optimized our send times to ensure maximum engagement from our subscribers.

It is important to remember that optimizing an open rate doesn’t always mean sending out more messages. Sometimes less frequent but higher-quality messaging will allow you to achieve better results with fewer messages sent overall—well-crafted drip campaigns often perform very well for businesses. 

To maximize your chances of achieving a high open rate each time you send out an email campaign, ensure you take advantage of A/B testing to determine which version works better with your particular audience and scenario.

Kate Wojewoda-Celinska, Marketing Manager, Spacelift

40% – Focus on Engaged Audience Members

Across the email marketing campaigns we run for various brands, the average open rate is around 40%. This is fairly high but we prefer to focus on the most engaged subscribers in an email list—the people who have really shown an interest in opening and clicking through previous email marketing campaigns.

We do this to improve email deliverability and increase the chances of landing in the primary inbox for every contact in our campaigns. We’ve seen good success with this more targeted approach across many different e-commerce markets.

If brands are wanting to experiment and increase average email open rates then a great starting point is to only email the people who have opened a campaign from you in the last 45 – 90 days. In most cases, this will improve open rates, and in time the overall deliverability across the entire email marketing program.

Ryan Turner, Founder, Ecommerce Intelligence

23% – Find the Right Tools 

My typical email open rate is 23%, and a lot of that is owed to the process of finding the right email addresses!

I have used and analyzed over 74 different tools, and in the end, I have narrowed my choice down to one tool that I rely on the most for finding the right email addresses and generating a long list of leads. It’s called Find That Lead, wherein you just have to put a company’s domain name and it generates a list of contacts from the company. 

You can also apply filters to separate out just the email, phone number, and address of CEOs, Founders, Managers, or other C-level executives. You can also use the tool for just verifying the email address of a person.

Kartik Ahuja, CEO & Founder, GrowthScribe

40% – Test With A/B Campaigns

We consistently see an email open rate of about 40%, which is about double the average for most businesses. We’ve achieved this largely through conducting A/B tests where we sent two different versions of subject lines, format, and copy to each half of the recipients. 

From there, we were able to measure which options performed best, and we fine-tuned our strategy. From there, our open rates really began to climb. Even with our open rate success, we still do frequent A/B/ tests because we don’t want our messaging to grow stagnant.

Annie Ricci, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Prima

22% – Regularly Purge Your Lists

In terms of email marketing, my average open rate is 21.5%. Due to the fact that your audience connects with the subject lines we utilize, we have a higher open rate.

We also employ double opt-in. Double opt-in requires the user to confirm their desire to receive communications from your company (although this is not a requirement under GDPR). We don’t send emails to people who don’t care about them too much because if they did, they wouldn’t read them, which would decrease our open rates.

We request that our readers add us to their list of reliable contacts. We may improve the number of emails delivered by simply asking our readers to add the “from” email address to their contact lists

Then, we purge the emails on our list. Three consecutive unopened emails from a subscriber indicate that they may no longer be interested in receiving emails from us.

David Reid, Sales Director, VEM Tooling

21% – Send Emails at Optimal Times

Our average open rate tends to float around 21%, which is more or less in line with national averages for other small businesses our size. 

We have achieved this open rate by crafting engaging subject lines and providing content that is tailored to our customer’s interests and needs. Additionally, we make sure to only send emails at times when our customers are most likely to open them on their email platforms of choice. Having concise and relevantly tailored email content is the name of the game.

Ryan Delk, CEO, Primer

48% – Craft Helpful and Value-Rich Content 

The average open rate for my email marketing is 48%. I’ve cultivated an engaged list over the last four years offering high value or what I termed “irresistible freebies” to opt-in and then continuing to share tips and tricks on ways to make more money with their websites. 

Yes, email lists are there to sell your service, but in my opinion, it’s primarily to build that know-like and trust factor and to offer an immense amount of value.  And eventually, the subscriber may have a problem that you, as the service provider, can solve, and you’ll be right there in the inbox recommending a solution.

Jenny Belanger, CEO & Creative Director, JennyB Designs

From taking subscriber numbers into account to a standard 2-5% CTR, here are eight answers to the question, “What is a good email click-through rate?”

• Adjust by Your Subscriber Count
• Go for 7%
• 5% Click Through Rate, Depending on Industry
• Typically Considered to Be Around 3%
• Usually Between 15% and 35%
• Never Below 2%
• 0.5% to 3%, Depending on Segmenting
• Aim for a 2-5% 

Adjust by Your Subscriber Count

This depends on how big your subscriber list is. For instance, if you have a decent email click-through rate but your subscriber list is below 1,000, this is not necessarily a grand achievement. 

Try to get 1,000 or more subscribers first, and then you can accurately measure how successful your click-through rate is.

Maegan Griffin, Founder, CEO, & Nurse Practitioner, Skin Pharm

Go for 7%

A standard email click-through rate is 7%, so you should aim for that or higher, although most experts agree that even a 3-5% rate is good. 

You can increase your click-through rate by testing better subject lines and keeping your copy to a minimum. Don’t forget to list easy, social sharing options so more than your recipient sees your copy.

Baruch Labunski, CEO, Rank Secure

5% Click Through Rate, Depending on Industry

Typically, a good email click-through rate is around 5%, but this also depends on your industry. 

For example, nonprofits may have a higher industry click-through rate than brands in the tech or real estate industry. Thus, it’s best to optimize your emails, so that you hit the overall industry standard click through rate. 

Some things that affect click-through rates are the number of links in your email, call-to-action, and the length of the email. If your email is long and packed with a ton of links, it is harder for your audience to truly engage with it, and may be confused about what your overall message is.

Sacha Ferrandi, Founder & Principal, Source Capital

Typically Considered to Be Around 3%

We typically consider a good email click through rate to be around 3%.  This means that for every 100 emails you send out, three of your recipients will click through the links in your email. 

To improve your click-through rate, it is important to make sure that your emails are well-designed, properly formatted, and contain interesting content that encourages readers to click. 

Additionally, segmenting your email list into more relevant groups can help you target your emails more effectively and increase the likelihood of users clicking through.

Above all, it is important to test different subject lines, designs, and content to determine what resonates best with your audience. With a bit of trial and error, you should be able to find the perfect combination that will help boost your click-through rates.

Aviad Faruz, CEO, FARUZO

Usually Between 15% and 35%

With email marketing, the open rate is a very important indicator for campaigns. The open rate is obtained by dividing the total number of messages opened by the total number of messages delivered. This is why the goal of every email marketing campaign is to have a high open-rate percentage so that users are more likely to click through to the landing page. 

If you work with a large database, it is normal that the open rate is low. Although there is no average open rate, it is usually between 15% and 35%. 

However, there are certain strategies you can apply to increase this number. For example, the first mailings will have a high percentage of bounced emails, because of unsubscribed addresses, and misspelled, or full mailboxes. This will influence the open rate, but the purification of the database for subsequent mailings will increase the percentage.

Piergiorgio Zotti, Sr. SEO Specialist, Teacher, & Affiliate Marketer, Consulente SEO SEM

Never Below 2%

A good email click-through rate depends on the industry and is often used as an important performance metric. A higher click-through rate (CTR) shows that the content within the email was sufficiently engaging to entice readers to open it rather than discard it. 

Although CTRs will vary between types of businesses, those with higher success rates are typically between 2-5%. Anything higher than 5% or lower than 2%, depending on the industry, would indicate a campaign that is underperforming or outperforming expectations, respectively. 

Achieving a better click-through rate for emails depends on leveraging several strategies, including careful audience segmenting, personalized subject lines, and timely sending schedules.

Jim Campbell, CEO, Campbell Online Media

0.5% to 3%, Depending on Segmenting

A click-through rate (CTR) for email depends on several factors, including the content of the email, the nature of the offer, and the target audience. Generally‌, good email CTRs range from about 0.5% to 3%.

However, there are some exceptions. For example, if you’re targeting a very engaged group of subscribers who are likely to be interested in your offer, you may achieve a CTR as high as 10%. On the other hand, if you’re targeting less engaged subscribers or those who aren’t familiar with your brand, your CTR may be closer to 0.5%.

Kate Wojewoda-Celinska, Marketing Manager, Spacelift

Aim for a 2-5% 

A good email click-through rate can vary depending on the industry and the quality of the email campaign. However, a general benchmark for a good email click-through rate is around 2-5%.

If your click-through rate is higher than this, it may show that your email campaign is well-targeted and engaging. If it’s lower, it could mean that your emails are not relevant to your audience or that they are not effectively capturing the reader’s attention. 

To improve your click-through rate, you can try A/B testing different subject lines, calls to action, and email content to see what resonates best with your audience. You can also segment your email list to ensure that you are sending targeted, relevant messages to each group of subscribers.

Jason Moss, President & Co-Founder, Moss Technologies

From conducting A/B Tests with your email audiences to a chance of designs causing lower reply rates, here are the 11 answers to the question, “Should color and design be used in email campaigns?”

• Build A/B Tests 
• Brand Colors and Design Evoke A Sense of Relatability
• Prioritize a Relationship With Your Audience
• Give Your Message An Eye-catching Look
• Keep Graphics to a Minimum
• Maintain Campaign Consistency
• Use Colors to Attract and Hold Readers’ Attention
• Intelligent Use of Colors Will Make the Right Info Pop
• White is the Only Color All Email Campaigns Should Have
• Colors Help Grab Attention
• Colors and Designed Emails Have Smaller Reply Rates

Build A/B Tests 

The only way that you can know what will jive best for your unique audience is by testing things. Choose an email marketing platform that allows you to build A/B tests. If your current email platform offers this, don’t be afraid to experiment with this feature, which will have a campaign monitor in place to reveal the winning strategy. Performing A/B tests has informed pretty much every part of my brand’s email marketing strategy. The insights we’ve gained are priceless.

Michael Green, Co-Founder, Winona

Brand Colors and Design Evoke A Sense of Relatability

Sending a simple email for communication only is different from running an email campaign for your product, service, etc. As a result of our own study, we performed A/B testing for email subject lines and found that emails with relevant emoticons had a 50% higher open rate than emails without.

A brand’s colors and design evoke emotions and a sense of relatability. Some brands, like Nike and Adidas, use templates with very little text in their email campaigns. The heart of effective marketing is color and design. Color accounts for between 62 and 90% of the impression your product creates. It is therefore necessary to have a cohesive brand message across all marketing channels. The right choice of colors and design makes a difference because they trigger associations.

At our company, we have run a ton of email campaigns with and without the color and design element and I can confidently say that color and design performs way better than text-only emails.

Simon Dayne, Sales Associate, Designitic

Prioritize a Relationship With Your Audience

Marketing is changing fast. It’s harder and harder to break through the noise. The more you can establish a real relationship with your audience the better – and it’s easier to do that with a simple email than with an overly designed “newsletter”.

Because of this, we have seen great results when moving brands from an overly designed newsletter template to a simple email from the business owners.

Ultimately, whether you use color and design in your email campaigns will depend on your audience’s expectations. So experiment, and see what works for your business.

Frank Prendergast, Brand Strategist, Frank and Marci

Give Your Message An Eye-catching Look

Regarding email campaigns, color and design make a big difference. Not only do they help draw attention to your email, but they can also be used to convey the main message. Color can help add interest and emotion to an email that might otherwise seem dull or boring. Design elements like fonts and graphics can help further emphasize the message and give it an eye-catching look.

However, there are also some negatives to consider. If the colors and design elements are too bright or loud, it can distract readers and take away from the message. On the other hand, if the design is too basic or plain, it may not be enough to grab people’s attention. It is important to strike a good balance between eye-catching and appropriate when it comes to email campaign design.

Color and design can effectively make email campaigns more engaging and impactful. Used properly, they can create an email that is visually appealing and conveys the email’s main message in a clear and concise way.

Natalia Grajcar, Co-Founder, Natu.Care

Keep Graphics to a Minimum

Logos ought to be used in an email. Think of it as email stationery. Putting that banner or that logo at the top of an email and at the bottom where you state your name and company information is the very least you can do. In fact, if that’s all you do, that’s perfectly fine.

Try not to go overboard with color and graphics. Try not to use interactive emojis or memes or an overabundance of videos and photos to grab the email recipient’s attention. Too much of that can actually look unprofessional – or worse, desperate.

Less is more. Do just enough that it isn’t too bland, but err on the side of restraint. That’s a good rule of thumb when it comes to email marketing. You want to give off the impression that you’re a reputable, authoritative brand. You won’t achieve that if your emails are too reliant on visual gimmicks.

Emily Saunders, Chief Revenue Officer, eLuxury

Maintain Campaign Consistency

Color and design should certainly be used in email campaigns in order to be more aesthetically pleasing and attractive to your customers. However, use color and design according to your brand style and aesthetic to ensure consistency across your marketing efforts. Your email campaigns, social media, website, blog, etc., should all use similar colors and designs to maintain this consistency.

Nabiha Akhtar, CEO/Founder, Lil Deenies

Use Colors to Attract and Hold Readers’ Attention

The impact of colors has been a topic of academic research for decades. Color and design can be powerful when used in email campaigns, as they can help evoke certain emotions in recipients and encourage them to take action.

A study found that color can attract and hold readers’ attention. With the right color, an email campaign can drive more engagement, generate more leads and help the brand stand out from competitors. However, it’s important to remember that color should be used judiciously not to distract readers from the message. Too much color can be overwhelming and less effective.

Burak Özdemir, Founder, Online Alarm Kur

Intelligent Use of Colors Will Make the Right Info Pop

Using colors is a great idea to help make your emails pop, but selecting muted and complimentary colors is essential in creating balance and harmony within the visual aesthetic of your email. Using too many bright, contrasting colors can make it difficult to read and can diminish the effectiveness of your campaign. Additionally, if you are not careful with the color scheme you choose, it can come off as amateurish and unprofessional. All in all, color is a great way to add visual appeal to your emails when done in good taste.

Ryan Delk, CEO, Primer

White is The Only Color All Email Campaigns Should Have

The colors you use in your email campaign will depend on the demographics and interests of your audience. An email campaign marketed to a 40-year-old woman will be different than that of an 18-year-old male.

The one color that all emails will need is white. Why? Because it is easy to read. Putting black fonts on a white background or white fonts on any color background is what you need for people to read your content without straining their eyes.

Jason Vaught, Director of Content, SmashBrand

Colors Help Grab Attention

If your goal is to create an email campaign that stands out and gets noticed, then incorporating color and design is a must. People are bombarded with emails every day, so it’s essential to make yours stand out in their inboxes.

Adding a pop of color or an eye-catching design will help grab attention and ensure your message is seen. However, using color and design sparingly is important, as too much can be overwhelming and actually turn people off. When used sparingly and thoughtfully, color and design can be powerful tools for creating an email campaign that gets results.

Tom Hamilton-Stubber, Managing Director, Tutor Cruncher

Colored and Designed Emails Have Smaller Reply Rates

In my experience both colored and designed nurturing emails have a much smaller reply rate. Nowadays people are getting a bit tired of their mailboxes full of automated emails and appreciate personal communication. The reason for not using email templates with colors and designs is to make an automated nurturing email mimic an email from a real person.

Andrei Iunisov, Digital marketing expert, Iunisov.com